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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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jennzy
Joined: 12 Jan 2009
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 Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 12:09 pm Post subject: private or public? |
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hey everyone!!!!
i'm looking into going to korea for a year starting late summer.
except i'm torn between whether i should go private or public
i'm definately interested in teaching kindergarten-elementry (because i plan on going to teacher's college for j/i=gr.4-10's then tack on a primary:1-4).
so here are my reasonings
public: better hours because you'll get off at 3 or 4pm
-more paid vacations
- paid less but i can do private tutoring
- you're the only foreign teacher and how are you supposed to make friends? (though i am fluent in korean...)
private: crappy hours you're working either 9-7 or 1-10
-paid more, but not by a lot i think looking at base prices only $120 approx. diff
- a lot of foreign teachers
all of my friends are in private system and i would like to get some public system views.
please help! |
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Bigfeet
Joined: 29 May 2008
Location: Grrrrr.....
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 12:45 pm Post subject: |
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| If you want experience teaching kindergarten or elementary kids, you'll most likely have to work at a hogwan. Most public schools jobs are at middle or high schools. |
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Perceptioncheck
Joined: 13 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Bigfeet wrote: |
| If you want experience teaching kindergarten or elementary kids, you'll most likely have to work at a hogwan. Most public schools jobs are at middle or high schools. |
Sorry, but this is not true in my experience. I work at an elementary public school as do quite a few of the PS teachers I know.
OP, have a look through Daves. There have been a few threads recently debating the public vs private issue and I'm sure you'll be able to dig them up quite easily. |
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Oreovictim
Joined: 23 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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| I'd like to teach elementary-level at a public school, too (next contract). Perhaps this should be filed under "Duh", but is elementary always just grade 1-6? I thought someone once said that if you teach elementary at a public school, it usually starts at grade 4 and goes up to 6. I prefer grades 1 - 4, but you take what the give you, I suppose. |
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jennzy
Joined: 12 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Oreovictim wrote: |
| I'd like to teach elementary-level at a public school, too (next contract). Perhaps this should be filed under "Duh", but is elementary always just grade 1-6? I thought someone once said that if you teach elementary at a public school, it usually starts at grade 4 and goes up to 6. I prefer grades 1 - 4, but you take what the give you, I suppose. |
from what i remember (really trying to remember the 2 yrs i spent in korea as a kid) i believe elementry goes from grades 1-6, 7-8-9 are middle school 10-11-12 are high school i know there are 3 levels for middle and high school (jung 1,2,3 go 1,2,3) but i'm not 100% sure with the elementry levels
maybe what that person meant by was that perhaps only gr.4-6 take english classes. Actually i think what it is! over the summer when i tutored, i had a gr.4 and gr.2 brothers and gr.4 always talked about his english class and when i asked the younger bro he said english isnt part of his school carriculum
though, if you go to private schools (think private in north american sense, not the korean hakwon) they take english from gr.1 i had a student in first grade who goes to private school and she says she has english class 3x a week
p.sstupid question but do they sell oreos in korea? because i remember i had mad cravings for milk & oreos but i couldnt find oreos so i had to wait until i went on vacation to hawaii to get oreos. |
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verve
Joined: 02 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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If you want kindergarten = hagwon. Don't do it though. Full time kindy will murder you.
Elementary school is grades 1 - 6. You normally only teach 3,4,5 and 6.
Don't count on finding private tutoring work. It's not as rampant as it seems.
You make friends the usual way. Socializing, join groups, maybe your co-teachers are cool.
Go for public, especially if this is your first time. In this day and age, hagwons are more of a risk than ever. The cash difference is more than compensated by job security and really easy working hours. Oh and way better vacation too. |
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Ukon
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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| verve wrote: |
If you want kindergarten = hagwon. Don't do it though. Full time kindy will murder you.
Elementary school is grades 1 - 6. You normally only teach 3,4,5 and 6.
Don't count on finding private tutoring work. It's not as rampant as it seems.
You make friends the usual way. Socializing, join groups, maybe your co-teachers are cool.
Go for public, especially if this is your first time. In this day and age, hagwons are more of a risk than ever. The cash difference is more than compensated by job security and really easy working hours. Oh and way better vacation too. |
Private tutoring work is easy to get if you use connections...they won't jump out at you on the sweet however.
You could always try a private elem. school, but those jobs your gonna have to search hard for.... |
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Otherside
Joined: 06 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Bigfeet wrote: |
| If you want experience teaching kindergarten or elementary kids, you'll most likely have to work at a hogwan. Most public schools jobs are at middle or high schools. |
Actually the most public school jobs are at Elementary level.
In GEPIK anyway, 550 NT work at elementary schools, while 372 and 350 work at middle and high school level respectivly.
To the OP. The regular elementary classes are for grades 3 -6. However, depending on your school you may have some kindy and grade 1-2 classes in the mix as an afterschool program etc. In my case, I teach 24 classes a week: 1 is kindy and 8 are grades 1-2, with the remainder being grades 3-6.
Personally, I prefer the public system. In the private system there is rampant dishonesty and your chances of being ripped off (in varying degrees) is very high. I also disliked the micromanagement that often goes with hagwons and having to please the parents and look out for the bottom line rather than focus on education. One of the hardest things about working in the public system is being the only foreign teacher (and only English speaker) however, if you are fluent in korean, this may not prove to be an issue at all.
Regarding pay. While its true that the base starting pay at a hagwon is usually higher, (not by much, mind you) - public schools often want you (expect you) to teach afterschool classes. These classes will fall into your 9-5 work day, but if your total number of classes goes above 22, you will be paid overtime. Earning an extra 200-400K a month this way is pretty easy. I'm in the public system myself, and I earn more than the majority of hagwon jobs, for far less work, with nice long vacations and an apartment which is better than the majority of my hagwon friends' places. |
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jennzy
Joined: 12 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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hey all, thank you so much for your posts!
as for private tutoring, i have a solid student base from this past summer.
(i have acquired 10 or so students; and because i taught elementry level i quickly acquired students because you know moms talk, and near the end of my stay i had 5 more requests but i had to leave so i couldnt take them on)
I'm looking into going with a company to help me find positions and etc because i am worried about getting ripped from private schools...
is it possible for them to rip me off if i go with a company to help me deal with this?
I'm really looking into public teaching, however, the company i am looking into doesn't do public schools in seoul, they do have some public school positions in busan and ulsan which i'm not too fond of (its way tooo hot) and if i stay in seoul, i'll have an access to a car and not to mention, home cooked meals! (i ahve family in seoul lol)
so lets say i decide to go with public shcool, how does one find public school jobs in seoul without the help of a company? |
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jennzy
Joined: 12 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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"Otherside"
i can't pm you because i haven't made 25 posts and i don't know how many posts ive made so far so i can't even just post things to reach that quota
but i have few questions for you, is it possible you can pm me?
thanks a bunch! |
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