Korean Job Discussion Forums

[FredDaSked]

I'm from the US with a 4-year-old daughter that I have to take to a 'children's house' in an high-rise in Sanghyun, Suji, Yongin. I don't like to pay the 350,000 per month, but there are only 5 other kids, all younger than she is, and she's been the queen of the place so far.

Last Friday, as we were walking away from it at the end of the day, a man in a van pulled up next to us with his wife and infant son. He said he had just started a hagwon nearby--I've seen the place during business hours and empty--and needed a native teacher several hours a week. He, like everyone, was of course facetiously impressed by my daughter, and offered to put her up daily for free in exchange for a few hours of my time. So, child care for teaching.

he doesn't yet have a lot of students--14, all kindy and younger than my daughter. The place is just a step above where she is now in terms of child care--from what I can see and tell, it's Montessori-based (is that getting to be the thing these days, or what?), and the philosophy is play- and activity-based, rather than shuffling the clientele from class to class, which I won't suffer my kid to get mixed up in. There are 4 female teachers who handle everything, it seems.

You can't ask for better child care than free, if it's responsible and adhering to what parents' comncerns. Plus, he showed me the normal cost to normal parents, stretching to almost a million a month. My concern is that even for no money, it's still an illegal prospect to get involved in teaching somewhere else. My primary is an elementary school, and I haven't the slightest notion what they would think of me asking permission to do it. I haven't really the opportunity to ask directly and my co-teacher wouldn't know enough to get on the ball to ask them right away. I wouldn't expect her to.

On the other hand, I'm not faciing any compensation of any kind besides the free child care. I wonder if that's enough. Anyone know anything more about Montessori, especially in the unique way Koreans practice it?
I assume that, like everything else, there is a unique and exclusively Korean way of going about Montessori.

[sulperman]

How many hours is "several"?

[FredDaSked]

His schedule makes room for 1 native teacher hour per day, maybe 2; that's just time for me to get the short distance to my elementary school. He says he's flexible according to what we can work out.

[jlb]

Let's just say that I know a few people with little Western kids...AND, they've gotten their children into English kindergartens for free! So don't get ripped off. Like no more than 3 hours/week I'd say.

[Countrygirl]

Finding appropriate daycare for children is very hard, I know. My children have been to many daycares, some good, some really bad. I wouldn't wish the stress of it on anyone....so this is my 2 cents.

350,000 is a good price for daycare. You have a daycare that is established and when the day is done you get to spend your time with your daughter. She's just moved to Korea, she doesn't speak Korean and it will take her at least 3 months to have a working knowledge of Korean and by 6 months she'll be fluent. The most important thing for her is to be around one or two main caretakers so that she can make sense of her new environment.

This is why I wouldn't do it...you always end up getting what you pay for. With your child's safety, this is not worth it. If something happens to her (broken tooth, arm etc), you couldn't even sue him because you paid nothing.

Volunteering on an E2 is illegal.

Korean teachers are not allowed to teach outside of the school and neither is the Foreign Teacher. With how fast gossip spreads in these neighbourhoods, and I know because I live in your neighbourhood, you don't want to do something so public that could get you paying a fine and kicked out of the country. All it takes is one student going to school and bragging to the other kids that the new English teacher is teaching him at the hogwan and a jealous Korean teacher or mother overhears. If you want to do a language exchange, keep it small and keep it private.

I say enjoy the time with your daughter. It's easy to try to grab after every dollar or won that is offered you, but your daughter will only be 4 for a short time. Working at a Korean school offers the best schedules for a parent....take advantage of it. If you want extra money, set up classes after her bedtime.

Again, just my 2 cents. I'm wouldn't judge you badly if you disagree. There are many ways to raise a child well.

[Troglodyte]

At your school, how much to you make in overtime? I'd guess you make the standard 20-25k per hour. If a hogwan hired you to teach (legally or otherwise) you would get at least 40k /hour. But even at 20k/hour, if you work 1 hour per day for 5 days a week, that's at least 400k/month. It's more than you're currently paying for daycare.

Is it legal to teach for free? Maybe. Maybe not. We've all heard conflicting opinions, facts, anecdotes on that one. The general consensus though it that you have to be doing it as volunteer work. OBVIOUS volunteer work. Like at an orphanage or non-profit public service organisation or something in that category. You may very well be volunteering at a hogwan without being paid, but do you really think that immi is going to believe that story? And in reality, you aren't working for free. You are working for in kind services - the 1 million won worth of daycare that you are receiving.

What are your chances of being caught? Not much probably. If immi did show up when you happened to be there, you can always say that you were just dropping off your kid. Just pray that the owner wasn't advertising an English teacher to the parents because if immi ask any of them, they will probably verify that there is a native speaker teaching their kids at the hogwan (and the kids will all know your name and verify it in a flash). If you have a legitimate reason to be at that hogwan (dropping off your kid) then you're probably safe. Just ask the owner to NOT keep too much on record about your teaching there and NOT use your photo in adverts.

I've met people on the E2 who really DO have illegal extra classes - both privates and part time at hogwans. The one thing that most of them recommend is that if you are going to work illegally for a hogwan, that you don't give them your real name, contact details, or a copy of your ID. If the owner can ID you, then they can use you as a bargaining chip to get themselves out of trouble when they're caught doing something else illegal. e.g. They aren't paying some tax, they didn't pass a safety inspections, etc. The authorities come. He offers to turn in an illegal foreigner in exchange for getting off the hook. It happens. I imagine that it's at the more seedier of schools. But just be careful.

[GoldenPennies]

never trust a hagwon, no matter what

[Goon-Yang]

[Juregen]

I pay at least 600.000 - 900.000 for childcare every month!

[Goon-Yang]

[Juregen]

[PatrickGHBusan]