Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ironmaninkorea]

is it ok for a big english school to schedule a teacher's classes throughout the day from 650, 2pm, and then 8pm? I mean how does a person have time for himself right? is this tolerated by teachers? i initially thought split shift was morning and night only, with afternoons free, guess i was wrong...

[Bibbitybop]

What does your contract say? Are teaching time stipulated? If not,you signed it, its legal.

Never assume.

[ironmaninkorea]

my contract only stipulates that i will teach 4 (80) minute class per day, but after looking at other teachers schedules, many of them have classes scattered throughout the day, that translates to 15 hours a day of BEING in the school, wtf!!!! i got fvked?

[bassexpander]

I have to fight a 9am to 9pm schedule every-other semester. No lunch. No dinner. 10 mins in between classes.

They pulled that on me once (just one day out of the week) and I told them I wouldn't do it again unless I had lunch and dinner for an hour each.

The bright side of it was that I was working just 2 days a week! This year, they tried to pass that schedule by me again, but I said, "no." They're spreading the hours out throughout the week a bit.

The Korean profs here were shocked that I was even asked to work such a schedule. The reason it happened was because one office creates room/time schedules based on seniority and professor preference. Of course, the foreign English teachers don't get a say. That office then passes on room/time schedules to our department, where an assistant getting paid 700,000 won a month puts our names on whatever open slot fits. She then asks us what we think.

The outcome is often not good, and she says there's nothing she can do about it when I complain. That's when I have to say, "I'm sorry, but I refuse to work that schedule." She then becomes stressed, and tells me that she can't do anything about it, and that it is too late to change because the school has already decided. I don't budge, and tell her I won't work that schedule. She then calls the boss, and they usually come to some kind of change that works out.

[ella]

Someone on here once described splits shifts this way: the employer uses you up then picks another foreigner out of the puppy bin. They can schedule classes however they want. You're only fvcked if you allow yourself to be fvcked. It's your choice.

[bassexpander]

Been here long enough to realize that "no" is often the answer given, simply because it is the easiest answer for them to give. It requires no effort.

Sometimes rocking back and forth while screaming like Dustin Hoffman in "The Rainman" helps a lot, too. I pulled that one when the Kangnam Drivers License office refused to believe my US Embassy-stamped form stating that I have a motorcycle permit in the USA.

It worked.

[garykasparov]

[hellofaniceguy]

Why would anyone sign a contract like that...is beyond reasoning. They get what they deserve. And it's "legal." From the korean point of view, it's legal.

[ironmaninkorea]

yep thats pretty much a typical schedule, two classes in AM, one at 1pm, and the last in the night , but hey this kills any free afternoon time, i have to come back over and over and over...i'm just going to say NO. JUST SAY NO!

[shaunew]

In another thread you were talking shit about online degree's. Saying you have an MA, but you are an idiot if you signed this contract. What the hell did they teach you in your grad school?

[MarionG]

Everyone loves to jump on the guy who "didn't read the contract" and therefore is "getting what he deserves." What a bunch of jacks and jennys...

The jumpers usually 1) have a lot more world experience than the jumpee, or 2) have such a negative world view that they are suspicious of everyone and are pretty thoroughly avoided as a result, or 3) keep quiet about their own early idiocy, or 4) have little else with which to make themselves feel superior, so use the jump-on-the-guy-who's-down method of making themselves feel good.

They usually kick puppies and drown kittens too.

[sojourner1]

That's unnecessarily difficult even though its no more teaching time than most of us teach which is about 5 to 6 classroom hours a day. I might consider for one year if it paid a huge salary such as 60,000,000 Won or more since I it would mean 45,000,000 for the year in savings. I start at 9:30 and finish around 6 or 7 and find it to be long tiring days, but the lunch breaks are nice.

For 26,000,000 won a year, assuming it pays 2 mil a month, there are much more practical ways than this 15 hour a day crapola. Sorry you fell into a trap. Research.

[highlander_76]

My girlfriend (now wife) in Korea got me my first job here in Korea sight unseen - one of the ungodly split-shift places. I did it for three months, and then I told my boss that I just couldn't handle it anymore and told him I'd probably freak out eventually if my schedule couldn't change, and so he let me out of my contract. He was one of the few smart hagwon bosses - he realized it's better to let a guy go then keep a time bomb on staff (I should note that he was a white American).

So maybe you can tell them that you can't handle the schedule, that you just can't get enough sleep each night (the true case for me starting at 6am and finishing at 9pm or 10pm) and ask out of your contract. You might get lucky. However, you might be out of luck since you did knowingly sign the contract even though you didn't really realize what you were getting into.