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Karabeara
Joined: 05 Nov 2005
Location: The right public school beats a university/unikwon job any day!
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 Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:18 am Post subject: |
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Ok, here is another odd question or two.
One university will give several months of paid vacation. Another gives two months. How long is a term, and how much non-teaching time is there in a typical year at a typical Korean university? Are some university teachers sitting on their butts doing nothing but office hours for a few more months than others?
Or when a university advertises 2 months paid vacation, for example, does it mean that they might have a few months out of the year where you do not work, and they do not pay you?
I only ask because I heard that teachers at hongik get a lot more paid vacation than 2 months, for example. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 12:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Karabeara wrote: |
Ok, here is another odd question or two.
One university will give several months of paid vacation. Another gives two months. How long is a term, and how much non-teaching time is there in a typical year at a typical Korean university? Are some university teachers sitting on their butts doing nothing but office hours for a few more months than others?
Or when a university advertises 2 months paid vacation, for example, does it mean that they might have a few months out of the year where you do not work, and they do not pay you?
I only ask because I heard that teachers at hongik get a lot more paid vacation than 2 months, for example. |
A typical semester is 15-16 weeks depending. Two semesters a year. All the rest of the time is vacation time.
All vacation is paid vacation.
I see camps are treated different on all contracts. Sometimes required, sometimes optional, sometimes paid in addition to the salary, sometimes part of the contract as a whole. |
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fidel
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Location: North Shore NZ
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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| ajuma wrote: |
I've never failed a student who came to class every day, as attendance is 30% of the grade, so even if a student does really badly on exams, they STILL have a chance of passing.
My grading system is this: 30% mid-term, 30% final, 30% attendance, 10% "my choice". I use the "my choice" to take points away from students who are rude or obnoxious in class. Students START OUT WITH 40%. I'm really tough about attendance, though. Each absence (in a 2 day a week class) is -3 points. In a 1 day a week class, it's -5 points.
The closest a student ever came to failing when he attended every class was one guy who got a 59.8 total grade. (Listening class, not converstaion). I gave him the option of getting an "F" so he could re-take the class, or a "D" so he wouldn't have to. He took the "D". |
I find it amazing that you have never failed a student just because he/she turned up to class. Unless you have been blessed with particulary bright students I fail to see how that is possible. 30% just for turning up to class, what a joke! Is this kind of grading prevalent at Uni's? 10% your choice? A nice window left open for sucking up to the teacher. |
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Karabeara
Joined: 05 Nov 2005
Location: The right public school beats a university/unikwon job any day!
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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TigerBeer and all,
Thank you for your responses so far. I am really curious about this. What do university people do with the additional time if they are only given 2 months of vacation, for example? I mean, if classes typically last 30 to 32 weeks out of a year, and vacation is only 8 weeks total, then What about the extra unaccounted for weeks?
Public school teachers do a lot of butt-sitting. Do college teachers do the same during this extra time? Or do they have to teach summer intensives, or camps? I am assuming so.
I am trying to get a handle on what surprises they might not be putting in their ad.
Thanks. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Karabeara wrote: |
| I am really curious about this. What do university people do with the additional time if they are only given 2 months of vacation, for example? I mean, if classes typically last 30 to 32 weeks out of a year, and vacation is only 8 weeks total, then What about the extra unaccounted for weeks? |
Maybe that university has mandatory camps for their teachers? Perhaps.
I've also heard some would like their teachers to stay 'in-country' for an additional 2 weeks after submitting final grades in case students challenge their grade.
Its also possible that contract is just covering their bases and saying 8 weeks, and you get more.
Another possibility is its not a university teaching job.. its one of those language centers that are on the university campus, but more or less a 'hogwan' with vacation hours.
From what I've seen, most universities are 3-5 months vacation though. |
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Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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| ajuma wrote: |
| I love the contact OUT of class that I make with students |
That would definitely be the main appeal of working at a university for me 
Actually a lot of university students study in my library.. but the study rooms are segregated by gender =( so I don't get to make much contact with them. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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| I think I'd find it hard to leave my high school even for more money, let alone less. |
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Karabeara
Joined: 05 Nov 2005
Location: The right public school beats a university/unikwon job any day!
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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I agree, but there is this issue of Kyonngi-do screwing around with my vacation and contract.
I don\'t get my vacation by contract, and could lose it in an instant, at any moment. |
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deessell
Joined: 08 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Hell NO!! I much prefer teaching adults. This has been an interesting experiment teaching at a high school but 40 kids and no co-teacher is not very communicative. Also the 40 hours a week bugs me sometimes. This is the first time in a long while that I have had a 9-5 job and now i remember why it sucks. I didn't get into teaching to work 9-5. |
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muggie2dammit
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Location: Ilsan, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Pyongshin Sangja wrote: |
I hope that I will never again have a position in Korea where I don't have the power to positively, or negatively, affect the students' lives.
Without the power to fail them, you are treated like a clown no matter what you do.
Hagwon teachers are at the beck and call of a hundred neurotic ajumas. Public schools, I dunno, but I don't see why you'd want to hang out with a bunch of spastic teenagers all day. |
I work in a hagwon currently, and I can give a student an F if they deserve it. The parents aren't happy, but they know that if the student gets an F they deserved it. Some will pull their kid out of the hagwon. Others will punish their kid and tell them to listen to the teacher and do what the teacher says. So far, I've only had to give one student an outright F. Almost all the kids have failed some unit or some part of what I teach them at some point, but they've come back at it with a desire to get it right and do better. And they have come back, and done it.
If the parents are unhappy (and some of them have been at certain times) they can come in and have a meeting with me. At the meeting I'll show them how their kid is doing in all the areas - good and bad. I'll suggest what the kid needs to do to pass the parts they're having problems with, and almost all of my suggestions will include ways for the parent to become more actively involved with their kid's English education. It works.
Muggie2 |
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Pyongshin Sangja
Joined: 20 Apr 2003
Location: I love baby!
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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| You must work at a wonderful hagwon. Not to mention, an unusual one. |
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muggie2dammit
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Location: Ilsan, Korea
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| Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 2:14 am Post subject: |
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| Pyongshin Sangja wrote: |
| You must work at a wonderful hagwon. Not to mention, an unusual one. |
It's not perfect, but it's very good. The boss goes out of his way to help when he can, and he teaches classes every day, so he's not out of touch with how it all works. When we had to do the degree verification thing, he got us to fill out the details the day before and made sure we had all the things we needed, took us all to the Ministry offices and brought us back again during school time. It took less than 5 minutes in there, and less than an hour all up.
He does want us to find nice things to say about the students when we do evaluations, but if we have negative things to say he wants them there too, preferably along with some plan to fix that problem area. After some of the hagwons I've worked at or seen in Korea, it's almost paradise. I'm probably going to sign on for a third year. I'd prefer to go for a university job, but it'd have to be a good one to make it worth my leaving this place.
Muggie2 |
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Paji eh Wong
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 3:53 am Post subject: |
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| Karabeara wrote: |
Thank you for your responses so far. I am really curious about this. What do university people do with the additional time if they are only given 2 months of vacation, for example? I mean, if classes typically last 30 to 32 weeks out of a year, and vacation is only 8 weeks total, then What about the extra unaccounted for weeks?
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My low end Uni contract says I get two 16 week semesters, two 3 week camps, and 2 months of vacation. Obviously that doesn't add up. This year I get in the area of 13 weeks vacation. I lose a week due to meetings ect. Some schools may make you show up and sit on your hands, so ask first.
| JG wrote: |
| Koreans are lost without hierarchy. Koreans respect authority, especially in an academic context. |
You know I read it here earlier this week, and I can't remember who wrote it, but it bears repeating. Korean's don't respect authourity, they defer to it. Respect in Korea is earned, the same as anywhere else.
Try getting a freshman engineering student to do his homework and you will understand. |
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ajuma
Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!
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| Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:26 am Post subject: |
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| Paji eh Wong wrote: |
Try getting a freshman engineering student to do his homework and you will understand. |
Give me engineering students over IT students ANY day!! |
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simone
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Now Mostly @ Home
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| Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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| deessell wrote: |
| Hell NO!! I much prefer teaching adults. |
Since when do Korean Uni freshmen qualify as adults?
Especially in a co-ed environment, I put the collective mental age there at about 15. |
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