This week I am preparing to leave Korea as I finishing up my
second year working at an English Hagwon (after school academy). I worked for
one of the Avalon Hagwons in the greater Seoul area. I wanted to blog my opinion about Hagwons.
Now, I have only worked for 1 Hagwon however, listening to friends at other
Hagwons I feel we have similar experiences. So, here we go!
LIVING IN KOREA
First, I want to start off by talking about what it takes to
be a successful alien resident of Korea.
In order to be a successful alien resident of Korea you absolutely must
have a flexible, tolerant attitude about life and an understanding of cultural
difference. Many people (especially Americans) come here expecting things to be
run like they are back home. That
doesn’t happen here and will never happen. Korea expects you to adjust to the
cultural differences the minute you step foot off the plane. Every now and then
you will run into someone who understands and will help guide you through
whatever assistance you are needing (like friends at my church and my current super
awesome director) but those encounters are few and far between (even less if
you only plan to make Korean friends with only the Koreans you work with.) Too many people come to Korea with the wrong
thinking and mindset about working abroad. They are miserable here all the time
and make life miserable for others. If
you do not possess the characteristics I mentioned above do everyone a favor
and don’t come. In fact, don’t even read the rest of this blog cause it no
longer applies to you.
(On a side note, if you do possess these traits and find
yourself becoming someone you know you are not because of the stress of living
abroad, get an everyday hobby. Mine is cooking and photography so I bought an
oven at Costco and a nice camera. Whenever I found myself really upset about
stuff I would cook for others or go out and take pictures of the beauty that we
often miss in the hustle and bustle of Korean life. Those things really help me stay sain during
difficult times. They also help with
homesickness.)
HAGWON SUMMARY
Second, if you
can avoid teaching at any Hagwon I would at all cost (especially if you have
real teaching experience in your home country). Hagwons in general are run like
a business, not a school. They basically teach you what not to do when teaching
anything. They exist for the specific
purpose of making money and are an educational joke. It's basically glorified
babysitting and they work you for every penny they pay into you, plus more. If
you don't mind working at a business where you are a salary employee, sometimes
forced to work overtime without extra pay and just want the experience of
working/living in Korea, then by all means, jump on the Hagwon boat.
The directors can really make or break a
campus. I have worked through 3
directors in the 2 years I have been here and I can tell you that with one of
them, going to work every day was torture.
The other 2 directors were so helpful, kind, and considerate of foreign
teachers. They made Hagwon working very
pleasant and I wanted to do the best for them because I wanted them to be
successful.
AVALON
CORPORATION
Third I
will tell you about my Hagwon. Depending on which campus you are at, Avalon has
nice apartments. They pay you on time, and
you walk away with some great cash in your pocket for traveling after even just
1 year. There are a list of policies I could name that annoy the hell out of all
the teachers (Korean and foreign) but I won’t bore you with them. Some of them are unethical and I (as well as
my Korean friends) have no idea how they get away with them however, we manage
to survive. If you want to know you can
private message me.
Since
their recent change in HR back in September 2014 they are way less supportive
of their foreign teachers than they used to be.
If Koreans at your campus aren’t helpful you will never get anything
accomplished because the current HR representative brushes everything off to
someone else. Basically we are chasing rabbits and it is hard to get any of
your questions answered from HR. Eventually
Avalon will mess with the wrong person and end up with a lawsuit but that
person would probably be someone I mentioned with the characteristics above. ^^
REFLECTION OF MY PAST 2
YEARS
All in all I have had a pleasant two years. There were times
it was chaotic. There were times I felt unappreciated,
used, and abused. There were times I felt
insane and wanted to blow something up.
I have a motto however and that is to leave a place better than I found
it. I believe I have done that with my
Hagwon. My co-teachers have a more time
on their hands with the effective system I helped create for managing visual
aids. My students are way better at
writing and speaking (2 things hagwons are horrible at teaching) than they were
before I came. I have taught them how to be humorous and they can understand
and tell jokes well. They are more
creative than they were before I came. They
are also more affectionate. (All of
these traits are hard to find in Native Koreans) I have taught them how to be better people
and how to be more considerate of other people.
I did the best I could with what I had. I pieced together the pieces of a broken Hagwon
system, making it work into something that never existed before. Parents are extremely disappointed I am
leaving and begging my director to figure out a way of keeping me here. I am finally feeling appreciated.
I didn’t slave away all that extra time and money for it to
be noticed. I did it for the joy of
teaching and the love of my sweet students.
While I had both good and bad moments, I will always cherish the good
and with time allow the bad to leave my memory.
Even though I hope to never work for another Hagwon again, I leave Korea
feeling proud and with no regrets. I gave
it my all. I grew as a person. I left my mark like initials carved in an old
oak tree. I left more than a trace of myself in this place. I left something that says, “I was
here.”
Here is a link to see a tour of my Korean apartment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-CGqU3Fe-s&feature=youtu.be
Here is a link to see a tour of my Korean apartment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-CGqU3Fe-s&feature=youtu.be
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