Korean Job Discussion Forums

[myne24]

My friend who is a gyopo works at a SAT prep hagwon in Seoul near Gangnam. He makes about $30 an hour with no experience. He tells me I can go to Seoul and easily get a job at a SAT prep hagwon as a gyopo. Making $30 an hour will amount to about $60,000 a year which is way better than the average $26,000 - $30,000 yearly salary a regular english teacher would make. Do you or anyone you know work at a SAT hagwon and know how much he or she makes? How hard is it to teach at a SAT prep hagwon? Do you have to know all the words/strategies before or do they teach and prep you? I have not had the chance to call my friend with more info so I am asking this community. When I hear from my friend I will let you know if interested.

[cubanlord]

[noguri]

I also don't know anyone who does SAT prep, but I hear that they only hire Gyopos for this...and you have to have a degree from an Ivy League university in the states. And you have to be young. This is all stuff I've heard "friend of a friend."

Then again, this might be just rumour cooked up to scare away the non-Gyopo, old, non-ivyleaguers.

I wonder if the OP has acquired any more information on this topic from the friend in Seoul? I'm wondering what that job market is really like. IF they truly want only Gyopos from ivies, then they might not care whether you take the test and submit a score, as Cubanlord surmised.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I applied to one that was offering 3.0+ / month plus housing and wanted someone with an MA (which I have) and prior experience in Korea (which I had) and I never heard back from them. I suspect that that kind of salary combined with good hours and small classes of older students must attract pretty stiff competition.

I'm sure each school is different and probably some only hire gyopos, some only white people, and some both.

[rothkowitz]

I have been correcting the CSAT tests for the Korean teachers at my HS.The material is pretty tough(for a HS student).A main text they have been studying is The Black Cat by Poe.Written in the 1840s with all sorts of archaic expressions.

The answers are by multiple choice.I guess if you were coaching them to sit it,you'd be teaching them how to make an educated guess.

How you'd give them such a crash course in grammar and getting the gist and being able to infer in English to a Korean speaking class.....

Being bi-lingual would be an obvious help.

[myne24]

Update - It looks like gyopos have the upper hand in this market. They/we do make approx $30 an hour with no housing. But at $30 an hour you're more than sufficient to pay rent. My friend is young as I am but not ivy leaguers. No experience but the job was acquired through referrals. I'm not sure about preps but I'm sure the hagwons provide something. I will be heading to korea soon so we shall see... I hear its a good time to go since hagwons are hiring to prepare for the busy season. Not sure if this is true but hopefully i can get job.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Bear in mind that hogwans that prep for US SATs and for Korean CSATs are two very different things. The latter would see little role for foreigners.

[noguri]

Thanks for the update, myne24.

In my case, I need family housing so I'll stick with my job that provides housing.

But it is interesting to hear that it is not a requisite to be an Ivy Leaguer.

In my case I aced the verbal or writing SAT when I was a kid but my math score was just tolerable. With all the brain cells I've killed since then, I doubt my math score would make a rebound...so I can only teach the writing/verbal so a hagwon wouldn't want me.

Yes, listening to Leonard Cohen kills brain cells.

[robot]

there is one other non-gyopo at my SAT academy.

the pay is hourly and the job is seasonal: in the fall and spring, you'll teach maybe a 15 hours a week. in the summer and near christmas, however, you'll be working 12 hours a day 7 days a week.

is it worth it? yes and no. sometimes i think that it would be better to have a decent-paying job that pays a consistent amount of money every month and gives time off, etc.

ROBT.

[Flash Ipanema]

I'm bumping this because my manager today suggested that if I want to teach another year I should look into S.A.T. prep classes. He said it's the same amount of work I do now but way better money. However, I can't find where these jobs are advertised so I don't know what the deal is. Is this really a gyopo-dominated field?

[Mr. Pink]

[Intrepid]

Steven Academy in Daechi recently advertised, but only for Gyopo teachers. There was an ad on craigslist very recently for SAT teachers, and a friend of mine (non-gyopo) applied, did a mock lesson, and is waiting for final word.
It is possible to teach as a non-gyopo, but I've found (anecdotal evidence, I know) that Korean Americans more often have degrees from "name" universities, and they speak Korean and so can get along with a wonjang who is not required to have foreign-looking teachers and so does not want to be bothered.
Ivy is not necessary; top-25 or so on that Newsweek list is. So if you're non-Korean, went to Berkeley, can ace the SAT, and can teach composition for the writing section of the exam, you could make upwards of 70,000 won per hour. Or more. Some people (most Korean non-gyopo teachers) get paid by the student! I know people who get 50K per student per class. Get the class up to 12 people and you're making some serious cash.

[steroidmaximus]

30 an hour for SAT is peanuts. Of course, you need to brush up on not only your composition, but math as well. Typically, students pay 25-50k an hour each, depending on the school or the teacher. 10 students in a class. . .

[moosehead]

i know about these schools - parents insist on bilingual abilities of the teachers - they want to make sure the kids have someone to translate for them

they are taught more in korean than english - it's more of a strategy class - the students are of the level that hardly ever speak a word of english out loud; tho some do of course

the schools/classes are cram classes and can be really bizarre - i interviewed once at one where they were showing cnn tapes to the students and then asking them to fill in the blanks of the transcripts

i was supposed to just stand there and show the videos and explain the text while they were filling it out

i almost fell asleep just listening to the description!!!!

i don't think i could do that for ANY amount of money - really - you have to watch out when people start waving dollars at you - there is a reason - it's not always what you think.

[skyline17]

there are alot of non-gyopos who teach SAT in Seoul(check places like PR or Kaplan), albeit you should def be from an ivy league school but the prep is zero once u know your stuff and the pay is much higher than $30/hour.