Comments on: I Predict the TESOL Job Market Will Improve Next Year

By: Tesol Australia

Tesol Australia — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:59:28 +0000

Yes, No doubt as more people aware about this , more chances of TESOL jobs worldwide.

By: USinKorea

USinKorea — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:45:34 +0000

I think that is a mixed metaphor.

All this talk about TESOLers has had an affect on you lately…

By: USinKorea

USinKorea — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:42:27 +0000

Why they need the money is easy — budget cuts.

In Georgia, teachers have bene laid off, signed lower contracts, been shifted around in counties to avoid layoffs, and budget cuts on education have been in the news for the past year. Since this is a global economic crisis, I’m sure this is the same in all industrial nations (and beyond).

By: ChickenHead

ChickenHead — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:10:06 +0000

Robosayo,

“Sure… but some might have used that 10 or 20% to travel, because they weren’t expecting to need it for housing.”

Uh-huh. And that is called “poor financial planning”, “short-term thinking” and “the trap of instant gratification”.

Get cancer? Parents about to lose their house? You have an excuse. Want to take a trip to the PI over Chusok. Too bad.

When life bends you over and tries to put it in your a$$, as it frequently does, you can block it with a wad of cash… or you can go out to the clubs every night and wonder why you can’t get ahead.

I was a starving student once. I have seen it and I have lived it… and, funny, I didn’t always have the latest car stereo but I always had cash in my pocket for things I found important.

Almost any defense of not saving a small percentage of money each month will be met with ridicule… especially when English teachers in Korea have housing paid for (the biggest paycheck-eater in America), are frequently treated to dinner and drinks (in exchange for English conversation), don’t have to maintain a car, sometimes don’t have to pay taxes, etc.

Wishing to pay off student loans might be an excuse… except I managed to go through 4 years without any student loans or asking money from my parents by a combination of scholarships, money I had saved through high school and ten hour workdays on Saturday and Sunday… while many friends used “free” student loan money as a crutch to be high-dollar party boys and slackers… despite me saying, “Dude… you know you are going to have to pay that back someday, right?” (“Yeah, but, I’ll be making mad cash when I get a job so it won’t matter.”) (“Uh-huh. Well, as long as you are buying, I guess I WILL have another double Tanguay and tonic with a splash of Roses.”) There is a place for student loans… but not the ridiculous sums that many students needlessly run up and then cry about.

To make a long story short… this well of pity is dry.

I think that is a mixed metaphor.

By: Gomushin Girl

Gomushin Girl — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:43:48 +0000

The really confusing part is that if they’ve been arranging housing all this time, they obviously already have key money. It looks like they’re trying to get the key money they already have invested back to use for some other purpose.
In the case of the chonse, I’m guessing schools must have invested around 70 million or so to get an officetel or one room. If they’ve done it as a wolse, then let’s figure around 10-20 mil, plus another 600,000 or so a month, for a yearly output of 7.2 mil. If they’re just giving out a monthly rent of 9000,000, then they’re losing 10.8 mil a year.
In the end, the question is where did they chonse/bojeunggeum money come from, and why do they need it back? Because obviously they’ve been putting up the money for the deposits all along for all the teachers that took the housing option. Unless they have had some sudden need for a HUGE amount of cash, the new deal makes no financial sense for the schools, either.

By: Gomushin Girl

Gomushin Girl — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:30:05 +0000

I’ve had to apartment hunt several times over the past few years in Seoul, and I have to say that 10-20 for chonse would be a dream in Seoul. My officetel near Seoul Station was an 11 pyeong place for a 10 mil deposit and 600,000 a month, which I split with a friend. Next, I found a small, run-down one room near my research center in an inexpensive neighborhood for 5 mil in key money and 400 a month. I only had enough for the key money because my family was able to give me a loan, and I had to ask for more to put down key money on my new apartment. Even in an area where the rent is not particularly ridiculous, I still needed 20 mil for bojeunggum. 10-20 mil sitting around is enough for a key money deposit on a one or two bedroom place north of the river, but I’m betting it doesn’t even stretch that far in Gangnam. Chonse, near as I can tell, starts at 70 or 80 million in cheaper districts, and last time I wandered past a budangsan south of the river I know that I saw normal apartments posting for around 200 million won. On top of this, you usually have to pay matinence fees, fees to the realator, and utilities. In other words, if I were a regular college grad, I would need at least 5,000USD or so just to get set up in an apartment, if I was willing (or more accurately, had no choice but) to live in an inexpensive, out of the way neighborhood and face a substantial commute. I might be able to save up that much key money in a year of teaching, but that’s assuming I’m not also paying off student loans, etc. back home. In other words, people who don’t already have some financial resources won’t be able to find normal housing.
There are a few other options that could even help teachers save up money over the year for a substantial key money deposit the next, but who on earth would stay a second year if they lived their first in a goshiwon or hasukjip?

By: Roboseyo

Roboseyo — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:24:10 +0000

Sure… but some might have used that 10 or 20% to travel, because they weren’t expecting to need it for housing.

By: usinkorea

usinkorea — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:23:34 +0000

OK. One more since there are 4 or 5 threads on this same topic at Dave’s – and I know some readers here have been in country 10 years or so or more and know more about housing and such…

If it makes more sense in terms of 1 year contracts to use key money, why haven’t these schools and/or districts set up longer term contracts with better condtions?

It isn’t like the schools are going to relocate….They aren’t going to go bankrupt. They are not hakwons. Why haven’t the public schools cut a deal with landlords for one or more apartments in buildings that are located convienently enough for the commute for different teachers working in different nearby-schools and used them year after year?

And I’m talking about what chickenhead said too – cutting a deal with no monthly rent – and just make it multiple years?

If teachers come and say they hate it and refuse to live in it, get a new one or give them the alternative housing deal (0.5 and no key money) and rent the apartment out. I’d think even if you left it empty until another TESOLer needs it, you’d be better off than shelling out 0.9 a month to all of them or having to find apartments all the time for new teachers.

Why do 1 year housing contracts if your a public school?

By: usinkorea

usinkorea — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:32:57 +0000

Even in Seoul, where key money could be 2 or 3 times that of other cities, it still makes financial sense to use key money over the course of a year-long contract…

That’s what I don’t get, but I’m weak on business items…

By: Stafford

Stafford — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:02:01 +0000

Agree completely