Korean Job Discussion Forums

[IncognitoHFX]

My hagwon just closed out. For typical reasons of course, namely there not being enough students to be profitable and not enough incentives to keep the business running. I had my fair share of difficulties too, such as having to move (not wanting to), and having some bogus run in with a different hagwon because it was vaguely in my contract.

None of which were my bosses fault, and not even my hagwon's fault in general. It was just a lot of inexperience on part of the people operating it. I had terrible problems with behaviour too, which is also something I can partly blame on the hagwon's inexperience as well as myself, being a new teacher and not really desiring to work with "babies".

Anyway, aside from all of this, my hagwon closed. My boss was extremely kind to us, paid my co-worker half his bonus even though he was only half way into his second contract, he paid me my full bonus even though I'm only eleven months in and on top of this, he paid our month's salary and is paying for our rent for the month of May.

We had a hagwon that really took care of us when we needed it, and we worked with Koreans who tried their hardest to keep us happy, even when it was losing them money.

For all those naysayers, there are good hagwons out there. There are good Koreans out there (of course). There are also good hagwons, even though they get schemed out of business by bad ones, they do exist. Not all of Korea is bad, and working here isn't always bad.

Anyway, I just wanted to tell my story for the sake of telling it. I think it's a story not told on here very often. I had a very up and down year, but despite all of that it ended well and I was treated very nicely by the people I worked for. I also left on a good note.

Now back to my vacation. I have a month off in Korea.

[jadarite]

A month off? Trade ya?

[MissSeoul]

[smedini]

Hey HFX;

Even though my hogwan days are over, I hear you. I worked for a hogwan in a smallish city and it couldn't have been a better experience. I even signed on for a second year despite having offers of better pay in Seoul. Sure, my boss pissed me off sometimes and we had disagreements, but he was always very reasonable and his family made me feel a big part of theirs. That was almost 10 years ago and we still chat to this day.

There are good hogwans out there

~smedini

[air76]

I agree....the hagwon my girlfriend and I are working at now is great. I think that it's funny that so many people are bent for leather to get a public school job. Sure, you might get a little more vacation and have less teaching hours, but teaching a class of 40 students with an exceptionally low level of English is not the same thing as teaching 6-8 students who generally at least have the basics down.

Of course there are bad hagwons here, but a good percentage of them are great places to work, and most of them are at the least OK. I think that we get a little spoiled here as well at times....free rent, free flight, school pays for all visa requirements, etc, etc, on top of a great salary...so we start to expect that everything will be free or taken care of.

[runlikegump]

Me too. My first year here was in a hagwon, and despite occasional philosophical differences with the owner, the experience was excellent. We are still in touch and have met as friends since I left.

[Gamecock]

So what you're saying is there WAS a good hogwan...but it's gone now!

[mindmetoo]

The one I worked for was pretty good too. And as far as I know they're still in business. Some hagwons give back exactly what you put into them. If you're an arrogant jerk that struts around, you'll get it back in kind.

[mnhnhyouh]

Right, that is the second time this morning. A thread with too much positivity!!!!

What is going on? Did somebody put something in the water as part of Albert Hofmann's mourning?

h