Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Qinella]

The warnings were given. Oh were they given, but I've always had to learn things the hard way.

A brief history.

This is my second contract with a hagwon. Last year's was alright. It was in a tiny little town. Whe director was never there, so the employees had free reign to do whatever we wanted. Life was good from that standpoint, but the students just were not learning. Without support from a director, not a whole lot can happen.

This year, I came to Seoul. My goal was two-fold:

1. Get in with a school that places a high premium on learning.

2. Get a position with low teaching hours, so I could have maximum downtime to plan, make fun and interesting activities, and study Korean.

I found the place that seemed perfect. The boss truly does have a passion for education, I will give him that. This part has not changed. My dissatisfaction arises from other areas, which I will entail.

+ The workload has grown, and grown, and grown, and grown.. I started out teaching between two and five classes a day. This has steadily increased, to the point now that I am working 7 classes a day, 8 on Fridays. WTF! The problem with this is, if I refuse to teach the classes, he will shove them all onto the Korean teacher, who is herself already burdened. We know she will not resist. So I will be seen as lounging around while she foots all my extra work. What a debacle this is.

Additionally, it was promised to me that the schedules would not change during winter/summer breaks, when in fact he has added additional "intensive" courses each time. An outright lie.

+ Nothing I do is ever good enough. In my life, I've always strived my hardest to do the best job I can. In my classes, I do not only the required material, but I always have a fun, educational activity lined up to do as well. I'm the only teacher here who does this. The students love my classes, and they tell me. They never groan when I enter, the way they do when I say it's time for wonjang to teach. I am by no means a monkey babo who sits there grinning. I engage the kids, and really challenge them intellectually.

And yet, students quit! Of course, this is the hagwon game. Students quit all the time. Well, the boss takes me into his office a few weeks ago and explains in loquacious terms that it's basically my fault we've been losing students. I say, wtf are you talking about? Who specifically named me? "Oh, well.. they don't give specific reasons. They just say the class wasn't challenging enough."

Long story short, I do exactly whatever curriculum he calls for, and then I add my own stuff on top of that. The kids that quit are always the kids who are way better than the rest in the class. Hell, I'd quit too if I were them. But basically, the boss i trying to shove all the responsibility off onto me. Holy hell. In the end, he admitted that no one complained specifically about me. Wow.

+ Students suddenly added. This part drives me nuts. I prepare material for a class of 6 students. Come to class, and oh, guess what? ONE MORE STUDENT IS THERE! Thanks no one for telling me about this! So now, the competitive activity I had prepared for pairs is squashed to hell. AND, the student does not have a book, so I have to go downstairs and photocopy stuff and waste 5 minutes of class time.

+ No vacation time. Yeah, this is a given, but it's worth mentioning. During winter and summer, I do not get time off. Instead, I get additional classes. That's bs. And yeah, I knew about it when I signed on. But it sucks.

+ Idiotic complaints from mothers. One student's mom calls in to say that I'm teaching too much vocabulary in class. What??? How is that even possible? Is there a limit for how much a student should learn? Ambiguous complaints from moms are nothing new to hagwon slaves.

+ The students are customers. You know what? Sometimes a kid needs a good telling to. Sometimes, children overstep their boundaries and they need swift, unambiguous reactions from an authority figure. (And by this, I certainly do not mean raising of voices or name-calling.) But at a hagwon!? Forget about it! The kid is the customer, man! Smile, pat them on the back, and tell them you expect better next time. Damn!


I'm sure I could think of more. I'm sure others like myself will ignore the words of wisdom herein, and go on to sign that contract with the hagwon that will be better. Go ahead! But just know that my hagwon is one of the best around, from what I've gathered, and it's still miserable. I get paid on time, the boss speaks English, and so forth, but it still is just a horrible experience. Every day I wish I worked somewhere else. Four more months.. just counting it down..

Q.

[captain kirk]

Damn straight kids require, at times, unambiguous setting straight from an authority figure. And what really irks me in these situations where they get their due is the ultimate kid defence mechanism, bursting into tears. After years of hagwon life I know this is going to Mom, and rebounding over the phone to the Boss. Then, the hairy foreigner who was once so strangely engaging and exotic, pleasing in a bizarre way, becomes the threatening foreigner. The invader! This transformation of yours truly is managed without contacting reality in any way. It's just money talking. The Mother is talking and the Boss is thinking, damn, she's about to run away with my money! Money must be made at all costs!

So then he talks to the foreign Invader, by now more hairy in his eyes, some kind of scary bridge troll which threatens and gobbles up children, his income! Actually, he's just a bean counter. He doesn't know about education, he has been in the hagwon business for years (but he can't speak English!). The previous teacher just played games with the kids all the time. He was a good teacher! The students didn't learn a damn thing but hey, he was a damn good teacher! Hahahaha! Yes, thank you Boss, I will reflect upon that while I just can't seem to stop.... making them CRY and CRUNCHING their bones!!!!Hahaha!

[ella]

LOL

[Qinella]

Holy cow man that was really poignant.

[Sody]

[thegadfly]

Meh. I enforce discipline in whatever class I teach. I punished kids when they needed it, even at Wonderland. Kids actually do NOT resent a fair punishment when they know it is deserved...they don't like it, but they don't get angry about it. The stuff that ticks them off is when you are not consistent -- never punished a kid before then suddenly WHAM! the heavens open up and you smite one? Yeah, they will complain. Parents don't complain about fair punishment that they know is deserved.

The key parts are "fair" and "know it is deserved."

The students that are NOT adults are NOT your customers, their PARENTS are...and even if the hakwon is a joke to you, the parents most likely think their children will learn by attending. Problem kid? Set up a meeting with the parent and your boss to act as translator. Insist upon it. Explain the behavior you do not like, and ask the parent why it happens. Ask for suggestions about how you can reach "little Johnny." Ask the parent to come to class. Ask the parent a million things, but make it clear you want the child to learn, and that you are on the same team.

It is tough when you are working hard, and do not feel appreciated. I can sympathize, but your complaints come from three different places.

Your normal hours are creeping up? That is a sign that your school is doing well -- if it is only you and a few other teachers, this directly reflects on you -- YOU are doing well, so the school is doing well. If you are a tiny cog in a giant machine, then not so much...but if your hours are increasing because the school is becoming more popular, good for you! You may not like having more hours, but it is a sign of success. Sorry. Skroo up more often to keep your school from prospering, and you should be able to keep your light hours.

Lied to about intensive programs and hours? That totally bites, and you are perfectly justified in being ticked off. Vent all you want, nothing but agreement from me.

Unspecified complaints? Quell them by tracking them down -- ask mothers, ask students, pester the boss, ask for what ought to be changed, in what way, and so on and so on and so on. Either they are crap complaints, in which case they will disappear, or they may indeed be real problems, in which case you may get some criticism that makes you a better teacher. In either case, be proactive rather than reactive.

When the schedule is set to change, I know it before my coworkers. They say to me, "I wonder what my schedule will be when the classes change," and I tell them what I will be teaching next term. They say, "I wish I knew what I was teaching." Ya know why *I* knew my schedule? I asked about it -- I didn't wait to be told.

[Kimchieluver]

In my hogwan days I got a few complaints. The one I did not like the most was when my A student was studying for a vocabulary test while I was trying to teach countable and non-countable nouns. Anyways I took his little dictionary away and put it on my desk.

He went home and told his mom that there were other students studying for the vocabulary test at the same time. His mom told my director that I used to be his favorite teacher, but now I was just another foriegner pretending to teach English. His father is an officer in the millitary and we got along quite well. So I had my director put him on the line. After a 1 minute discussion, the student showed up all teary eyed with a box of pears half an hour later.

It turns out that his father had no idea what was going on and that the kid was emotionally hurt because he thought he had lost my favor. His mom on the other hand took it on herself to tell him that I was just a stupid foriegner and she would have me reprimanded.

[thegadfly]

Hehe -- nice, Kimchieluver! I bet the pears were ESPECIALLY yummy

[Kimchieluver]

[Sash]

For my school, some of the kids quit because they are put in the wrong level classes in the first place.

After Korea, I am never working in a place without an HR department.

Back to work for the second half of the day,
I hate intensives!!

[Mashimaro]

Teaching English in Korea can suck my nads, it's a joke..

[sadsac]

One day our wishes will come true and parents will wake up to the fact that they spend a billion dollars a year in a time wasting exercise called English education. Maybe then things will change. I won't be around when it happens, but one can only hope.

[Unposter]

Great Post!

Sadly, the best defence is to not care. Of course, few of us can do that. The reality is that there is imense politics in this profession.

I don't know what does on at the public schools but in many ways the politics are the same at universities too.

We are given student evaluation scores. For most students, all they care about is edutainment. But, the administration only wants serious education and difficult to attain grades. And, the us Western teachers are stuck in the middle of this tug of war. If the student evaluations are too low, we are fired. If the administration doesn't like our scholarly and educational perspectives, we are fired. Regardless, we should leave as we are just temporary decorations.

I've seen many teachers caught in this can't win game just not care. Two-year rules and move on; it does not matter whether your God's own teacher or the Great Pretender. They make their money and the get out.

I can't do that. I try to please all. I waste so much free time planning lessons and dreaming up tasks and activities. Do I think this is economically worth it? No. But, my consciounse feels better.

Good teachers know the value of student motivation. But, are there any administrators who understand teacher motivation? I have not many any.

The bottom line is that this is a much, much more difficult job than people realize...if you actually want to care. And, people wonder why few do. �you have to be some kind of sap.

[Junior]

How long U been here Qinella? Still in hagwons?

Good news for you: "jobs at public schools are available nowadays".

[JeJuJitsu]

I can't believe you signed onto a Hagwon...twice! Why didn't you consider Public? Are you a Felon back home or something?