Korean Job Discussion Forums

Halcyom Chimera · Joined: 24 Sep 2009

I accepted a contract with them, and I start in early January. Anyone know anything about them? Any information will be much appreciated! Thanks!

wesharris · Joined: 10 Oct 2008

Halcyom Chimera · Joined: 24 Sep 2009

Son Deureo! · Joined: 30 Apr 2003

I turned down a similar offer from them, the hours were 9am-7pm or 12pm-9:30pm for 2.7-2.9. I took a job at another school with shorter hours for less pay.

They pay is high, but it's just not worth it to me for those long hours.

Halcyom Chimera · Joined: 24 Sep 2009

Halcyom Chimera · Joined: 24 Sep 2009

Bump...

wesharris · Joined: 10 Oct 2008

Again,
you'll work more than you think.
Polyschool is known for that.
Not a bad thing, but they expect a Korean
Work Ethic, not a Western Work Ethic.
There's a difference.
_+_+
Wes

Lolimahro · Joined: 19 May 2009

I work at a middle school POLY branch. My contract hours are 2:30-10:10. The pay is about .3~.4 less than the daytime 9am-7pm schedule. Foreign teachers at our school generally don't work weekends.

I have met another POLY teacher who works 9a-8p or something like that and he says he hates it, but I think I would hate working 11 hours per day, too. Just take a careful look at your contract.

The lessons are basically given to you at the branch I work. R&D plans out which lessons to teach during which week. For my classes I just figure out how I want to teach the material - there is not a lot of prep involved at all (depending on the subject - science and social studies teachers have a little more prep in general). There is a fair amount of paper grading because my students are required to write weekly essays and I make my debate students do a bit of research, as well. I make my own weekly quizzes and they are so easy and take pretty much 20 minutes to write. Students take a weekly vocab quiz and monthly subject test which are written by R&D - all teachers have to do is proofread them.

Basically, class prep hours are wrapped into your contracted hours - you shouldn't have to take any work home with you when working at POLY. There is ample time to prep for classes, write quizzes, grade papers, and check your e-mail. I also work with a lot of great teachers, both Korean and international. They have helped me a lot with my teaching and also with personal matters. Occasionally the director gives a few extra essays for teachers to grade when he's swamped (I've never graded more than 5 extra essays in a week for him) but he's generally a really reasonable guy and I never had a problem getting housing, my ARC, health insurance, or anything else like that.

Personally I really like working for POLY and consider myself fortunate as there are a lot of really terrible stories out there. I am sure things at POLY vary a lot depending on the branch location, director, and program.