Korean Job Discussion Forums

[John Henry]

Hi,

I'm contemplating a split shift position, so I can teach adults only. I don't think it would be a problem, as long as I don't get hammered the night before. I'd like to hear from people that are working splits now. How do you like it? Any input, good or bad, appreciated.

Also, is there any way to teach adults without the splitters?

In general, the jobs I've been looking at require teaching 6 classes a day. Is that the norm?

OK, thanks again for your responses.

John

[dcrayne]

i taught the split shift for 2 years and it was ok. it is nice teaching adults only. they are more receptive to your ideas and are always up to drinking a beer or two.

[FUBAR]

Find out if you will be teaching only adults first. Some Hagwons will tell you that you are teaching solely adults, but they will mix in the occasional kids class in the afternoon before your evening class. (around 4pm)

[peppermint]

Worked splits for two years and it's got it's ups and downs. BEing able to do you banking, shopping etc without a crowd is nice, as is having most of the daylight hours free.

One thing to watch out for: ask how close your apartment will be to the school, and the time of the schools first morning class, and the last evening class. At one school my first class was at 6:30 am, and the last was at 10:00pm. When you added in a 30 minute commute each way it got pretty rough.

[tomwaits]

I thought it was a fate worse than death. Like you are ALWAYS on the way to work. OK you get off at 10-11 in the morning. But you were awake at maybe 5 so you will feel like crashing out again. Then it's time to get ready for the evening. And you need to be alert with adults who tend to be very critical..If you do it it's best IMO to stay awake all day get by on 5-6 hours sleep a night. Rest on the weekend.

I saw some ads that even throw in a noon class. Who could do that. ?

[kelly]

I worked split shift for two years, and it seemed like I never had any time off work. Even though I had some time off in the afternoon, I always had it in the back of my mind that I had to go back to work, and so couldn't relaxed. Anyway after two years of it I was totally burned out, so stopped. As peppermint said it does have its pro's as in you have the afternoons free to do things you can't do in the evenings, but in my opinion you'll get tired very quickly. Good luck with whatever you choose!!

[adventureman]

Correct me if Im wrong, but ive heard its possible to work your way into block scheduling after a few months for some of the branches of the big adult institute chains like Pagoda/YBM SISA becasue they offer so many classes. Can somebody back this up? Ive been looking into those kind of jobs as well but I'm also not to keen on the split shift thing...

[adventureman]

I did a search and here's what somebody else wrote on a different thread. So, if this is true than, yes it might be possible to teach adults and not have to put up with split shifts for a long time

[suds]

I worked a split shift for a year, then extended for six months to save a bit more before travelling.

This was my day:

6:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. and then 5 - 10 p.m. M, W, F
6:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. and then 7 - 10p.m. Tues, Thu

It totally wears you down after awhile. I would not recommend it. Yes, you have the day hours to do what you want, but you're often too tired to do anything and its so easy just to sleep in the afternoon, wake up not rested, teach all tired in the evening, then go home at 10 p.m. sorta tired, have a sorta okay sleep, then wake up at 6 a.m. and repeat. You don't get much sun, and eating and sleeping patterns are thrown out of wack. Its not a huge deal for a short time but over the long term your body starts asking yourself "what the hell are you doing!!?!!". Eating and sleep are so important to be healthy, which you don't fully realise till you have a funked up work schedule. Especially cause weekends in Korea are made for partying and so you don't get much rest then either. Of course, you can tell yourself, no, I'll make a schedule for myself in my off time so I get enough sleep, but its really really hard to do.
Anyway, teaching adults is definitely way better than kids. I taugh uni students in the morning, kids in the afternoon and businessmen and women in the evening. Adults and uni students you can have conversations, and have fun, go out for some drinks. Its fun teaching and classes fly by, whereas with kids its just like, "stop fooling around goddamit!". But I would say, having a non-split shift and teaching kids is worth not having to put up with the split shift.
Anyway, now I'm looking at different positions cause I'm coming back to Korea and my main priority is "NO SPLIT SHIFT". But thats cause I know after the year and I half, I know its possible to do, but not very enjoyable. On the other hand some people are made for the split shift schedule and can hack it (but imo most aren't ... including me). Whatever the case, bottom line to my rambling is teaching adults is great, but the schedule sucks.

[John Henry]

[Son Deureo!]

[FUBAR]

[Tiger Beer]

I am mixed on it, but put up with the split shifts because I really more prefered teaching adults.

You do however feel really tired all the time. It was really hard, if not completely impossible, for me to go home to bed directly after work to get the required sleep.

What generally happened was I slept twice a day. Once for about 4 hours in the middle of the night.. and another time for about 4 hours in the middle of the afternoon. Weekends I got up on any accrued sleep lost.

[plato's republic]

who the hell takes english lessons at 6.30 in the morning??? i taught in japan for three years and never came across anything like this before! it must be pretty tough to be fully awake and alert even after a couple of strong coffees at that time in the morning.
do they have drunk korean businessmen take lessons after a long hard night on the town? beats me...

[SarcasmKills]

I did it my first two years and honestly had no problems with it...

I rather enjoyed the schedule infact.. (I've never been one to have troubles waking up early mind you)

The people who take the 6:30 and 7:30 classes are predominantly businessmen and women (with a few uni students thrown in).. They gave me more insight into Korea then I believe I could've received anywhere else.. Priceless stuff really...I was teaching everyone from doctors to factory workers and from lawyers to artists.. we'd constantly meet for dinners.. they'd invite me to their home, etc..

It does make you cut down on your drinking during the week.. and while I'm not exactly a huge lush to begin with, I think that was a good thing.. the block schedule will help you save money all around.. the saying about "idle hands" is true.. I have more free time now at my present job then I know what to do with.. so money flies out of my wallet a lot easier..

After the morning block you could hit the gym, go shopping, do your banking, meetother's for lunch, etc...

All this being said I had some co-workers who ABSOLUTELY could not cope with the schedule.. always came in as groggy messes each morning.. it's not like they were always on the pi$s the night before either, they just couldn't deal with it..

The split shift does cut down on your interactions with other foreigners during the week (again, you decide if this is a good thing or bad thing), but it increases you interactions with Koreans exponentially.. (meeting some of their lunch breaks, between classes, etc..)

You will get loads of hours during the winter and summer school breaks.. and yeah it might tire you out a bit and all but kill your social life for a month or two at a time but the paycheck is glorious..