Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cuppotea]

Okay, I interviewed at this place where the director did not speak any English. He seemed to understand what I said, but spoke in Korean only (his manager had to translate).

Granted, I'm not entirely familiar with the system here, but it seems to me that if you're running an English language institute you should be able to speak English.

So, in your experience, is this a bad thing?

Also, whenever I do a search on this forum 9/10 I get a blank page as a result. Does anyone else have this problem? I've tried using both Firefox and IE.

[diablo3]

No, it's not bad. They, like most directors, are only interested in money. So, whenever you need to ask for something, get a Korean who can speak both languages for you to communicate with the director.

[Chris2007]

My hogwan director doesn't speak English either, at least not enough to have a basic conversation. Still, she runs the school well. The head teacher is fluent in English and Korean so she translates whenever necessary. It has all worked out well so far.

[ChuckECheese]

You: Where's my pay?

Boss: I don't know.

You: When are you gonna pay me?

Boss: I don't know.

You: My apartment sucks.

Boss: I don't know.

You: What do you know?

Boss: I own you. Hahahahahahah!

[TheBrain]

That director probably knows more English than he'll admit. It could be a bad situation.

[VirginIslander]

In most schools there is an invese relationship between Engligh ability and one's place in the howgron hierarchy.

[ChopChaeJoe]

No English might mean no hassles. On the other hand, you're pretty much on your own. At least at my school.

[ChuckECheese]

[wylies99]

Test the man. Walk into his office and say you found an envelope with 500,000 won outside and you want to know if it's his. Betcha he speakee Englishee then.

[koon_taung_daeng]

i knew the hogwon owner who had a Phd in tesol

and he couldnt speak english worth shit


i just dont understand how the owner of an english school cant speak english,

[ChuckECheese]

[jajdude]

Hey, sometimes it's hard enough to communicate with some teachers. I don't think it matters a lot. There are great employers and terrible ones, mono- and bilingual.

[RJjr]

He who knows how will always work for he who knows why.

[Seoul_Star]

The hagwon owner's job is to keep the seats full and to keep the gravy train rolling. I would much prefer they know how to run the business properly, as opposed to being fluent in English, with no business ability.

As the other poster mentioned, their English ability is usually inversely related to their position in the hagwon hierarchy.

[ontheway]

After numerous jobs here, I've found that neither honesty nor business acumen is correlated with English fluency.