…like wearing a tuxedo to a mud wrestling match.

With any luck I’ll be making the transition from Hagwon life to Uni life in a couple of months. There are mixed feelings:

10 Things I won’t miss about Hagwons

1.N-n-n-no block vacation – just the odd long weekend.
2.Badly behaved and sometimes rude, spoiled kids.
3.No respect or feeling of being at all valued.Might as well be 20 years old with no exp. and only a BA (in Geography…)
4.Interference in teaching methodology.
5.Ajoshi hagwon bosses.
6.Having to teach 4 hours straight without a break.
7.Not done till 1030pm
8.Being unavailable for any week day evening appointments.
9.Kids’ moms.
10. Tiny teachers’ room

10 Things I’ll miss about hagwons

1, The apartment – size and location.
2. Funny kids!
3. Desk staff.
4. No fixed curriculum.
5. Just a couple of NSTs
6. No early starts.
7. Order in meals.
8. Very casual dress code.
9. Small class sizes
10. Generally nice atmosphere

I’m confused! Till now, when people spoke of unigwons, I thought of a job where you teach kids, members of the public or students who don’t need it for the credit in a university’s language centre. Usually long hours, low pay, short vacation etc probably in the evening. In other words not uni students on credit-based classes.

The terms and conditions are all pretty bad these days so I didn’t think those made it a unigwon.

Recently I was considering a job that was different to that - university freshmen, credit-based program. No civilians, no kids, no evenings or weekends, between the hours of 9 and 6.

Yes it is in the Language Education Centre, yes the hours were longer than you’d expect (20), salary bog-standard at 2.2, vacation at 6 weeks rather than 4 months.

My friend said: “That’s a unigwon”
So is she right?

I protested “but it’s not kids! or civilians! it’s university freshmen students who have to pass the program!”

For me what made a job a unigwon was who exactly you are teaching: university students on a compulsory course (proper uni job) or kids/civilans/students who just want practice for no credit (unigwon)

Who’s right?

She seems to think the pay and conditions define a unigwon.

My point was that most uni jobs’ terms and conditions (bar a few great jobs in Seoul) are similar to those in the job we discussed, except maybe that the hours are a little on the high side/ vacation on the low side in this job!

What is the precise definition of a unigwon?

The same university was also hiring for a different program where you do teach kids in the evening for poor conditions.

Are both those positions “unigwon” jobs or just the latter?

My friend says if the job is in the language centre and not in a proper department e.g. the English department, then it is a “unigwon” regardless of who you teach.

Perhaps the job we discussed was some kind of hybrid? What do you think?

So often, when we talk about our job with others - it’s just a pissing contest. You walk away from those conversations less edified than when you started:

How much do you get?
How many hours do you have to work?
How much vacation do you get?
Do you have a private office?
What perks do you get?

Maybe someone’s bragging or someone’s moaning. I’m as guilty of getting into this as anyone. Anyway, there’s always somebody better off/worse off than you are so it’s just not that helpful.

The fact is, as far as terms and conditions go we all know that no matter whether you’re in a hagwon, public school or uni it can be terrible or wonderful or just alright.

If it’s good for you, that’s great but it’s not the terms of the deal that will really satisfy you.

If it’s really bad for you - grit your teeth, finish the deal if you can and get better terms.

What really counts will be your school and especially your classroom experience.

For most of us the terms are alright and a better conversation to have would be:

Do you enjoy your teaching in the place where you work? Why?
Are YOU learning? What?
Are you improving? How?
Are you enjoying your relationship with the other staff and students?
Are you having fun? Are they having fun with it?
Are you trying out new stuff in the classroom? What?
Can you get to observe others/be observed and learn stuff that way?
What have you read recently that’s interesting/helpful?
Have you got like-minded colleagues?
How can you make it better? How can you enjoy it more?

Kumbaya..I know
Just a thought…