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Lparsons7641
Joined: 17 Jun 2010
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 Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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| yellowdove wrote: |
You should be able to order a replacement diploma from your school which they will make into an original. As long as it has the school seal, and looks official, they will take that as an 'original'. I've known lots of people who have had to order replacement ones. And you might get them to not charge you, or at least lower the cost, because it was their mistake in the first place to misspell your name.
Also, for EPIK, as long as you put that you're willing to go anywhere in Korea, you should be fine. Don't limit yourself to one or two cities. (That was my mistake.) |
hmmm.........I've read that a lot on different sources, flexibility is key. I am pretty flexible, I really wouldn't mind where I end up. Sure a larger city would be nice for a change of pace (I live in a small town, went to college in a medium sized city)
I should probably also change my diploma due to the fact that the school changed it's name  I don't want to send transcripts with a different name of the school then the diploma says.
Just to be sure......... |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 7:17 pm Post subject: |
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| richinlondon wrote: |
The benefits or a public school position compared to a private school are usually infinately better. When you are recruited by a private academy, you are there to make them money, forget any days off other than your standard 9 odd days.
At a public school (elementary for me), you'll have 4 classes in the morning and then be free for the rest of the day. There are dozens of random days off if your lucky, sports day, picnic day, make a paper airplane day, test day, national test day and probably some others I forgot, national holidays, 18 working days holiday plus 2 weeks if you renew.
Maybe you'll even indulge in a little volleyball in the afternoon whilst sipping on a cold one.
This is a public school where you wont be the main focus and there is no drive to cream money from parents. You do your standard 22 hours teaching a week (in elementary, a 40 minute class counts as one hour) and thats you done.
In a big city your sure to meet a few Korean teachers who will be friendly and welcoming. There is also the EPIK support network which in Gwangju is excellent. All the teachers from public schools have this network to fall back on should anything go wrong at their schools.
Check:
http://www.asknow.ca/epik.aspx
The guy who runs it is a Canadian guy called Jason, when I first arrived here at a private academy, he was always willing to answer any questions I had about Korea or the job. He recruits for EPIK now. Maybe the fall application isn't closed yet either? It's worth checking out. |
You do realize that not every school is "perfect" like that one? And are you actually claiming that you drink beer at your school? |
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sallymonster
Joined: 06 Feb 2010
Location: Seattle area
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| Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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| richinlondon wrote: |
The benefits of a public school position compared to a private school are usually infinitely better. When you are recruited by a private academy, you are there to make them money, forget any days off other than your standard 9 odd days.
At a public school (elementary for me), you'll have 4 classes in the morning and then be free for the rest of the day. There are dozens of random days off if your lucky, sports day, picnic day, make a paper airplane day, test day, national test day and probably some others I forgot, national holidays, 18 working days holiday plus 2 weeks if you renew.
Maybe you'll even indulge in a little volleyball in the afternoon whilst sipping on a cold one.
This is a public school where you wont be the main focus and there is no drive to cream money from parents. You do your standard 22 hours teaching a week (in elementary, a 40 minute class counts as one hour) and thats you done.
In a big city your sure to meet a few Korean teachers who will be friendly and welcoming. There is also the EPIK support network which in Gwangju is excellent. All the teachers from public schools have this network to fall back on should anything go wrong at their schools. |
I work at public school through GEPIK, and I can tell you that I wish I had a school like the one mentioned above. I actually tried to find a job like that but there are few public school openings in June/July (when my contract finishes) this year. Don't think for a second that all public schools are as great as above.
I work both morning and afternoon. In fact, it's written into the contract that my school can make me teach overtime (more than 22 hours per week) as long as they pay me extra. So last semester I stayed at school for 9-10 hours per day and taught 6 extra classes per week. The pay was great, but unfortunately I'm one of those people who prefers time to money. They don't give you a choice between time and money. The school makes money from these after-school classes so it's like working in a hagwon - with little support (teaching alone) and larger classes of 20-30 students.
I luckily don't work much overtime anymore because my contract ends mid-semester (June) and I'm not renewing (my choice). But now I have a useless co-teacher who does very little to help me control 40+ students per class. I'm expected to entertain, entertain, entertain. It's all about keeping the students happy. I'm all for learning being fun and everything, but I also believe in a good balance between fun and seriousness in the classroom. If the students are noisy (in Korean) or misbehaving, I'm told that my lesson must be "too boring" and/or that I need to include more games, videos, or K-pop stars. Mind you, I do use games or videos in every class as teaching aides, and occasionally we do projects, but I've found that including K-pop references distract the students too much.
Keep in mind that the above problems can occur at hagwons, too. I have to say that I did appreciate the long vacations and the many hours of downtime, which are the biggest benefits of working at public school. And I did appreciate it when my GEPIK coordinator stepped in and helped me when my school tried to screw me out of my return airfare.
I recommend that you seek work at a hagwon, only because education offices are making it more and more difficult each year for you to choose exactly which public school you work at. You have no clue until you get here whether you got a great school or a not-so great school. At least at a hagwon, you can choose exactly which school you work at and have the opportunity to research the school and talk to teachers who've worked there, and that's better than nothing. |
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Lparsons7641
Joined: 17 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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Now I am not much a partier really. I honestly, don't really like nightclubs all that much. I do however like a neighborhood bar sometimes. I'd also like to be able to take trips on weekends (I mainly like cultural and historic sites, but food, shopping..........heck just anything would be nice) and not spend 1/2 of it on a train/bus.
I am planning on trying to be more active in Korea. I'd like to take up day hiking, and maybe get back into playing pickup football (soccer).
I'd also like the occasional western amenity. A bookstore/library with English books. A once a month familiar meal, maybe some english speakers to meet sometimes.
Am I pretty much limiting myself to Seoul/Busan? I know both are major metro areas, so with subways and such you can be 30 minutes away but still be "in town". The biggest city I've lived in was about 300,000 in the area, with no public transit. Not having a car quite frankly, stank to high heaven. Don't want a repeat of that.
Would a "minor" city be nothing more then a lot of concrete and a half a day on a train to get somewhere? Changwon, Masan, Cheonan have all been mentioned to me as options by a recruiter, and I've googled them, but info is limited.
Since I would really like to go before the main intake period of February, but won't have my docs until July/August probably, it probably limits my options. |
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yellowdove
Joined: 19 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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| I'd also like the occasional western amenity. A bookstore/library with English books. A once a month familiar meal, maybe some english speakers to meet sometimes. |
An English book store will only exist in Seoul. What The Book is basically the only real book store there is. I mean, bigger book stores will have a small English section, which is nice when you need something new, but for an entire English book store, What The Book is all we've got. They do deliver, however. My advice, before you come over, get a Kindle or a Nook Color. There are pros and cons to each, but with the Kindle you can download books from anywhere, and the with Nook Color you can get magazine subscriptions before you come over and they'll download straight to your Nook while you're here (plus, you can download 1000's of free books from torrent websites).
As for what city you want to be in, it sounds like you want something like Masan or Changwon. They are both nice (Changwon is better than Masan as far as aesthetics, Masan is better for getting around to other cities in Korea) but they have a smaller city mentality, have good 'neighbourhood' bars, and awesome expat communities in both cities. It's only a 3,500 won bus ride to Busan, and there is a KTX train that goes to Seoul from Masan. I lived in Daejeon last year, this is also a good idea for you as it is a little bigger than Masan or Changwon, but it's smack dab in the centre of the country, so traveling from Daejeon is SOOOOOO easy. |
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