Teaching opportunity in Korea (Well Paid Even) - Page 2

Dear Mr. Shen,

Thank you for your interest.  Your credentials are impressive indeed.  Could you please respond with the following information at your earliest convenience?  Since I have already started to receive many applications, the earlier the better (within 3 days from now would be good).  I plan to conduct phone interviews with instructor candidates in early August and to have our teaching staff lined up by the end of August.  I have also included more information below about our program.

(1) An up-to-date resume or CV.  Please include your educational and professional history.  (You already did this.)

(2) A list of all scores on your SAT and SAT subject tests, AP exams, and national-level math and science exams.  If you are hired, we will ask for official transcripts from the testing authorities, so please be complete and accurate.

(3) An unofficial transcript of your undergraduate and (if applicable) graduate academic records.  If you are hired, we will ask for official transcripts from your universities, so please be complete and accurate.

(4) Any relevant math or science awards or accomplishments.

(5) A description of your teaching and tutoring experience.  Please be specific about the background of the students, the subject, and the outcomes of the experiences.

(6) Names and contact information of two references.  References must be over the age of 18, cannot be related to you, and must be able to attest to your teaching ability.  For example, they can be a former student of yours, a parent of a former student, a peer teacher, or a professor with whom you've taught.  We may or may not contact your references.

(7) Which subjects would you be interested in teaching and at what level?  We will offer
SAT Subject: Math I, Math II, Biology E, Biology M, Chemistry, Physics
AP: Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science A, Computer Science B, Physics B, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity & Magnetism.

(8) What is your citizenship?  Do you hold a ROK or US passport that is valid until at least August 1, 2010 (six months beyond your expected departure from Korea)?

(9) Have you ever been convicted of a felony?  If we hire you, we will request a background check, so please be complete.

(10) Have you ever been suspended or expelled from school?  Please explain.

(11) Have you ever taken illegal drugs?  Please explain.

(12) We are currently unable to offer health or travel insurance for instructors.  However, we strongly prefer that instructors have insurance.  Does your university's or family's insurance policy cover medical or travel emergencies while you are in Korea?

(13) If you are hired, we will ask you to sign a Non-Compete Agreement, in which you will agree not to work for any other company in Korea in the field of private education for a period of two years.  Are you willing to accept these terms?

Our program is quite new; we have not yet recruited students.  Byungjin Hakwon was created in May 2009 by Sang-Yung Kim, Dong-Suk Oh, and myself.  Our goal is to provide motivated secondary school students in Korea with the highest quality American-educated instructors.  Once we have our staff lined up by the end of August, we will unveil our website and begin recruiting students in Korea.  All three of us have years of private tutoring experience and are excited to start our own hakwon (Korean tutoring program).

Our selection process for students will be quite rigorous.  Students must have already taken the SAT and must have scored at least 700 on all three sections.  Thus, you will be working with students who are aiming for the best American universities.  As you may know, the Korean school year is offset from the American school year: it starts in March.  Students will enroll in our program during their winter break (mid-December to early February) and would generally be planning to take the SAT Subject and AP exams in May/June 2010.  The students would have already completed the appropriate subject in school, so our program serves as a review and supplement.  Thus, you can assume that the students have already seen the material, but desire to improve their scores.  We plan to accept 200 students into our program; each will be enrolled in two or three classes.  We expect the vast majority of the students to apply for U.S. universities in Fall 2010 for entry in Fall 2011.

Instructors will teach about 20 hours per week from Monday to Saturday and are also expected to spend about 20-40 hours on their own time preparing for lessons and reviewing homework assignments.  Each instructor will teach three sections (two of which will likely be exactly the same class taught with different students).  You would thus teach three of the following five scheduling blocks, where "early morning" is the two-hour-and-fifteen-minute block 8:00-10:15, "late morning" is the block 10:30-12:45, and "afternoon" is the block 14:00-16:15:

(A) Monday/Wednesday/Friday early morning
(B) Monday/Wednesday/Friday late morning
(C) Monday/Wednesday/Friday afternoon
(D) Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday early morning
(E) Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday late morning

A particular section of a class would thus have 2.25 hours of class 3 times per week (6.75 hours per week), or 40.5 hours for the duration of the program.  This gives you some idea of the pace in which you need to cover material.  Other than class time and regular staff meetings, instructors are free to manage their own time.

Instructors will be housed in the dormitory of a local university, which we will lease.  Classes will take place at our facility in eastern Seoul.  Instructors are also provided with an allowance to use on the Seoul public transportation (bus and subway).  Base pay (total of 31,800,000 Korean won for those with doctoral degrees or are doctoral degree candidates and 24,700,000 Korean won for those who are not) will be given three times (every two weeks) during the program.  Bonuses, which will range from 0% to 30% of pay base, will be based on weekly student/peer instructor/supervisor evaluations and student exam performance in May/June 2010 and will be awarded in one package in August 2010.  We encourage instructors to take time off on Sundays to explore Korea and to experience our culture.

The instructor training program in Fall 2009 will be held as follows:

Day 1 (A Saturday in September): Introduction to Byungjin Hakwon
Day 2 (A Saturday in October): Introduction to Korean Language, Culture and Education
Day 3 (A Saturday in October): Logistics of the Program
Day 4 (A Saturday in November): Work on Lesson Plans and Handouts I
Day 5 (A Saturday in November): Work on Lesson Plans and Handouts II

These sessions will take place simultaneously in San Francisco, Boston, and New York and will be teleconferenced with one another.  Other than these sessions, there will be no preparation expected of you before you arrive in Korea.

I hope this sounds like an exciting opportunity to you.  I must warn you, however, that the academic environment in Korea, especially for students preparing to enter university, is extremely intense.  I hope you are well-prepared to handle this.  In fact, our program is dedicated to helping students develop a balanced lifestyle that includes family and social life, athletics, and hobbies in addition to a devotion to hard work and academics.  I hope our instructors will help instill these values as well.  We may invite our most successful instructors to come back and join us in our year-round private tutoring practice.  As you may know, tutoring in Korea is a lucrative industry, where the very best tutors can earn in excess of USD 1,000 per hour.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.  I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Hyun-Won Park, Ph.D.
Curriculum Development Director
Byungjin Hakwon