|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Clo
Joined: 27 Nov 2008
Location: UK
|
 Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:46 am Post subject: Holidays |
 |
|
I'm in the interview stage and getting really excited about moving over, just wanted to clarify school terms, I found...
"In South Korea, the school year is divided into two terms. The first term runs from early March to late August with the summer vacation from mid-July to mid August (elementary and secondary schools) and from mid-June to late August (higher education institutions). The second term usually resumes in late August and runs until mid-February. In the second term, there is a long winter break from mid-December to early February"
Is this about right?? If you work for hagwons do these holidays still apply?
Do we get paid for the school holidays when not working (As in the UK)?
Just getting confused as all the contracts state 10-20 days holiday and not sure if this is in excess of the school holidays.
Any knowledge shared would be good, I don't want to be asking stupid questions during interviews and make an ass of myself  |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
PigeonFart
Joined: 27 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
| You won't be making an ass of yourself for asking questions. The only reason you're asking questions is because they are not clear and explicit in their contracts/work descriptions. I've read some vague *beep* in contracts that could be interpreted a million ways and it frustrates me greatly. I think its best to ask them to explain the holidays in more detail. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
cruisemonkey
Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Location: Hopefully, the same place as my luggage.
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:16 am Post subject: Re: Holidays |
|
|
| Clo wrote: |
| If you work for hagwons do these holidays still apply? |
No. The 'holidays' described don't even apply to public school teachers. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
English Matt
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:16 pm Post subject: Re: Holidays |
|
|
| cruisemonkey wrote: |
| Clo wrote: |
| If you work for hagwons do these holidays still apply? |
No. The 'holidays' described don't even apply to public school teachers. |
If you work at a public school then the holiday periods that you described are the periods during which you can take the 20 days vacation time given to you in your contract. Statutory holidays are on top of the 20 days, just as they are in the UK. Anything extra that you get during these periods will be up to your school. Some schools are really strict and everybody has to come in and lesson prep at their desks during summer and winter vacation (although apparently there is some form you can fill out to lesson prep from home instead - whether they will allow you to do this is another thing entirely). Your school may, however, be one of those that will give you lots of time off during the holiday periods, in addition to the 20 days in your contract. It does all really depend on your Principal and Vice-Principal.
Also, be aware that during holiday periods at high schools, Math and English teachers in particular run extra classes for students and therefore don't get the whole holiday period off work. You may find that your school wants you in the school for these lessons. Don't let that put you off High Schools though; I work for one and have 42 days off over this winter vacation.
If you work for EPIK, particularly in the more rural locations, you may find yourself farmed out to other schools or the local POE to run English camps during the holiday periods.
Basically, it's down to the luck of the draw. However, I would stay away from the more rural locations as they seem to treat their teachers less well. Also I would suggest going for GEPIK over EPIK. Finally, High School and Middle School seems to beat Elementary hands down, not only when it comes to vacation time but also when it comes to classroom management, workload, and the English level of your coworkers. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
nate2008
Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Location: Daegu
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:03 pm Post subject: Re: Holidays |
|
|
| Clo wrote: |
I'm in the interview stage and getting really excited about moving over, just wanted to clarify school terms, I found...
"In South Korea, the school year is divided into two terms. The first term runs from early March to late August with the summer vacation from mid-July to mid August (elementary and secondary schools) and from mid-June to late August (higher education institutions). The second term usually resumes in late August and runs until mid-February. In the second term, there is a long winter break from mid-December to early February"
Is this about right?? If you work for hagwons do these holidays still apply?
Do we get paid for the school holidays when not working (As in the UK)?
Just getting confused as all the contracts state 10-20 days holiday and not sure if this is in excess of the school holidays.
Any knowledge shared would be good, I don't want to be asking stupid questions during interviews and make an ass of myself |
Don't think of these as "holidays" because they're not. The only official holidays we get are called "red days" because they appear in red on official calendars. There will be 10-20 of those. Usually these are Korean holidays (such as Chuseok) or traditional major holidays like Christmas.
There are periods between semesters when Korean public schools are not in session, just like Western public schools. For this upcoming winter break, mine is from December 30 until the first Monday in March. However, I am going to be teaching 3 hours a day for 7 days over the break, as well as doing 2 camps at other schools, for a total of about 12-14 days of working during those 2 months. Personally, I think I got pretty lucky, as I have heard of others having to teach for anywhere from 4-6 weeks. The point here is that you may have months off between semesters, or you may have no time off (if you go with public schools.) It's luck of the draw.
Hagwons, from what I have heard, do NOT have a chance of getting this time off between semesters. Parents, being crazy as they are here, send their kids to hagwons all during break, so hagwon teachers will be busy teaching while us public schoolers watch a laugh  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
QbertP
Joined: 02 Feb 2007
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| Don't think of these as "holidays" because they're not. The only official holidays we get are called "red days" because they appear in red on official calendars. There will be 10-20 of those. Usually these are Korean holidays (such as Chuseok) or traditional major holidays like Christmas. |
For the next two years don't expect many red days. In 2009 many of them fall on saturday, in 2010 that will be sunday. The future looks bleak. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bigs
Joined: 15 Oct 2006
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
And if you work for a hagwon - expect them to schedule your holidays to include as many weekends and/or "red days" as possible....
I get from the 31st Dec - 4th Jan as my "5 days in winter" holiday - of which only 2 days are non weekend/red days... the summer isn't much better, with 3 of the 5 days being days I wouldn't normally work.
Found this out the hard way... unfortunately working for a "chain" hakwon AFIAK all branches have the same holidays :\ |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
nicam
Joined: 14 Jun 2008
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Beware, a friend told me that mostly all of the national holidays in Korea fall on Satuday. With the exception of a day off for Cheosuk, one day off for X-mas, and a couple for Lunar New Year I've seen no time off for national holidays. Been meaning to look into the validity of her claim...
I also have to work camps and seat-warm for the ENTIRE recess. I wouldn't have chosen PS if I could turn back time because it is not worth the politics and crap learning environment for 2 weeks of vacation, but some people do get lucky.
And yeah, stay the hell out of the boonies if you can manage |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
maingman
Joined: 26 Jan 2008
Location: left Korea
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:50 pm Post subject: ,, |
|
|
Clo wrote :
and getting really excited about moving over, just wanted to clarify school terms, I found...
good luck !! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
English Matt
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
| nicam wrote: |
Beware, a friend told me that mostly all of the national holidays in Korea fall on Satuday. With the exception of a day off for Cheosuk, one day off for X-mas, and a couple for Lunar New Year I've seen no time off for national holidays. Been meaning to look into the validity of her claim...
I also have to work camps and seat-warm for the ENTIRE recess. I wouldn't have chosen PS if I could turn back time because it is not worth the politics and crap learning environment for 2 weeks of vacation, but some people do get lucky.
And yeah, stay the hell out of the boonies if you can manage |
There are 5 red days that fall on weekdays next Korean academic year (March 2009 - February 2010). So not great, but couple that with 20 days vacation as per your contract (in addition to at least a few extra days even at the most stingy of schools) and you are still looking at 5 or 6 weeks off a year. That's not even mentioning exam periods, during which time you usually get to leave school early (and sometimes don't even have to come in), and before which you often have your classes cancelled, because the students need time for 'self study'.
Basically even with a stingy school, and taking into account the dearth of red days next year, you will still get a better deal, vis-a-vis vacation time, with a public school than you would with a hagwon. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
nicam
Joined: 14 Jun 2008
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
| English Matt wrote: |
There are 5 red days that fall on weekdays next Korean academic year (March 2009 - February 2010). So not great, but couple that with 20 days vacation as per your contract (in addition to at least a few extra days even at the most stingy of schools) and you are still looking at 5 or 6 weeks off a year. That's not even mentioning exam periods, during which time you usually get to leave school early (and sometimes don't even have to come in), and before which you often have your classes cancelled, because the students need time for 'self study'.
Basically even with a stingy school, and taking into account the dearth of red days next year, you will still get a better deal, vis-a-vis vacation time, with a public school than you would with a hagwon. |
Whaaaa? Does SMOE give 20 vacation days?! EPIK does not. We only get 14, not much more than any hagwon. Wow, 20 is decent though. Really decent. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
English Matt
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
| nicam wrote: |
| English Matt wrote: |
There are 5 red days that fall on weekdays next Korean academic year (March 2009 - February 2010). So not great, but couple that with 20 days vacation as per your contract (in addition to at least a few extra days even at the most stingy of schools) and you are still looking at 5 or 6 weeks off a year. That's not even mentioning exam periods, during which time you usually get to leave school early (and sometimes don't even have to come in), and before which you often have your classes cancelled, because the students need time for 'self study'.
Basically even with a stingy school, and taking into account the dearth of red days next year, you will still get a better deal, vis-a-vis vacation time, with a public school than you would with a hagwon. |
Whaaaa? Does SMOE give 20 vacation days?! EPIK does not. We only get 14, not much more than any hagwon. Wow, 20 is decent though. Really decent. |
I'm not sure about SMOE, although I seem to remember that their vacation allowance was one of the big draws to that program, but GEPIK's 2009 contract allows for 20 days. Also, if you renew, you get an additional 10 days vacation and a return ticket back to your home country, or wherever else you wanna go (or the cash equivalent if you want to stay in Korea). All of which means, people renewing their contract with GEPIK next year get 30 days vacation plus whatever extras their schools give them, as well as the red days on top. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PigeonFart
Joined: 27 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
2009...a very bad year for holidays....
Seolnal partially falls on weekend (sun 25th)
Independence movement day (sun march 1st)
Buddahs birthday (sat, may2nd)
Memorial day (sat, june 6th)
Liberation day (sat 15th august)
Chuseok (sat and sun, 3rd 4th oct)
Arrrrgghhhh! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dimnd
Joined: 19 May 2005
Location: Western USA
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:44 pm Post subject: exam days , ps |
|
|
| Some public schools have you stay at school all day even if classes are cancelled, or students taking exams..such is life in Hannam. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
