Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Ms Jang's hogwon went bankrupt six months ago when she couldn't pay the wages of her native-speaker English teachers. Now she has converted her former English school into 'Jang's English Playland,' where Korean students enroll for the language privilege of interacting and playing with English speaking foreign kids. Jang says she charges almost twice the fees of her former hogwon, which would be approximately 300,000 won per Korean student per month.

Jang says she's bounced back from bankruptcy and is well out of the red because of the cost effectiveness of her new English business. "Foreign teachers are too expensive. The housing costs and the vacation time are too much. Too many problems. They don't like teaching Korean children. They are drunk and use bad language. They do not understand Korean people. This is better and cheaper."

Mr. Lee, the child broker, is in a bind. His connections in the foreign community go only so far. Mr. Lee's business is to hunt down foreign English speaking children to supply to the school's demand. The elementary age student would be flown over to Korea for free, housed and boarded by the 'playland' owner, and the parents would receive a check for $1,500.Mr. Lee points to a map of the U.S.A. on his office wall. "In the southern part of the U.S.A. there are many poor country areas, many poor white people. They have no money. But they speak English. They would get a check for fifteen hundred dollars. And the children get to experience traditional Korean culture."
http://www.lifeinkorea.org/writing/read.php3?readnum=89&page=0&pagecount=0&search=&searchsel=&sec=2

[Derrek]

Same thread was on Dave's some time ago.

[Mr. Pink]

Child exploitation sucks.

If it were my child I would have complained to the Korean government.

Interesting article, suggest you read the whole thing if you are interested.

[just because]

Sounds like fun for the kid if it were very short term. However, over a year you know that the kid would either go bananas or start speaking Korean as it would go insane.
Sometimes I don't think koreans think. Yeah, ajumma spies. I think she must be dreaming them.

[J.B. Clamence]

That's pretty messed up. I can't believe that mother didn't bother to look into what the daily routine for her kids would be.

On another note, is that really a good way to introduce children to other children from a different culture? -- by having them have meaningless superficial conversations for no other purpose than English practice and having them sign the kid's notebook? I don't think that would leave any of the kids in question with a positive attitude towards people from another culture, not to mention the fact that it would probably make the foreign kids even more cynical than us whenever a foreigner tried to speak with them in English in their everyday life. I think this would be a really damaging experience.

[GoshiwonGuy]

sounds great.

now i know what to do with my 8 year old son when i teach at a hogwan all day.

where do i sign up?

GG

[lush72]