Korean Job Discussion Forums

[carolinagirl]

I just recieved my first job offer from Reading Town in Busan. Does anyone know anything about it? My recruiter said it is a very sought after school to work for, the location is great and the aptartment is located in PNU "where everyone wants to live." This will be my first ESL teaching experience and they offered 2 m won + bouns + severence. Teaching hours from 2-9 and not more than 6 classes a day. Also how is the PNU area is? Is it a good place to live? Should I hold out and wait for a better offer, I have been told never take your first offer.

Any info would be helpful! Thanks!!

[kat2]

I don't know anything about the school. You could check the hagwon black/grey lists out there if you want. But PNU area is full of bars and clubs so if you are into that scene, you might like it. Check out pusanweb.com for more info. Its not that close to the beach, but you can get tehre by subway in about 20 minutes. The salary is typical for a newbie. They should also be offering you roundtrip airfare, single housing (not shared), and if you are lucky a paid for visa trip to Japan. Get the email of a current or former teacher from the school and talk to htem before you sign anything. Also, make sure it is stated in your contact that you do not work weekends. Your overtime rate should be at leat 20,000. And ask about vacation.

[Big Mac]

I don't know about this particular campus of Reading Town. However, I just spent a year working for a Reading Town just outside of Seoul.

It was a good experience, but there are a few things you should watch. Make sure pension and medical insurance are detailed in the contract.

Be prepared for lots of paperwork. You'll have to mark loads of book reports every week, reems of tests and write detailed evaluation reports every month.

Teaching class is easy because they have a very well-developed curriculum. You just basically teach the lesson outlined on the syllabus. After a year, you'll start to get very bored because you'll feel like you've taught the same lesson a million times.

A good first time job. Just watch the contract carefully. They will intentionally exclude pension and hope you won't notice. It's law and they have to pay it. You get your contribution and their contribution back at the end.

[shortskirt_longjacket]

I worked for a Readingtown in Seoul. It was a good experience, I'm not sure how much you can extrapolate from that, though, in regards to your situation in Busan.