Teaching in Korea :
FAQ #2
Special thanks to Tammy Humm
"KOREA BASHING" is a popular sport among expats right now, with the economic nightmare and the unscrupulous schools ripping off teachers. Please don't be put off Korea by the lousy things you've heard. Sure, there have been some hard times and lots of schools ARE dishonest, but it's not everyone.
If you're thinking of coming to Korea, then before you sign on with a school I suggest you get the home telephone number of one of the current (or former) EXPAT teachers at the school and invest in a phone call. I think you'll find the teachers will give you the honest low down on thier school if they're not having the boss look over their shoulders, and any school that can't get a native English speaking teacher to take a phone call from a prospective teacher isn't worth working for anyway. Get a phone number rather than an email address though-- email replies are easy to fake (or coerce people into writing), but a native accent is tougher to fake.
Just my .02.
(NAME) Cynthia
(LOCATION) Yongin, South Korea
(JOB) Instructor
(SCHOOL) Samsung HRDC
Date:Mon, 15 Jun 1998
The situation in Korea is bordering a little on desperate right now. The Korean won has lost more than 50% of its value against many Western currencies. A LOT of teachers are fleeing the country in search of a better exchange rate... .A reasonable estimate of today's exchange rate for many countries is in the EFL Info Center section of this web site.
Recruiters
What should I look for in a contract?
Teach adults or children?
What about housing?
What about Korean weather?
What about Korean customs?
Visit the school before signing!If at all possible, it's better to be in Korea at the time of signing in order to visit the school and make sure the facilites are adequate (like a desk, resources, heated or a/c classrooms, a staff room, and so on) and as well check on teacher morale. Most teachers can be counted on to be a little disgruntled since dealing with a Korean boss is an art in itself. Getting paid on time, in full, and not being asked or forced to do a lot of extra work or hours are the most important things. It's a good idea to check out the textbooks used to make sure you will not have to develop your own curriculum which is incredibly time consuming. Using textbooks which students are already familiar and bored with or which don't have an hour's worth of material in them for each lesson is also something to watch for. The most important thing though is to gauge the level of employee-employer tension. A lot of hogwan owners will balk at letting you speak to their teachers because instead of seeing it as an opportunity to show off the innards of an efficiently run school with competent and satisfied staff, a Korean boss would read it as an insult to his/her competence as boss and pride in the school. Their feeling would be that "I don't have to sell myself to anyone, not just my school but me here in person should speak for itself and you as an employee, beneath me, should respect and believe everything I say without question". Once you understand this mentality, you can work around it and get things done, but approaching a new boss in the same manner that you might in the West will probably get you kicked out. Always show respect and deference and when speaking or demanding somehow pass the buck so no one (especially not your boss) is to blame for things. When making requests or voicing new ideas, it's good to come across as though your boss actually was the one who thought of it, and as though you will respect and obey WITHOUT QUESTION anything he/she says. Also, always do your negotiating formally and in the privacy of an office, as opposed to in front of lower ranking employees.
If however, you can't visit the school, choose a big name company such as SISA or PAGODA or JEL or even better get a recruiter (the more the better). There are lots of unscrupulous recruiters too, and they can be quite difficult to spot, so just use quite a few and don't pay any of them any money and one of them should pull out ahead for you. A recruiter can come in handy later on if you have any problems getting paid, with housing or getting fired or for contract breaches and so on. Usually one call from a recruiter threatening a report to immigration will keep even the worst of schools in line. Signing with a big school (meaning one with an established name and at least 5 branch schools) may not guarantee you fewer hassles, higher pay or better working conditions but it will generally guarantee your pay since a larger school can weather the slower months. As an aside, even universities are not necessarily scrupulous. Also I have generally heard good reports from anyone working outside the two major centres of Seoul and Pusan. Smaller town schools usually pay higher and seem to treat teachers better but you pay all the costs of living outside of English communities and may find yourself largely on your own if you do run into problems.
What should I look for in a contract?
The most important thing is to check out every single detail of a contract. Some things to look for in a contract:
1. Pay
For inexperienced teachers, from 1.1 to 1.4 million won is the norm and anything up to 2 million for someone with over a year experience or a TEFL certificate or some kind of teaching degree. Korea is one of the few places left where you don't need any qualifications except that Bachelors degree you're still paying off.
Get paid in US$ !
There's really nothing else to say here. Korea's in an economic crisis. Don't come over unless you're getting paid in foreign bills. Anthing upwards of $1500 per month (minimum!) would keep you in clothes here.
Hours
Look for 100-120 hours a month in a typical hogwan contract. Universities work on a different system. Some schools pay by the hour, in which case anything between 13,000 and 15,000 won an hour is good and sometimes slightly higher for overtime. Overtime hours by the way are the way to pick up a little extra cash.
Daily travel
The subject of getting conned into teaching outside of one's school is important since many schools slip into their contracts or just plain badger their teachers into taking jobs outside of their schools, sometimes not paying them extra for travel time and costs, but including this work in the monthly number of teaching hours expected of them. Make sure you don't have to work outside of the school unless you really enjoy spending more time traveling than teaching. Sometimes this can be lucrative if the school pays a travel allowance or if there are good solid blocks of hours set up for you -- but this is RARE. A lot of schools, especially small ones which don't have enough hours a month for all their teachers, will farm the taechers out in order to get income for those hours but won't pay you anything more for travel time and expenses.
Do you want to teach adults, or live in hell with children?
I may be biased here but even though it is true Koreans hold teachers higher than the sky, that fact has nothing to do with classroom behaviour. If you GENUINELY like kids and have experience teaching them you can make a mint here but otherwise, save yourself a few grey hairs and work somewhere that ONLY teaches adults.
It should be free. Take care of the bills yourself or you may be paying some 'service charges' to the school so graciously putting a stamp on your bills for you . Check EVERYTHING in your place first right down to whether electrical outlets work and there's hot water all day. If this isn't possible and you arrive to find something unacceptable (you decide, you don't have to live in a hole for a year) call your recruiter and take care of it IMMEDIATELY, like sleep at the school before setting your bags in the place and/or ask to be put up in a yogwan(hotel) until the situation is taken care of. There are zillions of yogwans and you should be able to find a decent one anywhere with a toilet, tub, western style bed, and TV for 250,000-450,000 won a month depending on what city you're in.
Medical benefits are offered, sometimes optionally. Employers usually pay half or more.
Bonuses.
A legal contract is always for a year or more entitling you to a bonus of one month's wage. Sometimes employers fire you at 11 months (so they can avoid paying the bonus, of course) or are slow to pay. This is utterly illegal. Your recruiter or even a Korean friend can come in handy in this case, by threatening that ever-feared report to and investigation by Immigrations. Probably by now you've gotten the picture that most hogwans are skimming a little off the top and skirting a few corners here and there. Don't worry, it's just the way things are done here. Korea isn't quite the first world yet, so don't expect it to be. However, knowing that the immigration and taxation is the two-headed nemesis of all hogwan owners in the country can come in handy from time to time.
Air fare
Try and get them to send you a ticket or have it in the contract to pay you upon arrival. Usually it's one way when you get here and home-paid when you complete the contract.
Vacations and Sick Days
The most organized schools have a twenty day teaching month which means you frequently get little three or four day vacations here and they're usually next to regularly recognized holidays. Some schools pay a few sick days. Some schools will give a one month partially paid vacation per year.
Despite the bad reputation Korea has (which deserves due consideration -- see Asia's 'Grey List') most foreigners have an okay time of it. NO employer is entirely scrupulous. It takes a few months to understand which issues to give way on and which to stand firm. A contract in Korea is always up for negotiation, which can be in your favor just as easily as not. However, any major breaches can be dealt with. There are a lot of recourses for foreigners in these cases.
I've been there a year and have worked for SISA in Seoul, privately for a few months, and presently for Pagoda in Pusan. Generally SISA is a good company to work for though recently they have started downsizing and scrimping everywhere possible. Also they are notorious for being a company with a slew of lawyers and accountants which are expert at finding every conceivable loophole in all the tax and immigration laws AND more importantly, your contract. As with many Korean hogwan owners, they won't hesitate to take advantage of a green foreigner who's not too familiar with Korean laws. I worked for a now dismantled department of SISA which supplied subs to all the SISA branches in Seoul (including the ECC's), so I saw the ins and outs of almost every branch school. On a small scale things were pretty good but the head honchos pretty regularly made life hell for us. Pagoda is a good school for people coming over, and so is Jel (and it's also helpful that Jel advertises overseas). I think it'd be gimportant to note that though larger schools might pay less, at least one can be assured they will pay during the slow months.
On the weather section, having been in both Seoul in the north and Pusan in the south, it should be added that January to March are pretty cold and very windy. Snow boots aren't needed but a hat, gloves, scarf, and warm coat are a good idea.
Finally, a couple of customary behaviours I have found to be indispensable are to give and receive things (especially to older people) with two hands and to not blow your nose in public, especially in restaurants. The shoes thing is a biggy too. I think it's also important to either race your Korean friends to the cashier when you go out with them or let them pay and keep your billfold closed or they become painfully embarassed.
Copyright (c) 1998
Timothy M. Nall. All rights reserved.
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