Korean Job Discussion Forums

zpeanut · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Location: Pohang, Korea

Hi everyone Smile

I'm currently completing a Masters in Education (Applied Linguistics). I've been thinking about working in Korea for awhile as an English teacher but have been given mixed information on the best way to go.

What I'd like to find is a well-paying, stable job..not too many hours, that looks good on my resume. (What everyone wants I guess.. ^^)

I know that a Hagwon would be the last option.. so I've ruled that out entirely.

One suggestion was to teach at a Foreign Language Institite at a University. I've heard that most universities in Korea have such language institutes offering English and other languages. I quite like the idea of a university job... but how good is it really? Does anyone work at one or know anything concerning pay, conditions? etc. Is a Masters enough to qualify for a university job?

Another auggestion was to teach at a government high school. Apparently it is more stable, the pay is supposed to be better and there are less working hours. Is this true? High school kids are ok... but they may just drive me up the wall!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated Very Happy

Thanks

merkurix · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Location: Not far from the deep end.

Both have its disadvantages, and some uni's are dodgy (esp. unigwons that make you teach kindy for their personal profit). But here is a general list I've experienced (in case some moe-ron chimes in and says "That's not true because it didn't happen to me so you are full of shyte blah, blah, blah . . . ").

Between the two, take Uni. Don't take H.S. There is just no comparison and anyone who tells you they prefer H.S. over uni is either 1.) a very passionate individual who relishes teaching that particular age group. 2.) bitter people who couldn't get a uni job if they tried their best.

ADVANTAGES:

HS:

Own classroom

20-30 hours a week

Paid sick days with no make-up class requirements

Paid Accommodation

Paid Airfare

One or more free meals a day

UNI:

Less hours (5-15 hours a week; unigwons may work you much more than this)

2-4 months vacation--PAID

Few or no discipline problems

Pays better overall for less work.

Many cash bonuses and overtime offers.

DISADVANTAGES:

HS:

Some or a lot of discipline problems

2-4 weeks paid vacation

co-teaching problems may arise

20-30 hours a week of teaching

Sometimes co-teachers and administration can be unsupportive.

UNI:

No paid accommodation in most places.

No airfare in most places.

There can be a lot of grading.

Battling students for grades at the end of the semester.

Can be lots of prep work

zpeanut · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Location: Pohang, Korea

:O .. thank you! that was a very helpful post.. and interesting..
so much for what I was told about High school...

merkurix · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Location: Not far from the deep end.

You are welcome Smile Since I have taught at both, I have thought about the advantages and disadvantages a few times in the past. I did enjoy my overall HS teaching experience in Korea, but I prefer uni teaching by leaps and bounds. With that said, still be careful. There are some uni language institutes that are rotten because they are run by greedy, corrupt directors at worst; incompetent bumbling fools at best. Between the two, take Uni. Don't take H.S. There is just no comparison and anyone who tells you they prefer H.S. over uni is either 1.) a very passionate individual who relishes teaching that particular age group. 2.) bitter people who couldn't get a uni job if they tried their best.

Bibbitybop · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul

Good info merkurix, just one thing to add:

It's easy to get a good HS job from overseas, but a good uni job is difficult to find from overseas. The best thing to do is get what you can from overseas, trying good unis, but don't be disappointed if you can't get the good uni job from overseas. Your qualifications matter, but so do your contacts and face-time.

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

Good uni jobs are all about networking. It is ALL in who you know and who knows you.

A uni language institute is NOT working for the uni, but in a hakwon attached to the uni. Usually the conditions are not much better than your average hakwon and sometimes they can be worse (lower pay, no housing or dorm housing on campus - at least in most hakwons you get your own (albeit small) apartment.

If you want an honest opinion, take a public school job to get you over here and get your feet wet. Spend your time networking and move up to bigger and better.

With a related MA you could easily land a decent job like you are looking for in your 2nd year. It is unlikely (but not 100% impossible) that you would find one from abroad.

.

ED209 · Joined: 17 Oct 2006

There are 'foreign language' high schools in most major cities in Korea. These are usually a lot better than your average HS. Discipline problems are rare and the students would be a lot more driven, wanting to get into the best universities. Also many of the students would have a higher level of English than an average the HS.

I'm not too sure how to apply for these. The normal route is through SMOE, EPIK or GEPIK. But some will hire direct(keep an eye on the Korean Jobs Board).

aka Dave · Joined: 02 May 2008 Location: Down by the river

The problem you're going to have getting a good Uni. job is, there will be applicants (most likely) who are from Korea and can show up for an interview. When I interviewed at my current Uni. job, the head of the department showed me a stack of applications from overseas (20 to 30 maybe?), but Koreans I think prefer face time to get an impression. I think that's natural anywhere, really.

However, I was offered a Uni. job at Gwang-ju Uni. based on simply a telephone interview. I have a masters and 2 years doctoral work, but it's all in French, so I dunno the relevance but they like the degrees.

I don't teach in the "language center" (it's not a hagwon, all the students are Uni students"), I teach in the English dept. Some language center teachers taught immersion with me this summer(I'm the only foreigner in my small dept.) and my impression was they had a generally good gig.

Their one complaint was that they taught some non-majors who weren't into English, just doing it for the requirements.

I don't get paid much better than hagwons (if at all), really if you want to make money you probably should go to Seoul and assemble a bunch of privates or get a job at an exclusive h.s. But a Uni job is much less stress.

aka Dave · Joined: 02 May 2008 Location: Down by the river

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

fustiancorduroy · Joined: 12 Jan 2007

I'll second getting a job at a foreign language high school. I work at one now, and I would say it compares really nicely to the average uni gig.

FLHS Advantages

Well-behaved, motivated students who are highly (depending on the quality of the school) proficient at English

Higher pay than most jobs, usually starting around 3 million per month, with opportunities to earn extra money (my school has an optional one-month winter camp that pays 8 million won)

Fairly low teaching hours, usually around 20 - 24, with the option of leaving for the day when your classes are done (unlike public schools where you have to work 40 hours per week no matter what)

Good work environment with other professional educators from all over the world (at my school we have teachers from Peru, Germany, China, Japan, and France)

Long vacations, usually at least 3 months

Free housing within walking distance from school

Disadvantages

Teaching hours are higher than universities, as much as triple

Reduced or no pay during vacations

Students are not adults and sometimes suffer from teen angst

Students are very concerned with their grades and will sometimes argue over them

Parents may complain to the school, though the repercussions are not nearly as bad as they would be at a hagwon

And that's about it for the bad. Really, unless you got a sweet uni gig, I think you'd be better off going the FLHS route, at least your first year. I know my school was looking for a new teacher to replace the one who is leaving after a 4 year stint at the school, but I don't know if they've found anybody. In any case, the FLHSs, including mine, post job ads here on Dave's, so just look around.

aka Dave · Joined: 02 May 2008 Location: Down by the river

Yeah, about the correcting
I was saddled with 2 extra "writing workshops" where the students aren't even graded, it's just essentially prep for the teacher's exam, which is very, very difficult. But these classes became popular even though they didn't get credit. They know they need it.

But correcting Korean essays is essentially one or even two hours perclass hour. I'm on vacation but next week I start another writing workshop. I honestly don't have to make myself work hard for these classes, I *could* grade two sample essays each class and use those as example essays and then have the students "peer review" each other's essays. The head of my dept. suggested this as she said "you're working too much".

"Peer review" is like the blind leading the blind. There are such fundamental mistakes you have to correct the essays and make them re-write. I correct one re-write and then make the re-re-write.

But that means mornings I'm sitting in front of stack of essays that have sentences that are just so mangled they're very difficult to untangle.

The reward is that they *don't* get this instruction from the Korean professors, and their writing improves very quickly relatively to theirpeaking/listening skills. But if you taught at a hagwon/h.s. you would not have to deal with this.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

HS and uni jobs can really vary from place to place. If you want to put your research to use and try different methods you'll find much more ability to do so at a uni, but landing a uni job from outside the country is very difficult.

Kwangjuchicken

zpeanut · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Location: Pohang, Korea

^.. peas..

Good source of fibre.

Thanks to everyone for the posts so far. Very helpful and more than I expected. I'm quite interested in this FLHS thing. Sounds like it's somewhere in the middle.. I will definitely look into it.

Yes, I've heard about how networking helps, didn't expect it to be so influential. I happened to study Korean as my second major, I guess I'm going to have to buy some wine for a few ppl ^^ ..