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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Homer
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 Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 5:23 am Post subject: |
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| So Kirk and Homer, assuming your hagwon is good and the hours are reasonable, how do you get around the vacation? |
I negociated vacation time in my contract. Simple as that. I get roughly a month and half per year at my current job. It took some wrangling but it worked out fine.
Also, different people need different vacations. I am more then fine with a month or so per year. I was a teacher in Canada before coming here (couple of years) and I always ended up working a bit during the summer break. I did enjoy it but I find that I do not necessarily need it. |
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captain kirk
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 6:45 am Post subject: |
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At the end of the year go someplace, another country, for a couple of months at least. Return to a new school, new city, new job. I don't even consider signing on at the same school since it would mean back to work ASAP.
There's no justifying the short, haggie vacations by saying 'most Koreans only get that much vacation in a year'.
And I sure like what a poster said about being able to make a difference in a hagwon. I know what they mean. You get to know the kids. Public school is more like a big show for 35 kids. Moving class to class.
Yes, the haggie non-vacation is a disrespect. But changing jobs makes the end of the year two months off minimum, for me. You can go somewhere cheap. Thailand, India, wherever. Then come back.
Man, it's not like working in a haggie is like living in wartime. There are better situations, sure. They come in a package with their own pros and cons. It's just that haggie workers pissing and moaning carry on like the children they teach on this board. That could be because the job is tough.
Bruce Willis in Die Hard, Return to the Haggie  |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 7:10 am Post subject: |
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| Badmojo wrote: |
I've said it here before, and I'll say it again.
I think hagwon teaching is the place where you can make the most difference. On the average, you can do more for your hagwon students than you can for public school students or university students. I've worked in a university and in a hagwon and I know for a fact that I did more good at the hagwon. It had everything to do with having 10 in a class I saw everyday as opposed to 20 I saw once a week. I'll take the Pepsi Challange with anyone working in a uni or a public school. |
Challenge accepted.
My teaching focuses on teaching learner strategies (except for my content classes -- those focus on content) and what I do can't be done as effectively in a hagwon -- I know because I sometimes do overtime at the university hagwon and while the students like practical advice on language learning, they see these classes as their primary source of practice/study. Because that's what they paid for that's what I have to give. Their abilities probably improve marginally over the 10-week courses, but not profoundly.
On the other hand, my students in my EFL credit classes are doused with the concept of taking responsibility for their learning and have assignments which make them consider things such as the kinds of study/practice they need, the number of hours they need, effective and ineffective methods, personal learning preferences, etc. Some students show up in my content classes in later semesters and they view these classes as a small component of their English development rather than as the whole of it -- success.
My content classes are great. Last semester I taught English literature and we went over some literary theory and read some great stuff such as Lord of the Flies. I'm teaching two of my literature students in my advanced writing class this semester and one wrote an essay comparing different genres of writing using a combination of Formalist and Feminist (Gilbert and Gubar) literary theory -- I taught her that and it feels good to see that she remembers it and can use it.
In my introductory computer class this semester I have two students who were in my writing class in a previous semester; they did the computer class before (mandatory freshman credit for International Studies studies students) but are taking it again with me. The most satisfying thing about teaching them is when we talk about assignments and they say "I spent hours and hours doing this," and "it was really hard", but then I say: "but you did it and now you know how to do it" and they smile and say "yeah." |
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Badmojo
Joined: 07 Mar 2004
Location: I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 7:57 am Post subject: |
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Beaver, I was speaking in general terms, and if you're kicking some tail at your uni, then good for you.
The point was you have many more students you see less often than teachers at hagwons. I think that makes the learning environment better in hagwons.
Look, I can take a language course everyday for five hours a week with 8 other students or for two hours a week with 20. Which one would I probably make more improvement in? |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 8:15 am Post subject: |
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| Badmojo wrote: |
| Look, I can take a language course everyday for five hours a week with 8 other students or for two hours a week with 20. Which one would I probably make more improvement in? |
Yep, you're right about that. But keep in mind that I don't see myself as teaching English, but as teaching students how to learn English. |
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just because
Joined: 01 Aug 2003
Location: Changwon - 4964
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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A career move probably not.....
But as a few people have stated, for a long-term job if you find one(and there are quite a few) that caters to your needs and is good to work at then I can't see why it can't be a long-term option of 5 or 10 years...
I work from 4 in the arvo till 9 at night which leaves me lots of time to do other things, make extra money, and study........
I'm happy doing it, the 9-5 lifestyle of the west just doesn't do it for me at all.....
thats not saying i don't mind working, but for some of you younger ones fresh from the university undergraduate production line, the office politics is usually as bad, if not worse than here...the grass isn't always greener on the other side you know... |
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