Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tallgesse]

Hello Daves, I'm new and will be getting to the point where I can start putting a package together for public schools not long from now. I have been following the board while I waited for my account to be approved and I've learned quite a bit from all of your experience.

I currently do not have any specific preference on age group and have trained for many different grade levels. I noticed however Kindergarten jobs come up on here a few times. It seems, just from a casual glance, that most people avoid these positions, while a select few are going out of their way to find them.

I'm curious from your experiences what makes the Kindergarten level more difficult, or for those who actually like the position, why do you prefer it over another grade level?

Also do the conditions stated apply to just the Hogwan positions, or to public school positions as well?

Thank you and glad to finally be a member of the board.

[isitts]

[sojusucks]

Kindy wears you out and there's very little respect for what you do. It's seen as babysitting.

[matthews_world]

My first Korean job included Kindie. I misread the thread title and thought you were talking about the Amazon Kindle.

Anyway, good thing is that you'll normally finish in the afternoon giving you evenings free.

It all depends on if you feel comfortable with little screaming kids 5 days per week and demanding mothers as well. Hagwons in Korea are like fast food chains with mothers being able to shop around. Most of the hagwons success is dependant on the skill of the foreigner. If the kids don't come in, then you are more likely to get paid late or not at all.

Kindie is very difficult for noobs as they if they don't have the resources or strategies needed to teach this age group. At times, there will be hardly any cirricular support from owners or staff. In small mom and pop haggies, you're basically filling a classroom as the owner rakes in the cash.

[northway]

1) Generally you'll finish between 5 and 7, which gives you a bit more of a regular work schedule than most afternoon hagwons provide.

2) I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as public kindergarten in Korea, let alone public English kindergarten.

3) I think the screaming kids argument is a bit overblown if you're really good with kids. Kinders tend not to act out if you keep them engaged, and that's on you to do.

4) A kinder program that's functioning properly will have students writing full paragraphs in their second year of kinder, and writing essays in their third. This gives you the possibility of high-level students who are fully capable of conversation and complex thoughts in English, even at a young age.

5) I would avoid a mom 'n' pop kinder at all costs, while a franchised school will likely be okay and directly owned schools are generally pretty solid (Herald, etc.).

6) You will spend a lot more time at work than you would at an afternoon hagwon, while receiving the same pay. I'm comfortable with this, as I find the work more rewarding, but not everyone would be.

[Pinehurst]

You said that you are looking to apply at Public Schools. Kinde is a hagwon age group more like preschool.

[ttompatz]

Working with kindergarten aged kids requires a special gift, a talent for talking to them and some specialized training (ECE) wouldn't hurt either.

They are NOT just smaller versions of elementary aged kids. They are a different critter with an attention span of about 7-15 minutes and you learn to work a full day in 10 minute segments.

IF you have an aptitude for working with the little ones you are assured work for life anywhere on the planet that you wish to travel to.

If you do not have an aptitude for working with them it is a long, energy draining day and you will soon wish you had never heard of kindergarten.

I'll take kindy over HS or Uni any day but then again I love to sing, dance, play games of all sorts and use my imagination as I jump in and out of chalk pictures all day.

.

[Tallgesse]

Ahh. I was not aware that Kindergarten was not a public school level there. I feel like I actually heard it wasn't before, but when I was scrolling through the posts I read one that I guess assumed refered to a public school but the poster must have been employed by a Hagwon with a kindy class in it.

It's true; I am targeting the public school system through EPIK, etc. when I apply. However if those fall through, I will start considering the private schools so this is still valuable information.

From what I'm reading, it sounds like these are essentially the same challanges a Kindergarten teacher can expect anywhere, with the added challange of appeasing parents with the ability to just remove their kids from your class if they don't like you, essentially taking your pay with them. But we can expect that at all levels of the hagwon can't we?

I'd have to do some soul searching here. I feel like I might actually fit in well in this enviroment but I think I need a trial by fire. My old landlord owns a day care/learning center and said I could do some volunteer/internship stuff there when I need to. I may try to observe and/or participate in one of their kindergarten level classes and just see how it feels, just in case this comes up when I start applying.

[northway]

Teaching kinder really isn't the same set of challenges as older students. As ttompatz said, you need to have the personality for it or you'll end up miserable. My school is rather picky with its teachers, and I would say that out of our ten foreign teachers, there are six that really like it and four that are more or less ambivalent towards it. If you think you're naturally gifted with young children, you could really end up enjoying the job. Personally, I came in knowing I liked kids, but without having had a lot of experience with them, and I've grown into really loving the job. I miss my kids when I'm on vacation, and look forward to seeing them most days. This isn't true for a lot of teachers, however, certified or no.

[bbud656]

The hard part about kindie is you are on 100% of the time. I taught a few years older in Elementary my first year doing 50 minute classes. Then I did Kindie, 30 minute classes. Time went by a lot slower doing Kindie. I was literally talking/singing/dancing for 30 minutes straight. With the elementary kids a lot of the time was spent on them participating. Kindie kids dont even speak Korean fully yet. They are cute as buttons, but their participation doesnt go beyond repeating simple words. Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

[northway]

[Tallgesse]

I have to apologize really quickly, I just found a bunch of links to this very question in the FAQs section that I previously overlooked. Still I appreciate the replies here and want to keep the conversation going. But I really was bent on my first post not being a typical newbie question thats been asked 5 thousand times and could be found easily. I guess I failed.

Your saying second and third year kindergarten. How old are they by the time they LEAVE these programs? Also a post here suggested there are schools where children are emmersed in english for 5+ hours? Does this mean working there as a foreign english teacher means your basically with the same group of students all day everyday, more like a traditional elementary school teacher in the states?

[bbud656]

My kindie experience is different from yours. The program I have experience with give me a lot of different kindie kids. I mean a lot. Up to 6 classes a day, never saw the same kids twice. I was like a field trip. Anyway, half the kids I taught were in diapers. I had some kids who needed help walking. I swear some parents just used it as day care. I think the age of a first grader is 5 or 6 US age.

[northway]

[matthews_world]