Today I had a second interview. This one at another Hogwon but it appears to be run like an actual school. The owner speaks English fluently, albeit with a thick accent, but everything went great in the interview.
We started off with a quick tour before he brought me into his office. They have a beautiful gym facility and great classrooms. Each room is a little smaller than my current school but everything else appear to be much higher quality. Once we were in his office he spent a while explaining how he had heard good things about me and sympathized with my current predicament. He asked to keep the details confidential so I’ll just say that he did his best to sell me on the stability and reputation of his school; and well, it worked!
The school sounds like a fantastic hogwon, the only problem, its still a hogwon. I would get slightly better hours and pay than at my current job plus a lot more trust between employees and the administration but I still would teach Kindergarten. I still would only get about 2 weeks of vacation and be subject to a wide variety of other restrictions. He was not concerned about my letter of release situation I didn’t mention that I had another offer.
I then met with one of his current teachers who answered more specific questions about the curriculum (holy shit, there actually is one!), housing, teaching day, social life of teachers, etc. He was a great guy and I could tell would be a fun coworker. Everything he said sounded great when suddenly the owner came back in to ask me a few more questions.
He had deduced that I was contemplating between his school and another and told me that at most I might find a school that would pay an extra ₩100,000 ($100) a month more but wouldn’t find a school of his caliber. Having spoken to a few other teachers at other hagwons I honestly believe his could be the best one. But its still a hagwon so I’m still going to try and hold out for the private elementary school. It would be a pay raise on top of the newest offer and I would get months of vacation instead of weeks.
There isn’t any significant news at my current school. The principal spoke to all the foreigners today and mentioned that she will try to get everyone’s letter of release ASAP but also is entertaining contract changes. She is doing her best to convince people to stay for next year and while I think she can honestly fix some of the problems, I’ve already made my decision to.
In spite of it all I still love teaching my students! Its amazing how a girl who was one of my worst readers and didn’t know a single sight word 3 months ago is now writing sentences (with significant support) and can read 75% of the words in CRASH game. My kids are always cute and continue to make me smile; I wish I could say the same for the school owner.
