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wiggybrain
Joined: 09 May 2007
Location: Chicago, IL
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 Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 1:33 pm Post subject: GWANJGU? |
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Hi everyone,
I'm currently a senior in Chicago, IL and I'm graduating in June. I was offered a position in Gwangju, South Korea by People REcruit Agency and the school where I was offered a job is the LCI Kids Club Language Institute (Kids Club). I wanted to know if anyone is doing it through people recruit and if they're a good company and if the school is ok. Thanks for your input! |
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chris_J2
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Location: From Brisbane, Au.
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krats1976
Joined: 14 May 2003
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| Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Which Gwangju? There's one in Gyeonggi-do province and one in Jeollanam-do. |
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wiggybrain
Joined: 09 May 2007
Location: Chicago, IL
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| Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 4:47 pm Post subject: Gwangju location |
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It's Gwangju in the Honam region. And the agency People Recruit (has anyone heard of them) said they've worked with this school before and they have 10 Native English speakers at the school.
Any advice? |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 6:03 pm Post subject: Re: Gwangju location |
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| wiggybrain wrote: |
It's Gwangju in the Honam region. And the agency People Recruit (has anyone heard of them) said they've worked with this school before and they have 10 Native English speakers at the school.
Any advice? |
10 teachers at the school? Get 10 e-mail addresses.
Talk to MORE THAN ONE of the foreign staff and ask POINTED AND SPECIFIC QUESTIONS (*when the boss is NOT listening over their shoulder)
1) What are the hours? (start time / stop time / breaks).
2) How many classes per day, week, month? NOT hour many hours per month. 30 classroom hours can mean anything from 1350 -1800 minutes per week standing in front of the class. The difference can be up to 7.5 HOURS in front of the class EACH WEEK.
3) Do they ALWAYS pay on time?
4) Do they pay at the end of your month or do they have a hold back period (5-10 days after your month end) to prevent runners? (no=red flag 1)
5) Do they really pay overtime or avoid it with creative book keeping?
6) Do you get credit for classes on the national holidays or do you get the day off but still have to work your 120 hours before you get overtime? (no=red flag 2)
7) Do they have national medical (with the little booklet)? (no=red flag 3)
Do they pay into pension? (no=red flag 4)
9) What about the holidays? 10 or more WORKING days? (legal requirement here) (no=red flag 5)
10) When and how do you get your holidays?
11) What extra stuff do you really have to do - mentioned or not in the contract.
12) Then consider the quality of life issues - things that are important to you that aren't mentioned here (housing, furnishings, THE BATHROOM, access to recreational facilities, shopping, banking).
13 Do they take additional deposits in addition to the delay in payday? (yes=red flag 6)
Then you can seriously consider working at a franchise with a bad reputation. |
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princess
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: soul of Asia
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| Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Gwangju is a small, hick town. Watch out, unless you like small areas. |
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Len8
Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Location: Kyungju
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| Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 12:59 am Post subject: |
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Gwangju is probably the 5th biggesr city in Korea. Seoul,Pusan,Ulsan,Taegu,Gwangju. Climate sucks. I moved here from Kyungju in spring. In Kyungju the weather was pleasant, but when I got here it was snowing still. It snowed of and on for the next 3 weeks.
To the OP. I would advise you to got a public school over a hagwon. Most hogwons suck. The public schools give you a lot of freedom in the classroom, and they aren't in the buisness for a profit. That means you wont have anyone breathing down your neck.
Gwangju does have an excellent International center which organizes lectures every saturday and a discussion session afterwards. Presentations are excellent and well reasearched. Organization of the center is done through the English department at Chonam University. I venture to say that no other city in Korea wouuld have a center like the one in Gwangju. The center also publishes a monthly magazine. |
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krats1976
Joined: 14 May 2003
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| Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 1:36 am Post subject: |
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| princess wrote: |
| Gwangju is a small, hick town. Watch out, unless you like small areas. |
Um, seriously? Have you ever been here?
Personally, I like Gwangju. There's enough to do to keep me occupied and it's easy enough to get up to Seoul (3 hrs. by KTX) for a weekend trip.
Take ttompatz's advice about the hagwon. I'd even get phone numbers & call 'em directly.
Good luck,
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JZer
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 2:26 am Post subject: |
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Gwangju is a good city. I cannot comment on LCI since I know nothing about it. As for Gwangju, there is a good ex-pat community. A decent club (Vanilla), even though almost no Koreans are over 22. The Gwangju International Center is nice and you can learn Korean there. Furthermore if you are ambitious you could find people at the Gwangju International Center to do language exchanges with. I am currently trying to learn Khmer from a Cambodian student.
Gwangju also has a baseball team. The team is called the KIA Tigers. It might be about the same as a Triple A team but it is fun and personal. You can even meet some of the players out and about the city.
There are also two doctors offices in town with US certfied doctors. I would not call a town with US certified doctors a hicktown. You can also find two foreign bars downtown. One has live bands on most Saturdays.
There is even a French cultural center if you want to learn French.
I would say that Gwangju is perferable for anyone who does not want to spend all their time with foreigners. |
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banillaq
Joined: 24 Feb 2005
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princess
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: soul of Asia
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 6:30 am Post subject: |
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| krats1976 wrote: |
| princess wrote: |
| Gwangju is a small, hick town. Watch out, unless you like small areas. |
Um, seriously? Have you ever been here?
Personally, I like Gwangju. There's enough to do to keep me occupied and it's easy enough to get up to Seoul (3 hrs. by KTX) for a weekend trip.
Take ttompatz's advice about the hagwon. I'd even get phone numbers & call 'em directly.
Good luck,
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Nope, and I don't want to go there. I grew up in a small town and small towns suck. They scare me. Can you say invasion of the body snatchers??? I have heard Gwangju is the 5th largest city in Korea. So, yes. That means hick town IMO. Plus, we are talking about Asia. The 5th largest city in any Asian country will suck. I'll stick with Seoul. |
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JZer
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 6:57 am Post subject: |
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| The 5th largest city in any Asian country will suck. I'll stick with Seoul. |
I am glad that you will stay in Seoul. Seoul s ucks. And we don't need any more losers down here. |
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krats1976
Joined: 14 May 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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| JZer wrote: |
| Quote: |
| The 5th largest city in any Asian country will suck. I'll stick with Seoul. |
I am glad that you will stay in Seoul. Seoul s ucks. And we don't need any more losers down here. |
Took the words right outta my mouth.  |
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JZer
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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| While there are some cool people in Seoul, Seoul seems to attract a lot of loser as well. I have not met many completely strange people in Gwangju!!! |
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Saram
Joined: 11 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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And we got an amateur foreign footy team that plays on Sundays down at Chosun...
<-------- |
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