Korean Job Discussion Forums

[substratum]

Background: I'm considering putting in applications for unigwons like Woosong in the next year or so. I have an MA in English and college teaching experience - composition, not ESL (though I also have volunteer ESL conversation exp), but due to the market I've only been able to teach part-time at multiple colleges in the area. I know uni jobs are hard to come by out-of-country (have not taught abroad, currently in the U.S.) so I'm also putting apps in to other countries like China.

Anyway, I see a lot of the ads for ESL jobs wanting a certain # of years of specifically full time teaching experience. How flexible is "full time" in S. Korea? I taught several classes per semester, but not ever officially as a "full time" employee. Frankly, if I was able to get a full time salaried job here, I probably wouldn't be looking elsewhere (OK, not entirely true, but still).

[ttompatz]

Think 1600-2000 hours of classroom (teaching) experience as being 2 years full time as a lecturer/teacher/instructor.

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[substratum]

I really appreciate the help. But now I have more questions, haha.

1. Is that a pretty broadly accepted standard? What's the best way to express this - should I list the number of courses I've taught, for example? The total number of classroom hours?

2. If I have to provide proof of work experience, would a supervisor letter (i.e., head of department) be OK, or do I need an HR letter? Will the fact that the HR report might say something like "adjunct" or "part time" be a problem?

3. Most ads say to only count time accrued outside of the degree. I assume that means the M.A. I also have some experience teaching as a GTA (instructor of record) from when I went back for my (as yet partial, unfinished) PhD. I assume this counts as experience, since it's outside the degree I'm being hired for (M.A.)?

[ttompatz]

Unigwons won't care. They are not real uni jobs. They are outside of academia. They just want classroom experience.

HR or supervisor - won't matter. Same reason.

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[substratum]

Haha, good to know. Thanks again. I just ran the numbers, and, unfortunately, since the college courses I teach only count for three hours per week each, my total classroom hours are a bit low. Full time college teaching at, say, a community college (where there are no research expectations) would entail five courses, or only fifteen hours per week, per semester of butt-in-seat teaching time. That means a full-time juco instructor would only acquire about 1000 hours in two years. Maybe I could make a case for myself to possible employers if given the chance.

[ttompatz]

seriously... a unigwon is a hagwon job... just apply.

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