Korean Job Discussion Forums

[canadian_in_korea]

For those of you who teach in the public schools....do you know "who" pays you? The reason I ask is because it is time to renew my contract and my employer doesn't want to pay me for the time there are no classes. They want to extend my visa for 2 weeks ...so I can teach at their winter camp...but they don't want to sign a one year contract until March. I explained that that would mean I would be "sitting" in Korea with no money for almost 2 months...so of course I can't do that. When I mentioned that native speakers in the public school system get paid their full salary even if they don't have to teach a camp he replies that the parents of the children pay the teachers..? Does anyone know if this is true? Am I being unreasonable if I refuse to work their winter camp without my one year contract? They want to pay me less than half of my monthly salary for the camp. Thanks in advance for any information you can give.

[schwa]

I dont understand how your contract & visa are expiring now. Did you sign on last dec/jan? What happened last winter?

No its not right that a public school position should hang you out to dry over winter vacation. As the other thread you initiated pointed out, theres a big range of school vacation scenarios, but they all include at least a regular income.

This is all standard contract stuff. Your situation sounds weird -- how about a few more details?

They sound stubborn. I guess if you really like the job you could take the hit & lay low in Thailand for a couple months.

[FUBAR]

I was in the same situation as you before. Some of these schools are geting grants from the government to hire an English teacher. From what I was told, the grants extended until December 31st and then the school would have to apply for a new grant once the new year started. Then the grant would be extended starting from March until December. That is why they can't offer the contract until the start of the next year. At least, so I was told by one of the English teachers. (She is a pretty honest lady and her English is good)

[peppermint]

My situation is a little different than most- I'm employed by the city, not the school board or the province, but I'm pretty sure my camps are free to any student at the school.

[prairieboy]

If your contract is expiring now, which is what you seem to say here:

[Grotto]

I recommend the go to Thailand or some other tropical place for the two months and do a working vacation, its cheap cheap cheap.

Come back at the end of two months and start working again.

I would see if they are willing to pay for your apartment for the two months, that way you dont have to put stuff in storage or move. The not getting paid I would just treat as an extended vacation. Heck even going to Canada for a month just wasnt enough time to do everything and see everyone I wanted to see.

[jaykimf]

In my case I teach supplemental classes in the local High school. The classes are voluntary and the students pay tuition which covers my salary. We agreed on a one year contract just so I wouldn't have to run down to immigration every 5 weeks ( which is how long each class lasts), but our understanding is that is that if there are not enough students I'll be out of a job. I also won't get paid during vacations if there are no classes but actually they asked if I can teach extra classes this winter vacation. If I did have an unpaid vacation, that would be fine with me. (but my wife might be less than thrilled)

[canadian_in_korea]

Thanks for the info everyone. They didn't want to sign a one year contract...only from March to December...that means no flight ticket, no completion bonus and paying for a flight ticket out of my own pocket to leave the country and come back again on a toursit visa to wait until March. So I'll start looking for something else.