Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hojusaram]

I'm interested to hear some feedback from participants in this forum.

Question.
If you could be a manager of a Language school what things could you do to improve :-
A. Employment situations for Foreigners?
B. Meeting the needs of employees?
C. Conditions of the contract?

When making suggestions please provide reasons why you think this change would be important or relevant.

[weatherman]

1. Find decent housing for the foreign teachers. Single accommodations. I find that having a home, a place to call you own space is important when days can be stressful and the culture so new.

2. Put effort into having the teachers understand what the realities of teaching in Korea are. The teachers often pick up the whole interpersonal aspects quickly, but focusing on them might help in making better teachers.

3. Have a set no brainer curriculum that is easy to teach and doesn't take a whole lot of prep time for each teacher. This would take a lot of planning on your part before hand but by doing so, you could help the quality control of the institute you are running. Also have a goodly number of set supplemental activities available for any teacher or class needing something different to do.

4. It would be also important to talk to each teacher and ask about each class often, a least once a week, and not just make it sound like small talk, but to ask specific questions and to make help the teacher make adjustments. This is to keep the quality of each class good, for the buyer of your service is king or queen.

5. Lastly don't be a push over, or you might go out of business.

That is all I can think about now. Are you opening you own school?

[Corporal]

Don't make anyone teach "Yell in a well" as a phonics lesson for forty minutes.

(Thank you ECC)

[tomato]

Believe it or not, I like my job so much I signed up for a second year.
My director is a dingbat, but she's a nice dingbat.

I hate textbooks. I like this job because I don't have to use them here. The other foreign teacher, who uses textbooks, gives me a copy of her schedule every week. I follow her schedule with appropriate picture books, songs, and games.

The director sends me out to a local preschool to work in the mornings. I like that for two reasons. Firstly, the preschoolers are so delightful. Secondly, I study Korean and I enjoy the challenge of working in a place where no one else speaks English.

There is another unusual feature in my job: I get a one-month vacation from the language school and a one-month vacation from both the language school and the preschool. It's frustrating to live in Korea and have so little time to study Korean. So that's how I spend most of my vacation time.

But there's one more thing which I want: Most of the students will continue to learn very little unless we can Anglicize their home environment. When and if I become proficient enough in Korean, and when and if I become established enough with the parents, I'll try to start a class in which I train the parents to converse in English at home.

[hojusaram]

PLI-Private language school.
Im just researching the possibility of establishing a Language school for the future. I've been here three years and theres been talk of allowing foreigners to establish Language Schools here. In fact I think some may have already.

My idea is that I use some International labour standards and base a curriculum on IELTS and TOEIC which has a good spoken component requisite and appears much more appropriatte to what is needed by (for example) students entering Univerities in England Australia and New Zealand (Im not sure what Canada has).

The schools would have to have some performance indicators and outcomes and would entail an anglicised cultural environment. One that removes Hangeul from the equation as is practices in western immigration training centres in other countries.

I wouldn't be looking at kids but probably more teens from Middle High levels, however as there is a minimum compulsory requirement for University students at 1st year level, I beleive there needs to be a target concentration at sub senior and senior levels in a way which gears them for first year University. Working people would be also be a traget area but segregated of course.

I would also be looking at English teachers organising cultural tours (if possible) to their home countries during the holiday seasons where accompanying students could enjoy some type of living english program (and I'll leave this to your imagination for the time being).

I would be hoping to have teachers who came from all portions of the English speaking globe in order that it maximises the potential for understanding English through dialectical changes as well. I would include in Asian English speaking countries as well. Other examples would be Indian English, Irish and South African and Phillipine and what ever others who commonly use English in everday situations.

The importance to me is that English as the accepted global language is represented.

The labour part of this is there is seen to be an effort towards egalitariansim both in structure of employment and the contracts by which people are employed and the environment in which the teacher is accommodated and treated is also given a certain level of priority (as much as can be expected for a 12 month stint in another country.)

This country has so much to offer in terms of things to see and do both for the active and passive types. Building a rewarding experience for expatriates from overseas would be benefical to both the School and the Teachers experience.

Of course all this is just in an embryonic stage and more research and study needs to be under taken but for me I think there are opportunities to make English language education (as apposed to studying English) a more positive and benefical stituation for the student and the educator.
I have so many ideas of my own to professionalise and produce a good working model, but I want to hear what others have to say about their own thoughts on these concepts.

So more feedback please !!

[Seon-bee]

:D First, let me applaud your idealistic ideas. You've done your thinking and you're well into the planning stage. Before you invest your hard earned money...

:( The bad news:
1) Middle and high schoolers don't have time for native speaker instruction. The current trend is definitely swinging towards VYLs and YLs. Because of the testing craze and competitiveness increasing monthly, the market for native speakers is shrinking. Stick with the kids. Enrollment swings like a pendulum for adults and teens.
2) If you're opening your own place, buy a chain. Koreans prefer established chains and mistrust schools without name brand.
3) It's incredibly hard to get good help (Korean and native speaker). Employees are your biggest asset. They're worth paying for but unfortunately, the pool of candidates in Korea is pretty low.

My advice?
1) Look into opening a consulting business.
2) Import text books and software.

Before you do anything else...evaluate
1) external forcast
2) internal forcast
3) services
4) identify oportunities
5) evaluate opportunities

Think SWOT!

[hojusaram]

[quote="Seon-bee"]:1) Middle and high schoolers don't have time for native speaker instruction. The current trend is definitely swinging towards VYLs and YLs. Because of the testing craze and competitiveness increasing monthly, the market for native speakers is shrinking. Stick with the kids. Enrollment swings like a pendulum for adults and teens.

I'd like to see the statistics around this as far as I know the market has increased and will further increase for native teachers later this year as more public school take on English teachers from abroad.

2) If you're opening your own place, buy a chain. Koreans prefer established chains and mistrust schools without name brand.

This is more about appropriatte marketing really, the present methods for marketing arent exactly the best that can be done and footwork acheives more results than plain advertising and relying on some chain brand most business start out small and become professional by being a model example. Franchising is a post project to most businesses.


3) It's incredibly hard to get good help (Korean and native speaker). Employees are your biggest asset. They're worth paying for but unfortunately, the pool of candidates in Korea is pretty low.

Korean - Employing young people who have recently graduated with the appropriatte degree with decent Korean / English skills will be a pre-requisite. (Eg. Accounting, Communications.)
Foreign - A combination of experienced and recent graduates who have acheived a TEFL certificate will be expected. It would be impossible to employ BA.Ed and Ma.Ed. qualified experienced teachers as the salary in western countries would be a prominent precursor to coming here anyway. However an appropriatte orientation program well laid out for expat. employees and adhered to will assist with this.

My advice?
1) Look into opening a consulting business.

After a working model is developed and implemented that will be possible.

2) Import text books and software.

(Already looking at and of course would expect to be using more appropriatte syllabus than available).

Foreigners who have access to these areas in their own countries will be invited to present materials that have been successful in their respective English Immigration Centres for Learning. these can be assessed with performance indicators and outcomes.

[Seon-bee]

The need for native speakers will continue but not for teaching middle schoolers, high schoolers, or adults. The gov't wants to hire native speaking teachers to work at elem school. I think it's wishful thinking and all marketing hype. I posted my remark under the MS comments. If you own a hagwon or have friends in management who have access to #s you'll find the same trend in most cities. It's very hard to keep students. Market saturation is pretty heavy now. The good thing is that it's increasing standards where I'm at so some are bound to fail sooner or later.

I've found most Korean parents don't understand standards and it's hard for Korean teachers to implement them. What parents care about is homework (in competitive areas) and the more the better.

It's hard to find good help anywhere. The work ethic just isn't what it used to be.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

"asking the foreign teachers about the teaching plans/programs"

[OiGirl]

[some waygug-in]

In my case, what would improve my job satisfaction quotient tremendously would be if the boss were to allow me some freedom as to what is being taught.

What's the use of having good textbooks if they are 2 or 3 levels too high for the students?

What's the use of asking me for advice about appropriate books to use for the vacation class and then ignoring everything I recommend?

What's the use of giving "writing assignments" to students who can't even make 1 complete sentence.

Why not let the foreign teacher teach the workbook as well, that way I know whether or not the students are understanding the material?
(not to mention the fact that the Korean teachers usually are 2 - 3 weeks behind, so the students have already forgotten what we have studied)

What's the use of putting students who are almost finished a book in the same class as those who are just beginning? So they can just disrupt the whole class and show everybody their wrong answers.


What's the point of rushing students through the books at 2 or 3 times the recommended rate? They have a hard enough time absorbing it as it is.

If you are going to use 2 text book series, why not use 2 that work together and compliment each other? ( Let's GO and English Time)

If you are using a textbook, why not buy the resources that are supposed to go with it? They may seem a bit pricey, but you only have to buy them once and they last a long, long time.