Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Auslegung]

I've been back in America for a year since last time I was in Korea, and now that I'm looking at jobs again I'm seeing all these really good-looking adult teaching jobs. I thought the shifts were always 6a-10a and 6p-10p, but now I'm seeing 3 different shifts available, 11:30am-1:30 pm/2:30 pm-5:30 pm; 11:30am-1:30 pm/6 pm-9 pm; and 3pm-5pm/6-9 pm. That's only 5 hours of work a day, and that first shift option is awesome, 1130-530 with an hour lunch? Yes please.

My question is, when did this change happen, and why? And more importantly, what's the catch? Do you work 6 days a week? Are those shifts just the teaching hours, and you have office hours before and after? One ad said you work only 20 days a month, the rest of them are vacation. I'm guessing that means they don't give you another 10 days vacation to use when you want. What are the issues with teaching adults? I feel like adults should be slightly better students than kids, but I don't know. Thanks for any help.

[crossmr]

[some waygug-in]

The catch is , as always, things are subject to change without notice.

They might tell you that classes start at 11:00, but once you're here don't be surprised if they spring some 6AM classes on you.


or

You get here only to find you're booked for kindergarten, some kiddie hagwon classes and maybe a chance at an adult class in the future.

[Auslegung]

Crossmr, thanks for the insight, I guess you're right that adults are more opinionated and complaint-prone, that makes a lot of sense. As for the small print, and what you said some waygug-in, I've seen at least 3 offers that are all exactly the same regarding hours, and none that are 6a-10a, 6p-10p. The one I saw today said 110 hours/month. 110 is 5 hours a day for 22 days, which there are an average of 22 weekdays a month, so that math works out. I haven't gotten any contracts yet, I'm still trolling boards and talking to recruiters so I can't say anything about small print, but I'll be definitely careful.

What I'm still curious about is, is this a change in the way teaching adults works? Are they abandoning the terrible morning/night split shifts? Even the "worst" split shift I've seen is comparable to middle school hagwon shifts.

[OneWayTraffic]

Considering that adults will often like to study before or after work (even if half drop out because of the stress) I don't see this happening anytime soon. A VP or someone may be able to take time out in the middle of the day to have a class, most working bees don't have the option.

[RMNC]

Split shifts.

Simply put, DO NOT DO THEM.

[lifeinkorea]

Those hours seem pretty normal to me. I was in Korea 2007-2010, and I had split shifts with adult morning classes, and then kids classes from 3pm and middle school from 6pm.

That was the worst of it for me. You want to avoid 3 small shifts in a day. Only agree to blocks of 3 or more classes a day (1 class = 1 hour).

Even if you have 2 block shifts, sometimes they will only need 1 class on one day. You also want to avoid this. Tell them to reschedule.

[Clippa]

[edwardcatflap]

The British Council has about 80 teachers in 3 different centres these days