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forster.joe
Joined: 15 Aug 2011
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 Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:17 am Post subject: Working hours in a Hagwon |
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Hi guys,
As an aspring first-timer, I have visited several recruitment websites in preparation. On one such site, it states that the average working day will consist of 6 hours teaching. It makes no mention of class prep time and states that overtime is 'extremely rare'.
Is this realistic or is the site simply misleading?
Thanks for any advice you might be able to give! |
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bbunce
Joined: 28 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:30 am Post subject: |
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| That's based on 30 hours/120 per month. Usually, contracts will say anything over 120 a month is overtime. Overtime is rare. Believe me, 6 hours of teaching is very difficult if it's split into 40 minute classes like mine. I have an average of 40 classes per week, 8 a day. There is always a 30 minute to 1 hour of preparation time and you will certainly work about 8-9 hrs a day. |
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forster.joe
Joined: 15 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:54 am Post subject: |
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OK thanks for that. 8-9 hours a day is fine - that's about the same as home (UK). It's going to be tough but my eventual plan is to teach in England as a career so I'd better get used to it sooner or later...  |
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NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:01 am Post subject: |
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| forster.joe wrote: |
| OK thanks for that. 8-9 hours a day is fine - that's about the same as home (UK). It's going to be tough but my eventual plan is to teach in England as a career so I'd better get used to it sooner or later... |
I work 9.5 hours a day at a hagweon. It does make you a workaholic. Longer hours are not bad if you know what you are doing.
Off-topic: Consider that you're from England, try to speak as North American as possible. South Korea is a country where the British Received Pronunciation is somewhat discouraged in education-related environments. |
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modernseoul
Joined: 11 Sep 2011
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:10 am Post subject: Re: Working hours in a Hagwon |
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| forster.joe wrote: |
Hi guys,
As an aspring first-timer, I have visited several recruitment websites in preparation. On one such site, it states that the average working day will consist of 6 hours teaching. It makes no mention of class prep time and states that overtime is 'extremely rare'.
Is this realistic or is the site simply misleading?
Thanks for any advice you might be able to give! |
6 hours teaching per day is standard but that doesn't include prep, paperwork and meetings.
Also if your working kindergarten teaching hour doesn't include free-time which isn't really free and is basically playing. Therefore you might only teach from say 10-12 then 1-3 then 3-5 (6 hours), but you'll be working 9 to 6 pretty much flat out.
Overtime is rare unless a teacher leaves without warning and there is nobody else to cover the lessons, or your school makes a mistake and they need you to cover time. |
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fezmond
Joined: 27 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:11 am Post subject: |
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| NohopeSeriously wrote: |
| forster.joe wrote: |
| OK thanks for that. 8-9 hours a day is fine - that's about the same as home (UK). It's going to be tough but my eventual plan is to teach in England as a career so I'd better get used to it sooner or later... |
I work 9.5 hours a day at a hagweon. It does make you a workaholic. Longer hours are not bad if you know what you are doing.
Off-topic: Consider that you're from England, try to speak as North American as possible. South Korea is a country where the British Received Pronunciation is somewhat discouraged in education-related environments. |
in 3 years here, i've been asked once where my accent was from and that was from a canadian. most parents won't realise and ultimately won't care. students usually presume you're from north america and unless you tell them, don't worry about it.
from the horse's mouth, an awful lot of koreans are heading towards british grammar/spelling and pronunciation. |
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Skippy
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:15 am Post subject: |
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Well big question with lots of details. Overall each school is different.
Job adverts will usually be pretty sparse on details. You will want to check the contract for specifics on hours and times. Even then sometimes contracts are vague too. So talk to the teachers past and present if possible.
Point number one, Most contracts will be teaching hours basically the TIME YOUR ARE IN A CLASSROOM TEACHING. Prep time will not be included. Even other activities from phone interviews, marking papers or tests, cleaning, will not be included. If you want to get paid for extra work you will have to add it your contract.
Now some schools will not care about between class break. They will simply go one 50 min class with 10 min break is one hour. While others might do what I call nickel and diming. They will literally add up class minutes and minus breaks. They will try to get as much time out of you before they get you over the overtime rate.
Be wary of overtime. Some places will have overtime sometimes like summer or winter intensive classes. While others will have constant overtime. You can find yourself in a job that is having you work 40 hours a week. Once again check the contract. If it is says something like overtime is mandatory then time to dig deeper. Ask questions of scholl and previous teachers about hour per week/month they do.
If you do want overtime and do not mind doing it there is another pitfall. As I mentioned above they can nickle and dime you. So they will ignore any breaks. They could also decided to use 120 a month rather then week. So if they used you for 110 hours during the first 29 days of pay period. They will do there best to get that last 10 hours out of you in the last 1 day. Once again check contract are your hours calculated by week or month.
Still going with overtime, do not mind it some work. Great you can make some more money! Maybe not, you might find that the overtime rate is LOW. I have seen from 10,000 an hour and to even lower. Sorry not time and half here. You might think overtime would be basic 2.2 million divide by 120 hours would be about 18,000 won. Once again check your contract it very likely could stipulate the overtime rate.
First off you have to understand what kind of job is it?
1. Kindergarten/Elementary Hagwon- Closer to the typical 9 to 5. And your six hours will likely be in that time. Minus lunch, non teaching breaks, preptime. It can be easy, come in do your class. Not teaching your time. To very strict. Yes you are not teaching but you can not leave the school and you have to help feed these kids, or sorry that is not included in over time.
It can get even worse as some schools can stretch the time even further so you could get a 9 to 9 time. With a whole bunch of desk warming time in between.
2. Afternoon/Evening Hagwon well that ist typically from about 2:00p to 9:00/10:00pm Your hours and preptime will be in that block of time. So you can expect from a 30 min to 1 hour pre class preptime (aka Internet surfing time), with some possible gaps in between. That gap time can be free - hope out for a quick dinner to stay here and work. |
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NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:24 am Post subject: |
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| Skippy wrote: |
| Well big question with lots of details. Overall each school is different. |
I will say that some hagweon are more concerned about your worker's ethics than your mumbo jumbo working hours. Those hagwon often run independently.
| fezmond wrote: |
in 3 years here, i've been asked once where my accent was from and that was from a canadian. most parents won't realise and ultimately won't care. students usually presume you're from north america and unless you tell them, don't worry about it.
from the horse's mouth, an awful lot of koreans are heading towards british grammar/spelling and pronunciation. |
The hagweon that I work for is very phonics-oriented; only accepts North American accent. My boss recently rejected a British NET merely because his accent was "not suitable for the whole curriculum in this hagweon". |
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amnsg2
Joined: 15 Aug 2010
Location: Gumi
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:00 am Post subject: |
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| NohopeSeriously wrote: |
Off-topic: Consider that you're from England, try to speak as North American as possible. South Korea is a country where the British Received Pronunciation is somewhat discouraged in education-related environments. |
Off topic even more: This is absolutely not true. It's good for English learners to practice with different accent. They get a bit confused with spelling, yes. But all it takes is to write out both versions if they ask, and say both are correct. If someone tells you to fake an accent, tell them to-
Make sure you get your working hours in the contract, so at least you know where the cut off point is if they do make you teach long stretches without breaks. The better contracts would have something about prep time in there, usually at the beginning of the day, so you're not walking into a class without a plan. |
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