Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chaz47]

what is your experience like?

first, what are your qualifications?

second what is the size of your uni?

third what is your pay and if it is low what are your hours?

fourth are there opportunities to do legal side work for the uni to boost your income?

fifth what is your total daily obligation? teaching hours? office hours? etc.

sixth... are you happy or unhappy? if so, what other sorts of teaching experience do you have in Korea?

....

I only ask because I have been somewhat offered a university position next semester in Busan. Another expat uni guy told me that the place sucks, that all the teachers are backstabbers... from what I've heard though... that is just par for the course at a uni.

What's the skinny dilly o ?

[Sine qua non]

You can do a search here. There have been a few threads about this.

The gist of them is probably that the majority of university jobs have:

1) decent leadership and decent co-workers,
2) duties of around 15 or so (as low as 9 and as many as 20) hours per week with another few hours per week for office hours,
3) pay at the top end of the pay scale for English teaching positions in Korea,
4) long vacations (anywhere from 6 to 20 weeks per year), and
5) requirements for a master's degree in any field (though English related fields are more highly preferred), but sometimes a bachelor's degree suffices (usually depending on the desperation/distance-from-Seoul of the university).

[SuperHero]

[rokricky]

what is your experience like?

It was better at the elementary school I worked at.
Everyone loved me, I had no tests or assignments to grade, they respected me and treated me like a real teacher, even though I realize I'm not.

first, what are your qualifications?
B.A. Honours Psych + two years work experience (1 in a "prestigious" elementary school) + lots of connections.

second what is the size of your uni? 5000

third what is your pay and if it is low what are your hours?
2.0./ month. 18 hours a week. They asked me to teach 2 volunteer hours, but I refused.

fourth are there opportunities to do legal side work for the uni to boost your income? Legal???? No. Well, maybe. But if it's illegal I don't think they care much.

fifth what is your total daily obligation? teaching hours? office hours? etc.
Technically 9am-6pm, but my apartment is on campus. I'm in and out of my office all day. I go to my office one hour before my classes, and stay about 1 hour after. I usually go in at 10 or 11 and stay 'til 5 or 6, but I go home for lunch almost everyday and have a rest for an hour or two.
sixth... are you happy or unhappy? if so, what other sorts of teaching experience do you have in Korea?

I'm not really happy. I don't feel respected.
They told me to come back to Korea 3 weeks before my contract was to start, I showed up, my apartment was occupied, and they had nothing to do with me, so I went to Thailand for two weeks.
When I came back, they had pre-selected all my textbooks. Two of my classes are dependent on Audio-visual equipment which is not available (what a headache!), and I had to change two others because they were totally innapropriate. Then they moved my nice large heated office on the second floor, to a tiny, dirty room on the fifth floor with no heating or air conditioning. They didn't supply a heater, and I had no working computer for over a month. Meanwhile....my student assistant has had his own office across from mine and has had a new computer the entire time. Then after all of this they wonder why I won't do two hours of volunteer conversation classes.

I hear the Uni jobs are getting worse and worse. I think the elementary jobs are the best ones going now.

In my province ( Jeollanamdo) 20 teaching hours / week, 9-5, 2 months vacay. Most weeks I taught 18 hours + 6 overtime hours at 18-20000/hour.

Actually I knew a girl who was making 2.7 at an elementary school.

If you have experience you often start at 2.1/ month.

You should look into them.

[gsxr750r]

what is your experience like?

5 years teaching in Korea. Got this job with 4, including 2 at hagwons, and 2 at a public (private) high school.

first, what are your qualifications?

BA in Journalism with a minor in English. Nine years of experience as a PD in the TV/Radio industry.

second what is the size of your uni?

Very small. Maybe less than 5,000 students total.

third what is your pay and if it is low what are your hours?

Base went up to 2.2 this year, for 15 hours. OT after that, but the OT varies from 19,000 to 30,000 per hour depending on the time.

fourth are there opportunities to do legal side work for the uni to boost your income?

My boss promised that this would be no problem. It was a huge point I made certain would be OK. Two months after being hired, I secured a public school position on my days off. She became angry and refused to allow it. We had a huge fight, and I have since learned that she will promise anything to get you to do something, then lie/cheat/change her mind 5 minutes later after you've signed. This is not necessarily the school -- it's my boss. She promises more than she can deliver. They have given me extra hours here, although I'd still like to work a 2nd location. I am technically working for the language hagwon side of the school, but I teach some upper-level English dept. classes, as well as Freshmen. The only difference is that two of us teach more Freshmen classes, and have a different boss. Pay is the same, depending on experience.

fifth what is your total daily obligation? teaching hours? office hours? etc.

15 hours/week, but I am teaching 23. I am required to be on-campus for 4 office hours (they don't check our hours, but if we aren't around much, it can cause problems). I am often here several more just for whatever.

sixth... are you happy or unhappy? if so, what other sorts of teaching experience do you have in Korea?

Generally happy, now that I've got a nice 2BR place with parking, a roof, pay no utilities, and have a killer new office to myself. Home is a little too close to the school for comfort (as in 25 meters close!). As long as I avoid my boss, things go pretty well.

My favorite job was teaching at the high school, but it got boring. I miss my coworkers. They miss me, and have called me three times begging me to come back. If the gov't hadn't screwed the contract up, I'd still be there. I started with 3 1/2 months paid vacation, and the gov't cut it down to 2, and refused to up my pay after 2.2, so I didn't sign.