Korean Job Discussion Forums

[seoulonmind]

hey guys!

I hear soo many horror stories about getting ripped off, not paid, bad living conditions by hogwans that is scares me. What is the norm? What have been YOUR experiences? Are there really THAT many that will screw you over? I am planning my career to S. Korea carefully and would appreciate any advice.

bri

[phaedrus]

A hagwon is a business, so any way that they can make more money at the expense of the teacher will be taken advantage of.

[seoulonmind]

YIKES!!!!!

[Grotto]

Hogwans vary greatly. You may have a good experience or a bad one...you might have a good time while your co-workers find it a hell.

On the whole hogwans are alot of work....make sure you limit your teaching time ie set shift hours, dont sign a 30 hour a week contract as in many hogwans that means 30 hours in a classroom, when you add in prep time, breaks between classes etc you are well into 40+ hours of actual at the school time.


Keep an open mind and dont be afraid to say no....very carefully look over your contract!

Good luck

[prosodic]

A couple things.

First, people who get screwed are more vocal than people who are content.
Second, a lot of people get screwed royally in Korea.

[seoulonmind]

so if i say no the director won't freak out and either fire me, or start making my life H E double hockey sticks? I just want to make sure I have a good experience. I know it is going to be what I MAKE of it, but it will also depend on how my director treats me. What was your experience Grotto??

Bri

[seoulonmind]

I am a calm person, cordial, nice and passive...but I will stick up for myself. I feel I can handle the situations that may come my way but then again I have never taught in Korea.

bri

[The Evil Clown]

It's not a question of if your hogwan will *beep* you, it's a matter of how deep they'll insert the shaft.

Being nickel and dimed is going to happen to you in 99.999% of all hogwans. Some are good, some are bad. It's a roll of the dice.

Remember, things can change from decent to horrible pretty fast if the school decides to alter their schedules, requirements, etc. Spur of the moment changes happen here all the time. You'll get no advance notice and be expected to have known about it yesterday.

[prosodic]

[seoulonmind]

well that is not what I wanted to hear, but I just hope i can make money, and travel some, and be able to eat, and have a place to live. I have no student loans, I paid them off 4 years after college since most of my aid were grants anyway...........I have a lot of homewor to do, .....are there any recruiters out there that screen the Hagwons well and place you in reputable ones???

Brian

[seoulonmind]

GREAT advice prosodic but how do you tell the ones that will freak from the ones that won't before signing the contract, especially since I will more than likely be accepting a position from here in the US and then traveling there to work for the school.....Ahi yai ya i

[prosodic]

That's a hard question. My first hagwon job was actually pretty good. I say that in hindsight. It was eight years ago and I was a very fresh newbie. If I had been more mature, I'm sure it would have been great. The biggest problem I had was that I quickly became the go-to guy.

"Oh, we accidentally double-booked Ms. Choi to teach two different grammar classes at the same time. Well, let's ask prosodic to do it even though he's already teaching conversation, composition, and listening comprehension seven hours a day."

Unfortunately, I hadn't learned the value of saying "No." Before I knew it, I was teaching 6 different textbooks 8 or 9 hours a day every month. I made a lot of money with overtime, but I got burnt out. Then the Korean economy collapsed in 98 and the won went from 800won to the dollar to 1600 won to the dollar in half a year. Between the stress of that and being exhausted, I couldn't take it anymore. At the time, I blamed the school. Now, I realize that it was my fault for not saying no when they were actually reasonable and would have taken no for an answer.

I guess my point is that there are a lot of good situations out there. It's just that you hear about the bad situations more often. Also, sometimes there are some good situations that turn bad when it's not the school's fault.

[prosodic]

[seoulonmind]

do you teach there now? Has the situation on Korea gotten better for the Won and Hagwons? I am 29 now, not sure how old you were. I have been working in the technology industry since 1996 but have a B.A. in English and All Level Education. I will take your advice to a T, you sound like you really know what you are talking about.

Thanks for your time, anything else you want to add, just shoot!

bri

[seoulonmind]

yes that helps A LOT, I am "GRATEFUL" heheh