Tuesday I had an interview with LCI Academy in Seoul, they asked me to come up and check out their school sometime, so I did on Wednesday because we had the day off (School Foundation Day FTW!). The exterior of the building was a little less than impressive but everything inside was nice, shiny, new, and bright. The woman I interviewed with was really nice and the kids seemed to all be exceedingly studious and well disciplined for being kindergarteners (because I’m pretty sure American kindies are too busy sticking their crayons up their noses to be answering worksheets in a foreign language – Korean kids are hardcore.)
She explained the daily routine. I’d have a class of 6 students, 5 boys and 1 girl, all 7 years old, who I’d have for 4 hours each morning/early afternoon and then it’d switch up to other, older (I think) students in the afternoon – presumably students who are in public school now and come in after their normal classes are finished. It’s more like a 100% full-time teaching job, unlike at public school where you teach in the mornings, maybe and afternoon class here and there, and then have blocks of time off during the week (like Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I have nothing but prep time for the next day).
The pay is better than my current school. There’s no pension though, which may make it about even in the long run. They use private insurance instead of the national plan which, according to a teacher I emailed, makes it cheaper for the school, but he hasn’t had any problems with it in two years, so whatevs.
I dunno. I just have this deep-seated suspicion when it comes to hagwons. You hear so many horror stories that that just becomes your first impression. I’m entirely aware of the fact that people are more inclined to pipe-up with complaints rather than praise but I can’t help it. When I asked why the current teacher of the class that I’d get was leaving, I asked with the implication that his contract was up and he was just not planning to renew. The answer that I got was something more along the lines of ‘His contract is ending soon.’ which gave me the distinct impression that he’s getting fired. And I can’t help but wonder if he knows? Or are they just parading me around as his replacement before he’s even gotten the axe? It didn’t help either that they wouldn’t give me his contact info to see what’s up.
So yeah, I don’t know. And I don’t really want to go with the first things that’s offered to me but they’re asking for an answer from me (two days after I visited!). I have an interview lined up with another school on Monday evening. It’s from a recruiter that I think I have a little more trust in – the one that found me LCI is really pushing LCI (he calls and/or emails me everyday). I’m a little lost. I’ve never found myself in a job-seeking position where I got to choose before. It’s always been I’M DESPERATE PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HIRE ME. It doesn’t help that I want to stay at my current school but don’t know whether or not I will be able to. It doesn’t help the places that I’m interviewing with either to say, “Yeah, this place sounds great and I’d love to work with you, but I won’t know if I can for another two months. Maybe.”
It’s a hot mess and I just end up feeling really guilty. I feel bad for looking for a new job while I’m at work, especially since I want to stay so badly. I feel bad for interviewing with a new place and then telling them that they’re second on my list and not being able to give them a straight answer for forever. It suuuuuuuucks.
