Korean Job Discussion Forums

Cerriowen · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Location: Pocheon

Question

If I'm contracted with the public school from 8:30-4:30... and hypothetically my classes are in a block (say... 9-12:30)... Do I have to stay at school the whole day? Do you stick around even after your work is done, just by virtue of having a white face in case a need arises?

If so... what do you do with the rest of your time?

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

It's completely up to your school, what instructions they've received from the LEA, and if they feel like following such instructions. If you're regularly getting afternoons off that the KTs spend at work, however, they may not view you as a regular teacher.

poet13 · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:17 am Post subject:

Well said.

CentralCali · Joined: 17 May 2007

It's up to your school if you must actually be present; however, for times you're not present, you must have the principal's approval. Of course, you are not required to get approval to be off the premises during your lunch hour (which is actually 50 minutes down here in Busan). The Korean teachers get their approval done via a computerized system known as NIST (if I recall the name correctly). We foreigners get to do it "old school" style, with a nifty little log book and ball-point pen.

I was pleasantly surprised when I requested just two hours off to drop off paperwork at Immigration. The vice-principal looked me dead in the eye and said, "I appreciate your dedication. I'm changing the request anyway. Take the entire afternoon off. See you tomorrow."

Cerriowen · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Location: Pocheon

So... what do you do with the rest of your time? If I'm contracted for 8 hours, and I work 3... Even when I was making my own materials, I didn't need 5 hours to prepare for class.

skconqueror · Joined: 31 Jul 2005

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

egrog1717 · Joined: 12 Mar 2008

So PS jobs are basically the best around, so long as you can handle the larger class size?

Shredd · Joined: 13 Jun 2007 Location: Pusan, South Korea

Remember that you have a co-teacher too, so that really averages out to 15 students per teacher. My classes have been averaging 25 students and the co-teachers (for some reason I have 3) can be real hard asses. This is good because I'm not very good at being a disciplinarian.

ardis · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Location: Seoul

Last semester, one of my co-teachers used to always ask my VP if I could go home early when my schedule was extra free (afternoon classes canceled and such). Now, we have a new VP (a very stern looking man, not the nice woman I used to have), so they haven't even bothered asking. It's all good--I practice my Korean and read at my desk.