Korean Job Discussion Forums

[em79]

Hi, just wondered if anyone has experiences/opinions of an English Village teaching job ? (eg. at Suwon) What's the deal? Thanks.

( i have tried to search this topic as i'm sure it's been done before but because the search includes the whole site it just comes up with loads of hits on the job board not the forum- is there a better way of searching a specific forum?)

[lifeinkorea]

I worked at one in Pyeongtaek, near Suwon. It wasn't really an English Zone which is something some public schools add on within the school.

This had more of a English Village feel, yet it wasn't quite an English Village which has 6 or more teachers. I was the only native English speaker, and with my co-teacher we taught in 3 classrooms. One was a main classroom which had a huge interactive screen, and the second was a room with role-play stations. I worked at one school with an English Zone, and all that was was a room designated for English study.

I think the English Village positions with 6 or more teachers have a Mickey Mouse Edutainer quality to it, and I would NEVER EVER take a job there. The position I had was ok, but I didn't get to see students often. I met with different schools that came to visit. I actually had better time with the students who came to an afterschool program.

So I would rate these as the following:

1) Afterschool program
2) Hagwon job where the school is small and outside a major city. You communicate DIRECTLY with the hagwon owner EVERY SINGLE DAY. You get to give input and the hagwon owner NEGOTIATES with you along the way.
3) English Village where you are basically the ONLY native English speaker.
4) Public school position (pick your choice, GEPIK EPIK or SMOE)
5) Hagwon job with 3 or 4 other native English teachers.
6) Larger hagwon with 10 or more teachers
7) Mickey Mouse Club English Village, you dress up and entertain like some munchkin from Wizard of Oz.

[Dude Ranch]

Why do you think it is worse to work at a hagwon with a lot of other foreigners teaching there compared to one with few, lifeinkorea?

[Manuel_the_Bandito]

Don't expect the word 'teacher' necessarily to apply to your job description.

[air76]

I've only visited English Villages and never worked at one...but it looks like hell to me unless you really have no interest in teaching whatsoever and just want an easy, brainless, repetitive job. Working at an English Village would be more like having a crappy high school job at a dumpy regional theme park than actually teaching. Even at the lowest of the low hagwons you get a classroom and some kind of autonomy.....at an English Village you'd be essentially a talking mannequin.

[lifeinkorea]

[Smee]

The first two contracts I signed for jobs in Korea were for English Village jobs, but they never opened due to financial reasons. I was interested in trying them because, as they were presented to me by recruiters and job ads, it was a way to try a variety of different things, different activities, rather than "just" classroom teaching. I ended up going to a hagwon after those jobs fell through, and then to public schools.

I wouldn't want to do a year in an EV now. The biggest reason, beyond the levels of job dissatisfaction you'll seen discussed on this thread and this board, is it's not really working in Korea. You come here for a cultural experience as much as job experience and money, but what kind of Korea do you see living and working on some theme park in the middle of nowhere?

If you'd like to try that sort of environment on a smaller scale, public schools usually have English camps during winter and summer vacation (though, increasingly these are going to college students and to teachers from the Phillipines, India, and other places). I worked two week-long winter camps, where beyond teaching a particular theme you're involved in other activities with students like games, sports, activities, etc. They were really great opportunities, and I was happy to do them . . . but I don't think I'd like to do that week-in, week-out, never seeing the same students, never doing anything beyond immigration role plays and enduring shouts of HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY.

[schwa]

I think the Korean govt is coming to recognize english villages as the relatively useless money sinkholes that they are & they'll all be phased into other uses. Even as the newest ones are still just coming into use. Experiment fail.

[mellow-d]

I worked at the Suwon English Village the first year it was open and it was a fun year. The apartment is in a good location near a department store, an Outback, Fridays, a theater and some other good spots.

It's a good first job because there's no marking, planning or parents to deal but you still get the experience of being around kids and with classroom management. It gets really mindless though, because you do teach the same 6-10 classes 30 times a week, all year. What others have said is true: it's not really teaching and the classes never really change unless there's a summer or winter camp. There was some ridiculous classes too, like magic and dance but the boss was always good about not scheduling you for those classes if you really didn't want to teach them.

You have a new group of kids every single week who get the week off from their elementary school to spend the week at the Village. They treat the place like an amusement park and the behavior by the end of the week is even worse than at hagwons.

When I was there the school was really tight with vacation time. Only 1 week off all year and you have to work every single public holiday because the school runs on a 5 day program... and they never miss a day.

It has its pluses and minuses like any job. Good luck