Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Seoulio]

Now of course there are the SMOE horror stories, but my school is Awesome.

-They let me take my vacations when I want them, they plan the Camps around my schedule ( which I discuss with the co teacher)
- They let me leave early (with a sign out) whenever I need/want to, which I don't abuse.
- They give me free reign on lesson planning
- You get many cancelled classes and school day vacations
- the MOST I have ever worked in one day without including an ASP was 5 forty minute classes.
- Very little in the way of marking, grading or record keeping.
- My school is every hands off and they just let my performance and comments from my co teachers speak for themselves, they do not watch dog me at all.


All in all, it is ten times better than any of the 4 hogwans I worked for. I can forgive the mismanagement that often occurs on the grand scale or within the district, this is always gonna happen in a large scale company. My school experience is awesome.

Any others out there like me?

I know that there are others that will want to vent about how bad their school is and how much it sucks at SMOE, I am hoping you'll post elsewhere

[NYC_Gal]

That sounds like heaven! Kudos on landing a great job! Let's hope more people than not have situations like that.

My job is pretty decent. I don't like having to wait until the last minute to plan my vacations, but we only do 2 or 3 days of camp, so it's not a big deal.

I can leave early for banking or visiting the doctor without any hassle.

I'm friends with a nice handful of the Korean teachers. We've gone out for lunch on the weekends several times, and I've started a cooking group at my place one or two Sundays a month. I teach something western one time, they teach something Korean the next. It's great.

I have to stick to the curriculum, but get some leeway, as the book is full of errors that I've pointed out.

I teach 6 classes on Monday, but then have 3 classes on Friday, so it evens out.

After my open class, all of the 6th grade teachers went out for dinner with the principal, and he had me sit next to him, and then again at the tea house. The next day, the gifts started coming in from the parents, which I shared with everyone in the teachers' lounge (except for the bracelet and parasol).

[Bibbitybop]

When I was with SMOE, I had a great school. However, they did make me sign out when I left early, like for the bank, and tried to use it against my vacation time until I proved that it had to total 8 hours before they could do that.

My problems with SMOE have to do with the head and district offices being disorganized, horrible at communication, and failing to help out teachers in bad schools.

[Seoulio]

[sigmundsmith]

I had a really good school when I worked for smoe. Alot of flexibility in lessons. I didn't teacher from the book, my co-teacher did and I added activities and games - ppt, handouts - related to the theme of the lesson.

In my time there I never had any issues. I was treated as an equal, respect and had good working relationships with all my co-teachers.

The desk warming thing changed for the worst though. My first year my school said I didn't have to come in (like a lot of teachers) but many teachers were made by their school to desk warm. So, many complained to their district/main office, and naturally, ruined it for everyone. So the schools were told that native teachers must desk warm. My school let me leave at 12 so I couldn't complain as I new many teachers were made to come in and stay for the 8 hours.

[balzor]

[nukeday]

As someone who has worked both hagwon and public school, I'd probably say I kind of miss hagwon life. During my 2 hour prep time at hagwon I could do whatever I want, I liked working midshift, had the classroom to myself, etc.

There are a lot of negatives about public school - class size, co-teaching, deskwarming, less pay potential, and being treated like an incompetent (I have to go to the VP's desk and sign in that I came into work EVERYDAY...for example). Not sure if it's worth the lower actual teaching hours or the extra 2 weeks vacation, as those are the benefits I can see over a "good" hagwon.

[Xuanzang]

It's great until the mid year roulette brings in someone who changes everything you like.

[nukeday]

[Katchafire]

[Bucky]

My school was tolerable until the students this year decided to stop studying (and thus the classes were getting ridiculously mediocre) and a new co-teacher came in who made everyone's lives (well, in the English department anyway) a living hell because he doesn't know how to work with other people in a civilized manner.

[probablylauren]

My situation isn't the normal situation, but when there is a chance to say something positive on these forums, I'm jumping at it. These forums are too negative:

My public school job is pretty awesome. Because its a 'gifted' specialist school, I only have 15 students for one subject, 10 for another and 8 for another in each class.

I am simply a conversation teacher. I don't teach any grammar or English, I just expose the students and provide opportunities for them to speak.

I can decide what I do in my lessons, but the overall topic for each week (i.e. Superstitions, Happiness, GMO, Death Penalty) is negotiated. My co-teachers suggest activities, some I use, some I don't.

For the first few months, I was only working 11 - 15 hours a week, now I work around the 20.


Overall my SMOE experience is a great school, teachers, an apartment down the street. It seems stupid to not re-sign.

[Xuanzang]

[Mr. BlackCat]

My PS experience has been streets ahead of my hogwan experience. Some people say you can make more in hogwans, but that has not been my experience. Up until this last semester (due to budget cuts and my own laziness in finding alternatives) I always had opportunities to earn more within my normal working hours. Others say you only get 2 more weeks vacation at PS which is misleading I think. First, 2 extra weeks is nothing to sneeze at and second you get another 2 weeks if you renew. That's a month extra. Plus, depending on your school you can have some flexibility on when to use this time so you don't have to take it when the rest of the country does. In addition to that extra time off, you get a few other random days off usually in conjunction with another holiday to make 4 or 5 day weekends.

The main problem with PS is things can and do change so quickly. Co-teachers come and go and if you get a bad one it can be hell. Same with VPs and principals. For example my previous Principal + VP combo let me leave at noon during camp time, but the new ones make me sit there the entire 8 hours. While the last combo was gracious and respectful to me the new one is rude and cheap in all senses of the words. It's still a great job, the easiest by far I've ever had, but there are things that could make it better. I have never complained about desk warming officially, but it really is a waste of time and that is one area they could create a better rapport and attract more dedicated teachers. Many more qualified teachers would be willing to come here if they had a guaranteed 5 week break in the summer and winter. If they're already working in North America for example, why would they give up their nice summer break to work here for less?

But yeah, it's a pretty nice gig. In my experience anyone in PS who says hogwans are better never actually worked at a hogwan. Or they just had a nightmare of a PS, which is entirely possible. The only thing I miss from hogwans are the hours. I can't stand mornings. And I'm sure there are great hogwans out there, but they are few and far between and not the standard.