Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

I'm sure mine is smaller than yours and I'm proud of it!

I'm sick and tired of all the posters coming on here claiming they live farther out in the sticks than I do. I take this as a personal challenge.

I want to know just how big your school and town are.

(You city slickers and hakwoners stay out of this.)

My high school had 118 boys last year. Our enrollment is down this year by a few. The final count is not in yet, but it looks like we'll have around 112 for this school year.

There are 7,000 people in my myon (the rural version of a dong <-- ).

OK. If ya got the cojones, show what you got. Let's have the figures.

And NO exaggerating. In case of dubious claims, final judgements will be held at a neutral mok-yok-tang. I've nothing to hide. Do you?

[laogaiguk]

Public elementary school, 82 students (each grade consists of one class). Don't know about the myon though, as I live in a bigger city about 20 minutes away...
Hagwon sized classes (except grade 2), public school life. I am re-signing ofcourse

[Ya-ta Boy]

Ohhhh!

But I'm still in 2nd place!

[weatherman]

[tomato]

At first, I tried to get a job in the smallest and most remote town I could find.
My reason was that the smaller and more remote the town, the fewer English-speaking Koreans I would have to tolerate.
But little by little, I noticed that small-town jobs usually involved teaching students of all ages.
Also, little by little, I realized that I wasn't good at teaching students of all ages.
So I accepted a job in the thriving metropolis of Suweon, where all my students are kindergarten and early elementary.

It is turning out that my fear of English-speaking Koreans was exaggerated. All last weekend, I didn't have a single Korean adult speaking to me in English.

[Grotto]

Last year 1200 students at an elementary school...but to be fair I only had classes with 800 of them

[Ya-ta Boy]

Mr. weatherman,

I'm at a public boys high school. The girls school in town is a private school and is somewhat larger--and the building is newer. I think they have 150+ students. From what I gather, the boys who 1) have potential and 2) some money, go out of town to school. To get 112 boys, we have to bring in kids from Jangma, Bugok and Gilgok to add to the local Youngsan boys.

Each of the 3 grades are divided into 2 classes, 15-21 in each, so class size is pretty good. The guy who teaches at the girls school divides his time between middle school and high school. I don't. I stay at the high school all day. The faculty here is extremely friendly and the office atmosphere is very good. However, only 1 teacher really speaks English. The other English teacher doesn't really--communication can be a challenge.

In town, except for one elderly lady I ran into at the bank, no one speaks any English. I'd guess that 8 out of 10 people I see on the streets are 60+ years old. Pretty much everyone is friendly, like most Koreans everywhere.

All in all, it's a pretty good gig. It is isolated--be prepared for that. You have to go out of town for shopping, so I think a car is a necessity, but the bus service goes everywhere. I can catch 4 buses 'downtown' and be in Seoul in 4 1/2 hours. Busan is an hour away, but I don't know the number of buses...hourly, I think. Masan is only 20 minutes away.

If you are the emotionally self-reliant type, I think living in a very small Korean town is an interesting way to spend a year.

[inspector gadget]

A total of 182 girls in my middle school.

I would not call this anything but a village, I think it has 11000 people in it and the surrounding myeons make the county total 39000.


Its small thats for sure, takes me about 30 minutes to walk virtually every street in the village.

I wanted to experience the rural setting, I also thought that it would allow me to save more $$$

There on only 2 foriegn teachers living here and absolutely no english hogwans.

Been here for just over a month and so far its pretty much what I expected

[Ya-ta Boy]

So far the ranking is:

#1. laogaiguk in first place with the smallest at 82

#2. ME!!!! at 112

#3. inspector gadget at 182


However, laogaiguk is hedging a bit by living in a bigger place and commuting. Which reminds me, our rush hour lasts 2 minutes when the 6 people who work 'downtown' all leave at the same time.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Up-date #1 and #2

#1
Final tally is in and we have 116 boys this year.

#2
I was sold down river today. The VeeP assigned me four hours of teaching a week in a middle school 5 km up the road. Total enrollment 29. Yes, that's right. Twenty-nine students. 18 girls and 11 boys.

While I am only a part-timer there, I think I can claim first place over laogaiguk. If not out-right first place, a tie for first.

So, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh...Mine's smaller than yours!

This school employs 9 teachers and I make it 10. Kind of over-kill if you ask me.

[laogaiguk]

[Hollywoodaction]

If I said I was in North Korea, would I win?

[Ya-ta Boy]

If it isn't legal now, it will be by Monday. I was very firm about getting Immi approval of this arrangement. I'll be pretty peeved if Immi doesn't approve, but I don't know why they wouldn't.

My guess about the number of teachers is that there is a minimum number needed to cover all the subjects. It is probably pretty rare to have a teacher who can teach unrelated subjects...like 'Technical' and math, for example.




Mr. Action,

I will be happy to concede if you can show us your ARC card for the concentration camp English camp. How many students are in your cell?

[Ya-ta Boy]

I love these come from behind victories. Kinda inspiring, don't you think?

Woohoo! I'm Number #1!

[Hollywoodaction]