Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pikadoopoo]

My school's start date is March 1... It's a national holiday. The official start is on the 2nd. So can I just be in Korea by then?

Also, has anyone started later than the date you're supposed to? I'm actually worried that I might not be able to go by early March because of a few problems here. I guess I'll contact my co-teacher, but I was wondering if anyone was successful in getting their start date changed. (There's a clause in the contract about late starts).

[Julius]

[andrewchon]

Not only is March 1st a public holiday, it's on Thursday. The Friday will be taken up with the opening ceremonies and staff meetings. No teaching will be done. Teaching will begin on next Monday, 5th. If they haven't decided on how to use the NET by that time, then you'll start teaching even later.

If you can't wait to get Korea, a reminiscence from Blues Brothers:

Penguin: Archbishop wants to sell this place out-right.
Elwood: What's gonna happen to you?
Penguin: I'll be sent to missions. Africa.. South America... Ko-re-a....

[pikadoopoo]

[attagirl]

My recruiter found me a GEPIK job with a March 1st start date. I asked about training, and he said I wouldn't get any official training. I'm still waiting to get my visa number but I'm hoping I can get there a bit early. Would really appreciate a day or two of orientation before being thrown into a class but not counting on it. Glad to hear the first is a holiday and not a monday though!

Someone mentioned contacting their co-teacher... have most people been given their co-teacher's details in advance of arriving? I know nothing about my co teacher/director... really want to know a little about the curriculum and who i need to bring gifts for before I go. Do most people get this info in advance?

As for qualifications, I have no teaching experience at all. I have a masters (library and info studies) but I won't have my diploma until September so it's useless. I have a BA (psychology and media) and some TEFL, but I think what really helped was that I made a short introductory video. When I sent that out I instantly got a lot more interest, so I'd recommend any jobseekers out there to make one.

[jsouthal]

From what I have heard, GEPIK basically lost all of its funding at the end of last year. So for this year, the only schools that will be hiring FT's are schools that can pay for them themselves. So there are much fewer positions available this year. I think the best bet for those of you who still want to go public, is to contact a recruiter that works directly with public schools. That's how I actually got offered a job, I interviewed directly with a school through a recruiter (Canadian Connections), and was hired by the school. I decided not to go with it, but that's how it was done.
Because this is all so new, and there is so little funding, I don't think anyone really knows how it's all going to work out, and if there will be orientations this year. There definitely isn't an orientation before you start in March, but I was told there would be one in April. I have my doubts as to whether this is true, because orientation is expensive and apparently now the schools themselves have to pay for teachers to go. Anyway, it's all a little confusing, and I personally decided not to go with a GEPIK public school because of all this.

[overdrive2023x]