Korean Job Discussion Forums

[aka_ericclipperton]

I taught in Thailand last year and the year before. My school's lead teacher/teacher trainer was a kindly Welsh lady and its director was a New Yorker, both in country for many years. I/we found them very helpful in everything from "culture shock" (both personal and in the classroom) to dealing with the Thai bureaucracy.
I've noticed a lot of horror stories as well as stories of miscommunication/frustration w/r/t Korean employers/supervisors. They sound similar to the ones I heard in Th.
In Korea, are there Western-run or supervised schools along the lines of the British Council, Australia Centre, AUA, and innumerable Western-run private high schools in Thailand?
Not trying to get jingoistic here, but it is nice to work for someone who: can recommend a good pizza place/understands your expectations as an employee/knows how progressive EFL education should work/etc.
Any thoughts?

[Cheonmunka]

Most people with resident visas here that allow them and give them rights to operate such businesses don't have half a million dollars and up to invest in one.

And, investment from outside needs Korean partners.

So, there was a 'NZ school,' sponsored in mouth only by the embassy, but which became a complete shambles.

[Juregen]

There are some foreign owned hagwons.

[Juregen]

[Cheonmunka]

I'm waiting for the economy to crash so I can buy a Wonderland for 일억원.

I'm pretty sure they do Juregen, when a western person (without residency) wishes to run a school. Maybe they can get a C visa or the investor one - but that doesn't mean can open shop by themselves.

[branchsnapper]

There are a few western run places actually owned by a Korean spouse.

[aka_ericclipperton]

Thanks for the replies! I'm not necessarily talking about only Western ownership of schools, although that would be great, but just whether it's common in Korea to have a manager or lead teacher or whitey-wrangler (as someone memorably put it) or somesuch who is him/herself a Westerner.

[Mr. Pink]

There are a few hawgwons owned by foreigners.

There are International Schools with complete foreign staff as well, but you would need to be a certified teacher to work in those places (or know someone to get in).

I was a head teacher for a number of years and I guess that helped the team. But I have to say, it is a hard job that doesn't pay what the stress is worth. Thus, most foreigners would rather not do that type of job. The extra 100-200k a month is just not worth the BS that is involved with being the middle man between management and all the other foreign teachers.

I did find a few places run by Korean Americans that spoke flawless English in my last job search. They were very nice places to work and the pay was above what 99% of places pay. Like 3mil starting or 3.5mil starting with no housing. Don't ask what those places were - as I wasn't going to take a full year contract I had to turn down those jobs when I interviewed for them, so I didn't record where they were. I can tell you they were located in the Kangnam-Gu area of Seoul though. Daechi and Apkujung more specifically. And they were not for teaching ESL, but rather language skills, critical thinking/literacy and AP/TOEFL/SAT type classes.

[aka_ericclipperton]

"There are International Schools with complete foreign staff as well, but you would need to be a certified teacher to work in those places (or know someone to get in)."

Forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean by "certified?" I have my TESOL certification. Or do you mean something else?

"I was a head teacher for a number of years and I guess that helped the team. But I have to say, it is a hard job that doesn't pay what the stress is worth. Thus, most foreigners would rather not do that type of job. The extra 100-200k a month is just not worth the BS that is involved with being the middle man between management and all the other foreign teachers."

Well, I gotta say thank you on behalf of confused new teachers everywhere - when I was one my head teacher was very helpful.

"I did find a few places run by Korean Americans that spoke flawless English in my last job search. They were very nice places to work and the pay was above what 99% of places pay. Like 3mil starting or 3.5mil starting with no housing. Don't ask what those places were - as I wasn't going to take a full year contract I had to turn down those jobs when I interviewed for them, so I didn't record where they were. I can tell you they were located in the Kangnam-Gu area of Seoul though. Daechi and Apkujung more specifically. And they were not for teaching ESL, but rather language skills, critical thinking/literacy and AP/TOEFL/SAT type classes.[/quote]"

Awesome! I will try to figure out what these places are...

[Cheonmunka]

Eric Clipperton, hehehe. Made me laugh at that name.

[Juregen]

[bobranger]

[Seoul'n'Corea]

a BEd 4-5year minimum on top of teacher certification. BEd doesn't give you anything as it doesn't secure you into a school.

There are lots of places (British Columbia,Canada) that offer 5 year BEd degree programs. Teacher certification comes only after you have successfully completed a practicum.

[sojusucks]