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MDG
Joined: 02 Aug 2009
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 3:50 pm Post subject: Does everyone who sounds so sweet over the phone... |
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...stay that way once you sign the contract and show up in S. Korea?
I have been browsing these forums long enough to know the horrors of teaching in S. Korea. But I scratch my head after I have an interview with someone from the school and find them to be incredibly sweet. I always leave the phone conversation initially feeling very nice about my decision to teach in S. Korea and ready to accept the position.
Then I scratch my head again when I share the contract on this site (or in one case found my exact contract posted and ripped apart years earlier) and I am told by commenters to "accept at your own risk" or "run away and don't look back!"
I feel so unsure.
I initially felt sure about going to S. Korea after browsing many blogs where the writers seemed all cheery in their posts. They had lots of pictures and video blogs and took trips to fun places. But now I think I understand why so many of these blog sites come to a dead halt with no explanation. Did they die? Get kidnapped? Lose their ability to type? The only thing that makes sense from these forums is that they ran away as fast as they could, perhaps forgetting they even had a blog after being so traumatized.
I'm a nice, honest girl, and I will admit to being a Pollyanna and therefore very trusting. Even if a contract sounds sucky I think; "But they were so sweet over the phone! How bad could it be?"
So I guess what I'm hoping for is to hear what experiences any of you had with your managers/directors/coworkers of the school you would be working at. Does the sweetness soon wear off? Did you initially accept a contract because they sounded so nice only to find it was all a gimmick?
I am not one of those categorized as only going to S. Korea because I have nothing else to do. I would be putting off grad school, leaving my lovely dogs, family, and boyfriend. I thought to go to gain more experience before getting a masters in TESL (to have a better idea if it's really what I want to do) and thinking it would be a great life experience. Now I'm not so sure it's worth it.
Have at it... |
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okayden223
Joined: 05 Jun 2009 Location: Incheon
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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They sure don't....if you've read the posts then you should know the deal: Don't deal with them if there isn't a pension provision in your contract, don't deal with them if they can't provide the contact info of a current foreign teacher, don't deal with them if they can't provide a photo of your apartment. Of course this becomes a bit more difficult with public school jobs (except for the pension part) but generally those jobs are more consistent. |
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Carla
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:37 pm Post subject: Re: Does everyone who sounds so sweet over the phone... |
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MDG wrote: |
...stay that way once you sign the contract and show up in S. Korea?
Have at it... |
The most simple and straighforward answer to your question is this. Depends....
Look at it this way, if all the bad schools sounded like Satan incarnate over the phone, they wouldn't get teachers working for them.
All of okayden's hints are dead on, except there are exceptions. My contract didn't have certain things, like pension, and I added what I wanted and changed what I wanted and put everything in red so they could clearly see what I changed. They agreed to almost everything. The hagwon is extremely small and they had just grabbed some random generic contract from someone else. So, I modified it and they tweaked it until we were both happy. BUT if they had tried to say something like, "Oh, of course we pay pension, but we don't have to put it in the contract," then like okayden said, I would have dropped it and never looked back. |
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Injun
Joined: 18 Oct 2008 Location: PRC
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:42 pm Post subject: What's your school? Do you know of other work? |
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Thanks. And I'm 60. Much experience, w/ good triceps but 60. |
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SweetTea
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 5:27 am Post subject: |
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Yeah everyone's sweet on the phone. But until you meet them in real life you don't know what they'll be like. I found out that they were not very nice, but fair. You might get lucky and find a place where they're actually nice. Do a lot of research. Get contact information for the foreign teachers that are already working at the place you are applying to so you can ask them about the situation at that particular place. One branch or area may have better working conditions and nicer people than another place. Know before you go. Hopefully the foreign teachers will not lie to you. |
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Conrad B Hart
Joined: 27 Jul 2009
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 5:36 am Post subject: |
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I've only had 3 telephone 'interviews' with people from Korea so far and they have all been females and they all sounded a bit giggly and 'very girly'. Is this the norm? Or is it possibly because they had my 'hot Photoshopped photo' displayed on their lap-top throughout the call? |
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wakingup
Joined: 20 May 2009
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 4:36 am Post subject: |
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Negotiating the contract is the time to find out.
I think even if the contract seems perfect, I would have some small discussion about it just to see how they reacted (not to be difficult, but just ask questions to suss them out). In most cases, it isn't perfect, and that's the time to see (a) why it isn't (many are just cut and paste) and (b) how they react to your questions and concerns. |
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