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sam619
Joined: 10 Nov 2014 Location: United States
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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 4:58 pm Post subject: Lykeion in Suwon |
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Does anyone have any experience with the Lykeion School (formerly an a
Avalon school) in Suwon. I was just offered a position there and the contract seems solid I was just wondering if anyone has taught at the school before and would like to share their impressions. Thanks! |
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Smithington
Joined: 14 Dec 2011
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Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 10:30 pm Post subject: Re: Lykeion in Suwon |
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| sam619 wrote: |
Does anyone have any experience with the Lykeion School (formerly an a
Avalon school) in Suwon. I was just offered a position there and the contract seems solid I was just wondering if anyone has taught at the school before and would like to share their impressions. Thanks! |
They changed their name from Avalon to....Lykeion? I'd avoid the school just on that alone. That's no name for an academy that takes the English language seriously. |
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Beeyee

Joined: 29 May 2007
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 1:15 am Post subject: |
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| Are you sure the school isn't called Langcon? Langcon is an Avalon company in the same way that April is run by Chungdahm. |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 4:05 am Post subject: Re: Lykeion in Suwon |
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| Smithington wrote: |
| They changed their name from Avalon to....Lykeion? I'd avoid the school just on that alone. That's no name for an academy that takes the English language seriously. |
Lykeion is an interesting name for a place of education. Greek but internationally valid in itself & through variations on lyceum, lycee, etc, used in lots of countries. Languages can be fun (if you're not a grump).
About that particular school, no idea. |
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Smithington
Joined: 14 Dec 2011
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 5:23 pm Post subject: Re: Lykeion in Suwon |
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| schwa wrote: |
| Lykeion is an interesting name for a place of education. Greek but internationally valid in itself & through variations on lyceum, lycee, etc, used in lots of countries. |
LOL. We're talking about a friggin' hakwon here. I doubt Aristotle will be dropping by. It's a hogwan run by an ajoshie who will most likely screw over his teachers, focus exclusively on maximizing profits, and not give a damn about actual learning. The name is pretentious and inappropriate. It's also a word no-one in the English-speaking world uses (or has even heard). True there are lykeion in many countries, but countries like Belarus, Latvia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Lithuania. Not too many in Canada, the UK, or Australia. You know, the English-speaking world? It's a dumb name for a hakwan. (It seems they either go for low-brow names like 'Toss English" and "Happy Donkey English' or some grandiose name like the stupid one being discussed here.)
On the positive side I learned a new word today. Awesome. Unfortunately I will never have an opportunity to use it. Because it's not known or used anywhere in the English-speaking world. But that will change, won't it? Little Min Su will find a pen pal in the States and will be able to tell her all about her lykeion."Cathy, what lykeion do you go to in America? Who is your favorite lykieon teacher? Maybe if we move to America we can go to the lykeion together."
It's just dumb. And defending the name is equally dumb. It's a friggin' hakwon run by some ajoshie who will, in all likelihood, be as far from a Plato or Aristotle as the mind can imagine. |
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Scorpion
Joined: 15 Apr 2012
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Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 2:39 am Post subject: |
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| Lykeion? Didn't Batman fight him at one point? |
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xCainAndAbelx
Joined: 26 Apr 2013 Location: Gangnam, Seoul
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 10:27 pm Post subject: worked here |
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I worked here during the Avalon-Lykeion phase and it was the easiest teaching job ever. I did a year contract from 2013-2014 at the Jangan campus
Lykeion was the name of the franchise owner's brand a long time ago before he converted his campuses to Avalon, but in 2013, the owner and corporate Avalon got into a nasty battle over something stupid and he ended up just bringing back his own brand to the schools. I believe he operates 4 campuses all together in Suwon.
The school is solid and financially stable. I got paid on time every month, only worked 2 Saturdays in my entire year and on average only taught 13-14 hours per week. Usually my Tuesday/Thursday classes were the slowest and I only taught two 60 mim. classes. 6 out of those 8 hours, I stayed in the teacher's office and got on Facebook, chatted on messenger and planned the weekend. I taught middle, so I worked from 2:30-10:30 PM. I often took 50 mins. to 1 hour for lunch because no one cared how long I was gone (or noticed). A couple times I took up to 2 hours, walked home, etc. The curriculum is straight from the book, so the 2 and half hours of prep time you get everyday wasn't even necessary. You get a decent apartment and the Korean staff is nice. This particular campus I worked at had like 12 foreign teachers and over 50 Korean teachers and staff. According to my Korean head teacher it was the biggest hagwon in South Korea by enrollment. Collectively, elementary, middle and high school combined, we had over 1,200 students when I started but the numbers didn't really drop any when Avalon opened a corporate campus in the same building to compete. This was in early 2014.
Overall, it was the easiest job ever. I told my head teacher I wanted to re-sign for another year, but ended up not doing it because I found Suwon too boring and the hours very anti-social. This was my only problem and ended up finding a job in Seoul. I'd say go for it. |
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