Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DaBears]

So I'm working at a hagwon in Busan and my contract says I'm meant to work 160 classes a month, I'm currently only working 140 classes a month. Recently, an employee fled, so now me and another foreigner teacher are taking his classes and grading his assignments, but because my coworker and I are only at 140 classes, we don't get paid overtime. We also have to do "private lessons" to students through the school every Thursday after the academy is over for 90 minutes. We also don't get paid extra for this. Most people I've talked to work 120 classes and don't do the amount of grading/report cards we do. So my question is, should I stay or go? I'm not sure how willing they would be to sign a letter of release.

[busanliving]

If you agreed to 160 in your contract the school are well within their rights to ask you to do this. Also "private lessons" on school property during your teaching hours are also nothing you can complain about. You signed a bad contract, it is up to you to either deal with it for the year or try and leave and hope you get the letter of release.

[comm]

Sounds like you really didn't think this through.
If you agreed to teach 160 classes per month without overtime, you should feel lucky that you're only teaching ~148 classes per month.

[onlyJbear]

Did you have any correspondence with a foreign teacher before you came to the school? if so did she not inform you of the rough hours?

How did you sign a contract for 160 hours per month????? Were you a long time looking for a job? Where are you from and what is your BA in?

[DaBears]

The foreign teacher I talked with lied to me. I didn't find this out until after I met her. She said she lied a lot on emails to applicants, depending on how desperate the school was.

[onlyJbear]

What did your recruiter say about the school?

[DaBears]

She had only good things to say. They use the recruiter I had quite often.

[onlyJbear]

Where are you from? and what is your degree in? I ask this because I have heard of some teachers from countries other than the the US/Canada taking crappy jobs as they aren't favored by recruiters.

[DaBears]

I'm an American female and I have a BA in English.

[onlyJbear]

So you're every recruiters wet dream and you somehow managed to get this crap job? I don't mean to be rude but did you do any research into this or just jump on the first job you were offered?

[DaBears]

Well I had been in contact with the recruiter for awhile and I was backpacking around Europe/living in Ireland for a year while trying to sort out a school. Then when I got the job, I flew back home and was there for 3 days before I left for Korea.