Korean Job Discussion Forums

[igotthisguitar]

>. Thought this would make for some interesting feedback. Judging from general board postings, my sense is there are a variety of experiences here & a wide range of colourful opinions on this one

[TheUrbanMyth]

At least a nine. Disorganized, but always paid in full and on time. The Korean teachers are quite nice too.

[Bulsajo]

My first contract rated 3-4, the second 5-6, and the last 3 (same employer) fluctuated anywhere from 7 right up to 11, depending on the circumstances of any given month (I'd say 9 overall).

[William Beckerson]

Like this:

Job 1: Nice management. Two out of 16 coworkers who werent doodie-heads. Kids that no one would miss should they be swallowed by the earth.

Job 2: Assclowns for management. Right on coworkers like Denz. About 50% decent kids.

Job 3: One decent Kiwi coworker. An annoying Canuck. Great Korean coworkers. The kids were the best I've ever met in Korea. The boss bugered everyone around on the pay and my work visa until I forced him to get me a ticket home. Let the earth swallow him whole and then spit him into the ocean to be eaten by sharks...

Slow sharks.

Job 4: Current job. The kids are back to being 50/50. The management tries hard to keep everyone happy. They have yet to lie to me. They pay me, which is a big plus. The coworkers are decent sorts.

I'd have to say the current job beats the rest of them by about 6 points. on the 1- 10 scale.

[canuk2]

Paid on time. raises given. Bonuses.

Suggestions taken, listened to, implemented, and bonuses.

Schedule change of an extra class usually means subsitute pay.

Christmas bonus was a ski trip north of Seoul for the day.

Workshop for teachers hosted at the local novatel.

Fequent meals out.

Expensive good bye dinners and presents.

Video tape detailing your work at the school as a professional portfolio.

You write the refence letter and he signs it.

Good kids

Discipline enforced head teacher support AND director support.

Boiler freezes up and director pays for the hotel.

Phone teaching, monthly reports, field trips with Kindy, activity days. Typical wonderland stlye set up.

Overall 9

[Derrek]

Boss and his family are kind to a fault. Always paid on-time, if not early. Apartment was very good and kindly furnished. Will miss some of the kids A LOT. (can I take some home????). Some of the other kids, I will be glad to be away from.

Wished I had more performance feedback (heard uncomfortable things through the grapevine, but not directly from employer). Wasn't offered a 2nd contract, although I wasn't planning to stay anyway. Am curious why, since I had little or no feedback.

Some of the kids were just awful, but I'm getting used to it and learning crowd control. Also, most of the really awful kids are gone, but not without knocking me to their parents and my boss.

The only truly awful thing was dating a Korean coworker, getting dumped after being told she didn't want a serious relationship. Now 6 months later she has a diamond ring from a Korean guy and gets flowers from him at work. Still have feelings for her, but I'm working through it. Oh, and the purple hickeys on her neck (which she claimed to be Korean treatment for her back problems) didn't make me feel happy either. I'd seen those on her back before, but never on the sides of her neck, or shaped like a mouth.

Once again: NEVER DATE A CO-WORKER!!!!

The silver lining is that I'm moving to a new "Media Specialist" job in Apkujeong with pay over 3.0 Million and housing provided in Kangnam. I'll also be working with some Korean media personalities. Could be fun! A ton of work, but fun!

[Zyzyfer]

My hakwon started out at a 7-8, but towards the end it slipped down to the 5-6 range.

Current job, aside from coworkers all having a totally different story for my classroom duties, is a 9, with location/no communication with lone other coworker being the big problems.

[William Beckerson]

Does anyone else want to kill Canuck2 and take his/her place?

[igotthisguitar]

>. Gotta say i'm a little surprised by the high-end skewing of the results here in this little "informal" Hagwon poll. Hmmmmmmm ... wonder if any of the vested "Korea 1st" personalities who hang around here at Dave's have been stuffing ye' ol' electronic ballot box again ???

Awwwww hell, assuming this of course ain't the case, it's good to see really. Seemed there were all too many "bad trip" kinda experiences i was coming across. Bottom line remains however, one can only wish contracts were as a rule honoured, more folks could have an all around positive experience and not be so regularily manipulated & exploited.

Either way, there's little doubt how after a year of doing the proverbial Hagwon trip i'll be looking next year to teach more committed and mature students at a higher academic level.

Thanks everyone for participating

JC.

[kimcheeking]

[Canuck]

No problems with pay.

100 000 won bonuses for chusok and the lunar new year

kids 70/20/10. 70% of them are pretty good, 20% are borderline and 10% are little sh*ts.

Occassional dinners out.

A few field trips.

Good apartment and any trouble is taken care of the same day I complain.

Overall, its a good place.

Was offered an extension but will not stay. Im taking 2 months to go to Europe and the schedule is a split from 10 am to 7 pm. I need a block schedule so that I can do two jobs that my F2-1 makes possible.

In the next two months several teachers will be leaving. Cant wait for the good bye dinners.

canuk2's job seems like a freaking dream job though. A 9?

[captain kirk]

8. my hagwon gets an 8.
however, the boss isn't throwing money around. i had a previous job where we were overworked like jackasses but the boss pitched money around. we'd go out to a restaurant and challenge each other to drink pints with shotglasses of soju sinking into them (if it sank, you drank. filling the shotglass by turns). trips to everland, the dmz, soraksan, etc. on the one weekend a month 'membership training'. but to work at ten and leave by nine pm. that hagwon gets a 5.
the current hagwon gets an 8 because there are three teachers. the boss, a korean female(25), and me. the pay is fair for the hours, basic, decent. but it's the PEOPLE that are all right and up the mark.
the boss is decent, with a balanced perspective. patient, with equilibrium. he can see the humour, likes kids. the korean teacher is alert, gracious, considerate, intuitive, and PRETTY.
it's the third month now. the students need a switch from the routine we've set up. they've had a new textbook for a month. but they -students- always seem to be a billion times quicker to bore than, say, 'ideal' students who would have a 'pause' button, between repeating after the tape. damn their elasticity!

[crazylemongirl]

My hagwon is good.

Communication isn't great.. but I'm alway paid on time and my boss insists on buying me food in order to keep me 'happy.'

However a few weeks ago out of nowhere she said she was giving me a pay rise due to change in timetables, which I suppose has to be an endorsement on some level.

On the other side of the coin the hours suck. I'm stuck at my hagwon from 11 -7 with the longest break between classes being an hour for lunch.

CLG

[The King of Kwangju]

[Bulsajo]

Can we assume it is similar to an a s s a h o l i c, or someone who is a s s l a n d i c?
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=4855