intro post of dooooooom!

[coyotecolored]

since this is the single largest change/update/what-have-you I've ever made to my rather small, cozy f-list, I figured it was probably time to introduce myself, hey!

[short version]

name: fuujin
d.o.b: 1981.10.30
living in: seoul
interests (in no particular order): writing, reading, pretty boys who can't keep their hands off each other,

Comments

[coyotecolored]

2.) I do work at a hagwon, and one of the ones with the best ranking/reputation in the country. the things to remember there are... public schools are public schools. you may be pretty much left to devise your own lesson plan, there's no guarantee that the kids will speak ANY English, and sometimes you may be essentially playing or singing songs with them, depending on how old they are I guess. also, public schools slot you in from some hour of the morning (8:00 AM?) until mid-afternoon, every day. are you a morning person or a night person? public schools, though, will get breaks and holidays off, have school trips and special school 'camps'. public schools are also very reliable--they are always looking for teachers, I think the Korean government has sworn to have at least one in every school in the country--but the pay is comparatively low, and probably on a monthly salary basis. the classes are large, and you may be the only foreigner at the school, or even in the town, if you wind up someplace off the beaten track. hagwons have to be taken on a company by company basis--some are reputable, others are flash-in-the-pan outfits that open a location thinking they're going to make some money, hire some teachers, then fold in an instant and leave all of you with no support and broken contracts. reputable hagwons that I know of are CDI (Chungdahm Institute) and Yes Youngdo. pay scale is higher at CDI, but it's got some of the tougher requirements to be hired, training, a very strict, regimented class structure, and only 5 guaranteed vacation days in a year. other hagwons tend to give more vacation days, I think. to give you an example of pay, I'm working the lightest schedule I've had since I started working an official schedule, right now, only 4 full days a week, and I clear about 2,200,000 won per month AFTER all my bills and expenses are paid. working 6 full days a week, my heaviest load, I've cleared 3,200,000 won... and I know someone during an intensives session who worked 6 full days a week PLUS morning classes every day of the week and probably walked away with a total of 6,000,000 won for that month. it can be grueling, but the pay is quite good. hagwon hours are after traditional school hours--I have one class from 4 to 7 pm and another from 7 to 10 pm. I'm a night person, so that works out. since I've got wednesdays and saturdays free (everyone gets sundays off at my branch), I have full weekends to play around and see things, and a break in the middle of the week to clear my head. hagwons also mean you work with other foreigners, and it often feels like you're living submerged in a little English bubble.