Korean Job Discussion Forums

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

Where can you find a substitute teacher for one week?

Is there a company or website that I can contact?

I am taking a holiday in May and need to find a replacement...any ideas?

aussie col · Joined: 31 Jan 2004

Simple answer... Don't do it.

Every other hogwon gets buy without a teacher for a week when they are on vacation - so can yours.

It��s illegal for someone to work without visa sponsorship to one business. Tell your cheap director that you don��t want to be involved with illegal activities.

Vacations are you right. Your director will try and make you feel bad for abandoning the school for a week but he wrote it in the contract so he can suck eggs.

Running the school is not your problem. You are hired as a teacher, not a manager. Tell him to get off his lazy arse and run his own school.

intergalactic · Joined: 19 May 2003 Location: Brisbane

Aussie col, how many people do you know at home who tell their bosses "I'm off on my OWED vacation, so screw you if it means the company goes under, because it's my legal right to get vacation." ??

Many many places of employment in many industries include paid vacations, but these are given at the employers' discretion. Maybe the contracts here should say "vacation to be given at XX time", but they don't. It is probably understood that it would be taken at a time when the next teacher was coming in, so there would be no need to be a teacher short.

Rather than getting Grotto's back up about it, why not offer some useful suggestions?

Having said that, Grotto, I do think it will be difficult to find someone for just one week. You could possibly find somebody who isn't working (like me!), and have immigration agree to a short one-week contract. However, they'd need a written schedule, the contract in Korean and English, and I think it is probably too much trouble for your Director to bother with. And you never know whether immigration would give it the OK or not.
The other option is to look for someone who would work illegally. How much chance is there that they would get caught in the space of one week? If they were caught you wouldn't be the one in trouble. Why not ask other foreigners in your local area? Maybe someone is finishing up and would like to tack on an extra week's work and an extra 600,000 or so? They can tell immigration they want to extend their visa for a week to see some of the country.

kangnamdragon · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea

You could try advertising on englishspectrum. Maybe get a gyopo who can work legally.

aussie col · Joined: 31 Jan 2004

Intergalactic I don��t know what fantasy land you are living in. Name one time that you have had a job in any other county where the boss has said to you ��If you want holidays it��s your responsibility to find someone to replace you, I��m just going to sit on my fat arse and make you run my business for me��.

Yes holidays are at the discretion of your employer but that doesn��t mean that he/she can say that you can��t have them ever. They knew when they were hiring a teacher that the holidays in the contract were going to be taken. They should plan for that and not make the teacher feel bad for wanting to take vacation time that WAS OFFERED IN THE CONTRACT!!!!

This is just another case of a Korean employer trying to screw a teacher out of their rights just because they are foreign.

If your director is too stupid to run his/her own business then it deserves to fail.

Toby · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Location: Wedded Bliss

englishspectrum

kangnamdragon · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea

A teaching job is one which cannot be replaced. Teaching jobs back home have built in vacation times. In regular jobs, people can take time off because someone else can do the job or the work can be put off for a week. The only way for a hagwon to accomodate a teacher is to schedule two weeks during the year when the hagwon will be closed. This is what most large franchise hagwons do.

Toby · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Location: Wedded Bliss

intergalactic · Joined: 19 May 2003 Location: Brisbane

aussie col · Joined: 31 Jan 2004

I still think that you��re living in fantasy land Intergalactic. Grotto��s post was only 3 sentences long and you��ve somehow managed to draw from that a full dialog between the director and himself. You��ve got all these little conversations going on up in your head.

Yes holidays are going to be inconvenient but that��s life. These freaking kids study 365 days a year, there��s never going to be a convenient time. I work in a shop in Australia. If I wanted to take a day off yes I would find a replacement and pass it by the boss. But if I was to take a week off, my boss would have to rearrange the roster to make sure everything was to his liking. He wouldn��t say ��go and find someone to take your hours for a week, I��m too busy to give a sh*t��.

You seem to missing the point here. The job of the director is to run the school (and generally cause hell for the teachers). Part of running the school is to make sure that there are teachers for the classes.

The nice little story about your cousin only proves my point. Your cousin wanted time off so the practice manager found a locum, as is his job. Wether the locum falls through is neither here nor there. We weren��t debating the reliability of replacements, merely whose roll is it to organise them in the first place.

If Grottos director has such difficulty knowing what to do, maybe Grotto could help him by showing him what a Yellowpages is and how to open it to the recruitment section.

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

since I started all of this let me set the record staight

What my boss/owner/master said was I cannot take my holidays until after the contract is finished unless I find my own replacement and let them stay at my apartment.

The fact is when an employee gives almost two months notice that they are going to take holidays the employer should get off their lazy ass and do their freaking job, thats why they get paid the big bucks, it is their responsability not the employees.

If I am going to be responsable for running the school I should get monthly raises, profit sharing, scaled wage increases for more students...since I dont get any of this I kind of agree that some Korean Hogwan owners are stupid lazy shytes.

Nuff said

Blue Flower · Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2004 9:12 pm Post subject: Re: holidays

intergalactic · Joined: 19 May 2003 Location: Brisbane

I agree, we want our vacation somewhere in the middle. I felt the same when I worked at a hagwon. But for various reasons you might have to do what Grotto is doing and look for your own replacement.

I do have a multitude of little conversations going on in my head. From the 3 sentence OP I guessed that the contract says paid holidays are included. So I am imagining what the director is thinking that should mean, and what grotto is thinking that should mean.

Anyway I do enjoy my fantasy land where the conversations run through my head...
I still stand by my statement that bosses allow you to take time off on their terms, whatever they may be.
All I meant to say to begin with, is we should not help Grotto to get p'ed off about whether or not the director is 'doing his job', but instead answer the question of where to find a substitute teacher.

waterbaby · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Location: Baking Gord a Cheescake pie

Hey! Maybe I can do it??? I'll be back in Korea in May and I'm looking for some temp work... how much??? what dates? what hours? what kind of classes? where abouts are you located???

If anyone needs someone to fill in for a week or month or two... send me a PM.

Cheers,
wbh

justagirl · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Cheonan/Portland

Waterbaby, I don't want to be a mother-hen, but I don't think I'd advertise on this board that I wanted an illegal job. Who knows who could be reading, ya know?

Am I being silly by saying this? Sorry, if I am--I just know you and wouldn't want you to get conned into thinking you were getting some good deal for a temp. job and then were picked up by immigration or something.

justagirl