Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Been There, Taught That]

Recruiter talked to me about Hwaseong public. Even though I'm always careful when a recruiter says 'if (these are the conditions) or 'if (things can be this way), would you take the position now?', the salary offer was good enough and the airfare is prepaid. Recruiter would not tell me the name of the public school, pending interview. Of course.

I just wonder if there is anyone out there teaching at a Hwaseong public school who can shed any light on how the work and living is. It's out of Seoul just enough for me to ask if it's rural or just suburbia. I hear Dongtan is up and coming.

If it were just me, I'd probably just jump in, but since I'll be teaching long-term in Korea and bringing my wife and 2-year-old daughter, I have to do more thinking. It's important to be out of Seoul somewhere but not too far to get to shopping, etc. By the way, what's the foreigner count in Hwaseong?

Hope someone can help, weigh in, tell what I'd be getting into, etc.

[KYC]

Do a search for hwaseong. There are a few threads on this area. I know the search function is crappy and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

The recruiter should tell you the name of the public school regardless. When I applied for a specific ps, the recruiter always told me the name before the interview. Sounds shady if they can't even tell the name.

[D.D.]

I was offered that job as well. I offered to go vist the school during one of my holidays. I wanted to see the location and meet the staff.

What was strange is that the recruiter got defensive about this. She started making excuses like "co-teachers phone is turned off" -this went on for like 7days.

I smell something fishy about this job like it is the middle of the boonies or something.

They were pushing hard for me to sign the contract and were not pleased to talk about income. There is no extra classes so I was offered just 2100 a month.

I still can't figure out why they did not meet me and let me see the school. Even after the meeting did not take place they were still trying to get me to sign the contract blind.

There must be some reason why this school is one of the last to find a teacher. My guess it's a vocational school in the middle of the boonies next store to the serial killer from that area.

I was also waiting to be contacted by the teacher that was leaving and that promise never happened as well.

My guess is 40 minutes from Suwon even though they say 20 minutes. Suwon is 50 minutes from Seoul. So looking at 90 minutes to Seoul if the buses are operating.

[midian3x]

Let's see- it is about a 20 minute to 1 hour bus ride to Suwon station depending on the traffic.

As far as the work it really just depends on your school. I know of some teachers who teach all of their classes by themselves and have to pay Korean teachers to take over their class on a sick day. I also know of some teachers who only teach 5 per cent of the class and get tons of extra days off.

[Joe Boxer]

[Ramen]

[KYC]

[Teachurrrr]

2001 Used a dodgy recruiter who sold me down the river to another dodgy recruiter who farmed me out to a local hagwon owned by the recruiter's boss's niece. They told me the name of the school before signing or sending anything. I worked there for 1 year (minimal problems).

2002-2006 Found 4 of 5 jobs on Dave's and didn't use a recruiter because of all the horror stories.

2008 Applied directly to a private high school ad on Dave's as well as took a chance on a recuiter (ESL Planet) recommended by some here at Dave's. In my experience, they gave me all information (Including School Name) up front and were very helpful. I went with the private high school because of the start date and money, but I would be ahppy to use ESL Planet in the future because they seemed to hide nothing and were very helpful, courteous, and polite concerning any question I cared to ask.

As a rule of thumb, if at any point when dealing with a recruiter or directly with a school you feel uncomfortable or feel information important to you is being withheld or intentional blocked, walk away. It is not worth the hassle.

Good luck with your job search!

[teachergirltoo]

[Joe Boxer]

[wylies99]

[Samantha]

The area that is incoporated into Hwaseong runs from just outside Suwon all the way to the coast at Jebu Island. There's quite a few urban areas, Hwaseong city, Dongtan New City, Bongdam, Baran and I think a few other small cities. In the city parts you could have almost a 1000 students total in your class (I teach at an elementary school in grades 3-6 there's 900 students).

When I first started working in this area (farmed out by a recruiter) I was in the middle of BFE Hwaseong at a little country school. There was a total enrollment at the elementary school of 50 students, grades 1-5. I refuse/dislike teaching first and second grade, but at this school that was the largest percentage of the students. I think in the 5th grade class there was 5 students.

With the schools here, it can be a crap shot. If you are a private hire/farmed out by a recruiter you may not get all the benefits of working at a public school through GEPIK and the Hwaseong/Osan Board of Education. When I was farmed out here last year at Chuseok, I got the time off from the schools (they said I didn't have to come to work that day because the school was cancelled, my boss still asked me to come in to the hagwon to cover classes). Now that I work for GEPIK (and have a really good school) I have a 6-day holiday (Friday-Wed).

If you still want to go through this recruiter and take this job (or at least pursue it) see if you can get the name of the area at least that the school is in, what -dong, and what level, as far as I know from talking to people and going to the Board of Ed events the percentage of elementary schools are probably doubled (if not tripled) compared to middle/high schools. At least 1/2-1/3 of the teachers at the Board of Ed events are elementary school teachers.

I'm not sure if this all helps, but there's my theory on working out here and the area.

[Rob'sdad]

Everytime I hear the name Hwasong I think about all the freaky stories I've read about the place in the Korean newspapers.

[jadarite]

It's not a bad location. I was just there today to get my visa extended at the immigration office.

If you really want city life and use the subway daily, find a job in Seoul. If you want a place with cleaner air and is not far from Seoul, Hwaseong is probably good if you can't get a school closer to Suwon station.

If you go further out from Suwon, be ready for farmland. Hwaseong station is one stop closer to Seoul than Suwon station.

[Samantha]