Korean Job Discussion Forums

[andrew1981]

Hi all,

Thought this might be a good place to pose this question:

2 years hogwon experience & a PGCE teaching license. Deciding on my next move.

I've been mulling this over for a while now and thought some advice from some of you guys on here might be useful.

My general options so far have been:

1. Another hogwon gig
2. Public school position
3. International school job
4. University position

My ideal position would be to get in on an international school but on doing some research it seems that 2 years post qualification is needed. I'm sure im right in thinking that hogwon experience isn't counted.

I'm leaning towards going back to a hogwon because i enjoyed it so much last time. In my mind public schools jobs are working with a korean teacher which doesn't appeal, large class sizes of differing student levels and also feeling isolated owing to the fact that I would have any western co-workers.

Uni jobs are good in that they generally offer a lot less teaching hours but i've heard that a lot of students aren't very motivated and perhaps this would impact on enjoyment.

I guess what is holding me back from a hogwon job is that i've already done it. Part of me thinks that I should be progressing onto 'higher' positions but the other half is thinking that I should do what I think i'd enjoy most.

If anyone would like to offer up anything to the contrary i'd appreciate it. Am I right in my thinking or am I wrong in my pre-conceptions?

[lifeinkorea]

You are covering a lot of ground here and looking at ways to rule out your options.

May I suggest you try to formulate an opinion which would be more in align with one of the options?

Forget the options for the moment.

Who do you want to teach? Kids, teenagers, or adults?

For me, I have had offers to work at universities. So far, I can't see myself doing it. Other people feel the opposite and hate working with kids. I prefer 3rd grade to middle school and adults.

Right now I am working with small groups of high school students also, but I would hate doing this if the class sizes were larger.

Your comment about co-teachers is not 100% accurate. I have had co-teachers at public schools, and I had very good experiences working with them. The co-teachers at hagwons were not bad, but either they did nothing outside of class to make me feel welcome or they did 100% of the lesson planning leaving me dependent on them. I wasn't allowed to introduce new stuff because they already had lessons ready, and that's the way the hagwon wanted it. Same here in China.

With middle school, yes, you are alone. My experiences haven't been that good with public schools in this regard. I prefer them at hagwons. Many teachers don't like them and prefer to do adult classes. So, it's a trade off.
Adults are better for having focused conversations, but they also tend to be more demanding. If you can't give them what they want immediately, they are more likely to quit.

My strategy is to find a school which has a bulk of 3rd grade classes and older (up to 9th grade), and then offer to teach adults. The TOEIC and TOEFL students are just to fill up my schedule, but I don't do them to gain anything. I am not looking to manufacture good test takers, but rather help students communicate their ideas.

Figure out what you want to teach and who you want to teach. Then, it will be clearer where you will teach next.

[sbp59]