I went to the Edu office last week. We had "a very nice chat with the nice lady." She showed me the math and explained how I broke the rule by charging the kids nearly 12,000won more than what I am allowed to. And how terribly wrong of me it was. There was no point explaining her that some of our kids get much more instruction for free, some books are free, we give them parties, and library classes..... and edu office should be looking at the averages rather than sticking to very narrow data.
I pressed her on telling me who sold us, and she absolutely shamelessly told me that edu office used entrapment. They hired people, promised them bonuses, equipped them with hidden cameras to go around hogwans and smaller schools to entrap hard working guys like us. What can be an outrageous and punishable practice in any other country is a legit method used by high goverment authority in Korea.
So the outcome of my visit is that she takes 20 points out of 40 allocated to me. ( if I loose the 40 points, I am to be closed, as was explained to me.) I am to provide extra 2 hours of teaching per week or reduce my price to 148,000won. Nathaniel under no condition is allowed to be working at the same space as me. If he is there next time she shows up, we will be closed, for the remaining 20 points will be taken from me.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
How high is too high for a "good one" to stab you
So we have been working(slaving) our asses off for a year and a half. Things started to really pick up beginning from the middle of summer when we got people calling and coming all the time. We have been adding students and now have 4 groups for each of us to teach. This is the time when someone with "good intentions" decides to knock us out and basically try to kill a successful and effective business run by two foreigners. Today I got a surprise visit from Education office. Apparently they got an anonimous report on us about our pricing which is nonlegit. We charge 160,000 won for over 5 hours of teaching a week. This is 15,000 won more than we are allowed to charge. What the fuck does Education office have to do with pricing in the first place? Isn't it supposed to be in the realm of business. Out prices are nearly 100,000 less than what other language schools charge. And seriously even this 160,000 won is a tough price to survive on, considering we have to pay rent, bus, utilities... I am not talking about the salary. We both are volunteering our time. According to the Education office again, we have to provide nearly 7 hours of instruction a week and charge 134,000 won. Good luck with that. Are they fantasizing?
Now let us stop being so rude and emotional and try to look behind the Education dudes reasoning.
1. Education office doesn't like private education. We get it. It is evil, and it is overpriced. We get it again.
2. As a result, Education office fixes a stupid unrealistic price on private education, forcing hagwons to either lie about the amount of instruction they provide or make kids stay longer hours with some useless instruction or doing self-studies.
3. All is done for the sake of keeping kids at school because schools are cheap and have teachers.
The problems with this completely twisted reasoning is that it leads to twisted results.
Parents don't like schools anyways. The competition for these parents is too real and terrifying to leave their kids at the mercy of schools. They will go to hagwons, always. And education dudes make it even easier for them to stick the kids in hagwons because hagwons are getting cheaper.
So basically education office sends a message that private instruction should be pursued by everyone, which is utterly wrong. Good schools should be allowed to compete. survive and flourish when they deliver good results. Good and great schools should be elite. Come to me if you want and can, and I set my prices. No any wanker from education office should be allowed to come and put such hideous limits on my business forcing me to lie, bribe, or leave. Good job, Korea.
Way to go with torturing and depriving your own future generations as well as killing the little teaching talent you manage to get in this country.
Now let us stop being so rude and emotional and try to look behind the Education dudes reasoning.
1. Education office doesn't like private education. We get it. It is evil, and it is overpriced. We get it again.
2. As a result, Education office fixes a stupid unrealistic price on private education, forcing hagwons to either lie about the amount of instruction they provide or make kids stay longer hours with some useless instruction or doing self-studies.
3. All is done for the sake of keeping kids at school because schools are cheap and have teachers.
The problems with this completely twisted reasoning is that it leads to twisted results.
Parents don't like schools anyways. The competition for these parents is too real and terrifying to leave their kids at the mercy of schools. They will go to hagwons, always. And education dudes make it even easier for them to stick the kids in hagwons because hagwons are getting cheaper.
So basically education office sends a message that private instruction should be pursued by everyone, which is utterly wrong. Good schools should be allowed to compete. survive and flourish when they deliver good results. Good and great schools should be elite. Come to me if you want and can, and I set my prices. No any wanker from education office should be allowed to come and put such hideous limits on my business forcing me to lie, bribe, or leave. Good job, Korea.
Way to go with torturing and depriving your own future generations as well as killing the little teaching talent you manage to get in this country.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Birthday Presents
This chocholate heart is from Junior 1 student, Julie. She is 10 years old, and she made it herself. Very sweet. The coffee is from coffee place we go to. And the cake is from my high school students. They ordered it for me, and had my name written on it. Very nice.
Roasted Pork and Veggies
It was the time when we cooked. We are not cooking now because Nathaniel is teaching Lina a lesson on how to be gratefull for things and care in her life.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
January February Work Results
What has been done at school in the months of January and February?
I hired 2 new adjumas, and they posted 4,000 flyers on a few apartment blocks. Those were old flyers from the last summer. I paid them 156,000 won for the work. It was in the mid of January. As a result,
1- I got a group of 3 students-Junior 1, who come at 5:30.
2- 3 mothers of 8 year old kids visited; they seemed to be wanting to start classes, but were turned off by the absence of a bus, left, said would call.
3-3 more mothers visited. Two applied for classes starting in March. Another mother from a separate group applied for March start class. The kids are beginners, all are 8 years old.
4-A middle school girl applied for March. Her 11 year old sister might want to start classes in March too. The big sister goes to Junior 3, and we can have 3 kids in that group, if she actually comes. With Lina that will be 4!
Last Friday, 12 th of February I designed and ordered 4,000 flyers particularly adverstising our k-6 Immersion program. Cost of flyers -80,000 won, paid to adjumas for distributing 3,000 flyers-120,000 won. Flyers went to Ssan young apt after 1p.m. I started getting calls at 5. Three people called. At 7p.m., seven mothers showed up. All from the same apartment building. Two brought kids whom I level tested. Both applied for classes. There is no class for the girl, who is in middle school. She is beginner level, and needs her phonics sorted. The boy's mother wanted a separate class for her son on which I foolishly agreed in case I had another student. I will not make another class for Nathaniel unless we have 5 students.
One mother would bring her 8 year old son who will go to Starter.
Another mother has two kids aged 9 and 8 who have been in the kindergarten for 2 years. She will bring them for level testing on Saturday. She seems to be more interested in private classes at home.
If all goes well, and the mothers don't change their minds, we can get one Starter group with 4 students aged 8 years old, plus Soonjae.Total 5. I will make 1:30 class for them. I will not make any double classes when Nathaniel and I have to be there at the same time, unless a class has 5 students minimum. 5 students can pay one teacher's minimum wage of 800,000 won per month. I will put one more boy whose mom wanted a separate class together with 5:30 Junior 1, so we can have 4 students in that group.
Provisional March Schedule and Classes
1:30(possible2:30) Starter Phonics 5 students, aged 7 & 8.
2:30 Regular Junior 1 with Sally & Andy. (6 students)
3:30- No class
4:30 Regular Junior 3 with 4 students. Jeehwan, Seong Yeong, Lina, and New Girl -all in middle school.
5:30 New Junior 1, aged 9 and 10 years old. Possibly plus one 5th grade student. (3 or 4 students)
6:30 On Tuesdays and Thursdays High school 2 students. They are under a big question though.
Potentially we have 10 new students. Potentially.
We have 50 min, classes every day of the week. Schedule: Mon, Tues,- English; Wed,-Library class (kids work on projects, read books independently and with teacher help) Thurs.- Social studies; Fri- Science.
I hired 2 new adjumas, and they posted 4,000 flyers on a few apartment blocks. Those were old flyers from the last summer. I paid them 156,000 won for the work. It was in the mid of January. As a result,
1- I got a group of 3 students-Junior 1, who come at 5:30.
2- 3 mothers of 8 year old kids visited; they seemed to be wanting to start classes, but were turned off by the absence of a bus, left, said would call.
3-3 more mothers visited. Two applied for classes starting in March. Another mother from a separate group applied for March start class. The kids are beginners, all are 8 years old.
4-A middle school girl applied for March. Her 11 year old sister might want to start classes in March too. The big sister goes to Junior 3, and we can have 3 kids in that group, if she actually comes. With Lina that will be 4!
Last Friday, 12 th of February I designed and ordered 4,000 flyers particularly adverstising our k-6 Immersion program. Cost of flyers -80,000 won, paid to adjumas for distributing 3,000 flyers-120,000 won. Flyers went to Ssan young apt after 1p.m. I started getting calls at 5. Three people called. At 7p.m., seven mothers showed up. All from the same apartment building. Two brought kids whom I level tested. Both applied for classes. There is no class for the girl, who is in middle school. She is beginner level, and needs her phonics sorted. The boy's mother wanted a separate class for her son on which I foolishly agreed in case I had another student. I will not make another class for Nathaniel unless we have 5 students.
One mother would bring her 8 year old son who will go to Starter.
Another mother has two kids aged 9 and 8 who have been in the kindergarten for 2 years. She will bring them for level testing on Saturday. She seems to be more interested in private classes at home.
If all goes well, and the mothers don't change their minds, we can get one Starter group with 4 students aged 8 years old, plus Soonjae.Total 5. I will make 1:30 class for them. I will not make any double classes when Nathaniel and I have to be there at the same time, unless a class has 5 students minimum. 5 students can pay one teacher's minimum wage of 800,000 won per month. I will put one more boy whose mom wanted a separate class together with 5:30 Junior 1, so we can have 4 students in that group.
Provisional March Schedule and Classes
1:30(possible2:30) Starter Phonics 5 students, aged 7 & 8.
2:30 Regular Junior 1 with Sally & Andy. (6 students)
3:30- No class
4:30 Regular Junior 3 with 4 students. Jeehwan, Seong Yeong, Lina, and New Girl -all in middle school.
5:30 New Junior 1, aged 9 and 10 years old. Possibly plus one 5th grade student. (3 or 4 students)
6:30 On Tuesdays and Thursdays High school 2 students. They are under a big question though.
Potentially we have 10 new students. Potentially.
We have 50 min, classes every day of the week. Schedule: Mon, Tues,- English; Wed,-Library class (kids work on projects, read books independently and with teacher help) Thurs.- Social studies; Fri- Science.
My need
One thing I realized now as my family is away is how much I depend on them for their emotional input. In the past, as I was always struggling to find time for work and family, I used to think what a relief it could be to do just work. The reasoning behind it was that concentrating on one is more effective and productive. In my fantasy I would become a perpetual production line: so much planned, so much done, so much... As it turned out it doesn't work that way. I did get a ton of work, and I got myself into a ton of trouble emotionally, physically, and spiritually. It is a bit of an eye opener that I need my family for me, not I need me for them. Needing me for them means I need to work to provide, I need to find time to be with them, so they are happy and know I am there, I need to extend work and take on new challenges so we get out of the rut. But I actually need them, just need to see them, talk to them, and do stuff with them. Life is more simple than I thought.
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