Lisa's Insight into Korea

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Hi Jon,

Cool Webpage! Feel Free (to post).

Lisa

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Lisa's Insight into Korea
I have just spent the last 20 minutes reading everyone's comments about Korea and I have heard all the stories, good and bad, before. Some key things to keep in mind is that if you teach at a private academy (hogwan)it is all about money. It's a business, that's it. Another thing to keep in mind is that you as a teacher are a business as well and that is how you should think of yourself when applying for jobs there and when dealing with your school. The person who said that contracts mean nothing in Korea was right. You need one to teach there legally but it doesn't mean that you will get what's in the contract. If you can I suggest getting a job with ECC (Teaching in high schools) or with a university. The pay is better, the hours are better and you get vacation time. I say negotiate these things with your director after you arrive, as they come up. FOr example, I worked extra hours in order to get a week off is Thailand. With a private Hogwan expect to work at least 30 hours a week( often more, no vacation time outside of stat holidays, and little pay. Stick to larger cities for better pay. Seoul, Pusan, Chunju, Kwangju, Taegu are some suggestions. As far as airfare and accommodation goes, most schools pay for both and the accommodation has been pretty good (my situation excepted). Some schools require that you pay the airfare in advance and you will be re-imbursed. Avoid that if you can and get a 1 year open ticket so that you can go home if it's not working out. Doing privates is something that alot of foreigners do. It is highly illegal in Korea. Don't let anyone fool you about that. You can get away with it in the large cities fairly easily. Forget it in smaller towns. If you are going to do it. Meet for "coffee" at a different place each time. Avoid your home as neibours talk. If you do get caught you are usually taken to jail at which time you have to cough up 2,000,000 won and are then deported. If you have a rich employer they may bribe officials and bail you out. Then again they may not want to. It's not worth it to get deported. I know quite a few people who were caught doing privates and were either deported or had to have their employer bail them out. It is all in an effort to protect your employer's interests. They don't want foreigner's that they have paid to sponser coming in and taking away their potential students. My experience was pretty good compared to most. I was paid everything I was owed including the bonus at the end. My director treated me like one of the family. He took me out places and tried to help me assimilate into the culture. His wife cooked for me at first and if I was sick they took care of me so that really helped. Having done a fair amount of travelling in the past I still suffered some culture shock when I arrived. I taught in a small farming community about 4 hours southwest of Seoul. There were only 2 foreigners in the whole town, myself and another Canadian girl. In my contract it said that I would have teacher training but I didn't receive any. I was introduced to my class the afternoon after I arrived and just started from there. There was no curriculum to speak of. There were no books, guidelines or anything. My school was called Jung Chul which has a large chain of private academies in Korea. I made up my own lessons and curriculum. That does have it's benefits since you have to keep things fresh to keep the kidsinterested. I taught anywhere from 13-19 classes a day, which worked out to be about 6-9 teaching hours. My contract was for 30 hours a week.The class times ranged from 30 - 60 minutes. I taght classes as large as twenty and some one on one. I also taught at an elementary school once a week. Clearly I was overworked. there was no warning about new classes or class time changes. they just happened. Sometimes they would combine classes of two different speaking levels. I learned to say no when the classes became too much and I re-negotiated my salary when they really needed my help. I worked in an area where the standard of education wasn't as high as in other parts of Korea. it was a working class community. The children were quite obnoxious and rough. During my first week I had a definite problem with the male students (12-14yrs). They had taken to inappropriate touching of their new foreign female teacher. Luckily my director's wife put a stop to that. I have talked to other foreigners about it not everyone has had that experience but be prepared.Fighting amongst the students (boys especially)was a huge problem that brought a few injuries. Disciplining was also a problem with the boys. It was difficult as a woman to get them to cooperate. It's a male dominated society so that isn't entirely suprising. After about 4-6 months I more or less earned their respect but it was a tough road getting there. My accommodation was less than satisfactory, but I stuck it out. I had a room with no toilet, or shower. I had to disconnect the washing machine and use the tap to do the bird bath thing. Needless to say I went to the bathhouse alot. I was in a rural community so this was standard. Isolation wasn't soemthing I was prepared for either. It can be exhausting trying to communicate with people all day. It can be difficult to be in a world where you aren't understood and you don't understand other people. SO learning the language is a good thing. I didn't take any formal lessons although any number of Koreans will offer to teach you. I picked up Korean fairly quickly and it helped alot. Also networking with other foreigners really helped too. Every weekend I went to a larger city to hangout with other foreigners and I got alot of support, advice.I aslo did alot of socializing. For the most part I found the Koreans to be very friendly and helpful, giving and kind. My situation was unique living in a small community. I was stared at alot but wasn't offended. I was an oddity in their neibourhood. I was welcomed into homes and everyone knew me in my community. MY students though sometimes difficult were loving and wanted to share Korea with me. I was lucky enough to have a director who paid me, although not always on time. I met many people who didn't get paid including the other girl in my town. I had some really difficult times during my stay. Korea isn't for the weak of spirit. I also had some really rewarding moments. I met some really terrific Koreans and foreigners. Two of which have come to see me in Canada. I wouldn't take back one minute of my time there, good and bad timesincluded. I came away much wiser and definitely enriched. Anyone who would like some specific survival tips about Korea please feel free to email me anytime and I will do my best to help. Lisa