Korean Job Discussion Forums

[deepclick]

How many teaching hours per week would people suggest as a good amount in a first job to allow ample time for lesson preparation etc. and a social life? I'm about to start applying for jobs in Korea. I've just completed my CELTA but have no teaching experience.

One of my CELTA tutors said any more than 25 teaching hrs per week for a first job would result in little time for anything else. Would people agree?

Also, do people think it is better to start teaching in public or private schools, or are they similar places to begin a career in ESL?

Your opinions would be greatly appreciated!

[mekku]

25 would definitely be in the top of the range- i would suggest closer to 20. this is my first year teaching and i teach about 20 hours a week. i don't need tons of prep time and all in all my job doesn't take up a whole lot of my time. there's no way to know how much prep you'll need till you've been at the job at least a week or so. i thought my classes would require an hour or so a day but the average is more around 15 or 20 minutes.

public schools vs. private academies (hagwons) are about as different as you can get. smaller classes vs. large classes, teaching on your own vs. having a co-teacher, a big difference in pay if you have no teaching experience. as much as people on hear complain and don't recommend hagwons (i am sure there are some horrible ones), i think your best bet is to start in one.

obviously i have no experience in a public school so this is just opinion. everyone will have a different thought, it just depends on your preference.

[deepclick]

Thanks for your reply mekku, that's interesting. I had been leaning towards applying for public school positions as I was under the impression that the hours were better there.

Did you find it easy to find a position in a hagwons with so few hours? I've been looking but everything I've seen has 25hrs or more per week. Where would you advise looking? Thanks.

[cruisemonkey]

[driftingfocus]

Don't teach in a hagwon. They will work you to death. Find a good public school. You're less likely to get ripped off by your boss as well.

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http://www.driftingfocus.com/blogs/

[cruisemonkey]

[BS.Dos.]

The number of classes will also depend on the size of the school you're at. Obviously, bigger schools will mean you'll be pretty much hitting your 22 per week, plus you may have the opportunity of earning extra money through additional classes. I know many here on daves do.

Conversely, get sent out to some village somewhere, and you may find that the number of lessons drops, but the number of schools increases. I teach 14 per week between 2 schools. I know another FT who teaches (so he said) 6 classes at 1 school. Yet another (newbie) is doing around 10 classes at 3 schools, one of which only has 20 odd students apparently. Obviously, there isn't as much opportunity for additional hours at smaller schools, which if you're on the money trail, might be an important consideration to remember.

Not surprising, big urban areas tend to have the big schools. There's also a perception by Korean parents that the better teachers are to be found in the cities, hence why many, if they can afford it, send their kids into cities nearby for their schooling rather than the local school.

[deepclick]

Thanks for everyone's answers so far.

Not one person has endorsed taking more than 25 hours per week, and the overarching consensus is undoubtedly for a newbie to take as few hours as possible. So, I'm set fast in my search for a contract with low hours!

However, I am still lost in a fog of indecision on the public school Vs Hagwon debate. I�m planning on applying in Seoul or Busan so I think I can be confident in assuming class sizes will be BIG (30+).

From what I can discern, Hagwons are more likely to work me to the bone like an underfeed cart horse. However, the classes are much more manageable (smaller and better motivated students) and thus less stressful for the uninitiated teacher.

On the other hand, public schools come up trumps with their hours of work and holidays, but their classrooms are part full of difficult to manage feral beasts, uninterested in me being there. That final point worries me more than the rest. Having never working in a classroom before, I�m unsure of how I�ll manage with public school class sizes combined with bad discipline. I would be interested to hear how other newbies felt about and dealt with their first days.

[BS.Dos.]

I'm sure most have the same problem i.e. PS or hagwon. I did, but after spending a couple of months on here before I actually came out gathering info etc, I soon realised that the general consensus is that PS are a safer bet. There are some excellent hagwons, many of which are probably better than the best PSs. However, there are a lot of crappy ones too and there's very little way of finding out beforehand unless they have a particularly bad reputation.

With a public school you may still encounter problems. You Principal/VP/CTs may be a pain in the ass and give you either no time or a hard time. They may try and shaft you with extra unpaid classes etc. All of these things can and do happen. This is Korea. They have a completely different way of doing things out here so you'd better learn to adjust to their way of thinking, because they aren't going to come round to yours.

I'd say keeping a sense of perspective will help inform your decision. Bad stories tend to get amplified out of all proportion on here, so just bear that in mind. I think that most FTs that come out here generally have a good experience. A few however, get shafted and more often than not, it's by a hagwon, though some people will give you horror stories from PCs too.

Regarding class sizes; yes, it's a daunting prospect dealing with 30 kids in a PS as opposed to 10 or so at a hagwon. I very nearly chose the hagwon route for exactly the same reason. Not sure when you're thinking of heading out, but if you can, try and get some classroom experience as they'll eat you alive if you come across as an umming and ahhing, bumbling baffoon. Additionally, your aptitude in the classroom correlates (largely) with how your CTs perceive you and therefore, has an impact on how they treat you, which ultimately will have an impact on your wider experience. So, do your homework and get some experience if you can as it will greatly improve the chances of your time here being pleasurable.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Do you mean hours at school or hours in the classroom? At PS you can expect a lot of hours at school regardless, though much of that may be down time. At a hagwon it could vary from 20 hours / week at school to 50.

[maingman]

driftingfocus wrote :

Don't teach in a hagwon. They will work you to death. Find a good public school.

[Big Mac]

I think when choosing whether you want to work at a public school or hogwan you should think about your own personality first.

Are you someone who gets bored easily? Then a public school is not for you. You will spend plenty of time seat warming and teaching brain-numbing lessons that require very little intelligence to teach.

On the other hand, if you don't like to work very hard then by all means go to a public school.

If you are a very sociable person and need people around you all the time, don't go to a public school, especially in the country. You will be very isolated and may go for days not being able to speak to someone face to face in fluent English. Most of the time you are the ONLY foreigner in your school and the ONLY one who can speak English fluently.

In a hogwan, your bosses are more used to dealing with foreigners and are a little more sympathetic to the cultural differences. In a public school you are expected to know how Korea works and to act like a Korean. That's tough even if you have been here for a few years like me. Korean minds are not easy to figure out. There are also going to be many teachers at your public school who will not like you simply because you are a foreigner and you will have to live with that.

Personally I think a hogwan is a much better choice for a first year teacher. I think a fair hogwan contract will have between 100-130 hours per month, with a pay of around 2 million to 2.4 million won a month.

At a hogwan you won't be bored. You won't have to do as much seat warming. Your days will go by much quicker. You will have smarter students who are more committed to learning English. You will feel more satisfied in your job because you will feel like you are actually teaching them something. You will know your kids on a more personal level than you will in a public school. You will learn more about how to teach English well.

That's if you choose a good hogwan. Choose carefully and you'll have a much better year than you would at a public school.

And that's coming from someone who HAS worked at a public school and two hogwans.

[BS.Dos.]

[Big Mac]

I don't know about your school, but at my school we are expected to use the national curriculum, which is brain-numbing to say the least. If I could spend my seat warming time throwing all those national English books in the garbage and creating my own curriculum that the kids would actually learn from, I would.

[Draz]