Korean Job Discussion Forums

[trubadour]

Any info on the above workplaces greatly appreciated. Are they both English villages? Should that be sending shivers up the spine?

[Smee]

Are you going to work in the English Village? I live in Gangjin now, and I guess you'd be taking my spot.

You can find a decent summary of Gangjin here: http://wiki.galbijim.com/Gangjin (as I wrote it).

Originally I was supposed to work in the English Village in Gangjin, but they delayed the opening numerous times. I ended up in a few public elementary schools. I considered staying for a second year and going to the English Village, but they couldn't answer any of my questions. How many people will work there? Who will I teach? Where will I live? What will my hours be? All these things were and are up in the air. Typically (and Jeollanam-do stats back this up), English Villages in this part of the country have 1 or 2 foreign teachers with 2 or 4 Korean teachers. However, Gangjin was looking to hire 9 (NINE) new teachers! This doesn't seem likely, though. The biggest problem I had was just the disorganization . . . if I stayed here another year I'd be going into the unknown, and since I'd be going into the unkown I just decided to try a different city.

As I don't have any facts about the English Villlage, I can't give any objective opinions. Sorry. Just be aware, though, that in Gangjin English Village you'll be responsible for designing a lot of your own stuff, as the EV doesn't exit yet. As you'd likely be the only English speaker there, that may be a little daunting.

That said, Gangjin is very pleasant, and if I had a job here I'd stay another year (but, they're moving all the foreigners into the English Village, so I've been downsized). One of my schools kind of sucks, but my other two rural elementary schools are grea,t and I will really miss the teachers and students there. It's a small town, so you should understand what you're getting yourself into. But, the people are friendly. I speak a fair bit of Korean, so that makes it easier. You'll get catcalls and screams of HELLO from the kids, and that gets annoying sometimes. But there are a few nice hiking trails and temples nearby. There's a pleasant town called Maryang, right on the coast. Gangjin is fairly typical of small towns in Jeollanam-do, and it's very quiet and slow. There are a few pizza places which will quench your appetite for Western food. And, when you want to try something new, the buses run all over the country, so it's easy to move around.

Right now there are 4 foreign teachers (including me), so there's no real foreign community to speak of. The loneliness is sometimes tough, but as I'm a private person I know how to make my own fun.

PM me if you want more information about these locations.

[trubadour]

PM sent. Thanks for the help.

Anyone with any experience of English Villages?
What's it like being employed to perform a role (say a doctor) for two weeks at a time?
Part of me thinks it'll be quite fun/funny; another part says that I should try being a serious teacher. I've quite enjoyed the latter. The former sounds funny - but a waste, like a crazy repetitive summer job taken to the extreme? Would it provide any useful experience?

[mrsquirrel]

Send me your email address and I will pass it onto the doctor.

A friend of mine who has worked at one for a couple of years near Seoul.

[mokpoboy]

Working for an English Village is really boring. The same lesson over and over for 3 weeks.

[Zutronius]

I will be coming to that area sometime next month to work for English Village in Gangjin. Thanks for all the info!