But you left after seven months?
Surely that means you broke you contract and walked away for some reason?

I spent 17 months in Korea, and my experience with foreign teachers follows:

Teacher A: South African, certified to teach in his home country, of Tamil (Indian) ancestry, spoke virtually Queen's English with something close to Received Pronunciation. Could barely stand working at our hagwon, but hung on till the end of his contract, then left for Britain.

Teacher B: Also South African Tamil, also great English, law degree. I overheard her say, when we'd all been there about a week, "These kids are spoiled rotten and can do anything they please." She was gone about a week later.

Teacher C: Australian, EFL certified, had taught in some kind of language unit in Australia, where immigrant kids are immersed in English and then integrated into the regular school system. Not my favorite guy in the world, but a good teacher. One day, he blew up and cussed out one of the staff members because of all the schedule changes and split shifts (we taught children and adults). He left after two or three months at the school.

Teacher D: New Zealander, nursing degree, probably the best-liked of all our teachers (by students and by Korean and foreign teachers), hated the school but finished her contract. When she found out I was signing for another year, she asked me, "Why on earth . . . ?" When I told her that I was staying on simply because I didn't like bouncing around from one place to another, she said, "Well, you could pick a better place than this to settle down."

Teacher E: American, Master's in Radio & Television Communications, had lived in Hong Kong for three years. He was to be my replacement. He left after 10 days. The night before he left, I asked him, "Was it the kids?" He said yes. (I believed that then, but I now believe that it's almost never about kids; it's almost always about school owners, school administrators, and parents.)

Teacher F: American, B.A. in philosophy, occasionally abrasive toward adults but was generally good-natured and sympathetic toward the kids. Like the Australian, he had a blow-up about the constant scheduling changes. He wound up staying on for a few months, though, and his recruiter liked him and got him another job in Korea. The last I heard, he was in Japan.

Teacher G: Korean-Canadian, fluent in Korean and English, very comfortable with Korean culture, left after I had been at the school for less than six months.

None of these teachers was perfect, they were all quite human, but they were far from being "scum of the earth." However, if they had been scum of the earth, it would have been a sign that there is justice in the world. In other words, the school got a whole lot better than it deserved.

We also went through a pretty good number of Korean personnel, both teachers and staff. For example:

Teacher H: Korean TOEIC teacher, ex-military, extremely bright, remarkable degree of fluency for someone who had not lived in an English-speaking country, very good writing ability. My South African flatmate, Teacher A, told me that when he asked Teacher H why he was leaving, he simply said, "It's all bulls***."

Teacher I: Korean, educated in America, Master's in Speech. Left after about one year, because of disputes about scheduling (I'm not sure, but I think she refused split shifts).

Several other Korean teachers/staff left while I was there. I wasn't close enough to them to learn why they left. But I'm pretty sure they left for Teacher H's reason.

You said that the schools were interested only in money. In my opinion, that wouldn't be such a bad thing if they were willing to give value for the money. It's almost a proverb about hagwons that "they're businesses," but not many people seem to point out that a business that takes the customer's money and doesn't give the promised product or service shouldn't stay in business for very long. And yet many of these hagwon "businesses" thrive while defrauding their customers. My school went under after about three years, but not before making a great deal of money (it was a big school with big name, and it milked the name and the good will for all it was worth).

razoo

.....i refer you to my previous post.....try and follow.....

strange that you have got so worked up over my post...where i merely gave my opinion?!
i mentioned you once, where i said you were full of it.....you have just proved that you are....again & again!

you litter this board like a sad man with no life.....one of the eslcafe references...along with not accepting any one else's ideas, views or opinions - it's just attack with you people.
mine was an alternate viewpoint...NOT a personal insult! do you really take yourself that seriously...all this for six words (in a footnote!!)

once and for all.....IT'S MY OPINION....EXPRESSED IN AN OPEN FORUM....GET A LIFE SAD MAN!

the world does not revolve around you, your pc and your lonely, sweaty ravings......get outside and smell the flowers baby!!

ps my name is valid coz i chose it.....DUH!

pps mary had an opinion (some of which i agreed with), she expressed it....but MJB didn't like it....so take aim and fire??

'nuff said you hypocrite!

i don't recall questioning the validity of your experience or criticising you....in fact i never even mentioned you until my last point??

but...

"Sperlingitus, maybe you had that experience- I didn't. I am NOT criticizing you for your experience- you should NOT criticize my experience.

Perhaps, if one finds fault with EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE (As you did) then the fault is really within you." Michael Joseph Beauchot

....certainly sounds like a criticism from you, even tho you just said you weren't going to....are you confused?

i also notice from one of your first posts that you attack mary's spelling, only to then make several yourself...aswell as a couple of typos!! it happens to even the best of us i suppose?! (can quote it next time if i can be bothered to find it again)

....and by the way, my chosen name is sperlingintus NOT sperlingitus!! SPELLING, MICHAEL....SPELLING!!!

anyway my post WAS MY experience (and my friends/colleagues etc)...i thought i said that loud and clear?

and as for dave's.....if you don't understand what i mean, then you'll obviously love it there!!!

i spent 2 and a half years in korea at three different schools. based on this experience i can agree and disagrree with much that has gone before on this thread.

the truth is that korean hogwans are a short-sighted, disorganised, unprofessional, bigoted, racist and homophobic mess. teachers are white-faced babysitters and nothing more - anyone who claims different is simply wrong (or has very large rose tinted spectacles!)the schools are in it for the money and nothing more....finish the 6 month textbook in two, if they don't know it....who cares? as long as the parents can tell their mates their kids are on the next book and they've paid for it! fact!

i had the pleasure of working with a korean american director at my last school who was trying to run a genuine tefl language school....with compulsory homework, 6 month timetables and no corporal punishment etc etc.....by the end it was all about the money and the kids got beaten! you could see him turn more and more korean as the months went by!

i respect korea as a country for what it has achieved and built in the last 20-30 years....but i have absolutely no idea how it happened....maybe they need a military dictator to keep them in line? they are litte children with a very limited concentration span, and no concept of planning.

ON THE OTHER HAND the foreign teachers working in korea are in general the scum of the earth. i can count on one hand the number of "normal" foreigners i met there (and these i keep in touch with)....the losers, deviants, sickos and just plain weird people i met are uncountable. they can work nowhere else and they flock to korea for the money, the beer (or soju) and the women....how many ugly western blokes can you see with a korean ornament on their arm thinking they're god's gift? (all those loved up foreigners may make it onto my other hand....this is MY EXPERIENCE - so spare me the love stories!)

korea makes no effort to standardise hogwans, to vet foreign teachers or impose standards of any kind.....maybe they get what they deserve?

teaching in korea is not teaching, the vast majority of the teachers can't teach, the vast majority of the schools are money ventures first and foremost.....so maybe everyone should get a grip

1) mary was bang on
2) sakana was totally correct
3) alan was correct (racsism is rife)(tho he did go on a bit!)
4) michael was so full of it...he should go back to dave's where he belongs!!

and yes.....although first time i went to teach, after that it was all about the money. c'est la vie!

Hi Steve,

I'm an ESL teacher working in Toronto with exp in Korea (completed 2 contracts).
I've got some fond memories of Korean people, schools directors, local staff, children and their parents. Real bad memories of ESL teachers I work with (males and females).

Regarding your line:
*****
It's an age-old adage, friend. "You pay for what you get!"
*****

Well, that's just wrong. Life really is better in South Korea for ESL teachers (salaries, conditions, etc.). I guess Koreans are not getting what they pay for.

btw: Ive just signed a new contract to go back to Korea.

Keep up the good work!

Jill