Teaching at 5 schools?!?!?

Just heard of at least 3 people who are currently (or will be) teaching at 5 schools at the same time for EPIK.

Who in their right mind woke up one day and decided sending someone to a different school each day of the week would be a good idea?? How much lower can things get before people realise Korea is literally taking the piss out of them?

Do the Thais even do things this bad? I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in the near future, we hear about teachers touring all the schools in a district over the course of a semester...it's coming 

It's pretty normal for someone on an f visa to go to 5 different places to teach a week. I don't see what your problem with it is if the teacher has an idea they'll be travelling around a bit beforehand. Which they should have if they apply to EPIK

It's pretty normal for someone on an f visa to go to 5 different places to teach a week. I don't see what your problem with it is if the teacher has an idea they'll be travelling around a bit beforehand. Which they should have if they apply to EPIK

True. Teachers know what they are getting themselves into. They also get paid a bit more for their troubles.
What would country schools need to do with a couple dozen students only?
They would either have no native English teacher ( therefore the education gap between them and their city peers would widen even further) or have one for a day/week? No doubt the latter version is better.

I have worked at multiple locations for over a decade and like it that way. Not public schools though.

They also get paid a bit more for their troubles.

Not exactly. Public school pay for five schools is no higher than for three schools.

Not exactly. Public school pay for five schools is no higher than for three schools.

I meant working for multiple schools ( be it 2 or 3 or 5) vs. working for 1 school only.

True. Teachers know what they are getting themselves into. They also get paid a bit more for their troubles.
What would country schools need to do with a couple dozen students only?
They would either have no native English teacher ( therefore the education gap between them and their city peers would widen even further) or have one for a day/week? No doubt the latter version is better.

I have worked at multiple locations for over a decade and like it that way. Not public schools though.

Those F visas are probably getting paid 35-50k+ won per hour for their troubles.

EPIK averages out at about 15k won per hour (17k if we count housing) at 2.3 million per month.

I doubt kids having one English class with a native speaker per week (40mins) would help to bridge any gap between them and their city peers who get 3-5x that in school plus more in hagwons. At this stage the teacher going to 5 schools is mere window dressing.

Those F visas are probably getting paid 35-50k+ won per hour for their troubles.

EPIK averages out at about 15k won per hour (17k if we count housing) at 2.3 million per month.

I doubt kids having one English class with a native speaker per week (40mins) would help to bridge any gap between them and their city peers who get 3-5x that in school plus more in hagwons. At this stage the teacher going to 5 schools is mere window dressing.

Unless someone has to move between two locations within one day, I don't see why is it a big problem to go to different places on different days. On Monday go East 5 kilometers, on Tuesday go West 5 kilometers etc. No different than going to the same place every day, that is the same distance away.
I have no idea how many times public school teachers see each class in a week. Some schools have 8 or 10 classes per grade so unless they have more than 1 native teacher, they physically can't teach each class more than once a week.
I do agree, it isn't much. But still better than nothing.

That works when you’re in a nice urban city. But I’m betting the majority of these schools won’t be in those.

When you’re in boondocks gangwon/jeolla/gyeongsang…do you really think the schools will be 5km from each other? Then the teacher would have to use the rural bus system as well (Monday 2hrs east, Tuesday, 3hrs west, Wednesday, 1.5hrs south etc).

These are places that used to be awash with TaLK scholars, the only real losers here are the students and the EPIK teacher who has to run around in circles…while the head ajeoshi in charge of government funding pats himself on the back for providing an English education at a low cost to countryside students.

That works when you’re in a nice urban city. But I’m betting the majority of these schools won’t be in those.

When you’re in boondocks gangwon/jeolla/gyeongsang…do you really think the schools will be 5km from each other? Then the teacher would have to use the rural bus system as well (Monday 2hrs east, Tuesday, 3hrs west, Wednesday, 1.5hrs south etc).

These are places that used to be awash with TaLK scholars, the only real losers here are the students and the EPIK teacher who has to run around in circles…while the head ajeoshi in charge of government funding pats himself on the back for providing an English education at a low cost to countryside students.

Then make it 10 or up to 20 kilometers. That is a very large area.
I doubt that any teachers would be expected to commute for 2-3 hours to work. There are some members here, working for multiple schools. Hopefully they will chime in with their experiences  on how far they have to commute etc.
In most cases, they would drive, rather than rely on the ''once and hour'' village bus.

Teachers that work under such conditions do it by their own choice and will. You make it sound like some sort of forced labor.

I had a 3hr commute each way in my first posting in Korea. School was 20km away from my home on the other side of the gun.

With a car, it would only have been a 20-30min journey…but with public transport (with 2, sometimes 3 different bus connections), the whole journey was hell…scenic hell, but hell nonetheless.

I did eventually get my own vehicle for the sole purpose of cutting time. But that was in 2011, when a TaLK stipend of 1.5mil went a bit further than it would today.

Those F visas are probably getting paid 35-50k+ won per hour for their troubles.

EPIK averages out at about 15k won per hour (17k if we count housing) at 2.3 million per month.

I doubt kids having one English class with a native speaker per week (40mins) would help to bridge any gap between them and their city peers who get 3-5x that in school plus more in hagwons. At this stage the teacher going to 5 schools is mere window dressing.

EPIK has always been for show, as has Korea's entire public English curriculum. Nothing done in public schools holds up to international standards. Kids wouldn't even have to go to hagwons if the government took English education seriously.

I can't disagree there, but at least in the past they tried to pretend it wasn't a shit show. Now they've gone fill WDGAF mode...maybe they're slowly try to kill the whole thing by dampening public expectations over time.

When I first arrived, I was teaching at 4 rural schools. Of course I didn't know this until the day I stepped foot in the school, not beforehand. I had to take buses the whole time. One school was 20 minutes by bus but I had to leave my main school after 3 classes to go to that other school for 3 more classes every Tuesday. On Wednesdays I left my 1st period class 15 minutes early to leave to go to another school that was 30 minutes away by car, on some of the most dizzying roads. That school had 4 students. My coteacher would take the last 15 minutes of class so that I could leave. On Thursdays I was at my main school. Fridays I would take the bus 45 minutes to another school. That school had 8 students and I had 3 regular classes and 2 afterschool classes there. My main had about 100 students. My Tuesday school had about 40 students. I saw my main school classes 3 times a week and every other school once a week. I taught in total 25 hours a week. Yes, I was compensated for the extra. I loved my schedule and my schools and my students. I miss those kids today.....we did taekwondo together for 2 years, many English camps, I supported them at athletics competitions, saw them out and about all the time, met their parents, knew all their names etc.......but I also had 25 lessons to plan a week...no repeating. I had 4 schools and 4 different textbooks. Each grade had only one class at each school.

I did have an awesome main coteacher who would go out of his way to help me with anything.....and he still does years later even though we have long since stopped working with each other. One of the nicest and most knowledgeable people I have met in Korea........sadly not all coteachers are even a fraction as helpful as he was in school. I miss that because our students benefited so much from his teaching and he knew how to build up what I taught and I could do the same for him. I have been genuinely lucky with coteachers, for the most part.

Per week I have:
- 4 different schools (one is 10kms away, one is 17kms, one is 19, and the other (new this year) is 24km away.
- 16 separate lesson plans
- 14 different text books

3 of the 4 schools are super rural (my main school is in a town, so I do not get rural allowance  ), and 2 of them do not have bus routes that would allow me to reach them before 10, or get home before 7 (luckily, I have car, which I bought for this exact issue!).

   Considering that nearly half the EPIK teachers in this area complain about being put in schools ridiculously far away from their main schools, I feel that the municipal office of education really doesn't put much consideration into where they send their EPIK teachers. Having played a lot of resource management sims, I know that I could clean up this huge logistics fail no problemo!
Hmm. I wonder if I should stop by the office and offer my services.

Per week I have:
- 4 different schools (one is 10kms away, one is 17kms, one is 19, and the other (new this year) is 24km away.
- 16 separate lesson plans
- 14 different text books

3 of the 4 schools are super rural (my main school is in a town, so I do not get rural allowance  ), and 2 of them do not have bus routes that would allow me to reach them before 10, or get home before 7 (luckily, I have car, which I bought for this exact issue!).

   Considering that nearly half the EPIK teachers in this area complain about being put in schools ridiculously far away from their main schools, I feel that the municipal office of education really doesn't put much consideration into where they send their EPIK teachers. Having played a lot of resource management sims, I know that I could clean up this huge logistics fail no problemo!
Hmm. I wonder if I should stop by the office and offer my services.

should probably give it a try.....just walk in and hand them a new plan...say you're welcome and walk out ...then they can take credit for it but all will be fixed

"No, no. If we make it more difficult then it shows you care about the children."

I guess the days of 1 school 1 FT are gone. I lived in a rural area, Namhae Island, and worked at 3 schools. I bought a used car. It saved me!

I guess the days of 1 school 1 FT are gone. I lived in a rural area, Namhae Island, and worked at 3 schools. I bought a used car. It saved me!

Not in Seoul.

Not in Seoul.

Yeah, a weekend in Seoul was plenty for me. There is no way I could have lived and worked there. Give me the small town rural area every day.

Yeah, a weekend in Seoul was plenty for me. There is no way I could have lived and worked there. Give me the small town rural area every day.

<shrugs> To each his own.