Korean Job Discussion Forums

[articulate_ink]

I've just done the obligatory search on summer camps; it answered a few questions but not quite all. I'm about to finish my current employment contract. I'm planning to leave Korea for a month or so, and will return for a summer camp. I had thought these began in early July but it looks like mid-July through mid-August would be more accurate. Is that correct?

What kind of activities do they usually offer? What's likely to be expected of a teacher?

Thanks in advance...

[Karabeara]

I think this is a good time to remind others of the recent tax problem that has reared its ugly head.

Legal or not, more than one employer took advantage of some odd tax law/loophole/whatever to deduct huge taxes from camp checks. They promised deducting only 3.3% or so, and took out over 25%:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=51328&highlight=HUFS+tax&sid=ec394954ebad84f5dc19484abdccc87c


If you are working for a camp, in my opinion, you should get exact tax and pay amounts written into a contract, or insist on being paid daily, or at the least, weekly.

I don't work a camp unless it's affiliated with a public/private school (not a hagwon or a university), and I am paid hourly (being allowed to go home immediately after finishing). Yes, that's right -- I don't work for university camps. Why? Because they usually don't have anything to do with the university, besides using the facilities. Or they pull something like HUFS above.

Many of these camps are nothing more than some enterprising Korean freak advertising the heck out of some big university name, getting 1000 kids to sign up, sticking them in the stix with 50 foreigners/backpackers/endebted college grads for 4 weeks. The camps are a joke, and all of the pain and suffering is heaped on the teachers.

Then the camp director takes the money and runs -- or pulls some tax fraud scheme and pays you less than what you expected. You work 14 hours a day for six days a week for half the pay of what you should be getting. If you get anything at all.

And I won't even get into how many teachers have been doing these illegally (lured and lied to or not) and getting busted en-mass by immigration.

No teachers should work for these fools. Let the directors promise the parents the stars, and then let them sweat when they see no one wants to work for them. That's what I say!