YOAV CERRALBO:
The good, the bad and the hagwon
CBC News Viewpoint | May 30, 2005 | More from Yoav Cerralbo
Yoav Cerralbo is from Montreal, Quebec, working in Seoul, South Korea, for the past six months as an English teacher and freelance writer. Before leaving for Seoul he worked in radio for the last three years on a syndicated travel show as a correspondent, co-host, and online editor. While studying journalism at Concordia University, Yoav was the host of a comedy radio show which poked fun at everything and anything.
So you’ve graduated from university and you’re ready for the real world. You have your walking papers and your brain is filled with information you might not use again. Your parents are pestering you to get a job but instead you want to take it easy for a bit, travel and take in what the world has to offer.
As you check out the classifieds in your local paper you keep seeing ads for people to teach English in faraway and exotic countries. “Come teach in Korea,” is the one that has hooked most Canadian university grads.
This is all fine and dandy, you think. You can work, make a bit of money, pay off that huge university debt that hangs over your head, make your parents happy, and at the same time soothe that voice inside saying, “go go go.”
South Korea is the most proactive country in hiring native English speakers to teach their kids this wonderful language that permeates every facet of Koreans’ everyday lives.
Hagwons (private academies) offer about two million won ($2,500 Cdn) a month, a somewhat furnished apartment (at least all the essentials – bed, TV and kitchen supplies – are there), return airfare, 50 per cent medical insurance, and a bonus extra month’s paycheque at the completion of the one-year contract (more on this bonus later).
At one time Japan was the place to go to teach English but because it got to be such a popular destination for university graduates the deals changed, and what began as a good thing started to become a hard thing, especially for first-timers who have never left the comforts of home.
Then came Korea. There is a craze in this country for parents to pay exorbitant amounts of money to have their children learn and master English.
At last count the National Statistics Office reported that about one-third of the household income goes to private education. That means no exotic vacations to far-off lands, no giant screen TV in every room and no leather upgrade in their new Sonata.
“English teaching jobs are the easiest job to get,” said Torontonian Ted Morrison. “The only hard part of this job is finding a good hagwon that won’t rip you off or treat you badly.”
Hagwons are a dime a dozen in Korea. Every neighbourhood in every city has at least a few. Competition for these hagwon owners is fierce and so is the stress they endure in trying to make ends meet. At least that’s what they say when they don’t have money to pay foreign teachers.
“All I can say is do your homework. There are so many shifty hagwon owners and recruiters that new teachers have to be careful or else they will get burnt,” said Jeremy (who only wants to be identified by his first name) from New Zealand.
“They try and rip you off every chance possible. From small shoebox-size apartments to not paying on time – some of these hagwon owners get away with murder. They treat you like a slave and think they own you because you signed your name away for a year,” Jeremy added.
Some endure the harsh treatments, the late salary payments, the smaller-than-average-size apartments for that big payoff at the end of the contract. Essentially, at the end of the contract one is looking at almost $5,000 plus a ticket home.
But the number 1 scam for these shifty hagwons is this: they wait until the teacher has completed about 10-11 months of the contract and then fire him/her by giving excuses like “we are going to close,” and “we can’t afford a native speaking teacher,” or they find some sort of problem and blow it out of proportion.
“Too many times I’ve seen this happen,” said Morrison. “I call it the “hagwon stiff.” They wait until the teacher is almost finished their contract and stiff them for the big payoff at the end. If the teacher doesn’t complete 12 months of their contract they don’t get their bonus.”
Other hagwons are great. For every bad hagwon owner there are a few that respect contracts.
“I love it here. I’ve been here for three years at the same school. My pay keeps increasing every year and besides a couple of misunderstandings, the owner of my school has always treated me with respect and always paid me on time,” said Pauline Druker from the U.K.
There are a lot of websites that warn and inform prospective teachers about which hagwons to avoid and which recruiters to stay away from. Generally, they are called blacklists and are very popular for veteran teachers who know the score.
“The best advice I can give is to come to Korea before signing a contract. Check out these schools before signing your life away,” said Druker. “If that is impossible, make sure to speak to the teachers currently employed at that school. Ask them questions about working conditions and problems with payment. Also ask them how they’ve treated some of the other teachers in the past and how many teachers have completed a year’s contract.
“If it’s impossible to talk to that teacher or if you get a bad feeling about what that teacher said then avoid that school. There are always many more to pick from.”
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