Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Arteta]

I have been offered two hagwon positions, one is Avalon in Gimpo and the other is Langcon in Gwangmyeong (near daelim subway station).

I would just like to know if anybody has experience of either of these particular schools or of the franchise in general?

Thanks

[So Sincere]

Avalon/Langcon is a franchise-based hagwon, so the experience at each location is going to be dependent upon who owns the place and who that owner puts in charge to manage their minions. I can only speak from my experience with one owner/management group that's not one of those you listed, but I'll share some insight.

You probably already know this, but at Avalon you'll be teaching late elementary (~5th grade) through middle school. Although, I did have a few high school students scattered in the mix. Langcon takes in all the younger students. So depending on what age group you prefer, that might make the decision for you.

In my experience, I hardly ever communicated with the owner outside of cordial greetings. He was typically fair, and seemed to genuinely care about his foreign employees well being based on what I heard from co-workers. The managers, however, could be a real pain in the ass. One one hand, I understand their perspective because they were the ones who routinely dealt with insane parents, but sometimes too much shit rolled down hill on the teachers, foreign and Korean alike.

I worked at an Avalon, but I spent time observing at Langcon and made friends with some of the foreign teachers who worked there as well. In retrospect, I am so grateful that I avoided teaching at Langcon. For some reason, the management group at Langcon was especially neglectful. For instance, they tried to force the foreign teachers to work nearly every Saturday without pay when it was explicitly listed in their contract that they were not required to do so, and if by chance they were working on Saturday, they were to be paid on the overtime wage scale. When a foreigner stood her ground and pulled out her contract to dispute the Saturday ordeal, management told them that their contracts were changing and they had something like a single week to decide if they were going to sign the revised contract or quit their job. One girl ended up sticking it out another 2 months after that happened to reach the 6-month point where she could get out of her contract without having to pay anything back. I felt pretty bad for the group of teachers over there, because I never had anything that bad at Avalon.

I could go on and on about BS I experienced at Avalon, but none of it makes me regret the year I spent with them. Teaching English in Korea, or any foreign country for that matter, is not a cakewalk down easy street. People love to complain on Dave's because it's really easy to do when working for a hagwon. I did it all the time, not here, but among my co-workers. The most important piece of advice I can share about Avalon/Langcon that probably extends to most, if not all, hagwons is to be flexible. Don't let the job get you down. You can always leave when your contract ends with a nice savings and genuine cultural experiences.

If you're still having trouble deciding which position to take, talk to the head foreign teachers or as many foreign teachers as you can at those places. Don't be afraid to ask frank questions about the working environment and how their turnover of teachers has been in the last couple of years. How they respond to those types of questions will tell you a lot about what you'll be getting into.