Teaching in Korea

In a recent email exchange with Kevin from Big Hominids Hairy Chasms, I was reminded of my adventures with three different private schools, aka hagwons (or hakwon, or hakweon, or even hagweon), in Korea.  I don’t believe that I ever blogged about my experiences at the time because I was too fueled with anger and mistrust.

Or not.....

To protect the innocent and the guilty, I will refer to the three English academies as Academy A, Academy B, and Academy C.

I arrived at Academy A not knowing what to expect.  It was a larger sized academy that had brought in over 20 foreign English teachers.  It was a part of a much larger franchise that has academies all over Korea.  When I arrived in Korea, I had little knowledge of what would be expected of me as a teacher.  The administrator of my school had briefly explained what was expected of me, but I really did not know what I would actually be doing.  I was given a brief three day training period, and then was set loose into the classroom.  My three day orientation was basically held to allow me to find about the school regulations.  Even though I had been a teacher in the states, I really had no idea of how to teach English.  I taught 30 hours per week, and I saw each class of students for three hours each week.  The class periods were split in half with half being “grammar time” and the other half was set aside for “reading time.”  I taught every level from basic phonics to the most advanced students, who were almost fluent.  This school was great about paying on time and fulfilling their end of our contract.  We were paid on time and the Korean staff at the school was great with assisting new teachers with their adjustment to Korean life.  I learned a lot about Korean culture, teaching English, and living in Korea while employed here.  It was a great stepping stone to my other schools in Korea.

Besides differences in pedagogical approaches( Academy A required students to learn huge lists of vocabulary words out of context.  This is probably typical of many private schools in Korea), the real problem began with this school when I  was recruited to be the foreign teacher manager/head teacher for another school.  Three months into my second contract with Academy A, a former manager of Academy A decided that he was going to open his own school.  He got word to me that he would like to meet for lunch and offered me a position with his yet to be developed school.  The salary increase was huge, and he offered a much larger apartment.  I was concerned that I would have problems being released from my contract with Academy A, but my soon to be new boss assured me that if we did every thing properly, I would be released with no problem.  I put in my two month notice and was assured by Academy A that they would release me and everything would be fine.  They were happy with my work and wished me good luck in the future.  I worked my two months and never got the release on paper.  They told me that the release was coming from the home office and that I should pick it up on the day following my last day of work.  I showed up that day to be greeted by a coworker who brought me into an office and broke the news that they were not going to release me from my contract and that the higher-ups of Academy A felt that I should not be able to switch schools.  The reason for their reversal was that they had no idea that I was going to work for a former employee of theirs, and they were not thrilled about it.  Academy B’s manager still assured me that there would be no problem with my visa and that I should just wait, be patient, and get my visa later.

More Money Does Not Equal a Better School

I moved in to the apartment provided by Academy B and began to prepare for the upcoming influx of new students.  The hagwon was starting from the ground-up, and there was a lot of work to be done.  I mainly worked from home since I was not officially allowed to work for Academy B.  During this time, I made tests, chose books, recorded audio guides, and many other administrative duties.  The manager of Academy B had also poached a couple of Korean employees from Academy A.  This infuriated Academy A, and all hope was lost for acquiring my release.  My wife (at the time my girlfriend) even visited Academy A with me to plead my case in Korean, but it was useless.  They had made up their mind that I was not going to be released.  I visited immigration numerous times, and although they felt sorry for me, they advised that all I could do was stay in the country on a tourist visa, and then when my original contract was up with Academy A, apply for a new visa. I will say that Academy B’s manager was shocked and stressed by all that was going on, but he did continue to pay me (in cash).  I stayed in Korea until my tourist visa was up, and then took a short (less than 24 hours) trip to Japan to get another 90 days in country.  Academy B had already hired a teacher to start teaching a few classes even though the academy had not officially opened yet.  The plan was for me to hangout until I could apply for a visa and start teaching legally.  JJ and I had already offered to go to America for November and December so that he could save some money on my salary since I wasn’t teaching.  The owner/manager was slowly losing all of his money and was having trouble getting new students to enroll into his academy.  The location was very good, and a few huge apartments were being built very close to the school. He was trying to scrape by until the beginning of 2008.  Around August/September of 2007 his key investor pulled out, and myself and the Korean staff were fairly sure that the school was closing.  When our paychecks were cut and we were given a mandatory unpaid vacation, we were almost positive that the school was going down in flames.  It wasn’t long until our predictions came true.  The school closed, and JJ and I went to America for a three month vacation/escape from Korea.

Choices, Choices, and More Choices

Academy C was absolute bliss compared to the first two schools.  It was also owned by a former manager of Academy A, but he had left many years ago and his school was already established and had about 7 other foreign teachers.  JJ and I had flown back to Korea with me being unemployed but with the hope that I would work for Academy C.  I was also in contact with other schools, but after interviewing with the Academy C owner, I knew that I wanted to live and work in Dongtan.  Once again I was introduced to the owner/manager by a Korean friend that had worked with me at Academy A, B, and now C.  The owner of Academy C and I both took a chance on each other.   I moved into our new apartment without having visa or a contract, but JJ and I were already engaged, and we had already discussed getting legally married so that I could stay in the country.  I started work again without a visa, but this time the school quickly applied for the visa, and in the end I was cleared for a teaching visa with Academy C and spent two years here teaching  later becoming head teacher.  Leaving Academy C was tough.  Not only did we love the area that we were living in, but we were treated like family by the school and were always fully paid and on time too.  The owner also actively asked for input from the foreign teachers and for the most part, he really wanted to hire experienced teachers.  If it wasn’t for the need to come back to the states for graduate school, I would have liked to have stayed at Academy C for a few more years.

I really don’t know what I would have done during my visa troubles if I had not being dating JJ.  The thought of leaving the country would have probably been more of an option.  My experiences with the hagwons really don’t define my experience in Korea.  Although many of my memories of Korea are about the job and my school, the memories that I hold onto are from outside of the school.  I made a ton of great friends, both native speakers and Koreans, got to visit a bunch of great places, was introduced to different exciting culture, and met my wife while living in Korea.

My advice for future teachers in Korea is simple. Be prepared and research.  I truly hope that I don’t ever have to work for a hagwon in Korea again, but if I do, I know that I will research the school before I sign a contract, and I will also have a large amount of savings/emergency fund to help us over any unforeseen hurdles.  If JJ and I wouldn’t have had an emergency fund in place, we would have been in a bit of trouble.  I don’t know if a new school would be a good match for a new teacher.  Although the working hours of some of the established hagwons are greater, I think that the stability that they provide are needed for a teacher who is new to Korea.  Saying that, smaller schools often pay more than the larger chains but without the stability that the larger schools provide.  The competition for students is so great and in many areas the market is so saturated with English academies that many schools close quickly.  New teachers would be wise to weigh all their options before signing with the first school that offers them a contract.