Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Weigookin74]

So, how is SMOE? What's the workload like? How are the accomodations? How are the vacations? I know it's hard to generalize but if many of you anonamously post about your apartment and working conditions, it'll give us all a comparison. I hear a lot about GEPIK and some EPIK but lately not as much about SMOE. I have the impression it's mostly strict. Stay all day till 4.30, no exam days off, lots of camps or deskwarming during vacation. How about other things such as workloads? Do your schools make you do extra things like plan events, mark assignments, or come up with lots of teaching materials based on the book. What are the average age of teachers in your schools? Are they a lot older and married? Any pretty single younger teachers? I use to teach EPIK in the countryside and there were some pretty young teachers, but then I moved to a bigger city and they were all old. Also this city gave more work and less leeway. So, I'd like to get as much insight into general SMOE working conditions as much as possible.

[Weigookin74]

No one has any experiences or an opinion on this?

[sulperman]

When people say every school is different, they ain't lying. SMOE is 1000X more of a crap shoot than any hagwon or direct PS hire. There is no answer to any of your questions.

[cj1976]

All of the above, or none of the above - depending on where your particular chips fall in SMOE lottery. This is my second SMOE school and the job is mostly pretty sweet (in terms of teaching hours, lesson planning, vacation days, deskwarming etc). The first was in an elementary school in a cruddy area, and I had more classes and responsibilities, and I had to do longer camps.
Also, much of your experience is down to your co-teacher. I have one so utterly useless that it just makes my job difficult when we 'co-teach'. The others are fine though, so it's mostly a great job.

[Caesar1313]

I'm 27 and my job is great. I've been here 2.5 years, really relaxed environment, I never have to deal with anyone, they let me take a bunch of the February time off as "work at home" rather than using my vacation days. Every school is different, but the only time I have to even see the VP is when I go into the teacher's office to get a coffee from the machine. Other than that we have a teacher's English office, and we all get along great. Camp is always 3 weeks, but that is standard, after that I have always had vacation days to use and never had to do any desk warming.