Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Teabonesteak]

I'm bored and I have always wanted to do this....
In my opinion this is one of the good schools out there and here are my reasons why:
I started work there in Nov 2nd 07 and finished work with them Nov 2nd 08.

During my time there I have noticed quite the transformation.

The school houses 6 foreign teachers. The housing is just a typical one bedroom apartment. Out of the 6 that were there only one was a small one and as far as cleanliness well.... when I first got there the bathroom smelled like sewer but after we cleaned the place up it was great the whole year.
The things that were weird about my place was the thermostat. It takes about 30 seconds for the hot water to kick in. The washing machine broke only once while I was there and they fixed it immediately.

The school is one whole floor. You can see some pics of the school at okwonderland.com ( I'll spare you details about the decor except to mention it has themed rooms). 13 classrooms, 2 kid rooms, a library, computer lab, and conference room....and a playground and kitchen.

The morning is kindergarten. 9:30 to 1:30.
There are 12 Kindergarten classes. Each teacher has 2 kindy classes in the morning and a free period.
It's like this.

9:20-10:40 - 1st period (snack time at 10:20)
10:40-12:20 -2nd period (lunch time at around 11:40)
12:00-1:25 -3rd period

Snack and lunchtime usually requires the kids to wash there hands so once you get into the rhythm of timing your lessons, making a good lesson with the time available + following your book + staying on schedule with your book, THEN the job becomes much easier.

Kindergarteners also have 3 special days of the month:

Birthday party
Activity Day
Field trip

Field trip takes all day but the birthday party and activity day usually requires you to work only one period with one class that day. These days require you to participate in activities with the kids and they can be fun.

Kindergartners at this school keep a notepad so if you want them to know just write it in their little books. You also create monthly plans which are created from a schedule template with you name on it in the computer lab. This is just so the parents can keep track of what the students are doing.

MtWtF
You have kindergarten everyday of the week

Every Monday is project lesson day. I don't like project lessons. Alot of senseless stodge that they make the kids do. Very disorganized BUT sometimes there is a good activity so make sure you take the time to review before classtime.

Every Wednesday is Science day. It can sometimes be messy but it can also be fun. The info with the science booklets is too much and too disorganized for the little ones so you have to simplify it. My solution? SCIENCE MADE EASY by DK PUBLISHING. It's science for little kids and the material in these books is organized and simple.

Every Friday is Math day. The Math books are big, thick, and sometimes hard to use because you have to have every student on the same page. I recommend using the instructions at the bottom as best you can but sometimes the little ones don't understand to you have to break it down. As long as they understand the concepts or grasp what your getting at then you are succeeding. Once this is done you can add some complimentary worksheets to bolster the lesson. I reccomend the BRAINQUEST WORKS. They are curriculum guides that are age specific and are chalk full off excellent simplified exercises broken down into all subjects of school (including math)

Tuesdays and Thursdays are your course book days (English land, Let's Go, Back Pack)

Last thing to mention about Kindergarten is the report cards. They go out once a month and they require a grade and teacher comments. For each of your Kindergarten classes you can make a paragraph about the class progress as a whole and then another shorter paragraph on how the kid is doing. The files are saved in the computer lab so every new month you can look at the last months report cards and gauge how you're kids are improving.





That's all I can think of about for now. Wonderlands kindergarten program is there bread and butter and it is the hardest part of the job.
If that didn't make the job seem awesome hear is more!


ELEMENTARY/MIDDLE SCHOOL

Classes resume at 3:00 so you got an 1 and a half to: Prepare for the afternoon, eat, sleep. Everyone lives 5 mins walking distance from the school.

Each class is 40 mins and has a MAX of 16 students. Early afternoon which is the first two classes has usually rowdy 9, 10, and 11 year olds so you gotta keep em busy! The kids behave better as the day goes on until the evening. My day ends 7:25 MWF and at 4:25 on TTH.

Afternoon classes have there report cards sent home every second month. They typically follow a course book and on MWF there is test that the korean teachers do that lasts about 20 mins.


WHEW !!! That is all I can think of right now. Since I started working at that school I have seen some definate changes for the better as the year progressed. The school has a pretty good organization structure and they have a lovely Morning supervisor named Mia and a very good-natured Afternoon supervisor named Peter. Both speak very good English and will bend over backwards to help if you take care of your duties. They have the attitude of improvement and all the teachers currently working there have good open personalities and are very personable.

I got every paycheck on time
I got payday advances no worries
I got my severence and a bonus 100000w for being a swell guy
Money is not a problem here. Mr. Kim keeps the books well.



When I first got there it was all Wonderland but after a couple months they switched to Wonderland in the Morning and Plus Academy in the Afternoon. The Organization iwas much needed.


That's all I gotta say. The only bad expericene I had in Gwangju(and which turned me off of franchised restaurants in Korea) was a meal I had at T.G.I.F.s but that's only those who want to hear it.

Feel free to express your admiration for the school you work at if you feel it doesn't fit in with all the bad hagwons out there.

[Bigfeet]

Nice post! I've been thinking about trying out a hagwon and I'm sure there are good ones out there. Nice of you to provide details on what goes on so people will have an idea of what to expect.

One thing though, your hours seem long. Your workday starts at 9:30am every day and ends at 7:25pm on MWF and at 4:25pm on TTh? That's about 44 hours per week. What's your monthly salary?

[Teabonesteak]

It was 2.0 but if I wanted to go back they would make it 2.3. Starters these days at the school get 2.2.

[saw6436]

A good Hagwon can beat a public school any day of the week for day to day teaching. In 10 years I've worked at only 2 Hagwons and both have been good. Vacation sucks but I usually work out a deal with the schools. And pay is considerably better in a Hagwon. My current Hagwon is paying just better than W3,100,000 a month for 20 hours a week.

PO thanks for the post. Nice to hear some objective stuff on Daves.

[VanIslander]

[saw6436]

^^Good advice!

[Xuanzang]

[ontheway]

That's all I can think of about for now. Wonderlands kindergarten program is there bread and butter and it is the hardest part of the job.
If that didn't make the job seem awesome hear is more!



Does anyone else think this sounds like a Korean hogwan owner looking for a new teacher?

[WoBW]

[the ireland]

ECC in Gohyeon (Geoje Do) Great school to work for, hours are 3-9 mon-wed-fri and 3:30-7:10 tues and thurs.

Great school to work for, always paid on time or prior to the date depending on how the weekend fell as he always wanted you to have money for the weekend. bonuses were paid at new year and chuseok and there was a never ending amount of staff dinners too. We were also brought on weekend trips away and days out, all fully paid by the director of the school who is a great great man, and the principal is great to work for too, she is very fair and fun. and the korean teachers all have the highest level of english you could wish for.

I think salaries start of at 2.2 but there is a chance of recieving higher if you push for it, due to its location etc.

I recieved my flight money, pension and bonus before i left the school.

this is another one of those great hagwons you hear so little about

[hari seldon]

A hagwon is no better than the people who own and manage it. Franchise name means zero.

Don't expect a hagwon to hand you a favorable contract and if they refuse to negotiate changes, walk away.

[ThingsComeAround]

[nicam]

My boyfriend works for Ebo Young (sp?) in Gohyeon, Geoje from 1 p.m. until 8 p.m. -- 25 total teaching hours a week -- for 2.2 (not great, but it's his first year), has a huge 2 bedroom penthouse apartment 500 ft. from the school, and is given EVERYTHING imaginable by his director, from electic blankets to fruit, to a nice computer with a wireless router... No kindy, small classes, no bullshit from parents or co-teachers, etc. Good teaching materials and set curricula means no lesson planning. Vacation time sucks, but he's going to take a break for a month or two at the end of his contract.

I, on the other hand, work for a crap EPIK PS and have considered bailing on several occasions for countless reasons, so I agree that a good hagwon beats PS ANY day of the week!

[Kimchieluver]

[yingwenlaoshi]