Hagwons

Most foreigners teaching English in Korea work at hagwons, or private institutions that teach one or more subjects. These academies run classes in the early mornings, after school, and in the evenings. Most children in Korea attend hagwons and just about every institution wants a foreign teacher working there.

Teaching hours for foreigners at hogwans are usually 30+/week and salaries usually start around 2.2 million won. Many schools have the option of working extra hours, which can raise your income considerably.

Some pluses to hawkgwons are

Some pluses to hawkgwons are that they are smaller class sizes, and the kids are a bit more eager to learn. They are paying to go there and take it a big more seriously than school, nowadays, which has become a big problem in korea. Basically, a lot of the hagkwons teach the same material as the student are learning at school, and becuase of the smaller classes, can teach it a bit more thoroughly, and even at a quicker pace.

The students are obviously tested on this material at school, which is where it counts, but the students just care about the tests, and then kind of don't pay attention and are bored during class. they think they can just get away with paying attention at hawkgwons and then testing. it's not only for english, but for every subject and a lot of the korean teachers at my school are always in an uproar about it. i've noticed it as well, and it is very annoying, especially as a native teacher trying to add my knowledge to the book lessons.

the studetns also kind of trust their hawkgwon teachers over their school teachers. this is annoying in general, but even moreso when it happens to you as a native english speaker! i was teaching a lesson on telling time and i was saying how you can say "It's 5 till 4" for "It's 5 minutes until 4 o'clock" and how this is more american, but in england you might say "It's 5 to four". i dont really understand the longer version for the later, so i told them that the "5 till 4" makes more sense becuase it's the shorter version of "It's 5 minutes until 4 o'clock". This wasnt my bashing British English, but i am an american so i was just talking about what i know and understand. However, this student apparently went and told all of this to her hawkgwon teacher and he, a native brit, told her that there is NO "it's 5 till 4" and that that was wrong. So she came and told my co-teacher and my co-teacher told me and i was really annoyed by it all because "5 till 4" and that what I taught her was incorrect. I was upset that he was mostlikely a brit who wasnt familiar with american english, but the fact that she asked her hawkgwon teacher about it and questioned my knowledge as a native speaker was kind of upsetting. However, as upsetting as I found this, something about the hawkgwon or her native teacher there led this student to trust that information over mine, as a school teacher. also, she's not the brightest in her class, but she is always complaining about how bored she is during my classes becuase she has already learned the material at her hawkgwon.

I'm not saying i'd rather teach at hawkgwons, but if you are someone who would like very behaved students and smaller classes at a quicker pace, then that might be the better answer for you.