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		Pyongshin Sangja
 
  
  Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!
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				 Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:40 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				Hey, Derrek.
 
 
                  I don't actually know anything specific about Hongik. No, I don't prep. I open the book and go to the next page. I guess I could prep,  but the students just want the class to be over and behave like it. I'm not tearing my hair out over them.
 
 
Typical day? A few hours teaching in the morning, lunch, boring office hours, another class and then home.
 
 
Then a day off, then repeat. My base is even lower than Hongik's but I don't really care. I need the time off, got a few other gigs on the side.
 
 
 
 
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	  | It is absolutely better than a hogwan.. but someone should only settle for it if they can't be one of the many better jobs. | 
	 
 
 
 
Could you be more specific? I heard that SNU lecturers get 2 mill and no housing. What do you do? I see postings here for uni jobs with 1.6 base, eight weeks vacation, uni hagwon jobs teaching kids for 30 hrs a week and so on. Hongik still looks good. Why do I care? Not sure. 
 
 
Do you have a corporate training job? Those are W40-50,000 per hr straight up but give you no benefits or paid vacation. 
 
 
C'mon, spill the beans. Are you at least in Seoul? If you're in the boondocks I guess you have a bit more leverage. I used to live in a small town, too,  but I would never do that again. | 
			 
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		eamo
 
  
  Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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				 Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 3:24 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				Hongik University got back to me yesterday.
 
 
No luck!         
 
 
Ah well........Hagwon days not over yet.      | 
			 
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		TwoNames
 
 
  Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Location: Houston, Texas
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				 Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 2:47 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				This thread has been enlightening as I've lurked now for a couple of weeks in different discussion. Seems there are quite a lot of "different" possibilities for teaching venues, which I'll continue looking into.
 
 
If it's not way out of the realm of this thread, I'd like to ask what you all think of my possibilities for teaching there. I'm male and 65 - to get that out of the way. I was born in upstate NY, I have two masters degrees, an M.S. in cross disciplinary professional studies that includes IT, book design (I own a small publishing company, one man) and other areas, and a M.F.A. equivalency. I've taught college for some thirteen years, none full time since it's the American way to use adjunct faculty. I have long grey hair and intend to keep it that way.
 
 
Possibilities? Questions?
 
 
Thanks all. I ask this group because there appears to be considerable honesty -- from my view point. | 
			 
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		TECO
 
  
  Joined: 20 Jan 2003
 
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				 Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 8:31 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				what kinds of questions did they ask at the interview?
 
 
Was it 1 on 1 or a penel interview? | 
			 
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		Pyongshin Sangja
 
  
  Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!
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				 Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 12:42 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				| Twonames, my co-worker was fired at 65 after 8 years at the same uni. He is going to Thailand. Supposedly, there is a mandatory retirement age. Korean public school teachers face mandatory retirement at 62. | 
			 
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		TwoNames
 
 
  Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Location: Houston, Texas
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				 Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:35 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				| OUCH! | 
			 
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		ohfamous
 
  
  Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Location: Off the beaten path
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				 Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 6:22 am    Post subject:  | 
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				regarding the interview...
 
 
upon arrival, i was immediately ushered into a "sound-proof" room where a 4-person hiring committee asked me a simple grammar question and kicked me out.  5 minutes and that was it.  
 
 
apparently i answered well enough because they offered me the job.  fyi, i have a BS and less than 4 months experience of teaching middle school kids.  i'm not bragging, i just don't know why the hell they hired me   .  (there's hope for us BAs!)  but why are they hiring a newbie with no MA?  maybe they'll screw me over later?  i don't think so.  hopefully i'm just some kinda lucky bastard   
 
 
in response to twonames, i'm mid-twenties.
 
 
ooh, my first "filtered" post...
  Last edited by ohfamous on Wed Feb 02, 2005 6:11 pm; edited 2 times in total | 
			 
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		TECO
 
  
  Joined: 20 Jan 2003
 
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				 Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:13 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				ohfamous,
 
 
Congratulations.
 
 
do you have to teach children and do summer / winter camps at this school? | 
			 
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		matthewwoodford
 
  
  Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Location: Location, location, location.
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				 Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:41 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				ohfamous
 
 
Do you have a pretty face? This is shallowness capital of the world. | 
			 
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		eamo
 
  
  Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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				 Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 10:14 pm    Post subject:  | 
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	  | ohfamous wrote: | 
	 
	
	  regarding the interview...
 
 
upon arrival, i was immediately ushered into a "sound-proof" room where a 4-person hiring committee asked me a simple grammar question and kicked me out.  5 minutes and that was it.  
 
 
apparently i answered well enough because they offered me the job.  fyi, i have a BS and less than 4 months experience of teaching middle school kids.  i'm not bragging, i just don't know why the hell they hired me   .  (there's hope for us BAs!)  but why are they hiring a newbie with no MA?  maybe they'll screw me over later?  i don't think so.  hopefully i'm just some kinda lucky *beep*   
 
 
in response to twonames, i'm mid-twenties.
 
 
ooh, my first "filtered" post... | 
	 
 
 
 
Good for you. Really.
 
 
I wonder what the requirements for this gig were. I have an English degree, TESL certificate and 4 years teaching experience in Korea with good references. Hongik University didn't even give me an interview.
 
 
Because I'm not North-American? Probably. | 
			 
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		sid
 
  
  Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Location: Berkshire, England
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				 Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:07 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				Just to reassure you that not all universities are like that, the 2004 intake here was:
 
 
Two Brits
 
 
Two Americans
 
 
One New Zealander (UK passport)
 
 
One Australian
 
 
 
What's more I heard that the new teachers this semester include two Irish among their number. | 
			 
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		desultude
 
  
  Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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				 Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 1:15 am    Post subject:  | 
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	  | TwoNames wrote: | 
	 
	
	  This thread has been enlightening as I've lurked now for a couple of weeks in different discussion. Seems there are quite a lot of "different" possibilities for teaching venues, which I'll continue looking into.
 
 
If it's not way out of the realm of this thread, I'd like to ask what you all think of my possibilities for teaching there. I'm male and 65 - to get that out of the way. I was born in upstate NY, I have two masters degrees, an M.S. in cross disciplinary professional studies that includes IT, book design (I own a small publishing company, one man) and other areas, and a M.F.A. equivalency. I've taught college for some thirteen years, none full time since it's the American way to use adjunct faculty. I have long grey hair and intend to keep it that way.
 
 
Possibilities? Questions?
 
 
Thanks all. I ask this group because there appears to be considerable honesty -- from my view point. | 
	 
 
 
 
It is indeed hard to get a job in Korea past a certain age- that age seems to be in the mid-fifties, at the high end.  I am now fifty-six.  I am just starting my third year on the same job (a good uni post).  I am actually happy to hear of someone who made it to 65.
 
 
I would apply, if you are really interested, but, as you asked for honesty, there it is.  I have heard, though, that there are nice gigs in China (the pay sucks, but the conditions are good and the cost of living low).  I understand that they really do appreciate age there.
 
 
By the way, I have a theory about ageism in jobs here.  It is generally accepted, by Koreans, that after the age of 60 (58 or 59 in the West), in Korean years, the parent is taken care of by the children.  It is in fact a point of honor.
 
 
Given that, and a relatively bad economy, it makes sense that the jobs go to the young, who have both children and sometimes parents to support.  I suspect this mentality is generalized to foreigners, too.  I suspect those of us teaching here who are a bit older are a mystery to Koreans- we are supposed to be firmly enscounced in family by now, not free-wheeling it around the world.
 
 
But, since this thinking is the result of Confucianism, I don't understand why it is so different in China.
 
 
So much for my theory. | 
			 
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		ohfamous
 
  
  Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Location: Off the beaten path
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				 Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:15 am    Post subject:  | 
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				winter/summer camps are optional.  really.
 
 
pretty face?  well, i'm a guy, so i wouldn't call myself pretty.  i do have a bit of a baby face, but i thought that would work against me for a job teaching college students.  i guess i'm decent enough, though i'm certainly no  CustomX    
 
 
as for being north american...i talked to a current teacher who was obviously british.  of course, it could just be that one brit and like 30 americans, dunno...
 
 
btw, i myself am korean-american.  that's right.  there must've been a glitch in the matrix for me to get this job.
 
 
edit:
 
 
desultude, it seems to be popular opinion that korea is strangely more confucianist than china or any other country (according to travel books, websites, etc.) | 
			 
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		Tiger Beer
 
  
  Joined: 07 Feb 2003
 
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				 Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 3:09 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				I was given an interview there.
 
 
But I had to go to Korea for it.  Should have went.. was also offered an interview at Busan National University. | 
			 
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		zappadelta
 
  
  Joined: 31 Aug 2004
 
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				 Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 5:14 pm    Post subject:  | 
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				| What is BNU paying? Like 1.4? | 
			 
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