Korean Job Discussion Forums

canuckistan

I'm in an unusual situation and want to know if any other people have been in the same. Right now I'm teaching 8 classes a week and am still getting paid my full salary. This has been going on for a few months. The owner (chain of schools) just doesn't seem to be concerned about it at all. No one says jack. I've thought about doing extras to keep myself more occupied but I don't want/need to get popped by immigration.
Some people say "oh you're so lucky" but it's really mind-grinding to be so idle after a while.

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

I worked 3-6 hours per week my first two months in Korea. Never got much above 24 at that school, if I recall correctly.

chi-chi · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Just thank your lucky stars that you're in Korea (in this situation) instead of Taiwan, where you'd get paid by the hour.
I hear you about the idle time though, just engage your coworkers in coversation about toy donkeys in Konglish!! Or surf the web if you can get away with it.
You're lucky. You're in a Uni job except for the age group and the vacations.

captain kirk · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

if you didn't have a 'job' already (at full monthly salary) i'd say 'get a job'. you must be hauling around a cart load of guilt teaching eight classes a day for two million won a month! confession of a layabout! i had a job where i was 'on call' ready to motorbike to which public school had a sick foreign teacher that day, 'suddenly' (in taiwan). i sat around eating steaks and watching videos. do you have to stay at the school seven hours a day, anyway? if so, if it was me, i'd get on the computer and download and laminate like crazy. and get a filing shelf set up. and be looking at getting scrabble, life, pictionary, monopoly, boggle either bought by parents and mailed from home or on the internet somewhere. and getting some velcro and making a 'word wall'. where kids can move words around and make sentences 'on the wall'. you can get velcro at dongdaemun, at the fabric market. there is a line of competing 'velcro shops' selling by the roll. and i'd be going to the used books stores in itaewon looking for english textbooks suitable for different levels. these used books would be for photocopying supplemental handouts. but basically i'd be on the internet going here and there and getting ideas and getting ready. because if there aren't so many kids then it's got to be a full on show to attract some more. i like what anda said re; the two things kids look for in a teacher. hard teaching and showing an interest them. otherwise they call you a slacker behind your back. kids like a stimulating class. look at the downtime now as a series of rainy days within which to get creative focused on preparations, your tool kit.
one more thing; you lucky bastard!

captain kirk · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

and finding posters for the classroom. do you know dongdaemun fleamarket? that's where i got posters for my classroom. there's a streetstall guy there saturdays and sundays (if it's not raining too hard) who sells giant, laminated photos for three thousand won. waterfalls, nature scenes, etc. i've put about 12 of these up around the ceiling. they have nothing to do with english, but they liven up the room. and another thing i wished i had time for, and you have time, is to collect magazines with pictures and begin cutting them out and glueing them on card, or putting them on chart paper to make wall posters with sayings like 'what is this', or 'what is this guy/girl doing?', etc.

mrroboto · Joined: 29 Mar 2003

Shortest (excluding mandatory vacations) scheduled teaching hours for a week has been 30.
Gotta love my school Smile

Zyzyfer · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2003 2:57 am Post subject:

Barring vacations and holidays and stuff, my average tends to hover around 18-20 per week. Don't get much lower, either.

viva · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Location: Jeju Island

Every time my students are doing exams in their regualar school my hogwon cancells their english classes so that they have time to study. The last two weeks I had zero classes. This week I teach for 6 hours. I still get paid as usual. It's like being paid to have a vacation.

About getting bored in your spare time, I hear ya. Try TaeKwonDo or something to fill your days a little.

canuckistan · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2003 3:08 am Post subject:

I'm a B-ED specializing in TESL and have been at it for ten years so I have teaching materials coming out of my ears. I teach 8 classes per week (!) not per day. I don't have to hang around the school 7 hours a day, I would have quit already if that were the case. Last year I had a 30 hour week and it was a lot more interesting.

Watchful · Joined: 18 Jun 2003 Location: Seoul

Please, how can you be complaining????

Write a book, learn to paint, visit an orphanage - whatever man because you can!!!!!!!!!!!!

I teach 14 classes per week, which is part-time because of the agreement I have with my boss, because I don't want to work full time, because then there' s no time to have a life outside of work (in my spare time I attend language school myself to learn Korean, I'm working on my writing skills, catching up on my reading, and drawing/painting many pictures, to name a few of my past-times). Maybe I'm just an introverted person, but for me its paradise. Now I work part-time, meaning I don't get paid the 2.0 mil won per month like you do - so hey - use your money & live it up! Join some cultural clubs, learn the language, take 2 day trips all over korea, take up photography, whatever man!

Geesh...

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

11
Canuckstan- stop complaining and/or bragging and enjoy the good times while they last.

GirlFromMars · Joined: 15 May 2003 Location: Corea do Sul

teaching ESL in Portugal or anywhere in Europe is capped at 22 hours and considered full-time, I work 14 as my regular hours.

bucheon bum · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

i worked 4 days a week and had 14 or 15 classes when i started at my present hogwon. 4 days a week lasted until January (started in October), while the 15 classes lasted 6 weeks at the most. I hit 20 classes in feb. or january and now up to 24/week. Naturally i've liked my job less and less as time has gone by.

Just appriciate the time off and make sure you're getting paid Smile

. And if it REALLY is problematic, perhaps we can make a job switch Wink

Cthulhu · Joined: 02 Feb 2003

A few years ago I did 2 classes a day in the afternoon for 1.5 for a few months while they were filling a hole at a sister hagwon. But I had to do a couple classes on the weekend too.

Bad part was that it gave me too much drinking time... Wink

helly · Joined: 01 Apr 2003 Location: WORLDWIDE

Shortest week I ever taught was 1.5 hours and it lasted about 1 1/2 months.

New school, 4 teachers, not many students. 2 teachers taught the morning kindy classes and the afternoons were relatively quiet. I taught one 45 minute class on Tuesday and one on Thursday. Once the place got busier, the most I ever taught was 4 classes (45 minutes each) per day, M~F.

Had to be at the school from 10AM to 6PM everyday but we had a blast just hanging around. At least once a week, we'd bring the whole staff (teachers and admin) and all students into the video room (huge! in the center of the school, surround sound, bean bag chairs, etc) and watch English cartoons all afternoon.

Place went bankrupt after 8 months but looking back, was easily the best job I ever had.