Korea Life Blog - New Job


I received this official e-mail last night from the people in charge of hiring for the public schools:


Dear Mr. Matthews,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been successful in your interview and would like to invite you for our contract negotiations and information day which will be held as a group of successful applicants on either Friday August 20th or Saturday August 21st, which ever is more convenient for you to attend. We will be contacting you by phone to verify the date of your attendance.

On the day of your attendance you will be required to bring all necessary documents with you including, but not limited to, the following:
Passport
University Degrees
University Transcripts
And any other relevant educational certificates

If you have any questions or problems please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

Thank you and we look forward seeing you!
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I think I mentioned before that the job is part of a new after-school, government sponsored program to place native English speakers in public elementary schools throughout Seoul (and later the country). The program, still in its infancy, is meant to help decrease the burden on parents to send their kids to expensive language schools known, of course, as English hagwons.

The schedule is 1-6PM (elementary school students in Korea finish school before 1:00). There will be 4 or 5 classes/day, no more than 20 students/class, and I will be an assistant to a Korean teacher who hopefully knows what she/he is doing. Fortunately I have a degree in English Education and several years experience now which means I'll be getting the top salary on the pay-scale. Also there's a generous housing allowance, which means our apartment will now be free, if not profitable.

I have to wonder what hagwon owners think of all this. The effects might not be immediately noticeable, but if the program is a hit, and who knows really, I bet the burden that lays on the heads of parents will soon be shifted to the heads of the owners of the language schools.