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Korean Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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creeper1
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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Indeed. I am living in China but my extensive experience in Korea make it worthwhile for me to educate and inform newbies.
You didn't answer the question of what you are doing.
I'm guessing you are in between contracts in Korea. Perhaps you are in your parents basement at the moment? |
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Mr. Pink

Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Who's Your Daddy? wrote: |
| hubbahubba wrote: |
I taught 6 hours a day, every day, with a shit load more prep. Add in prep, grading, sponsoring student council, coaching track, development days, bus duty, NCLB bullshit paperwork, and this place is a breeze..the whinging cracks me up |
Weren't you paid like 3 or 4 times the salary of these Korean jobs? |
I think what people don't get is the difference in education + experience and how that all adds up.
1) These 2mil jobs are for people with no experience and a BA degree in something useless. (If it was a useful degree you wouldn't be settling on less than 25k a year...)
2) Teachers who are new in NA, if they can get a job, work obscene amounts of time for a 30-40k starting salary. My buddy's first year he was doing 80 hours a week, sometimes a 100 hours as he had to prep everything, do after school stuff and work 1 Saturday a month.
3) Certified teachers with experience and a master's degree can and do make a lot more than that 2mil a month the OP mentioned. Shouldn't they make a decent wage based on the fact they are highly educated and work a lot more hours than the ones they teach?
My next contract I will be at 3x mark, and if I were at a better school I am pretty sure I'd be at the 4x mark. I don't get the cushy pension deal as I am not a public school teacher. To get to that point, I have an MA, B.Ed, and 11 years of teaching in an accredited school. Back in my home province, if I was on the same scale I would be making close to 100k a year before taxes. I make more now considering my pay is after taxes.
I took me along time to get to being at this place. Do you, a newly minted grad really expect to not have to put in your time?
My last year of hawgwon work I was doing kindy to evening classes. I was in for 8 or 9am and I went home at 9 or 10pm. I had a massive break in the middle for like 4-5hrs. I actually liked the break time. It gave me time to chill after dealing with kindie and time to do some things like hit the bank, go shopping, eat lunch, hit the PC bang, etc. Honestly never bothered me as I've done the 10hrs in a row teaching thing and that is killer. Having a nice break and knowing how to use it chill and get your personal stuff done was good for me.
What I really don't get is it is how the hell the market can still bare having 2mil as base pay almost 10yrs after it was introduced!!!
WalMart or McDonalds should pay better... |
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Cartman

Joined: 30 Jun 2009
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 6:40 am Post subject: |
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I agree with the OP - I was there from 2009 - 1010, making 2.2 mill, hours were 2pm - 7pm! At most they went 1:30 - 8pm on some days, because they suddenly required we "sit" in the staff room and wait there 1 hour after our classes were done.
I still receive all of the recruiter email blasts and am baffled that the wages are either the same or lower, and hours have increased 30-40%. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, if supply and demand are where everyone says it is...
I personally always calculated my hourly rate, and the longer hours now put teachers in the 11k - 13k per hour range.
The only saving grace is that you can still save more than when NA I suppose, based on cheap cost of living, etc.. |
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Chaparrastique
Joined: 01 Jan 2014
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Mr. Pink wrote: |
| What I really don't get is it is how the hell the market can still bare having 2mil as base pay almost 10yrs after it was introduced!!!... |
It is ridiculous, but things will not change until they are forced to.
There is still no country that will employ inexperienced grads on the same scale for the same money. Thats why they get away with it. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 8:18 pm Post subject: Re: long hours, less pay |
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| Mr Lee's Monkey wrote: |
A lot of these kindies expect the teacher to spoon feed the students during lunch, which is not considered contact time. I did it for a few months and was ready to quit when the owners decided maybe they'd gone too far and gave me that time to myself.
In general, hagwon wages have stagnated or gone down in and around Busan. One rarely hears about high paying hagwon gigs because the spots are filled and refilled without any advertising.
To the person who claims to have seen "many" of these jobs posted for 2.5-2.7, where in Korea are you seeing that, Seoul? |
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/index.cgi?read=61339
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/index.cgi?read=61290
Scroll down through the list. Some have a 9 to 6:30ish time with 2.4 starting but bigher with experience. |
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jasonXkeller
Joined: 17 Jan 2012 Location: Redlands, CA
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Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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Now that I've spoken to a few of these schools with longer schedules, most of them are offering you a 1.5 hour lunch or even longer brakes. I still don't think it's ideal, but it's more reasonable than it seems at first glance.
On the other hand I do see a few that have you teaching 9-10 40 minute classes a day. I would beware of any school that does that. I've done 8 or 9 classes a day when covering for people and it's exhausting. MAYBE I would build up the stamina to do that on the reg, but I'd rather not. |
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Mr. Pink

Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China
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Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Chaparrastique wrote: |
| Mr. Pink wrote: |
| What I really don't get is it is how the hell the market can still bare having 2mil as base pay almost 10yrs after it was introduced!!!... |
It is ridiculous, but things will not change until they are forced to.
There is still no country that will employ inexperienced grads on the same scale for the same money. Thats why they get away with it. |
I can make more making minimum wage back in Canada. The problem is the cost of living with rent being the big factor. I guess people are happy to save 10k a year.
When I first started in Korea I was making 1.1mil a month...the 1997 crash changed all that as people left Korea en mass due to the massive salary cut that the exchange rates made it seem like people were getting. (Only a pay cut if you had to send money home every month...) Pay went up so that by 2000 I was starting at 2mil. Now, 14yrs later, the starting pay is the same...just nuts. |
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