Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iggyb]

"the Korean co-worker working double than what we do" - I've done both hakwons and public school now, and that does not match my experience.

I hesitate jumping into a us-and-them pissing contest. In the hakwons, I do think the Korean instructors are not paid enough and get worse treatment than the foreigners, but I get tired of the "loser TESOLers" meme too...

The Koreans where I've worked did not put in anywhere close to double the hours we did. They were also not trained teachers (except in public schools). What training they had was experience as language students - much like the average foreign instructor I worked with - and this was the one of the three disadvantages they had compared to us: 1 - they weren't native speakers though they were competent to teach the language. 2 - they generally put into practice the same teaching practices emphasizing memorization and error correction we are taught to avoid in teacher-training programs (and which - ironically enough - Korean certified teachers are too but don't use once they get into the schools) and 3 - don't have the inherent cultural knowledge that goes along with the language that a native-speaker has.

Does this warrant the difference in pay and treatment?

I don't think so, but there is no way in heck the Korean instructors in hakwons (or public schools) are worth twice what the average FT makes...

[Dodge7]

I should have made it clear that I am speaking from my perspective, which is at an after school program. Those that work there know the Koreans work twice as hard.

[northway]

The Korean teachers for the kindergarten I work at are certainly more qualified than the foreign teachers in terms of teaching, as they all have training in early childhood education. That said, they most certainly don't work as hard as we do, considering they only teach forty minutes per day, serve lunch, and share all their prep regardless of level. They do have some responsibilities which absolutely suck (including serving lunch, riding the bus, and dealing with parents), but their actual time in front of the kids is pretty minimal.