Korean Job Discussion Forums

njp6 · Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Location: Gangnam, South Korea

Our regular classes have been cancelled for the 15th; however, myself and few other teachers have to teach intensive classes on this day. Opinion:is this bogus or should we not care?

Captain Corea · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: Seoul

I'd care... and wouldn't teach them.

It's a public holiday and ifthey are not giving you the day off somehwere... I'd care.

ChuckECheese · Joined: 20 Jul 2006

It's public holiday. You should not be required to work. You should have option to work as overtime or not work at all.

cuckoo for kimchi · Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 2:43 am Post subject:

THAT IS MOST DEFINITELY BOGUS....It's a holiday.....don't do it...tell your boss to F*&K himself

baldrick · Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Location: Location, Location

Yes, summer camp, but METALLICA will cheer me up in the evening!

Milwaukiedave · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Location: Goseong

I agree with what has been said already, you shouldn't be forced to work on a Korean holiday. Even if you do work (and it should be optional) you should get OT.

Hopefully Grotto or someone else with some experience will chime in and give you some better advice.

ontheway · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:23 am Post subject:

If kids are at a "camp" and are staying there, then where are they to go on the holiday? If you sign up to teach at an overnight camp there are no holidays. Same as camps in the US or anywhere else. The kids are there, the activities go on, and the "holiday" is irrelevant. You should have figured this out when you signed up. Didn't you go to any summer camps when you were a kid?

buster brown · Joined: 26 Aug 2005 Location: Seoul

At our unigwon, we either teach on the holiday or we make up the classes some other time. Each teacher decides what they want to do. The logic is that students pay for a certain number of class hours, so we can't cut any class days from the term. Of course, there's a different attitude toward the really big holidays (ie Chusok, Christmas) and the course hours and fees are lowered for classes during those terms. Because we only have a 4-day Monday thru Thursday workweek, I've either chosen to either teach classes on the holiday or make them up on Friday, at my own discretion. This time I told all of my classes that we'll be meeting at the normal, scheduled time. Vacation starts the moment my Thursday afternoon class is over, so I'm not too keen on staying around when I could be getting away from Korea for an extra day.

Yes, in an ideal world I'd love to take all of the Korean holidays. But I think I've got a pretty cushy schedule now, with three-day weekends every week, so I'm willing to give in on this issue and continue sleeping in every Friday morning. I chose to sign a contract that didn't stipulate national holidays, but it's been a good tradeoff.