Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bnrockin]

I've heard many people say they love it in Korea because teaching is so easy for them.

I feel like me and everyone else at my hagwon have never had that sensation and are constantly being killed by work, especially at the end of each month.

My contract says 2.0 mil won for 6 teaching hours a day and 2.5 hours of prep a week. I always get paid at least that and if I teach more hours, I get paid for that. Problem is, is that I'm working a lot more than that. I start working at 2:30 M-F and get there at about 1. So that's about 1.5 hours of straight prep (our hakwon has some stuff from old teachers on the computer, but it's totally unorganized so we have to pull it together ourselves) that we have to do each day. That includes making tests, grading papers, etc.

At the end of the month is where we really get killed. Of course we all dread the report cards for parents and yes, we go through that too. Also we have to do the monthly review tests (again making them all ourselves because usually you get on or off sync with the books and then have to make new ones). Again, extra hours far exceeding 2.5 in prep time.

I am just wondering where in the world of the hagwon I am with this kind of work. Average, above average, below average? If I am getting screwed, what can I do to help rectify the situation? We're all pretty miserable with this but just taking it. I'm halfway done and plan to stick with it, but I just wonder if I can make the rest of my year any more bearable for me and the future generations of workers.

[pest2]

[mrsquirrel]

I teach 21 45 minute classes a week.

Reality the classes start on average five minutes late but more often than not 10 minutes late.

So contact hours maybe 13 hours a week.

Prep time depends if I am in a good mood or not. If the next topic to be covered is interesting and if the wind is blowing in the right direction.

Some weeks its 10hours prep some weeks it's 2. All depends.

[bnrockin]

[littlelisa]

I have to physically be at work from 9-5 M-F, but only teach fifteen 45 min. classes and four 30 min. classes in a week.

I live on campus, though, so I can go back to my place whenever I like for short periods of time. Prep time depends. This week was practically no prep because of halloween, though I did spend time making and putting up decorations (fun! I didn't have to do much of that either, though if I didn't want to).

I only teach kindy, so there's never any homework to correct or stuff to grade, and if I wanted to/needed to, I could throw together a lesson plan in a few minutes. Since I have the time, I usually take some time to put together fairly good lesson plans. Maybe 4-6 hours a week ish, since most of the classes do the same things.

[RedRob]

You need to look at yr own work patterns here.
You are 6 months into a contract by what you wrote?
Why haven't you sussed out a system to streamline things by now?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I probably average about 50 hours a week at work, but I'm involved in a number of extra-curricular things.

[KYC]

im glad my first time teaching in Korea is at a PS. I have to be here 40 hours a week but only teach 21 forty minute classes and 1 twenty minutes class. The rest of the time I sit in my office and play scrabble Also, classes often get canceled..

[jay-shi]

[xCustomx]

Your schedule sounds exactly like the hagwon I used to work at, right down to the working times, tests, report cards, etc.
Although I would have loved to use that ESL tool site, our report cards had to be very detailed and student specific, even if the parents couldn't understand 10% of it. I think report cards, making exams and grading took at least 12-15 hours. You can bring this up to your boss and see if you can get a slight increase in pay for all of this work, but I doubt if you'll be successful.

[boatofcar]

I'm a public school teacher. I have to be at school from 8:30-5 every day. I teach 4 classes a day 4 days a week and 3 on Friday. I also volunteered to teach an extra class after school that I get paid extra for.

[BS.Dos.]

Hustle, hustle, hustle!

I teach 11x50 minute and 6x45 minute classes per week, supplimented by an additional 2x50 minute classes once a fortnight. You'd think that I'd have loads of downtime, but I don't. It's rare for me to sit around for hours with nothing to do. I allow myself a few 10-minute catch-ups on here, but other than that, I'm usually prepping.

I'm currently waiting on (approximately) 21 kilos of books to arrive from the UK, which I posted to myself before I left, half of which are teaching related (ideas and activities mostly), while the other half are related to my MSc. Don't know about you, but I find that trawlling through page after page of crappy websites looking for ideas and inspiration to be the most tedious, time consuming part of my working week. When I posted my books (surface mail) I was told that it would take about 3-months for them to get here. The 3-month mark passed a couple of weeks ago and I still haven't had so much as a sniff of my books. I'm sure that once they do show up, then I may find that I get a little more in the way of downtime, which'll be welcome, as I need to study for a minimum of 15 hours per week for my Masters.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

8:30-4:30 M-F. I probably spend about 4 hours/week on prep for 18 classes.

Two days a week I play "foot volleyball" with a bunch of the male teachers for a couple of hours, then we go out for a meal and soju (losing team pays). I don't count that time as work, though.

[nomad-ish]

[BS.Dos.]

^Glad to hear that I'm not only one who hates surfing for ideas. I suppose it ties in with individual learning styles. I'm a natural kinesthetic orientated learner and I'd much rather thumb through a book when looking for ideas etc. than navigating my way through loads of websites.

Having said that, this site has been a bit of a lifesaver lately.