Korean Job Discussion Forums

chossmonkey · Joined: 08 Jun 2008 Location: Seoul

I've had offers to teach in Hogwans in Pusan from 2.1 to 2.3. The 2.3 was for a horrible location so I said no.

My question for you experienced teachers is if you were only offered 1.8 to teach in a public school would you take it? The hours are 9 - 5 but that includes teaching and preparing, plus a little free time to read or study korean (we do need to stay at the school though).

The more laid back atmosphere almost sounds worth it. What do you guys think?

IncognitoHFX · Joined: 06 May 2007 Location: Yeongtong, Suwon

I'm getting 2.2 for exactly that. It's my second year in Korea, and I'm working at a decent High School.

I teach between 1-2.5 hours a day, and spend the rest of the time at school studying Korean and a little time here and there peeking in on Dave's. I only have to prep one lesson plan per week and I usually have it perfected by the week's end.

All PS positions are eight hour shifts, and most are between 20-22 hours a week. That means, all PS positions will give you plenty of free time and vacation, especially if you work at a High School. You shouldn't need to accept 1.8 because of a standard most jobs already have.

All PS jobs are laid back for foreign teachers. It's the nature of the work. Just don't make any waves and you'll find you have too much free time.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

chossmonkey · Joined: 08 Jun 2008 Location: Seoul

I have more than one recruiter telling me that 1.8 is standard with no experience and no TEFOL cert. They said that if I waited a month and got my cert online, they would give me 2.0.

Both did offer a .3 bonus for signing plus one offered a .1 monthly bonus. It seems to be worth a substantial pay cut if it means I could sqeez in even one hour of studying each day while I'm at school. Plus I can always get my cert before my second year and make bank.

Oh yeah, and 14 days vacation.

mekku · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Location: daegu, korea

crusher_of_heads · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:58 pm Post subject:

EPIK with no experience and nothing more than a BA starts at 1.8.

Get a certificate before coming over, people.

ardis · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Location: Seoul

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

It seems the public schools are really low-balling newbies. Perhaps they're relying on the reputation of most hagwons to get them recruits.

IncognitoHFX · Joined: 06 May 2007 Location: Yeongtong, Suwon

I'm getting the feeling that GEPIK is better than EPIK. GEPIK starts at 2.0 with no experience and I managed to get 2.2 with only a year's worth of hagwon experience.

Return Jones · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:36 pm Post subject:

All this talk about not accepting less than 2.5 is bullshite. A shortage of teachers will not equal higher salaries at all. I've said many times that Korean economics don't work like that. Any job ad offering 2.5-2.6 is a lie. Once you apply, I personally guarantee they will try to lowball you by saying "Oh, 2.5 is for CELTA. Oh, 2.6 is for someone with a teacher's license, etc, etc."

Salaries are no different than they every were. 2.1 or maybe 2.2 is the standard for someone with a year of experience. Schools and hagwons would rather go without a teacher than pay more than that. This is the ESL industry in Korea. They don't look at the bigger picture and pay for experience and quality, they simply want cheap.