Korean Job Discussion Forums

[caligirl]

Hey! I have a question regarding job difficulty/time involved. I'm a teacher right now in a public high school in California, and I have to wake up at 5:00 A.M., commute for an hour, have a small lunch break that I use to make copies or lessons, and then I have several hours of IEP and staff meetings that usually go until 5:00 P.M. or later. I hear a lot of people talk about how grueling the hakwons are, but I think teaching in general is pretty grueling (albeit rewarding and fun as well). Do you think there are just tons of people who have just never taught before, thus they encounter tons of problems once in Korea? Or is teaching in Korea particularly difficult?

[peppermint]

most people working at hagwons have never had any training as teachers, nevermind worked in the field. Sounds like it will be a piece of cake to you.

[Xerxes]

I've heard this analogy being made between a school teacher and a hakwon teacher: school teachers have better job security (especially Korean national teachers) so they don't have to worry whether they suck or not after the good review initially, but hakwon teachers have to market their class to the students or else they will start to lose students. Losing students consistently will in the long run will result in your getting the worst schedule of classes or the crappiest students, eventually ending in a firing or a "persona non grata" treatment when it comes to renewal for contract or raise time.

[Ya-ta Boy]

There are some unique features to teaching ESL/EFL that you might not be familiar with. For example, when you need to discuss something with a student, it is a struggle unless you are fluent in Korean. For example, I have one student who is obviously (to me anyway) depressed. I would like to talk to him. Can't do it myself; my Korean is not at that level. My co-teacher doesn't like him, so doesn't want to expend the effort. Another example is that when I arrived the Grade 1 boys were out of control. Being able to speak directly to all of them easily and fluently would have eased the classroom management situation much faster.

Unlike teaching at home, leaving work means you are still in a 'foreign' community. Many find that stressful and retreat from it by only hanging out with other foreigners.

A considerable problem working here is social isolation. A relatively few people are available for social relationships beyond the most superficial level. This is trying for many.

Teaching is teaching and calls for the same basic skills, no matter what or where you are teaching. Do consider some of the other aspects of life here when thinking about coming over. It is not the same as moving from one city to another at home.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I think it all depends on what you consider difficult. I find the job very easy in some ways and very challenging in others. You should certainly be able to cut down on your commuting time over here. You'll probably find that the students (unless you're in a crap, anything-goes hogwan) are much, much nicer over here. It's not difficult to save $1,000+ per month. I find that if you're flexible, hard-working, tolerant, and sociable to people with different manners from what you're used to it's easy to get along with co-workers.

[Homer]

As a former High School teacher back in Canada all I can say is that teaching here is not necessarily easier or a piece of cake. It has its very own set of challenges.

However, having been a teacher wil help you with certain things like class management and lesson planning.

[princess]

Yes, working in a hagwon is sometimes diffiuclt, but it's not so much having to do with the actual teaching being difficult as it is to put up with things like having no sick days for 2 years of teaching. I am sure you get sick days in California. I heard hagwons are supposed to give at least 3 sick days per year, but somehow many of them are getting away with giving zero. Mind games like playing musical apartments and bedrooms makes your life more stressful, too. That's just one of the drawbacks of free rent. The hagwons can try to butt into your perosnal living space.

[Demophobe]

[SweetBear]

I've found the teaching to be quite easy and the schedule ( except for summer school) relatively light.
However, where you are does your:

-photocopier break daily?

-boss come over to your apartment at 1am drunk and bang loudly on your door?

-paycheck get withheld month after month?

-neighbor scream at you and you have no idea why?

-schedule change with no prior warning?

-student refuse to listen to you and play with her handphone?

-five year old student climb all over the furniture screaming bloody murder?

-apartment look and smell like a cell?

-apartment leak water, not have heat during winter,have no water, no gas?

-boss require you to travel an hour each way to another job even though it's illegal and you could face deportation because of it?

There is more but you get the idea. For me the teaching was a breeze. Yes there are whiners but I think most of it is just that these people have no one to go home to who speaks their language that they can vent to, so they come on this board.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Another thing that could make you love or hate teaching in Korea is the near-complete absense of political correctness. I doubt I'd last that long in a Canadian school given my tendency to say what everyone is thinking. I remember my father's surprise when I told him that no one here cared if taught the kids Christian carols (and indeed a couple of ultra-Christian teachers were delighted to hear about it). Here I can teach them Joy to the World or Oh Come All Ye Faithful without anyone batting an eye. I can make a joke about women drivers and everyone thinks it's amusing. As long as you're careful not to insult Korea (and I like Korea anyways, even if I do find it very silly at times) you're fine. Back home even when I *was* ultra-liberal and *tried* to be politcally sensitive I was crap at it.

On the other hand, you'd better be ready to adapt to a school and school culture that's a hell of a lot different from what you'd find in California.

[ontheway]

In Korea you can find yourself a nice job where you: walk to work in 8 minutes, work from 2pm to 9pm, the boss feeds you all day, the parents bring gifts every month, the classes are small, the kids are mostly (they are children after all) well behaved, the kids love you, want to learn and actually study, some parents are even grateful and thank you every day (it can be embarrassing), you have no weekend classes, the housing (condo) is large and comfortable single housing, you get paid on time, you get your airfare, insurance, and severance paid with no problems, you work hard because you feel (for all the reasons above) that you really should, and (with a little overtime) you can save US$2000 every month, year in and year out. So, if you like teaching and love kids, give it a try.

BUT

There are also hogwans from hell lurking out there for many who are unaware or just unlucky.

And even if you find a great job you still have to adjust to the Korean culture, food etc. (this is part of the fun, too) and you will still have typical workplace, boss and coworker issues to deal with, but in two languages and two or more conflicting cultures.

[The Bobster]

[jajdude]

It really depends where you work and who you work for and who you work with and who you spend time with and what you do with your time and how adaptable you are and who you are and how you live and what you like and how you handle stress and.....

[saint57]

Teaching in both Korea and Canada can be extremely stressful for different reasons. Teachers in hogwans have to put in more face to face time with students and it's all centered on the teacher. This often left me feeling completely drained at the end of the week. Teachers in Canada need to spend more time prepping for their classes, which can take all night. Teachers in Canada have a lot more responsibility to worry about. Both have different rewards. I get more satisfaction teaching in Canada but I miss the excitement of living in a foreign country and travelling Asia.

[Privateer]

For me, the challenge of teaching has always been the teaching: how to explain my own language in my own language to students who quite clearly don't understand and need to have it made as clear as possible. To do this while using as little dumbed down, inauthentic language as possible and at the same time to engage and motivate students who have no real desire to learn is something I find quite challenging. Initially there are classroom management skills you need to acquire as well but that isn't such a problem. Knowing how to teach English as a Foreign Language - and there are no proven methods - is the problem. I can't say for sure but I think it's really not like any other kind of teaching back home. When you and your students speak the same language their are so many other options.

As an adjunct to this there's the endlessly fascinating problem of trying to understand the mindset of your students, whose culture is radically different to the western model which we are used to and has already had a powerful effect on so much else of the world. I like to think of the cultural relationship between the West and Korea as on a par with the evolutionary relationship between armadilloes and horses: we diverged aeons ago.