Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Juggertha]

Ok, heres the thing. I love my Hogwon job. I think I more than lucked out and got a great boss and some cool coworkers. I've been there for 2 years now but i'm coming to the end of my contract and am thinking of the next year. It pains me to think of it, but i'm considering moving on.

I'm not sure if its just the "winter itch" or if I'm in need of something different but i've been scoping all the recent jobs up for grabs and have been looking in the direction of a high school.

What I'd like to know is (especially from any who have done this switch), should I stay with the Hogwons (and if I do.. i'd stay at the same one) or should I take a step into the 30+ student world?

[Cthulhu]

I did it three times (two part time) and didn't like it at all. I preferred the hagwon kiddies in groups of 12 at most when I first came to Korea. But I don't like numbers--that's just me. It'll depend on your feeling of control and whether you believe you can command their respect. I did, but it took a lot of distraction to do it. I find controlling younger kids much easier. So it wasn't worth it. Never regretted not doing it more.

At least I lucked out getting 15 uni students in a class at my last job, though I never had any problems with overly large classes of adults.

But it also may be of marginal value (or better) in helping on a resume back home if you were a teacher. It helped me get rehired for part time teaching back home back in 2000.

[Mr. Pink]

I prefer highschool.

At first it was a little hard to adjust. Going from 5-10 kids in a small class to 20-23 "big kids" took me a few months to adjust.

However at my highschool I don't have most of the problems that came up at the hawgwon.

The schedule is made for the whole year, so none of that stupid schedule changing stuff going on.

I can do what I want in my classes, as far as the course material goes. Hawgwons always made me use their crap books.

I get more holidays, but not enough holidays to make me bored silly.

I get more respect from Koreans when I say I work at a highschool vs. working in a hawgwon.

It is nice to be able to talk to students about things that are more adult, yet still know they are kids and you can play with them a bit.

Discipline problems are a thing of the past.

Those are reasons why I like high school vs. Hawgwon.

The only cool thing about teaching kids at a hawgwon was:

the job was just SO easy, the lessons are so easy to prepare.

the kids love you and they aren't afraid to show that love. Gives you a good sense of satisfaction - at least it did for me.



If you got a highschool job lined up...maybe take it? I got some friends a job at my highschool and they say they would never go back to a hawgwon.