Korean Job Discussion Forums

[farzfive]

I have an interview with SMOE tomorrow, but I don't really know what to expect. A recruiter put me in touch with one of the directors there.

I understand the basics of the program, but I cant seem to find any recent, honest, testimonials.

Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

THANKS!!!

[Seoulio]

Well what exactly are you asking, about the interview or the job?

I assume its the job

Basic answer is that its a crapshoot. You don't technically work for SMOE, you work for inididual schools. By that I mean yes SMOE is your employer, but other than sweepingly general mandates that may or may not be followed by your school, the power to make most decisions rests with your school.

Here are some things that may affect you negatively

1) Nightmare co teacher
2) Teachers who insist you plan with the, and then you have like 3-6 different co teachers
3) Deskwarming - A forced policy to sit at your desk when you are not teaching or on vacation dates ( generally agreed up as a useless practice, but nonetheless happens
4) Forced overtime ( for pay) but this does cut into your regular planning, and of course adds more for those classes
5) Sporadic "cultural days" or "event days" that are required for you to attend.
6) too many weeks of camps, so short vacation in Summer


Now that being said there are many positives in General

1) teaching 18 hours of total teaching a week
2) 15- 25 hours of sitting free time ( planning, watching TV studying
3) No "performance" classes where you have to sing and dance and basically show hos special each kid is to a paying parent
4) A realxed atmosphere ( in most schools)
5) No psycho bosses looking over every thig you do or teach ( again there are exceptions)

My expereince has been great, others have not

[Ukon]

my time was great with them until I got a ABSOLUTE NUTTER new co-teacher.

The biggest issue is lack placement choice and who your staff will be...staff changes can be good or very bad as I found out...

If your school has an after school program you can participate in, it's a great paying job...otherwise your not earning any more than your standard hagwon teacher...but you do get paid on time and all the benefits.

Some schools deskwarm...some don't....hell, mine paid me an under the table 100,000 raise every month and never did desk warming.

Every school is different.....

[nomad-ish]

[Seoulio]

i meant performance in the literal sense ( like plays and songs and dances, stuf involving choreography and what not)

yes of course theres still a certain amount of "performance" lol

[ddeubel]

It is a good idea to listen to other teacher's testimonials.

But I think the most important point to consider is "how able are you to take things slowly, ease in and garner respect" the first few months. Most relationships burst in the early months because the foreign teacher simply

a) doesn't have the patience or maturity to calmly pursue open lines of diplomatic communication

b) doesn't have any cultural awareness or understanding vis a vis the work place culture or the wider cultural assumptions of his/her Korean colleagues.

I have collected some good comments , all anonymous from SMOE teachers about their jobs. Find them here, scroll down and upload "teaching documentation". You'll find it interesting reading. Good and bad.
http://setiteachers.ning.com/forum/topics/coteaching-and-you

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[farzfive]

I am just looking for any information possible that isn't from their web PAGE haha.

I have my interview with a director tomorrow.

My biggest concern was that the director told me that you don't know what school/neighborhood you are placed in until you get there.

[Xuanzang]

[farzfive]

Well also, I have should make it clear that I do not come from an education background, nor do I plan on perusing a long term career in teaching.

This is just something I've wanted to try for a long time now, and I have a strong interest in Korean culture, so this seems like a great opportunity. I also love kids, and the idea of teaching IS very exciting to me, but as I said, not looking to do this in the long term.

My main concerns are things like placement, work hours, being paid on time, and living conditions. I feel like I am better off in a program like this than taking a stressful hagwon job. (please correct me if I am wrong here)

Dealing with difficult people is not an issue with me. I work in media sales in NYC..... it doesn't get any more difficult than that as far as dealing with difficult people haha

[crazy_bagman]

I HATE SMOE!!!!!!

I had my interview in late April, got offered a job in the first week of May and they told me to send SMOE my documents. I DID so the following day. I waited and asked SMOE when I would get my contract and was told SMOE would send all the contracts out on June 30th.

I flew back home on May 20th after my first school's 1 year contract finished and I waited some more.

Then on July 6th I asked if the contracts have been sent out where I was told that SMOE changed their position and totally dropped my application, not even the waiting list. I was upset but calmly asked for my documents back.

After 3 weeks later, WHICH IS TODAY, I was told that they will not send my documents back.

WHAT IS GOING ON!?! SMOE has my documents and refuses to give them back!!!!

[farzfive]

I have my interview in a few hours.

Anyone know what I should expect? What type of questions do they ask? Will they quiz me?

[pat258]

I can't believe they're still interviewing for SMOE this late in the process. Maybe that bodes well for those of us who haven't gotten our contracts yet.

Back to the topic: expect general interview questions that you would expect at any other teaching job. How would you handle a class, your co-teachers, etc. Plus some questions about adjusting to life in Korea, what you know about the country, stuff like that. They won't quiz you, most of their questions are pretty general. If you do a search here, there's a post with links to possible questions EPIK/SMOE might ask.

[The Gipkik]

[oldfatfarang]

[ddeubel]

This will always be a concern on most networks that "aggragate" lots of content. Used to be a big problem but not as much. There are simple ways to find what you want. Have you tried http://www.eflclassroom.com/searchning ? It will pull up thousands of tagged files/content. Even offer you suggested tags.

The SETI site is different and meant just for teachers taking courses but is open for all too.

Other ways to find what you need:

1. Click on a tag in any area of the site. Tags are key words located with all content. This will bring up all content in that area (forum/videos/resources etc..)

2. Ask others. Put up a question in the forum. Or enter a question in the chat box.

3. Look in Resources (hit that tab) and go through the appropriate category. Also hit MediaFire on the main page and search there. It has a powerful search in the upper left corner.

4. Get and build a "reader" that sends rss updates of our content. Or visit often and scroll the main page where new sites, new links, new content is displayed.

I know it isn't easy, but there is no site that will just magically give you what you want. It does take some time but it pays off once you get to know the site and the many powerful "teacher friendly" features to it (for one - download anything and use for yourself offline - not many sites offer that. For me, I don't try to keep people on the site but give them what will help them).

I used to offer free sessions to show members how to use the site effectively. Only a few ever showed up. I might try again in the future but in the meantime, there are loads of screencasts showing how to search/use the site. http://eflclassroom.ning.com/page/screencasts-1

Sorry to hijack the thread - but new teachers to SMOE or elsewhere would do well to visit the Korea part of Resources.

DD
http://eflclassroom.com