Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tenchu77491]

How does teaching adults compare to high school students in a public school?

- I have taught middle school and elementary in SK and have fully decided I will not teach these levels again in the future, but I am debating between adults and/or high school.


Are there any good schools in Seoul for teaching adults (non split shift)?

What are the odds of finding a university job with only a BA in June/July?

What are the odds of finding a high school job in June/July?

[iggyb]

Haven't worked in public schools in Korea but can give a good educated guess:

Hakwon class sizes will be much smaller, and that will be a very big plus.

Hakwon adults will be more motivated - they are paying for it - so a plus there though much less than class size.

In high schools, you probably have more flexibility in how you teach. Adults can be pretty sit in their ways and balk at doing anything that resembles what they did in high school or college English classes under a Korean teacher because those years of study did not make them fluent. Adults often think that by just listening to a native speaker talk for an hour a couple of days a week, they'll become fairly fluent in two to three months...or that's how it seems...

However - since in public school you will likely only see a class once a week - these last two items are a tie. Without the ability to build on what you did the last class effectively in a high school, it doesn't really matter if adults are picky about how they want to learn...

So, even without having experience in a Korean high school, I'd say an adult hakwon would be better --- as far as in class environment goes...

[tenchu77491]

How about hours in an adult hagwon? Are non split shift jobs rare?

I imagine highschool kids are a lot like middle school, am I wrong? By middle school I mean rebellious, quiet, sleepy and nasty. I just imagine highschool to be less rebellious and more quiet and sleepy. Anyone out there able to confirm or deny this?

How about Uni jobs on a BA?

June/July is bad timing for a new job?

[Sector7G]

I have not taught at High schools here, but I have done everything else, from kindergarten to uni students. Uni was by far the best. As iggyb said, they are more motivated, and usually give you few to zero discipline problems.

I am actually getting ready to start working at a uni language center where half of my classes will be 7 to 12 years olds and the other classes will be adults.

[DAC]

Tenchu, check the Korean job Board on this site. Then you can see if there are any university jobs still looking for teachers. If there are this late (August) then you can be sure jobs will be available June/July too. The ads'll also tell you what qualifications you need. It's all there.
Other than that, you will be hard-pressed to find a job without split-shifts if you teach adults, barring a regular university department job (for which you almost always need an MA and experience). Mornings and evenings are just the times those students have available, and there aren't usually enough hours in either morning or evening alone to justify the wage you will be paid. Everyone complains about them, but it's the reality most of the time.

[iggyb]

I never had problems with my hakwon middle and high school kids. Yes, there were some rare times where I had to do some small things for disciplinary reasons, but in general, they were fine in the hakwon level because class sizes were manageable, and they had parents spending money on those classes who would be very unhappy if they heard the student wasn't trying or was goofing off.

Probably the only time I didn't like teaching middle and high school kids in a hakwon was working in Bundang with "returnee" teens. Not a majority of them - but enough of them to spoil a class - acted like the fact their father made a lot of money overseas and that they had gone to an elite American School abroad meant they were hot poo themselves.... I'd rather teach my hard-to-motivate high school teens here in the US than some self-righteous little punk like I did in Bundang.

On split shifts ---- they never bothered me that much when teaching adults - unless the owner had classes spaced out throughout the day. As long as they were on blocks, and I had enough time between them to go home for a nap or take care of personal business, I was fine with them.

That is why I'll try to get a clause about that in my contract if/when I find an adult hakwon this time around. That and a clause saying I can refuse overtime after a certain number of hours....