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Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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 Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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since she's a newbie 'round here, be nice!
private academies - what I assume you mean by "teaching at a private" are generally known by the Korean word for them- hagwon ( and various other spellings of it)
private lessons- are in addition to the ones you signed a contract for. ( If the neighbor asks you to teach her kids english, and offers you money, it's a private lesson) These are illegal, and right now there's a governemt crackdown on them. |
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JacktheCat
Joined: 08 May 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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LadyD, you're from Pasadena? Cool. That's my mother's hometown. I have fond memories of visiting my grandparents there and wandering around the grounds of Huntington Library.
Your public school offer is the standard contract for a Level 3 teacher these days and is about the best you can expect from the public school system with no teaching experience and no TESOL certificate. The advantages of a public school are stability and low teaching hours. The disadvantages are huge classes and employers unused to dealing with foreigners. If you get a school with a supportive staff and a pre-designed curriculum with decent books, then it's really not that hard for a newbie teacher.
As for hackwons, the money's better and you have fewer students in a class, but the actually teaching hours are longer and hackwons tend to be anything but stabile places to work; I'm sure you'll read more than a few horror stories about hackwons on this website.
In addition, as you mentioned, with your racial background it's going to be tough finding a hackwon job. Most hackwons want blonde haired, blue eyed Ken and Barbie look alikes.
How's your Korean? If you're any good and you can snag a F visa, then a world of high paying coporate private classes is available to you.
If you have any other questions feel free to PM me, your friendly neighbourhood mod cat. |
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Freezer Burn
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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My first ESL job was teaching 50+ in China, I can yell quite loud and I'm bigger than the students, yet there were times that I would want to pull my hair out and run screaming from the building.
You should take the advice from people here and go for a Hogwan.
You don't have classroom experience and the ability to control 40 kids while deliver a good lesson is very daunting.
Also dont let them treat you like you are Korean, No offence, but if they start treating you like a Korean english teacher, put your foot down, we have a natural tendency to question given instructions when we feel they are bogus (directors dont like it) and we are usually more outspoken about our opinions, if they treat you like a korean, you will more than likely be dismissed as not being an expert "your korean".
You can get 1.9 million with housing quite easily, more if you are picky.
Busan is also a cool place to teach outside of Seoul. |
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Dan
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Sunny Glendale, CA
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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| There use to be an ESL site that emphasized hiring gyopos (which I assume you are, I have no idea why). You should check it out if someone could post a link. ^^ |
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PolyChronic Time Girl
Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Location: Korea Exited
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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Lady D....welcome! I'm a Southern California hispanic girl too (from Fullerton). My advice? DON'T take any shared housing....make sure you get your own apartment. You'll appreciate it later. There have been too many stories of horror roomates, and the apartments here are already really, really small.
Also, regarding that stipend of 500,000 won...are they gonna give you the key money to find your own apartment? Key money to land an apartment is roughly 20 million won (unless maybe your parents can lend you that money..which would be nice). Koreans really don't lease on a month-to-month basis...they drop a HUGE deposit on an apartment for the year (known as the chonsae-system).
Housing really is an important issue, and demanding your own free, single apartment should not be too much to ask for. Good luck.
Last edited by PolyChronic Time Girl on Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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| PolyChronic Time Girl wrote: |
| Lady D....also DON'T take any shared housing....make sure you demand your own apartment. There have been too many stories of horror roomates, and the apartments here are already really, really small. |
Thanks a lot, Miss Killjoy! 
I suppose it never occurred to you that you've just deprived us of many entertaining Freakiest Waygookin posts right there, did it?  |
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adventureman
Joined: 18 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 12:17 am Post subject: |
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..
Last edited by adventureman on Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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livinginkorea
Joined: 11 Jun 2004
Location: Korea, South of the border
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| Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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I would go with a hagwon (private school) because the student numbers would be less, get paid more, housing provided and would probably have one or two other foreign teachers so they could help you as well. When you go to a foreign country all on you own, you need to get housing from the school so that you can find your feet.
There are lots of websites out there for jobs especially davesesl, worknplay, englishspectrum, esljob, hitecher ...etc. Just check out those for starters and you wil easily find a better job. Just be careful of recuriters. They are trying to get money from placing you in a school so you need to ask them loads of questions in advance.
If you need any help you can always ask here!!!  |
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kenadasaram
Joined: 13 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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I was just offered a job with SMOE as well, but I'm in the highest category. I'd get 2.6 M. 1.7 M is ridiculous. Search out a reliable hakwon.
By the way, has anyone ever worked for SMOE? I'd like to hear some stories before I sign on. |
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pegpig
Joined: 10 May 2005
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| Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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| PolyChronic Time Girl wrote: |
Also, regarding that stipend of 500,000 won...are they gonna give you the key money to find your own apartment? Key money to land an apartment is roughly 20 million won (unless maybe your parents can lend you that money..which would be nice). Koreans really don't lease on a month-to-month basis...they drop a HUGE deposit on an apartment for the year (known as the chonsae-system).
Housing really is an important issue, and demanding your own free, single apartment should not be too much to ask for. Good luck. |
Times are a changing (Dylan?). I think it's quite easy to find a small one room, which is what you'd get from a hogwan anywho. And, you don't need that much down. The last place my wife and I lived in had us put down 4 mill, plus about 400 k a month. The current place is brand spanking new and in a relatively nice area. We put down 5 mill and are paying 450 k a month. They are small, but it's Korea. There are those stories of teachers living solo in a huge 2 bedroom place. Don't bank on it.
The Mexican thing? When I found a teacher for my school a couple of years ago there was no way they were willing to consider anyone not perfectly white. I had 2 perfectly good, but not perfectly white candidates that my boss scoffed at when I proposed them to him.
A Korean co-worker last year mentioned to me that we were getting a new teacher the next week. I asked if she new anything about her. She rolled her eyes and said that she was Mexican. Then she said, "I don't know why they bothered."
Don't mean to rain on her parade, but just saying that it will be more difficult to find a job than Ms. Whitey Blueeyes.
You'll still find a job, you just might have to add a couple of weeks to your search.
1.9 mill min. |
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denverdeath
Joined: 21 May 2005
Location: Boo-sahn
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| Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:39 pm Post subject: Re: Job Offer |
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| LadyD wrote: |
They are offering 1700 000 won per month (which I interpret as 1700.00 US per month |
This sounds, more or less, like the regular EPIK-type pay. Level 3 = 1.7, Level 2 = 1.9, and Level 1 = 2.1. Boo-sahn tends to be offering between 300,000 and 400,000 as a housing allowance. I guess Seoul's offering 500 because of the much higher housing costs. Anyway, you should be trying for the single-housing arrangement, if possible. You don't want to be living in a love motel or have to fork over 5-20mil for key money, unless you're rolling in it.
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| 40 hours a week, but only 24 of actual teaching. |
You'll want to check with them on what the "24" actually means. Does it mean "classes" or "hours"? If classes, your schedule will be half-decent...the same as mine. My classes are no more than 45 minutes long, ever. If hours, you are going to be doing too many classes as others have said. Regardless, having a regular schedule is nice even if you're not getting as much pay as other posters and have to sit around and twiddle your fingers for a lot of the time between and after classes. Plus, you can get some other perks like having surprise days off. Try not to let them treat you too much like a "Korean" as they'll probably try to have you come in on Saturdays as well.
Best of luck. Never feel hurried or let yourself get pressured into making an uninformed decision. |
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hari seldon
Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Location: Incheon
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| Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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| pegpig wrote: |
...When I found a teacher for my school a couple of years ago there was no way they were willing to consider anyone not perfectly white. I had 2 perfectly good, but not perfectly white candidates that my boss scoffed at when I proposed them to him.
A Korean co-worker last year mentioned to me that we were getting a new teacher the next week. I asked if she new anything about her. She rolled her eyes and said that she was Mexican. Then she said, "I don't know why they bothered."
Don't mean to rain on her parade, but just saying that it will be more difficult to find a job than Ms. Whitey Blueeyes.
You'll still find a job, you just might have to add a couple of weeks to your search.
1.9 mill min. |
I think you'll discover since the recent crackdown and immigration rule changes, that demand for teachers exceeds supply. Schools are scrambling to find candidates. I doubt you're mixed heritage will be much of an obstacle.
Teaching in a public school usually has the advantage of being a more stable situation than teaching in a hagwon, but many of the posters here feel that the Korean government programs like EPIK need to improve their wage and vacation packages. 1.7 million and two weeks vacation sucks. |
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