News from the GEPIK front [merged]

[Burndog]

An actual Korean teacher that thinks they know better English than a native speaker. And, they have already hired some of those teachers in other places in the Gyeonggi-do area.

I actually performed the job interview for many of these teachers, and I don't recall a single one of them suggesting that 'they know better English than a native speaker."  I think that it's important that we don't blame individuals at our end of the process for decisions made much higher up the chain.

These people are looking for a job, and the government has offered them jobs...it's nothing to blame them for!  They're entitled to apply for these jobs, and if they meet the application criteria...good luck to them!

Burndog-

did you do this for GEPIK? or SMOE in January? Just wondering because I did it for SMOE and I agree with you. They are just looking for jobs, and though I had a few who it appeared didn't know how to teach or were just looking for any job, I had a lot that spoke really well but were intimidated by the process and got nervous, but still made it through. None of those teachers wouldn't have said they better. In fact their first question was "what advantages do you bring to teaching English as opposed to a Native speaker?" I thought this would be an easy one to answer, but most of them struggled with it.

I did it for GEPIK.  One of my friends was asked but he got sick, so his co asked me if I could help out.  It was interesting.  They were good or bad...no in between.  Pass or fail.  Some of them were great though...and I think that the good ones are well worth the risk.  The bad ones....well...they were REALLY bad!!!

Unfortunately at my school...they hired one of the bad ones!  She drives me nuts!  I'm sure it's a ploy to get me to leave the school!!!

[Paju Leigh]

Found out on Saturday that I may or may not have a job. The GEPIK head has told my school to return the NT funding ( I am paid partly by Gepik and partly by the City Hall) Since my school has a good reputation they may get more funding and continue with me, but if not well then I have no job.
Just wish they would find out earlier. I am not that worried now as I have come to the conclusion if it happens it happens, plus I don't have to worry about my visa.
But it still is a pain in the arse with the maybe. maybe not, yes no and all the other crap that is happening to all the other teachers...

[flips]

does the hiring/renewal freeze affect incheon, or does it have its own -si POE, like SMOE?

thanks.

[weirdgirlinkorea]

does the hiring/renewal freeze affect incheon, or does it have its own -si POE, like SMOE?

thanks.

GEPIK is just GYEONNGI province. Gyeonggi English Program in Korea
GEPIK is the only one doing this.

[firebreaker]

My contract ends on August 31st, but GEPIK isnt allowing my school to renew, so I have a hard time believing its a simple matter of starting September 1st.

That's interesting. To my understanding, GEPIK and EPIK are pretty much screener organizations. The particular office of education for your city controls if more teachers are hired in their city. Sounds to me like maybe your school doesn't want to renew you for some reason. Maybe you said or did something to make someone angry. Blew your nose the wrong direction or something and they don't want to tell you the truth.

I got my job through direct hire by my office of education. I didn't go through EPIK or GEPIK. So a hire freeze by GEPIK sounds fishy.  Just my humble opinion. I could be totally wrong.

[pippo11]

My contract ends on August 31st, but GEPIK isnt allowing my school to renew, so I have a hard time believing its a simple matter of starting September 1st.

That's interesting. To my understanding, GEPIK and EPIK are pretty much screener organizations. The particular office of education for your city controls if more teachers are hired in their city. Sounds to me like maybe your school doesn't want to renew you for some reason. Maybe you said or did something to make someone angry. Blew your nose the wrong direction or something and they don't want to tell you the truth.

I got my job through direct hire by my office of education. I didn't go through EPIK or GEPIK. So a hire freeze by GEPIK sounds fishy.  Just my humble opinion. I could be totally wrong.

Not necessarily, last I heard was that schools must declare their interest in having a native teacher by the end of May, the authorities will then choose which schools will be allotted funding for a native teacher and work out a budget by mid July. Then, and only then, can a school go about hiring a native speaker for a September 1st start.

My school also wants to re-sign me but wont know if they have the chance or the funds to do it until the end of July and this is the case with all schools funded in the same way. It maybe that they just can't make a decision right now. Or that they don't want to have a native teacher / you at the school anymore....

[Davox]

My contract ends on August 31st, but GEPIK isnt allowing my school to renew, so I have a hard time believing its a simple matter of starting September 1st.

That's interesting. To my understanding, GEPIK and EPIK are pretty much screener organizations. The particular office of education for your city controls if more teachers are hired in their city. Sounds to me like maybe your school doesn't want to renew you for some reason. Maybe you said or did something to make someone angry. Blew your nose the wrong direction or something and they don't want to tell you the truth.

I got my job through direct hire by my office of education. I didn't go through EPIK or GEPIK. So a hire freeze by GEPIK sounds fishy.  Just my humble opinion. I could be totally wrong.

My understanding is that GEPIK also funds, in part or in full, NET positions at many schools (but not all, and obviously not yours) in Gyeonggi.  So money comes from them to the local offices of education/schools.  If GEPIK cuts the funding to a position, then the school/city council/education office either has to cough up the difference, or the position goes away.  Some districts are richer than others, so some jobs are more threatened than others.  As always, if people are concerned, the best thing to do is ask your co-teacher where the funding for your position comes from.

[paulkerry]

does the hiring/renewal freeze affect incheon, or does it have its own -si POE, like SMOE?

Incheon is it's own -si like Seoul. It's separate to Gyeonggi.

[snafuman]

Like everyone else I received that "happy" e-mail from GEPIK. How does this "benefit" teachers?

[Rowanteacher]

lol I suppose it benefits us by giving us the push we need to get away from GEPIK and their shady tactics.

I'm still so p*ssed off about this, yeah I'll find another job, yeah its not the end of the world, yeah GEPIK are within their rights to restructure. It's just so gutting to be losing my nice school, my nice apartment and my two paid weeks at home. Especially when my school desperately want me to stay, I need to go home to see my 94 year old grandmother and some friends have just got jobs in our area starting just after we leave.

I still don't buy a word of their stuff about reorganizing the hiring dates, it's clearly about saving money. Even if they get everyone's contracts perfectly synchronized (which this won't do) they WILL have people leaving their contracts early, always have, always will, hat are they going to do about that? Leave those schools without a native teacher until the next hiring season, I doubt it.

Just venting really

[firebreaker]

lol I suppose it benefits us by giving us the push we need to get away from GEPIK and their shady tactics.

I'm still so p*ssed off about this, yeah I'll find another job, yeah its not the end of the world, yeah GEPIK are within their rights to restructure. It's just so gutting to be losing my nice school, my nice apartment and my two paid weeks at home. Especially when my school desperately want me to stay, I need to go home to see my 94 year old grandmother and some friends have just got jobs in our area starting just after we leave.

I still don't buy a word of their stuff about reorganizing the hiring dates, it's clearly about saving money. Even if they get everyone's contracts perfectly synchronized (which this won't do) they WILL have people leaving their contracts early, always have, always will, hat are they going to do about that? Leave those schools without a native teacher until the next hiring season, I doubt it.

Just venting really

I agree. My rough estimate is that 85% of Native teachers that are, or have been teaching in Korea for more than a year know that it's all about money. The other 15% don't care or bail out early. The least amount that they spend is best. Case in point.. Hagwons. 98% are all about the cash. Not the students. The other 2% want the kids to learn, but money is still priority. A lot of hagwons are cutting  their 2nd or third native teacher to focus more on "software programs."

If your school really wants you, then they will fight for you to stay, but probably won't tell you, so my suggestion is to actively look for another job, but don't tell anyone about it.

Remember, they'll tell you anything to shut you up. 

[rohski]

what I don't get about this whole "hiring freeze" is that I've heard of a couple people getting job offers since April until as recent as yesterday.  My buddy who is working at a hagwon was just offered a GEPIK job near Suwon.  To my understanding GEPIK doesn't consider hagwon experience in regards to the pay scale, so essentially he'll be starting at the bottom of the GEPIK pay scale. Has anyone else heard of new teachrs being hired?

[gmhahn]

So I know this thread has been dead for a while now but does anyone have any new information?

I am also wondering if anyone can help me with my personal situation. My co-teacher doesn't really seem to know much about this situation so I've been trying to dig for info on my own. So here's my situation:

My current contract expires August 31.
From my understanding, I am funded entirely by GPOE.

From what I've read on the Korean Herald here  http://www.koreaherald.com/lifestyle/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110329000773   those funded by GPOE and have contracts ending in that three month period, would not be able to stay at their schools. If this is true, that would include me.

So is this true of all situations? Are there any acceptions or will my school just do without a native English teacher next year?

Any insight is appreciated...

[mlcqueen]

So what happens for those of us hired in say..October...would we have to wait for the new semester to begin in March?!

[ecwjedi]

Hi gmhahn,

According to my co-teacher, people who have contracts that end on August 31st will be OK. If they don't re-hire any of the NTs whose contracts expire on the 31st then no schools would have teachers on Sept 1st. GEPIK wants all of the contract start dates to line up. So, if they didn't re-hire the teachers who finish on the 31st, they wouldn't be hiring any NTs until March 1st, which makes no sense. They can't re-hire anyone to start on a day before September 1st, that's all.

If someone's contract finishes on June 22nd and their school wants to keep them then they will have to re-sign with the start date being Sept 1st. So, that person will be out of a job for a little while. It's really silly and many schools will loose some good teachers because of that. The one's who will miss out the most will be the kids..

[lillellis]

If someone's contract finishes on June 22nd and their school wants to keep them then they will have to re-sign with the start date being Sept 1st. So, that person will be out of a job for a little while. It's really silly and many schools will loose some good teachers because of that. The one's who will miss out the most will be the kids..

That's right.  My contract's up June 9.  Supposedly I have 15 days to "transfer" my E-2 visa.  Not many good public schools hire during that time, so I have to do all of my documents again anyway.  That criminal background check really puts a damper on things!  Does anyone know the specific time frame/requirements for transferring an E-2 visa?

I called D******* yesterday to find out where the apostille for my university diploma went.  She was particularly unhelpful and only deals with our "contracts"--not budget or other documents.  I have to get the apostille again.  Has anyone succesfully done it in Korea, say at a place like UPS?  Thanks for the help...

[gmhahn]

Thanks, ecwjedi.

That helps clarify what's going on somewhat in this whole mess.

[elzoog]

I called D***** yesterday to find out where the apostille for my university diploma went.  She was particularly unhelpful and only deals with our "contracts"--not budget or other documents.  I have to get the apostille again.  Has anyone succesfully done it in Korea, say at a place like UPS?  Thanks for the help...

D******* will not be helpful. She got her job through a family member in the Korean education bureau, she never taught (although now she is fabricating stories of being a teacher) and she doesn't care about anything but meeting guys.

Really?   She is interested in meeting guys?   Maybe I should come up with a reason to call her and ask her to discuss something over dinner.

[ISangHae]

D***   will not be helpful. She got her job through a family member in the Korean education bureau, she never taught (although now she is fabricating stories of being a teacher) and she doesn't care about anything but meeting guys.

Really?   She is interested in meeting guys?   Maybe I should come up with a reason to call her and ask her to discuss something over dinner.

High maintenance, dude! 

[Artist Formerly Known as Moderator Jason]

Ok guys, please let it go.  If you have complaints about this certain someone please go somewhere else to discuss it.  The moderators don't want to see any thread become a flame war targetting anyone.  This is the first warning.