Hagwons in Seoul

Football Friend

Hi, I'm planing on hitting Korea in jan for a year and will hopefully be working in a Hagwon. I'm going to go through a recruitment agency (either footprints or ok recruiting) as they seem to have the best review unless someone has another suggestion.

I think I have my head around most stuff at this stage as in what to look for package wise (2.1m salary, flights over, accommodation, month salary at end of contract). But I've heard hagwons are very hit and miss. I was just hoping someone could list the main warning signs or questions to ask before accepting a job in a Hagwon.

I've read the other thread and teaching in Korea but didn't see the info. I probably didn't read it long enough. Either way I think this could be handy to have in a thread on it's own for a future resource.

Also if anyone has worked in a Hagwon good or bad maybe they can post details in here too? Could be useful for others on the future?

Is anyone else planning on heading over in the next few months as well? I'm heading over on my own so would be nice to hear from others in a similar boat too.

Thanks.

Choccie Lover

Ask to speak to the current teachers. I wouldn't accept a job unless I talked to them. I would ask them about if they get paid on time, is there transparency in what they are paying (taxes, pension, etc)? Are the working hours as advertised? How much actual contact teaching hours are there? Is there a proper curriculum in place? How is the accommodation? Is there any extra charges such as maintenance fees, utilities....etc? What are the holidays? Holidays in hagwons are terrible, but even so I wouldn't accept any less than the ten days a year (on top of the public holidays which luckily are plenty)

Also, don't be necessarily put off by a school which is named under a franchise which gets some bad reviews. You need to find out about the actual individual school in question (although there is one particular franchise that seems to get consistently bad reviews)......

Be smart in choosing a hagwon and do your research, but remember that there are a lot of good hagwons out there too, so don't be looking for problems where there aren't any :-)

teddyboy

Choccie Lover wrote: »

Ask to speak to the current teachers. I wouldn't accept a job unless I talked to them. I would ask them about if they get paid on time, is there transparency in what they are paying (taxes, pension, etc)? Are the working hours as advertised? How much actual contact teaching hours are there? Is there a proper curriculum in place? How is the accommodation? Is there any extra charges such as maintenance fees, utilities....etc? What are the holidays? Holidays in hagwons are terrible, but even so I wouldn't accept any less than the ten days a year (on top of the public holidays which luckily are plenty)

Also, don't be necessarily put off by a school which is named under a franchise which gets some bad reviews. You need to find out about the actual individual school in question (although there is one particular franchise that seems to get consistently bad reviews)......

Be smart in choosing a hagwon and do your research, but remember that there are a lot of good hagwons out there too, so don't be looking for problems where there aren't any :-)

I got n offer to the pagoda English academy....I'm worried