Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gajackson1]

Heya, all - greetings from the South China Seas!

I'm trying to help out a poster-to-be; he has put in for DESL registration, but Dave is full-up on slots just now, so I'm posting on his behalf -

Does anyone have any info on any of these 3 EPIK schools in the Masan area?

* Masan Seo Middle School

* Samjin M.S.

* Jinjeon M.S.

Sorry to say as I can't be sure of spelling variations - that is straight from Tim's mail. Any info, positive or negative, can be posted up here, or sent to me via pm.

Much appreciated!

Glen (the robot is basking in Brunei)

[blonde researcher]

Is your friend applying through the EPIK office, a recruiter, or directly to the office of education in Changwon. The education office now recruits for all their own PS jobs through recruiters
These schools are further out of Masan city.
The wesbite of the main school Masan Seo is http://www.masanseo.ms.kr The other 2 schools are the additional schools he would have to be teaching at as well.

[gajackson1]

yep, it is a recruiter - same old two-step

The recruiter is based in Busan; I may be able to get the name, if it is important?

So this guy would have to teach at all 3 campuses? How is that handled on the transportation end? Or is it just a different school each day???

Thanks for the info - I was in SoKo just over 10 years myself, and I did teacher training classes for the MoE out that way - but never worked for/with EPIK.

Cheers!

Glen

[Gamecock]

You should be aware that there was a HUGE problem last year with Masan EPIK teachers getting their severance pay at the end of their contract. It seems there was someone in Masan that did his best to screw over the teachers there. I believe all the teachers finally received their severance, but some didn't get it until a couple of months after their contract ended! Hopefully that situation has been rectified for next year, but I met more than 1 Masan EPIKer who said they would not recommend Masan to anyone.

[it's full of stars]

Yes, I heard about that also-through emails from people in the area. Approach with caution.

[gajackson1]

great to know - I also got in some other PMs regarding airfare & other 'irregularities' thereabouts. On the plus side, I have at least 1 longer-term friend there in the area that says the problems *seem* to have been fixed.

If it helps anyone, the recruiter is Mi-kyung Park, with M&J Consulting out of Busan - I've seen the name before on the job listing board.

I've also expressed a concern about the transpo/logistics between 3 different school assignments (granted, on different days) and wherever his house would be, as he is not planning on getting a car. I'm also trying to get a copy of the presented contract to compare with the 'official' EPIK one.

Thanks for the input!

Glen

[ghohn]

[matthews_world]

Please don't go PM'ing me for details but I happened to be the last teacher who held that position for one year. No other foreigner in the school.

Masan Seo - 800+ squirrely boys - each semester you'll teach half for 3 days - 12 hours/week. 4 Korean co-teachers with decent English will help your stay. Apartment is a huge one-room (13pyung) close to campus. You will need to teach after-school 2 days per week and summer/winter camp - all paid overtime into your Korean bank account. Principal speaks wonderful English and you will be paid on-time. You have your own English Zone and instructional computer with screen to use.

Sam-jin - Excellent country school 20 min by bus with well-behaved girls & boys. Teach one day per week. District gives travel bonus. 3 co-teachers and friendly staff.

Jin-jeon - 40 min. travel by bus. Take an mp3/PMP with you. Smaller scale school which means lower levels. Teach 3 classes 1-day per week.

With this pub school you'll spend a lot of time planning and prepping to go along with the text book. After school class and camps there is no book so you'll need to develop/bring in your own material.

Long summer and winter public school vacations - 4-5 weeks each but subtract 2 weeks for the time you'll be teaching camps. Lots of "unscheduled" vacation time for testing, festivals & what not.

I had no problems there. There's not much to do in Masan so you'll spend your weekends at home or travelling about. I loved the south coast weather - not too cold in the winter. You'll have large supermarkets to choose from in order to meet your needs.

Don't think I missed much. If the teacher is a noob and has never taught in Korea before then they'd possibly have difficulty with the lesson planning involved.

[ghohn]

Thanks Matthews_World,

Your post was very informative. I think I might pursue the position.

Garrett