Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Grotto]

Welcome to GEPIK!
"Pretty much all they will say to you"

GEPIK is an authorized English program which is promoted by Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education in cooperation with self-governing communities to improve elementary kids' communicative English ability through inviting and cooperating with native English teachers.

This really depends on how loose your definition of cooperating is

What do we do for our program?

1. Screen and select native English teachers, place them in schools and support the schools to manage them.

Not true, I was not selected by GEPIK nor was I screened by them, as far as I know almost everyone in the program was hired through a recruiter.

2. Support elementary schools or local offices of education in our province to select, employ, and manage the native teachers.

Another lie. GEPIK has refused to answer emails, return phone calls or otherwise deal with any of the FT's in the program.

3. Introduce the native teachers who want to work in our province to the schools which want to recruit them, and vice versa.

Not true again...look at #1 recruiters placed us. I had no contact with GEPIK until I returned to Korea for the orientation

4. Offer information-qualifications, application process, working conditions and duties, salaries, etc) to the applicants.

Not gonna happen. Their information on the website is out of date and erroneous. They give you bare bones info.

5. Encourage to share information between provincial office and local offices, native teachers and schools, and native teachers themselves.

Their idea of encourage to share is to force you to attend a meeting that is absolutely useless and depending on how far away your school is to the useless 6 hour meeting may take 4 hours to get to and 4 hours to get back(no extra pay) oops not entirely true...you do qualify for the whopping 10,000 won business trip fee

6. Offer answers and tips to your questions and difficulties.

Biggest lie of all. They dont want to hear from you, they dont want to deal with you and they certainly wont help you.

Gyeonggi province is the biggest place of Korea in its land size and population.

Really? I thought Gangwon-do was the largest province in Korea

With its border around Seoul, it is native teachers' favorite place to work.
Favorite? Hmmmm just because alot of teachers work in this area doesnt mean that they like it!

Plus, it is a beautiful and dynamic place near from Seoul, the capital of Korea which is located between 126 and 127 degrees of east longitude, and 36 and 38 degrees of north latitude and Incheon National Airport, the trade center of northeast Asia.

Which doesnt really mean anything to anyone unless you are tied into a GPS.

We invite you native English teachers to GEPIK operated byGyeonggi province, the place of hope and opportunities. We hope that you will catch this lucky chance to live around pure-minded kids and experience the precious oriental culture.

This last paragraph speaks for itself. The kids at my school are great. Culture....hmmmm

[Plume D'ella Plumeria]

Sounds like you're pretty mad at GEPIK, Grotto. NOW what have they done??

Actually, I'm not being sarcastic; I'm pretty miffed with them myself. I take back all the nice things I said about them - or rather all the not un-nice things I said about them. They seem to be trying to weasel their way out of keeping some contractual promises. There are some vaguely worded items on the contract that they are now choosing to inerpret favourably to themselves and unfavourably to the teachers. In my case, it concerns the summer vacation. They won't budge from their position and nor will I from mine; therefore, we are about to part ways.

Perhaps the anti-GEPIK people were right after all. They demand too much and offer too little.

I also have to back Grotto up on the unavailability of the GEPIK heads to the native-speaking teachers. They have made themselves inaccessable to us and they do not respond to emails or phone calls from us. Simply put, they want nothing to do with us. Not exactly an open door policy and not terribly good for group morale.

Now if only I could find a REAL non-GEPIK public school teaching job...

[Grotto]

Not mad at them actually...I have had 9 months to get over my anger towards them.

I just figure to give anyone a heads up and maybe dispel any utopian ideas(like I had when I joined up) before anyone gets disappointed.

I am still a bit miffed that my emails still go unanswered.

[Derrek]

[Grotto]

I was asked to renew my contract and i told them that 3 weeks just isnt enough time to go to Canada for a vacation. I told them flat out that you need 5 or 6 weeks when you go overseas to have a decent vacation.

I have friends and relatives from Vancouver to Toronto and I want to take at least a month off to see them. I also plan on a month in Thailand

I like my school, the Korean teacher, love my students but the town I am in is so isolated and has nothing to do(no movie theater, few restaurants, no pool, no gyms....etc)

I am looking at a position in Pusan at a uni and also Ansan English village. I have talked to a couple of Koreans who hire for there and the money is pretty good.

Basically 2-3 months off then worry about a job. Might look into Taiwan or Thailand now that my bills are all paid off.

[Derrek]

[kermo]

I am planning to renew my contract, because my year has been peachy (thanks to a great school, I didn't need any help from GEPIK).

However, I'm having some trouble convincing my principal that it is okay for me to move out of my apartment. I would like to move about 15 or 20 minutes away, for a pile of reasons. The town I live in has no native speakers other than myself, and non-Korean groceries are minimal. If I want to stay out past 10:30, I've got to take a taxi home, which is dangerous and expensive.

My principal argues that I should stay because a) it's more likely that I will be late if I can't just walk to work, and b) the school paid for the appliances in my apartment, so I can't switch to the W300,000 living stipend. Why not just move the current appliances to the next place? I think this is silly, but it does say in my contract that the school provides a place to live.

In order to be comfortable signing for another year, I'm going to have to deal with this, but I'm not sure how. Anyone else in a similar spot?

[Grotto]

Kermo
article 12 section 4
new contract new negotiations?
if its the same in your contract as it is in mine?

Try telling your principal you need to move otherwise you may not renew. Moving all the appliances and such(maybe offer to pay for the move..its cheap)is a minor point.

It sounds more like they dont want to do the paperwork...or... they signed a two year lease and cant get out of it.

[JongnoGuru]

[kermo]

Thanks for your help, fellas.
At this point they have offered me another year, and asked me to sign a paper indicating my acceptance or refusal of the offer, without seeing the contract.

I drafted a little letter which I hope will get my point across. When I asked my co-teacher about "breaking the lease" he said he expected that a refund would be possible.

[JongnoGuru]

[Grotto]

Not really...you did fine.

Signing an agreement to renew your contract is not the same as renewing the contract itself.

I would list any changes you want to the contract..longer vacation...more money(dont hold your breath) and change of apartment. Maybe hope for 1 out of 3

[JongnoGuru]

Grotto, Kermo, anyone -- I've been bitten enough times to know that employer/contract problems here are in no way unique to the ESL sector. One of my "favourites" was when an employer I was renewing with surreptitiously slipped a few changes into the new contract, didn't discuss it with me or even tell me, and delayed (intentionally, I've no doubt) giving me the signed/stamped copy of the contract to take to Immigration until literally hours before my visa expired.

However, it was this sort of death by a thousand cuts (some small and forgettable, some very deep and lasting) that eventually led me to get the hell out of their clutches. So in a twisted sense, I should probably thank them.

[trevorcollins]

[canukteacher]

I have the new GEPIK contract, and only one thing has changed. Now, keep in mind that not all GEPIK contracts were identical.

They have added a clause which states that L1 teachers (highest pay level) will receive a pay increase of 200,000Won per month, if you re-sign again at the end of the second year. NO PAY RAISE FOR L1'S THIS YEAR.

Everything else is exactly the same. If you are a L1 teacher there is zero incentive to re-sign. If you are L2 or L3 you will get a raise. This shows how much GEPIK values experience and qualifications.

Side negotiations are possible, but remember if something happens to your Principal (hit by a car, moved to another school) you could be out of luck. The existing principal could also get amnesia if you tick them off for some reason. Side deals make me a little nervous in this culture.

CT