Korean Job Discussion Forums

[fromtheuk]

My second contract at the same GEPIK elementary school will end in May next year. I'm thinking well ahead to avoid a repetition of any mistakes I made last year.

I am married by the way................

I currently feel I want to change schools next year. Why?

The main reason is because in my first year I had 20 hrs regular class, this year it is 22 hrs, and next year it will be 24 hrs a week.

For the honest, fairly lazy teachers out there, I really miss 20 hrs regular class a week. Are there any GEPIK schools out there with just 20 hrs regular class a week, or at worst just 22? 24 is too much guys.

Other reasons I want to move are:

I want to experience a new school.

I want the honeymoon period of 4 months or so, the novelty value.

I want something new and slightly 'fresh'.

I want to live in a new area of Korea, not necessarily out of this province, but just somewhere different.

I also want a school which will give me extra unofficial vacation days or at least will let me leave early after camps.

After this contract ends, I'll have 2 years experience with GEPIK and hopefully a completed ITTT online 100hr TEFL course (I've done 40% of it in just under 5 weeks and I have just under 5 months left to finish it).

I came to Korea with no prior teaching experience. Now, I have experience, and a fair amount of my own teaching material e.g. many power points, worksheets etc. I have the confidence to teach.

I want to start the next job a month after this one ends, sometime in June 09. If I change school, I will go home for a few weeks, line up a job well before that and hopefully start the next contract in June.

I'll invite my wife from Iraq and she will rejoin me in Korea.

So, SMOE recruit in September and I want a job in June, so I am looking for another GEPIK job, probably through a recruiter (maybe my original recruiter).

Out of interest, a teacher with 2 years at GEPIK and a 100 hr tefl course would start at which salary with SMOE? If it's 1.8 million I'll forget them for the foreseeable future.

My co-teacher and I now get on fine, so getting an adequate reference shouldn't be a problem.

But I'm thinking 3 years at the same school, with a Principal who is pretty inflexible is not going to be positive for me. I also didn't like the fact he doesn't allow me to pray at school (I'm Muslim), in private, if I want to.

I look forward to any positive advice

[Colorado]

I'm at public school, but not GEPIK or SMOE, so I can't answer your specific questions. I'll leave that to someone else.

I'm on my third contract at the same school. I sometimes have thoughts of changing schools for the reasons you describe. I hear about other teachers with more vacation time, I miss that initial honeymoon "superstar" period when you start a new school, etc. The grass is always greener somewhere else and I'm not a perfect fit with my school by any means.

But there is something to be said for hunkering down and staying at the same school for a while. There's a huge turnover at public schools. There are only a few Korean teachers who have been here as long as I have. I've seen three principals come and go, and each time the policies have changed, sometimes for the better. I know the ropes here and I've gained something over the years, a measure of acceptance that approaches respect, from the teachers as well as the students. I am very much a part of this school and this community. I feel valued here. That's something that comes with time and that's something I need to figure into the equation whenever the grass is looking greener over the hill.

Just something to think about.