Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ilovemunchies]

Hi...I'm sure this topic has been posted many times before but for some reason, when I search for it, nothing comes up.

I know some of the pros/cons of teaching at a public school versus hagwon and vice versa. Public schools have paid vacation days and are typically less shadier than hagwons. However, hagwons have better hours and flexibility.

Please let me know from your experiences, where you would rather teach and why?

Also, do you have to work weekends? Thanks!

[PIGFACESOUPWITHRICE]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[lifeinkorea]

There is a third category, public school job that is different from the normal public school schedule.

I do an afterschool program now, and I did a year at another public school teaching other schools in the morning for 2 hours. Then we had 3 classes in the afternoon (40 minute classes).

These types of jobs are like hagwons, but your schedule is usually fixed. However, since it isn't the usual public school job, they often cancel classes or there are no shows when something is going on. Pay is so far perfect with these two schools, whereas with 2 previous hagwons I wasn't paid pension from either hagwon and the second school didn't pay my last month's salary. It's a big gamble with hagwons.

I am supposed to teach at 1pm, but the class I am supposed to meet today hasn't been coming due to flu shots and swine flu paranoia. So, it will probably be a 3.3333 hour work day. All classes have some special things to do on Friday, so I don't teach until 2pm (to 6pm).

Conclusion, don't turn down these public school jobs just because some of us get stuck with desk warming every now and then. Talk to recruiters about these afterschool programs or special arrangements like English zones.

Some English zones are just a separate room from the normal classrooms. Others have money invested (especially rural schools). They look like a mini English village.

[Loudog]

I enjoy my PS(middle). I get a lot of vacation, paid on time, direct deposit so I don't even have to go to the bank. My co-teachers help me with getting phones, internet, etc. Random vacations, winter break and a few weeks later spring break. A nice big apartment, I was able to get a two bedroom because my wife is also teaching at a PS, they bought us a bed for our kids, and our cell-phones and they gave me a laptop(not to keep of course, but OK to take home for personal use). They want to have me teach an art class and pay me OT next year. I think it was a pretty good deal considering horror stories I have read on this site.

My wife likes her PS(elementary) as well, she has 0 lesson planning(unlike me), the kids are for the most part well behaved, she just sings along with a CD for four 45 minute classes and then watches daily show clips for the rest of the day.

I get more Vacation, and perks than her but I have more work too. It is different at every school, and like someone else said the luck of the draw. I still have to put up with random bs every now and again, but I think I did fairly well all considered.

[thunderbird]

i dunno about everyone, but my hagwan is E-Z compared to peeple i know doing elementary school. wanna try controling 40 screaming brats or play bingo with five kids? wanna start at 8:30 or up to 3 pm?

the vacations not great but the job is a breeze, just get plenty of bored games and off you go.

[gregoriomills]

last year, I worked at a secondary public school with EPIK, this year I'm at a hagwon, and there's so much give and take between public and private, that it's impossible to suggest one over the other to everyone. It really comes down to personal preference. You will be working harder at a public school doing "lesson planning" and such, while also classes will be much more draining, trying to control 35-40 kids at a time. I teach 5 or 6 per day in my hagwon, and they go by like 3 classes would in a public school, and NO planning. But the drawback is vacation, or lackthereof.

But the two types of schools have completely different teaching styles and goals, also. In public, you're keeping your co-teachers and principle happy, while in hagwon, you're keeping the director and PARENTS happy.

[thomas pars]

public pros

less hours
more vacation
less sketchy than hagwon

cons

try controlling 30+ students in one class
co teacher/co worker drama
1 thats you foreign teacher
Dumb students

hagwon pros.

Easy as hell to get a job
Smaller classes
Usually smarter students

Hagwon cons

Can be sketchy
Can't teach what you want
Long hours that eat up your day ex. 2-10pm
Possibly loads of paperwork
Generally little to no breaks.

[sugarkane59]

(My) hagwon:

Late get up (start work after lunch)
Don't have to plan lessons
Don't work weekends
No more than 4 x 60 minute lessons a day.
High degree of smart kids
Small classes
10 days vacation
Can wear casual clothes
Other foreign teachers
Paid 2.4 mil in first year
No paperwork

Public School:

40+ kids to deal with
Lessons to plan
Early get ups.
Classroom management to a higher degree than hagwons
Co-teacher to deal with
Lonely being the only foreigner in school
Don't work weekends
More holiday than hagwons
Paid around 2.2 mil in first year.

[sarahsiobhan]

I love my hagwon!

The other teachers are super nice, and there is another FT as well, and he and I get along well.

I work from 2 to 8, but start teaching at 3, so I spend an hour either doing some photocopying, or chatting with the other FT. On Wednesdays I don't start teaching until 5.

Classes are amazingly easy, and are 50 minutes long, so there is a ten minute break between classes.

Paperwork is minimal, just a daily report, noting which students were absent and what material from the textbook was covered. My last class ends at 7:50, and I am out the door by 7:55, and my bus goes by my school at 8, and I am in my flat by 8:15.

Easy as pie.

[youtuber]

To generalize,

You will have more teaching independence in a hagwon.

In the public school, you have a Korean co-teacher-but they are more like a supervisor. I think it would be annoying.

[FredDaSked]

[Ukon]

It's really a matter of which school you get...some PS jobs are easy street, some try to milk their english teacher for every penny....some have great co-teachers, others get psychos...

You can have similar situations at hagwons.....

[youtuber]

[sugarkane59]

I agree Youtuber. Maybe this guy's a troll.