Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Paladin Brewer]

Anyone know anything about this school, as well as the area? Any info would be appreciated. I was given it in an offer...not sure I care for the hours, 7-11 then 6-9. Free time in the middle is weird to me :/

[Raganji]

I'm in Cheonan and complete silliness is preventing me from PM'ing you. Due to the hours I'm assuming it's an adult hagwon but I'm not familiar with that one in particular. OHA is pretty well-known around here but I don't know of that many others. Heard some things about OHA that caused me to not apply there. Split shifts don't sound fun to me. Didn't know any teachers personally but heard talk that they all became vampirish and ended up living just to sleep. Haha, other people will know way more about that than me.

Cheonan is a nice enough place in my opinion. Some people may complain about it but they are mostly people who wish it was closer to Seoul, basically people who want to be in Seoul or some huge city but came to Cheonan and find out it's not as easy to go to Seoul as they had thought. It's certainly an up-and-coming city though (KTX station, lots of development, sizable foreign community) so any real or perceived sleepiness of it is probably going to get better.

[yingwenlaoshi]

I think I did some work for them in the fall. A 3-day job teaching university students in Kyeongju. Pretty easy-going people and paid as soon as the camp was finished. That was a cool experience.

[Paladin Brewer]

Yeah....Im not a super social person, but some sort of night life would have been alright, at least to relax. Oh well

[Raganji]

I'm not sure if you are implying that you won't have a nightlife because of the split shift thing or because of being in Cheonan. Certainly I think you won't have any problems with the latter and I didn't mean for my post to suggest otherwise. Certainly things would stay hopping enough for any person needing to be at work by 7 am. As for the former, as I said I can only offer hearsay.

Since you say "oh well"... have you accepted the position? Tried to look for more information regarding the academy online since it seemed interesting they did work in Kyeongju - I guess they are a franchise of sorts. Think I found their Korean webpage - assuming it is the same place.

http://www.globalca.co.kr

Maybe you were aware of that web page. The schedule is posted also.

http://www.globalca.co.kr/lecture/lecture_form.asp?subno=00

Not sure if you can understand Korean but if you poke around on that site you can surmise at least a little about your circumstances. Of course since it is their public web site it is not possible to learn too many shady secrets or things you wouldn't just be able to ask about directly. Still, I always like to do as much info-gathering as I can. So I've done a little for you...

As for the area: looking at the map, the school is located right in the main downtown area. If they are providing an apartment it will likely be near there. Lots of stuff going on around there. Would also be super easy to catch a bus going anywhere and also not very far (10 minute bus ride maybe) to the train station. The school itself is, I believe, literally a stone's throw from the express bus terminal. And I have a weak arm! There is a huge mall and plenty of eating options.

There are some pictures of classrooms and stuff, plus huge ad that could have YOUR face on it! Now that I think about it, I may have seen those ads around downtown before...

http://www.globalca.co.kr/institute/institute_form.asp?subno=01

NOT liking the Saturday schedule but of course hopefully that is optional (looks like only one native teacher is doing it) with extra pay and honestly discussed:

http://www.globalca.co.kr/lecture/lecture_form.asp?subno=30

Ah, just found a popup with almost all that info above plus pictures in one place, a lot of info just in Korean though:

http://www.globalca.co.kr/popup/timetable.html

Probably not any real deal makers or breakers but the more one can find out about a place beforehand the better.

Would be best to talk to someone with experience with this place but anyway you asked for any info so if you already knew this stuff or it doesn't help you out - at least I tried! As a Cheonanite, any other questions I'd be happy to help with also. Wish I could PM you directly but maybe someday I will acquire the requisite posts. If you do end up there I'd like to hear how it goes. Either way - best of luck!

[glimmer]

I personally wouldn't recommend Cheonan, especially for newcomers to Korea. Although the city's official web site boasts that it's "the world's best city" (*snort*) the shopping, eating, entertainment, and facilities for foreigners are limited at best.