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Jessidney
Joined: 01 May 2012
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 Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 5:26 pm Post subject: Topia (English Zone) in Osan |
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Hi,
I am pretty new to the Korean jobs business. I just had an interview this morning and it went pretty well. I was just hoping that it's a decent school. Does anybody know about this school or heard from anyone who has been there? I can't seem to find anything on it. |
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lemak
Joined: 02 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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http://waygook.org/index.php?topic=5003.0
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The pay is usually decent, 2.2 - 2.5 million per month, but you have to do tons of prep work in addition to planning your own classes. Depending on whether you have kindergarden students, you're looking at 8 or 9 hour days.
Again, this is just one school - Osan - and I'd still check for any online reviews for the specific topia you are applying for. I'd avoid the TOPIA in osan like the plague, FYI. |
The link to the warning on reliable teacher seems to have vanished.
I didn't personally work for this school, but have worked for Topias in the past. In my opinion they do overwork the staff, and most of the native, Korean teachers and students seemed pretty miserable. Likewise the different Topia branch my friend worked out.
They also had the tendency to majorly revamp the syllabus every couple of months which meant mandatory training sessions in their head offices....bye bye Saturday, or hello 9am ~ 10pm day....your choice.
Two hours of mandatory prep time every day. There were whispers of teachers being required to come in and work on Saturdays also. Thankfully I was gone before I had the chance to experience how that one ended.
Slightly higher pay than others, but loads of pointless paperwork, daily online report cards, mandatory online homework you need to grade.
Don't know of any teachers I worked with who re-signed. Most seemed burnt out and depressed after 3 or 4 months.
I'd personally avoid it....alas I think Topia is eventually going to be the monster that all Korean chain hagwons morph into. |
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Jessidney
Joined: 01 May 2012
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| Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:58 am Post subject: |
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Thanks lemak. I'm just not sure how choosy to be right now. I found it tough to even get anybody to respond to me this past month or so. I've contacted 15 to 20 recruiters at least and only about 3 or 4 replied. Not sure if I should wait for another offer or bite the bullet and look for better prospects next time.
Another question, are they legit? I wouldn't want to sign a contract and come to realize that they skimping on pay or firing people for no reason. |
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figshdg
Joined: 01 May 2012
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| Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 5:24 am Post subject: |
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| lemak wrote: |
In my opinion they do overwork the staff, and most of the native, Korean teachers and students seemed pretty miserable. Likewise the different Topia branch my friend worked out.
They also had the tendency to majorly revamp the syllabus every couple of months which meant mandatory training sessions in their head offices....bye bye Saturday, or hello 9am ~ 10pm day....your choice.
Two hours of mandatory prep time every day. There were whispers of teachers being required to come in and work on Saturdays also. Thankfully I was gone before I had the chance to experience how that one ended.
Slightly higher pay than others, but loads of pointless paperwork, daily online report cards, mandatory online homework you need to grade.
Don't know of any teachers I worked with who re-signed. Most seemed burnt out and depressed after 3 or 4 months.
I'd personally avoid it....alas I think Topia is eventually going to be the monster that all Korean chain hagwons morph into. |
I've also worked for Topia in the past. It seems to be fairly standard in terms of hours, etc. for newbies nowadays so don't be put off by the hours. I taught between 26 and 28 classes. In many ways, it's a good first job for a newb as the curriculum is all laid out for you. The curriculum was changed whilst I was there only one time. From what I hear, they have largely stuck with the same textbooks for the last 6 months or so and will do for the next few months.
I never once had to go to head office for training (yes, I worked for a head office controlled branch and not a franchise). Korean teachers worked on Saturdays but none of the foreigners did (I believe that is still the case). I did one Saturday for 2 hours in one year to oversee a TOEFL test when I was there. It was not mandatory.
Korean teachers didn't seem any more miserable than anywhere else.
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| daily online report cards, mandatory online homework you need to grade. |
I never once had to do either of those. Maybe it was just my branch though. All I had to do was enter homework scores, test scores, and the homework that the students had to do so that they could see it online. Those are just my experiences at one branch. No idea what others branches are like. |
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figshdg
Joined: 01 May 2012
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| Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 5:26 am Post subject: |
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| Jessidney wrote: |
Another question, are they legit? I wouldn't want to sign a contract and come to realize that they skimping on pay or firing people for no reason. |
Mine didn't pay pension or medical. I'm British so the former wasn't that much of a big deal for me, but the medical was a pain. |
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Jessidney
Joined: 01 May 2012
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| Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Good to know, figshdg. Where did you work? |
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