Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rwright66]

I have an interview tonight for a position at Kids College in Daejeon. I have never been to South Korea and this will be my first interview for a position in the country. Does anyone have any advice about questions to ask or any knowledge of the school?

Thank you!

[trueblue]

Well...and this is from recent experience...

1. Should you ask too many questions, regarding the nature of the working contract, it could prove to be a discharge of your candidacy.

2. Search out the reputation of not only the chain, but the school itself.

3. Establish what you will and will not, tolerate in term of what you are willing to tolerate working in a position, outside of your home country.

4. Seek to speak with as many foreign teachers there, that the institution will allow

5. Decide on an acceptable salary with considerations to the exchange rate.

6. Make sure (and I say this from recent experience) that the physical address is listed on the working contract.

7. Understand that, it would behoove you, to accept that the views of a contact are different here....then again, you will have resources at your disposal.

8. Ask for photos of the housing.

9. Make sure legal guidelines are met...pension, insurance and mandatory working vacation days, are met.

10. Try to seek information of the working culture and how many other foreign teaches you will be working with.

11. Try to seek out those who have worked with the school, in the past.

12. Make sure the contract clearly defines what a working hours are as oppose to what a teaching hour is.

13. Make sure you are willing to teach the age group that is listed in your contract.

14. Have set of extra documents, in case the situation goes "*beep* up".

13. Keep in mind, that though you may think you are coming to teach, you may actually turn out to be a glorified babysitter.

14. Realize that, signing a contract, does not necessarily equate to "you knew what you were getting into".

15. If you used a recruiting agency, try to gather past experiences on such agency.

16. Be prepared for the best, but plan for the worst.

I am sure I am missing some vital points, but I am sure that others, will be able to guide you.

Best of luck.

[rwright66]

Thanks! Those are good points to abide by for every contract.

[pmwhittier]

Search the forum and do a Google search for this school. There is a lot of information regarding this school on the interwebs.

[rwright66]

Thank you for the advice but I was unable to get any valuable advice about the school from a search; I could find no one who had worked there and no reviews. A link would be helpful!

They offered me 10 classes a day, 10 hours a day, 5 days a week with all planning time done on my own time. 10 days vacation a year and only return airfare. I have turned it down as it sounds like an insane schedule and maintaining my sanity is important to me!

[Blanca]

Good on you. That's an absolutely appalling schedule, although not really a surprise for Kids College. They're notorious for being dreadful places to work.

[Milwaukiedave]

The questions that trueblue posted cover a lot of ground and are great. I worked for a Kid's College when I first got here (though not that location) and the hagwon owner was a witch. Don't trust the recruiters or hagwon owners. Most are full of shit.

[LPKSA]

My Kids College story: started working at one (unnamed location) and the kids were cute, so I thought. For the most part the kids were, well, they're kids. They had a lot of energy.

One boy though had too much energy and he would beat the other kids up in the class, even the girls. This became too much for me to handle, as the contract stated that there would be women in the class who would help keep the kids in line, but of course, there were no such ajumas. This boy would just go off, punching girls, kicking them, throwing them around. Other kids in the class began to follow his example, so I would take them to the director. She would say "Well you just don't love them enough."

Right. Things got out of hand when the kids had an assignment with scissors, and there were 12 kids but 11 scissors. The bully kid was left without a pair of scissors, so he grabbed a pair from another boy and they began to fight. Before I could stop them, he jabbed the other kid in the face with the scissors. That was the last straw. I told the director that I would not continue the class until his mother and father were notified.

They of course didn't want to do this, but they did. They arranged a meeting with his parents at 10:30 pm, after a long day (8:30 am to 7:30 pm). I didn't find out that his parents were coming in until after I made it home and received a phone call to come back to school by 10:00 pm to meet with the parents, both of who didn't speak any English. I just sat there in silence as his father accepted the fact that his child was just too rambunctious for a classroom that size. The mother just stared at me with an evil glare. Eventually I asked to leave, not before the Korean teacher told them that I was a dog (yes).

The boy was taken out of the program. From thereon out, I was targeted by this teacher, and she made it less than pleasant for me, at my first job in the country. She would come into my class to observe, taking notes on everything I did, staring at me like I was a disease. The kids became so out of line, she would sit there and take note of how I handled it. I mean, how do you handle a room full of 11 kids, when the room is not built to accommodate 6 kids? Their attention spans are just too short. They don't have the capacity at that age (4 {some at 3, in Korean age}) to sit still in a room with no windows where there is hardly any room to move about. I kept my cool, but this teacher just exploded on me one day in the classroom in front of the kids. She lost it, and I told her that she didn't need to speak to me like that, and I walked back into my office.

After the class was finished, I was in my office checking the middle school aged students' assignments, and she stormed in, demanding answers from me. "What is your problem? Why are you a terrible teacher?" I ignored her and walked into the cafeteria. She followed me, continuing to throw her BS at me. I walked back into my office and sat down, continuing to ignore her. She then said something in Korean under her breath and then threw a miniature stapler at me, then walked out. I pulled a midnight run from there a week later.

When my visa expired, I returned to Korea and landed a position at a much more reputable school, where I was treated with a lot more respect, working less hours, students weren't so out of control (they were kids though), and the general vibe was much more family oriented. They even gave us cars. Not the best place to work, but definitely not the worst. This school was not far from the town where the Kids College where I worked, so one night I took a trip out there to see the town again, just because I was bored. I walked into a bar and low and behold, five of the teachers I worked with were in there. I joined them and we talked about the school.

It apparently went downhill. The students at this school were from wealthy families, and it was not uncommon for parents of these students to buy us gifts; nice gifts at that. They would bring us cake, boxes of fruit, socks, clothes, all kinds of tokens of appreciation. They generally were good people and for the most part, the kids were good kids, albeit their ability to drive one up the wall from time to time. What was happening at this school though was atrocious. The Korean teachers were intercepting the gifts which were brought in by the parents. One teacher had a birthday, and the parents of her students all bought a cake and presents, and the teachers intercepted it and had their own party, something of that nature, and didn't tell the teacher about this. They made her teach the class while they ate her cake. Things like this were not uncommon at this particular Kid's College.

Would be funny if some of the other teachers who worked there are reading this and chimed in. The location of this particular school will not be named, but it was indeed a terrible place to work, not because of the students, but because of the management. They were just resentful, spiteful, and jealous. What can you do? I would stay away from Kid's College and don't take any wooden nickels from recruiters. Hagwons are hit or miss. Some are the worst places to work. Some have their inefficient quirks but make up for them in other ways. Some are great places to work. Again, stay away from Kid's College if you want to have a good time in Korea. But maybe someone else on here had a completely different experience as me.

[trueblue]

Perhaps a few other things...

Do not be afraid, if necessary, to stand your ground on certain matters. You WILL be tested, that is inevitable. But..choose your battle's wisely. There are some things that warrant the action of standing your ground. Then again, there are other aspects of the job, that simply require you to just go with the flow.

I think I may speak for a few teacher's here, that when you stop trying to change things, aspects of the job will become easier. You will just have to learn which one's they are...and you will.

On the external factors...do not, I repeat, DO NOT surround yourself with other foreign teachers who are purely and utterly disgruntled, not realizing they have a choice to simply leave. Negativity always feeds on itself.

Choose to be amongst honest and adventurous folks, who are open to, and welcome new teachers.

You may find, that high school games still diffuse beyond high school and beyond the ocean.

Choose your friends wisely.

Also, ruminate on what is more important.

Can you deal with a dodgy school but at the same time, be in a good location with nice housing? Or, can you deal with housing that does not really meet your expectations but have the opportunity, to be working at an honest school that will back you up, when the time calls for it?

Give and take...take and give.

But...more importantly, put yourself in a position where you can meet your goals, whatever they may be...and have some fun, according to the "good old nature" and "good old humor".

Again, best of luck.


And one more thing...most people really don't care if your grammar on this forum is, shall I say, not up to classroom standards. It is only a forum and communicate as you will...

[LPKSA]

[trueblue]

[PRagic]

10 classes and 10 hours a day? This alone would solicit a loud, howling fit of laughter followed by 'click' as the phone hung up. Sincerely hope you didn't actually consider this job, OP.