Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wanderingsalsero]

Now that I've been here for 2.5 years, I'm realizing that there's certain things that a person would just never think of until you've been over here awhile. I'm wondering how common my experience has been in comparison to other teachers.

1. I've discovered it's very important to how many kinds of deposits you'll be liable for.....e.g. I'll bet very few people expect to have an apartment deposit deducted from their salary. Sure.....you get it back, but still...........

NB: I've been in public schools all three of my contracts thus far.

2. It's important to NOT take the pension deduction for granted. Like I did. I just didn't realize that it actually amounts to a nice-sized extra bonus. Then I discovered that my first school didn't make that decuction because I was over the age of 62.

Of course, I later also realized that the school saves money by not making that deduction (i.e. they save their share..that 4.5%).

Point being......don't let that topic just 'slide'. Determine for sure whether you're going to get it or not.

3. I'll bet most teachers just assume they're going to get a 'pay stub'. Not so. I never have.

4. I'll bet most teachers, especially internet-active ones like me, think that there's somebody who speaks English at their ISP. Not so. In fact, you won't even know who it is...probably.

5. I'll bet most teachers assume it'll be simple to 'just ask' somebody where something is in a department store. Not so. Sometimes you get good service but I've found that the majority of the time, in the big stores even, you'll soon discover how inadequate their English training was. Those are the kids who were sleeping in our classes, right?

6. I'll bet most teachers assume things are going to happen on their own....i.e. things like getting paid your bonuses.

While it's probably true in most cases that you'll eventually get paid, I've found in the case of my end-of-contract bonus, that I didn't know when I'd get it. And they didn't tell me when I left. I found out about a week later (it's coming tomorrow).

Point is.....you'd think something like that would be clearly stated in the 'out-process' procedure. But it wasn't in my case.

7. I'll bet most teachers think that their supervisors will be able to speak good English. I've found that often times you don't realize how inadequate our KETs English is until some critical situation when you're trying to get across an idea such as, "Why are you bringing up that issue in this discussion when it's not relevant to the question I asked?"

I had that happen to me: I wanted to know when I was getting my bonus and my former KET/supvr. was telling me about the 900,000 KW security deposit that the school was supposed to take but didn't because the administrator had never dealt with a FET before. That was totally irrelevant to the issue I thought we were discussing. I still don't know why she mentioned it.

Anyway.......I'm wondering what kind of tips other teachers might have, in retrospect, for new teachers coming over here. A lot of my friends back in the US ask me questions about the situation over here and I often get the impression that they're not asking about the right stuff.

Regards,
Art

[conbon78]

I would say that the biggest thing for me is expecting an employer to follow the contract, but they don't. They spin it, twist it, whatever they can do to put it in their favor. Now I work for a corporation, so they actually follow it to a tee, but hagwons - forget it.

[daemyann]

If you do your homework before coming, most of that is clear. It is a little daunting when you realize just how true some of the horror-disorganization stories have been...

[Forever]

[Old Gil]

I'm constantly amazed at the managerial incompetence.

[Juregen]

[blue.sky]

there's really nothing shocking in your list. If any new teacher does a little bit of homework on the internet before coming, then their expectations can be suitably lowered so that there are no surprises.

I've worked in an ultra-conservative private high school, and nothing could have prepared me for the managerial style and demi-god status of the principal coupled with the embarrassingly pointlessness of the whole "educational" environment.

Everything on your list is pretty standard fare.

[adventurrre]

[Forever]

[definitely maybe]

[Perceptioncheck]

[Captain Corea]

[hugekebab]

[Son Deureo!]

[tefain]