Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CaptainConjunction]

Any good bad stories regarding this franchise?

Feel free to PM me.

Cheers

[jacl]

Reading town. Wow. Good name.

"Lee.............................................ding..................................................toaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan. uh..ee........................leed............................. leery............................... fash."

[Big Mac]

I worked for a year at a Reading Town just outside of Seoul.

It was a brand-new campus and the director had never really dealt with foreigners before. So there were a few contract issues that in the end were resolved. They certainly weren't things that would make me not recommend the school though.

All in all I think it is probably one of the better hogwans out there. It is a fairly large chain and from what I understand it has a decent reputation overall. Of course, experiences may vary from campus to campus...as all of the schools are individually owned.

The curriculum is very well-developed and is standard throughout all the schools. The syllabus will tell you exactly what you are to teach each day, so it is easy to prepare lessons.

The students are separated by Grade level...for example if the student has a Grade one level of English by North American standards, they would be in the 1A, 1B or 1C level. You'll have students from about five years old to 15.

The foreign teachers teach them reading, writing (for 1A and up) and phonics and sight words (for KA to KC). Half of an 80-minute session is spent with the foreign teacher, the other half is spent with a Korean teacher.

The big drawback to working at a Reading Town is all the marking. You have a stack of book reports to mark every week. Also, detailed monthly evaluation reports for every student. There are also a lot of tests and you are expected to mark their workbooks as much as possible.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me.

[steroidmaximus]

nice scam they have with all the work books the parents have to fork out for; also those work books are a waste of paper. Much too simple and lacking substance. The students that I've known that go there say their 40 minutes with foreign instructor = 20 minutes books, 20 minutes blah blah. Be prepared to generate interesting blah blah.

As a job, at least you are reading shorts and not teaching Let's Go 1.

[Big Mac]

[CaptainConjunction]

Big Mac: Which branch did you work at? I'm also applying at one just outside of Seoul..

So, if the textbooks don't fill up the time of the lesson, how did your school feel about teachers giving other supplementary material? Were they ok with that, or was it a case of you HAD to blah blah...

Also, about the marking, how much time specifically would you have to spend per week on that?

Thanks.. this info is really helpful.. I will probably take the job as the director seems relatively nice and honest (if such a thing exists at a hagwon!)

[Big Mac]

I'll PM you this info.