Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Sofa_King]

Well, the 6th month mark has just passed and I have only 6 months of my sentence left. I'm working at a school that expects a crazy amount of work from foreign teachers. This work includes marking 80 essays a week (no exaggeration), report card comments (4 or 5 sentences on 80 students), syllabus making, test making and marking, and other fun things that were not quite expected. Even though it��s a lot of work, I still try to maintain a positive attitude and continue to do it. However, I��m slowly going crazy and am at the end of my rope. I��m getting 2.0 million a month, not bad for a newbie, but I also work Saturdays. My out of school hours are spent working. I��ve considered leaving but I really want the bonus at the end. Instead, I��m thinking about asking for a raise.

Has anyone ever asked for a raise from a hogwan? If you have, how did it work out?

[JacktheCat]

[dulouz]

You seem to work a lot, maybe a little too much. I know you want your bonus, air plane ticket money and a good reference. To be honest, I'm amazed at how quickly I can burn through 2 million won. References? Its good to have good ones but if you don't, it will take 2 tries to get a job instead of one.

I have a rule - 30 teaching hours and 5 for admin/prep work and thats generous to them. Soem aggressive money seekers would laugh at that. Beyond that, I'd ask about release letters. They'll get the message. You can quit but they aren't required to release you. If thats the case, go to BKK for a CELTA and then kill some time in working Taiwan.

[superhal]

have you tried making your own job easier?

my first six months i was getting burnt out as well. i was making roughly 10 new original lessons a week, 7-9 classes/day. i asked for a reduced schedule in my 6th month so i could take a break, and i got it, sort of. (a story for another time, perhaps.)

after my 6th month, i started using a lot of shortcuts:
1. recycling lessons: rather than trying to look for a totally new subject i never covered before, i simply looked for an updated text of an old lesson, or the same lesson content from a different book.
2. lesson templates: for free-talking classes (the classes I did the most work on) i created a set of templates for discussion questions: the first 2-3 questions would be about the text, while the final 2-3 questions (usually 5 total) would be about personal experience, future probabilities, suggestions, or opinions about the content. a good way to get ideas for making questions is from "convesations in english", the aqua blue book that's everywhere.
3. editing lessons: i would take old lessons and simplify them for other classes. or, i would take part of one lesson and use it as a supplement for a different level class.

in your case, here's what i would do:
1. fewer, faster edits: i would scan each essay and give the student a grade based on my impressions, and make 1-2 corrections total per essay. then, i would see if a particular grammar point kept repeating as a problem for all the students, and use this as the lesson on monday.
2. using the essays as content for a lesson: my prof showed me this: what you do is make copies of a few essays and make a worksheet out of them. you can do fill-in-the-blanks, or positive examples of say a good introduction. either way, this will save you the trouble of planning a lesson for that day.
3. taking advantage of the internet: there should be resources for sample syllabi and activities.

overall though, i think you are doing far more work that I did. i can't imagine doing report cards by hand (heh, as if anything a hagwon owner does is on computer ) for 80 students.

but, if you want a raise, what i would do is document the unpaid time, and bring this up at the next meeting. then, in private, ask for a raise. you should not criticize the hagwon owner, especially in front of the other foriegn teachers. i'm not talking about being polite here. if you cause him to lose face, the chances of him doing anything for you are slim.

[keithinkorea]

As I've gained more experience as a teacher here my job is getting a lot easier. I used to have to work a lot hard to produce less effective lessons! Now I get more done in half the time.

Look how you can speed up repetitive tasks, a little planning goes a long way. Look at how effective all that 'extra work' really is. You're a more productive energetic worker if you can concentrate your energies where they truly belong. In the classroom!

[VanIslander]

Well, sofa king, you want to re-negotiate your contract? Why should they if they suspect you are counting the months until your "sentence" is over.

The best time to ask for a raise is between contracts.

You could go ahead and try to get more money now, but will it make you any less crazy and away from the end of your rope?

It sounds like your real issue is with workload. Tell them you can only work 30 hours (or however many as specified in your contract). And stick to it! That includes required prep time. If they insist on extra paperwork then budget a minimal amount of time and tell them: "I only have... 30 minutes budgeted to mark all of those papers today."

Focus on holding yourself to your own standards, high standards where it matters most (teaching), and insist that your biggest needs are met (limiting workload).

If you are upset about the workload required of you WITHIN the 30 hours schedule, well, then get some exercise or a hobby in your free time to take your focus away from your work.

Good luck whatever.

[Sofa_King]

Well thanks for all your help....but here's the path that I think I am going to choose. I've typed up a letter outlining all the reasons why I feel I deserve a raise. Work load is definitely one reason, but there are 4 others that really support my cause. The letter is really positive and friendly, so I do not think that the hogwan will be offended with it. It simply points out all the hard work that I have done over the past six months. I've even used the line "I receive average pay for above average work."

If they agree with me, I get a raise. If they do not agree with me...oh well. I think that that puts me in a powerful position. It gives me more of an opportunity to pull away from the work load and refuse extra work that they pile on to me. I'll be giving them the letter soon and asking for a response in a week, so I'll keep everyone informed.

WISH ME LUCK!!!!

[Sage Monkey]

[Grotto]

Go for it. I did a similar thing at the last hoggie job I worked at. They increased the amount of classes(claiming that it was still within the 30 hours a week)increased time at school. I told them that if they wanted me to work these extra classes/hours that it would be overtime. Well they didnt want that so they gave me an extra 120,000 won a month to keep quiet. Better than a kick in the butt.

[jajdude]

The evalution writing isn't too bad if you write harmless (and often meaningless) stuff that sounds encouraging. I used to get a kick out of it. I sometimes actually wrote stuff like,

"John likes to have fun in class. If he works harder, he can do better. He likes activities that he enjoys. And he enjoys participating in activities that he likes. He has a lot of potential to learn English if he tries his best."

And so on. Nonsense I would write for amusement. Almost didn't feel like work.

[bosintang]

http://www.englishdroid.com/synonyms.html

Synonyms for Reports! The article is supposed to be satire..I think, but this is Korea where everything is done absolutely half-ass, so make use of it!

[Homer]

asked for one each year since my second year here.

Got one each time.
The key: I was reasonable and I had good references or job history.

[jajdude]

Homer,

How are you?

Hope all is good.

Generally appreciate your posts.

===============================================

bosintang....

well you know me.

I think you are a very smart guy.

Cheers.

[Captain Corea]

Well Sofa... do we get to hear how it turned out?

[Homer]

I'm great jajdude. About to become a father as my wife is a little under two weeks from the estimate delivery date.



Thanks for the kind words.

Cheers.