Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sboix23]

Has anyone heard of this school? Just got offered a job at one of their locations. Any input would be appreciated

[ABC KID]

I think it might be a franchise. There is one in Cheongju. I did meet three of their teachers way back in 2003 and they all seemed content but that is so long ago that it is irrelevent now. I can't tell you much other than it has been in business for many, many years, which means they must be doing something right...

Does that mean they treat their foreign teachers well - I don't know.
Does that mean it is a good place to work - I don't know.

[BigBuds]

Topia schools are all over Korea. You're going to have to be a bit more specific if you want to find out about a particular school.

Where is this one located? City and area.

[Xuanzang]

They're the ones with the maroon coach buses. I'm guessing it means the academies charge a pretty penny.

[Auslegung]

I currently work at Topia in Jukjeon. There are many campuses, so judging them all by a review of a single campus isn't very accurate. Don't forget, there are corporate-owned Topias and privately-owned Topias. The corporate ones are focused in Seoul, so if you work at one outside of Seoul/Gyeonggi-do, most likely you work for someone who just bought the name. I work at a corporate-sponsored campus in Jukjeon.

First, Topia books your plane ticket for about 10 days before you start teaching. The first week you're here you'll have corporate training at the main branch in Gangnam. The training sucks, plain and simple. The people at my campus laugh at it and every semester plead with them not to waste our new teachers' time with it. Very boring, but you gotta go, whatever.

I teach at the Jukjeon campus in Yongin-si. It started January 2009, and I started March 2009. As of the summer of 2009 it is still the newest Topia campus. The area is nice and growing. Because we are a larger campus, we can be somewhat picky with who we allow to attend, so the quality of our students is higher, at least from what I hear from my friends.

We have 5 different levels of abilities, from phonics to mastery, and three different age-groups within that, between 3rd grade to 6th grade. Other campuses differ with the age groups, but the ability levels remain the same.

The leaders at my campus are all very concerned with the students and our quality of teaching, which is nice. However, I feel I rarely get praised, and when I make a mistake they tell me. They are usually good about telling me in a decent enough way, but a little praise would go a long way.

Because we usually teach for 6.5 hours straight, they sometimes provide us with a meal that we can quickly eat on our 15 and 5 minute breaks.

Contracts are usually for 30 teaching hours/week, but they try to give you between 26-28 so you can have some breaks throughout the week, to make it easier. My biggest complaint about Topia is that I work hard. In June, I was probably working 55 hours/week, with grading, overtime, everything. However, the grading was self-inflicted (give the kids more work, you gotta grade more work), and the overtime was optional but gives me an extra $400/month. Now, I'm probably doing 45, which isn't bad at all for a teacher. I'm nearly able to grade all my papers and do all my prep in the time they give me.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd definitely work at Topia again, even with their warts. I'm not likely to get a better working situation, and there are lots worse.

There's lots of stuff I could say, but it's only about my campus, and it'll all change in a few years when the leadership has changed, I'm sure. Just remember, taking everything you read (including mine) with a grain of salt.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Sounds crappy.

[Auslegung]

You mean it sounds like a real job? Oh dear God, run away!

[yingwenlaoshi]

[Auslegung]

Excellent reply. Both articulate and well thought out. I never really thought of it that way. I am so glad you've enlightened me with your wide-ranging wisdom.

But do reply with things a bit more helpful than "sounds crappy." Perhaps a couple of reasons, contrasted with your experiences where you work, may be a bit more helpful.

[Triban]

I got a contract from Topia earlier this year and it was full of illegal clauses that i cited from the Korean labor Standards Act. A week later when I pointed this out, they withdrew their offer.

[Auslegung]

Triban, you don't happen to remember any specifics? Nothing in my contract was suspect, it was actually one of the better ones I had received at the point (though the other ones were pretty shady, so it wasn't competing with much). It may be possible that that Topia wasn't a corporate-sponsored one, because I'd like to think those, being as large as they are, wouldn't have something so blatantly illegal. Do you happen to remember the location of the one that offered you the job?

[pkang0202]

[Auslegung]

We are given 10 vaca days/year to use as we want. However, 2 must be used in August, actually yesterday and today, so realistically we get 8 days and a 4-day weekend. We are also given all national holidays, which this year is 2. We are also allowed sick days. We aren't paid for them, though. I don't know what kind of restrictions there are regarding them as I haven't had to take any, but others in my office have been out for nearly a week with, as far as I know, no problems or complications.

Most teachers only teach 6.5 hours straight on MWF, but of course we have a 5-minute break between classes and a 15-minute break when the groups change. TR is our slow time where most teachers have at least 1-2 hours of break.

As for getting praised, I've heard and read about much worse. This just means the leadership at my particular campus isn't aware of the "praise sandwich." They really aren't evil about it or anything.

How is the 30-hour contract bad? That's standard with hagwons. I don't know about other hogwons trying to give less than contracted hours, and still pay the full contracted payment, but it's nice to be given breaks, and for the leadership to understand that we need them.

For base pay I think most of us are getting about 2.2 mil, standard, but we have opportunity to make overtime at about W25,000/hr. I make at least W2.5 mil with just 5 hours/week overtime, and have made as much as W2.9 mil.

If you're trying to compare this hogwan with a public school, of course it's going to look rough, or crappy. I hope you aren't, and that you know the difference.[/i]

[Triban]

[Auslegung]

At Topia, you are paid overtime if you work more than your contracted 30 teaching hours/week. If a teacher takes their vacation or is sick, someone has to substitute for them, and it may be you. However, I've been here for almost 6 months and have never had to sub, teach extra classes, etc. We also have an intensive summer program, just like everyone else, and a few teachers (who are teaching the least amount of classes already) have to teach one extra class for August.

I agree with you on the contractual thing, maybe it wasn't a corporate-sponsored Topia, but a privately-owned one?

According to law, you may not be forced, but you can be strongly encouraged. Are you in Korea currently? If you are then certainly you know that the average person works more than 40. I heard a stat that the average Korean works 48.x hours/week, which when you factor in those who you know who work less than that, some people are regularly putting in 60+ hours.