Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kraggy]

Hi there,

I'm looking for a job in Korea. The job market is tough!

I was there for 2 years already and I'm looking to go back. Last time I taught elementary initially and then I taught on an After School programme where I taught all ages from 1st Grade to 6th Grade (elementary).

My question is, is there a big difference between Kindie and Elementary? I was comfortable teaching the 1st graders but for some reason I'm a little apprehensive about teaching Kindie. I have this image of little tots running riot . There seems to be a lot of jobs advertised that are looking for Kindie/Elementary combined hence my interest.

So, are the little kindie kids manageable?

Also, in most hagwons, do they provide a programme for you to teach or do you have to come up with lesson plans every day?

Any help would be great, thanks

[Gaininganadventur]

I have taught both. They are both much different. Some Hawgwons have both Kindie and Elementary included.

Kindie can be a challenge managing the kids and it requires lots of energy. You might want to try the job situations on: starteachers.net


All of the Hawgon prep situations are different. However most of the time you are given ciriculum and you make lessson plans and go from there.

[takethree]

Kindie is consistently a challenge and you will rarely (in my experience) notice any sort of progress. If you have lots of energy, and more patience, and like kids, give it a shot. Otherwise I'd avoid it.

[itiswhatitis]

I've done both:

I'm not suggesting that all kindy teachers are like this, but from my experience.........

Most kindy teachers fall into 2 categories:

1) The rookie who gets suckered into a kindy gig by a shady recruiter.....workds his 9-7:30 shift and drinks cheap Korean beer and fried chicken. Leaves Korea burned out after a year OR moves to another position OR falls into category #2...........

2) The loser who needs his job to keep him busy. He/she has no desire for personal self improvment, is more likely than the average dude to smoke, is probably overweight and doesn't know a sliver of Korean. Will eventually leave Korea fat and not having any new skills. BUT will be able to post status updates on facebook wishing his/her "friends around the world" a happy new year/christmas etc (we can't take that part away from him/her).

Good luck!

[Aine1979]

I teach kindy and elementary, and I find kindy are much easier to teach, and are better behaved, than the elementary kids. They're not coming to you tired after having already done a full day of school like the elementary kids are, which makes a difference. All bar one of the kids I teach are really well behaved and hard working - they can get a little boisterous at playtime, but they're kids.

I've also seen remarkable progress in them all - at the start of the year the youngest student didn't speak a word of English and couldn't even hold a pencil, now she chatters away in English and has a good level of both reading and writing. Even the one boy who was, to put it lightly, an absolute nightmare at the start of the year, has made real progress.

I think teaching kindergarten students depends a lot on the school, if it's well run with good teachers, then you'll have good students and good results.

[yellowdove]

I have to disagree that kindy teachers are quote "a loser who needs his job to keep him busy" or a "rookie who gets suckered into a kindy gig". While there are a number of people who probably go into kindergarten positions with less experience, there are those of us who actually enjoy working with the little ones.

Personally, I've only worked at kindergarten schools. I love my kids, and with the right school you see SO much progress. I can't tell you how proud of my kids I am this year. My school is great, and I'm re-signing for a second year.

Yes, it's tough keeping up with them all day, and there are some days where I swear they've been possessed by an evil spirit sent to drive me crazy, but 95% of the time they're cute, and want to learn far more than my elementary kids in the afternoon.

[Nester Noodlemon]

[candy bar]

[Jodami]

[yellowdove]

Nester, thanks for the edit. Missed the hyphen.

And I teach far more than just the ABCs, Candy. Don't be such a troll.

[takethree]

[kraggy]

Thanks for the replies everybody.

I'll keep an open mind. Would rather not teach kindy but the choices are really limited. I'm a certified teacher with 2 years experience in Korea and I'm not getting much feedback from recruiters.

Things have really tightened up on the jobs front in Seould by the sounds of things.