Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kiwikorean]

Hi,
I am wanting to know if anyone has or knows of anyone who has opened an English language school in Korea. I am a New Zealander with a Korean partner, and we both want to open our own language school.

I want to know of costs, like renting a building in Seoul, how much do I need to get started.

I only need a place that has 3 rooms, start small then see how it goes.

If anyone can help with ideas, I would appreciate it.

Cheers.

Gerard

[the_beaver]

[kiwikorean]

I thought that it is better to open a small school, then if student numbers pick up, I could invest more money into the business.

If I start big, I may loose all my money.

What do you think?

[dutchman]

You're not understanding the beaver. You CANT start small. The law says a language hagwon MUST be 50 pyong.

[the_beaver]

First, check this out:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=13633&postdays=0&postorder=asc

Yes, it's true that if you start big you could lose all your money. It's also true that if you don't start big you might not be successful. It's a crap shoot. In any case, there are minimum investments you'd have to make as a foreigner, and things like the 50�� mentioned above that you have to consider.

My plan is to start biggish (I'm still years away, though) because my target group (adults) is notorious for coming and going so building up a customer base is much more difficult than building up a customer base of kids.

[peppermint]

A friend of mine started one a couple of years ago in a small town, and business is doing well I think. She is in a tiny city, has been there for ages and has probably taught most of her current students parents though.

[PatrickSiheung]

To maximize your chances for success I would recommend some serious business study. The E-Myth is a great book to start with. The Rich Dad series of books is also a great reference. From there I would try and think of an area that isn't already saturated with Hagwons. There are so freakin many of them I'm never surprised when I hear of academies going out of business.

One great thing you have going for you though... You're a foreigner! lol
I would imagine a lot of people would sign there kids up for that reason. I'm willing to bet you aren't as crazy as a Korean director too so right there I'm sure many teachers would rather work for you.

Just find a great area with little competition and clean up.

BTW, have you thought of searching out silent partners to help you finance your school? You could set up a contract where if the school's successful you can buy them out for a certain price. You don't have to put up all of your own money. Why take all the risk yourself? ><

[ajuma]

Unless your Korean is excellent, get a Korean partner that you trust. You'll need a Korean to communicate with the parents, possibly the bus driver (depending where you are, you may need a bus!) and deal with all the legal stuff.

Having a Korean teacher as a partner is a plus. You can offer classes taught by both a foreigner AND a Korean (20 minutes each for example).

Location, of course is an issue. Being where people know you would be good (but of couse you'll get a hassle from your former director), but being where your Korean partner has some connections would be better.

Good luck! You've got lots to consider and plan for!

[kiwikorean]

Hello again,

I am greatful for all the responses thus far.

I want to ask, would it make it easier if my Korean partner opened the school or is that not a good idea?

I want to open a school, where once the student steps foot in the school, English will only be spoken. The receptionist would be a Korean, who has studied overseas in an English speaking country, minimum being 2 years. He/She would be fluent in English and of course Korean.

My idea is to hire only native speakers of English. My wife who is Korean, would teach the only English/Korean class.

My dream, is that once the school student numbers picked up. I would hire a native teacher from each of the 6 main English speaking countrys. This would allow the students to experience the different types of accents, and to learn more about the native teachers countrys, and to interact more and to feel more comfortable with other cultures.

Each class room will be equipped with a computer (note book preferred).

A TV for each class room and a video player.

A small library of English books that the students can borrow.

Also a quarterly field trip.

Only 10 students per class room.

Each teacher would work 5 hours per day Monday - Friday. 40 minutes per class, of which 15 minutes would be used playing an English board game or a quiz game.

I just want to teach Korean students real English, and for them to know that English can be fun. I have only taught here in Korea for 2 years and already I have seen the mistakes.
Yes you need to make money, but your money comes from the students parents. Quality education, that can build your childs future.

I plan on opening the school early January of next year.

Thanks all for your help.

God only knows i'll need it.

[peppermint]

It sounds like you've got some great ideas, but I don't think there are many women who've studied abroad who'd be willing to work as a secretary, unless the pay was stunning.

You don't actually need a vcr, either. Just hook the tv up to the computer and you can use games from the net, power point presentations or dvds. It's how the public schools are set up and it's great!

[TommyPickles]

If it's quality of teaching you are after, please ensure that the kids are receiving more than just conversation (ie. that they have comprehension and grammar studies for example). Not all teachers could be bothered doing so, make sure they have a decent teaching plan.

In my opinion, one of the areas that is lacking is of bilingual Korean/English teachers. They have the advantage whereby they are able to translate words that kids may not know but want to learn. For us strictly native English speakers, we can only speak the very few words of Korean we can command. As children become older, this may be of importance to your school.

You will need a Korean partner to gain rapport with parents and the local community. Even huge international companies who have a seemingly infinite amount of resources available usually get in business with local trading companies because of issues with culture and government.

That's all I can think of at this ungodly hour. Perhaps the best way to consider all the issues is to write up a business plan, which is an essential for anyone starting a business. Best of luck!

Cheers
TommyPickles

[kangnamdragon]

This is not a good time to open a school. There is too much competition and too many schools are closing. The Korean economy is getting worse. I'm afraid you'll lose everything. Why open a school? How will it be any different from the 1000s of other schools?

[kiwikorean]

Because I am not a Korean director.

So far I have worked at 2 schools, with one director charging 500.000 won per month per student. The current school I am at is charging only 90.000 won per student per month. But this is a small town compared to the first school, which was located in Seoul.

The difference is. I want to improve Korean students English. I want them to leave the school and to be able to speak English. Too many schools are profit driven first, when you should be focussed on quality education. Yes your aim is to make money, but you need to respect your students and staff more.

I have managed a supermarket that employed 600 people. It would make 1.4 million Australian dollars a week. But it only did that because,the company treats all as one. If someone has a problem you talk to them. Happy workers means quality work is been achieved, and the employees feel the company is theirs, which means they give 110%.

Start with the people who are going to grow your business, take care of them and you will always do well. At least that is what I was taught, I could be wrong.

And I left that job as my wife wanted to come home to Korea.

[the_beaver]

The point about competition is a good one. There are several reasons why I'm waiting to open and one of them is to get in on the end of the culling that's going on.

About the things you've said. . .

Screw the notebook. A computer in a modern classroom can be the ultimate teaching tool. You can set it up with a good sound card and a good video card and run all of your audio and video from one well-organized convienent location -- in fact, standardized lesson plans can be made with all the links embedded, so that new teachers are eased in comfortably. A note book with the same guts as a desktop will be way more expensive initially and way more expensive to upgrade.

Depending on a few different factors (such as your monthly tuition fee) 10 students per class might be a little light. 12 is the lowest I'm going to go and I'm toying around with the idea of 14.

Don't open a school in January because you'll get jack all for students (especially if your target is elementary). Most students have already signed up and will be attending hagwons by that time of the vacation. I'd say open at the end of vacation, use the time when you don't have too many students to iron out the kinks, and get all properly geared up for the beginning of the next vacation.

The mistakes that you've seen made in Korea are probably legitimate; however, you should consider that some of these mistakes come from an expectation of what education should be and if you are doing things that people figure are not the way things should be done (whether you're right or not) it will be difficult to get and keep students. Quality education requires you to go through a lean period to develop your reputation.

[kangnamdragon]

Sorry, but parents don't care if the director is a foreigner. You have to give them a good reason why your school is different from the others. Happy workers is fine, but that won't happen until the teachers have good schedules and are making good money.