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Kids College Walker Hill Guuu.

Mon, Jul 20 at 11:30 PM

The internet is scattered with bad reviews about this school. Most mentioning the same things and same person over and over again.

I worked there for less than a month before quitting. Everything they said to me in the interview was a lie - even answers to the specific questions I asked. They told me what I wanted to hear and sent me photos of a fake apartment and fake school. The real locations were grim.

The staff were all stuck in contracts and looked miserable. Nobody was there for longer than a year. All desperate to leave but needed to wait out their contracts. Everyone had been recruited as a replacement for someone doing a midnight run.

Huge mismatched tables and chairs for 4 year old kids to sit on. Drawings all over the walls. Dogs running through the halls. The projector was too low at the back of the room and just shone into everyones eyes. Impossible to use. The window in my classroom was broken glass. They said oh yeah we know about that...

They called me in on a sunday morning after the orientation and asked me why I wasnt enthusiastic. They were questioning my commitment to the school. Haha. The vice director then outright lied about things that I had apparently said to her. I didnt know what to do. Obviously I defended myself but the director believed the VD over me.

The next day I got a message asking why I had failed to show up to a meeting that I hadnt been told about. Then the day came for me to update my visa with the school... they presented me with a different contract than what I had seen previously. Different start date, different working hours, poorer conditions, my name was even typed out incorrectly. I questioned them about it and was told theyve done this 100 times. I refused to accept it and they fired me.



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Maple Bear Pyeongchon

Sun, Jul 20, 2020 at 20:37 PM

I would like to post a black list for maple bear Pyeongchon. I just want people to be aware of this school.



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Fast one and Dux academy.

Sun, Jul 19, 2020 at 4:30 PM



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Fast one and Dux academy.

Sun, Jul 19, 2020 at 4:30 PM

Hi,

I'd like to add these two academies on the blacklist. I have friends who worked at these places and told me the true nightmares of working there. I see both have been put on the greenlist after being severely blacklisted but they over-killed it on the greenlist which is a warning sign. There are too many posts, one after the other, of script written precision about what's happening there. Be careful of these kinds of places where posts are put up in mass and that has info. too good to be true.

Good luck!



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YBM Seoul (Adult Division)

Thu, Jul 16, 2020 at 4:21 AM

They completely lied about overtime work. The contract mentioned mandatory overtime would be on Saturdays once (or) once every other month. Nope, it turns out that it was every other Saturday.

As far as training and management, I should have known that there would be problems. The guy who I was replacing said, "Yeah, when you meet the boss, just... keep an open mind." (What the hell does that mean?)

The trainer/boss/drill sergeant was hot-headed, impatient, and just a down-right brutal human being. If you made mistakes during the training, he would... make exaggerated sighs, close his eyes and rub his temples, start taking deep breaths to avoid exploding, etc. And don't get me started about making the same mistake twice. This guy shouldn't even be around people, let alone put into a managerial position.

Someone else on here was right about how they put the cart before the horse. They expect you to be a robot who has memorized the training book before you've even been assigned to your branch.

There's a reason why this company is constantly hiring for their adult branches in Seoul. Do yourself a favor and avoid this hellhole.



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Chungdahm CDI April Ulsan Branch

Fri, Jul 10 at 2:12 AM

*REVISED TO REMOVE IDENTIFIERS*

I would like to start this review by saying that I was able to leave on (somewhat) peaceful terms, but the treatment I experienced, and what I witnessed my coworkers go through was reprehensible, and I believe any person coming to Korea should steer clear of this academy.

April/Chungdahm academies have horrible reputations for a reason, and this school is no better. Just know if you choose to work for ANY CDI/APRIL school, corporate will NOT help you with your legal issues. Your problems are for you.

This is a shortened list of the wrongdoings at this location, but the Ulsan CDI branch is known for:

-11 months firings (and a few midnight runs)

-Taking away owed vacation days, and trying to pay them out at the end of contracts. Some people were written up for no reason, just so xxxxxxx could create a reason not to pay out the time off teachers were owed. The also has teachers work red days/intl holidays without holiday pay.

-Refusing to pay overtime, Then attempting to fire people who ask about it. Be warned that teachers work HUNDREDS of OT hours during summer and winter intensive camps, and you will likely not see a dime for it.

-White male teachers are given preference and higher pay over everyone else. I know this typical in the ESL world, but the teachers who received this benefit were lousy instructors, who could barely articulate themselves, let alone speak well enough to command a classroom with confidence. It was extremely disrespectful to female employees who actually had legit teaching licenses and studied education/taught in the their home countries.

-Changing teacher schedules/classes/working hours without notice.

-Manipulation and emotional abuse. A lot of mind and power games are played. Bullying and the occasionally public berating are also fair game if you are really disliked.

-A revolving door staff (Korean and foreign). In my time there, we went through 3 to 4 managers, and countless Korean desk staff. Most of them were never even introduced to the team. We would see them for a few days, and they never came back. Most of them quit after one week, or were fired for no reason. Also, many Korean staff have personally sued for harassment.

-Spying on employees with CCTV/listening to audio of private conversations between teachers, then referencing it in meetings. I was questioned about conversations I had with other teachers countless times. Many people would come to me to vent or complain. I never partook in work bashing on campus sogtrusted me,h and would call me in to try to get information about the other teachers. They wanted to to weaponize teachersf words against them to use as punishment. I was strong enough to say gplease speak to the teacher you are concerned about directlyh, but they did try to manipulate me into badmouthing other teachers.

-Attempting to deny legally owed sick/bereavement days. In the cases of immediate family deaths and emergency surgeries, time off is LEGALLY mandated. They tried to offer those employees a letter of release instead of giving them time off, which is required by labor law AND company policy. When this was reported, they attempted to ask these employees to supply (and pay for) their own substitutes. This is NOT a mom fn pop academy. This company has over 200 locations and is worth MILLIONS. They could afford to do what was right, they just didn't want to.

The place was ruled with an iron first, critiquing our every move and micromanaging teachers. This school also did not have a head instructor at the time, so employees were forced to directly communicate with management (who often avoided or shut us out). This created an environment of fear and compliance. The anxiety and stress I faced each day were unbearable. I was constantly looking over my shoulder, walking on eggshells, and recording every interaction with management, waiting for them to lash out at me. An unqualified management team paired with unqualified teachers is the perfect storm for a toxic work environment.

RE: Missing pay - Getting the labor board involved was the only way we got paid, and even still, not all teachers were paid what they were owed. Many were shorted, and the select few who were paid in full were told to keep it quiet. Then we all received a staff email staying that anyone who complained about overtime moving forward would be fired.

Many employees (including myself) reported the behavior. We had the emails, recordings, and proof of unpaid labor. I asked corporate for a transfer or some sort of intervention. I was told that they were aware of this behavior for YEARS, but there was nothing they could do because it was a privately owned branch. So basically, they knew this place was horrible, and sent us there anyway (even though I thought I did my due diligence by asking about this schoolfs reputation before signing).

HR purposely lied to me (and other naive first year ESL teachers), telling us this location was great, because they knew that seasoned teachers from the area wouldn't touch this school with a ten foot pole. HR then said I would have to quit and try to negotiate a letter of release on my own, then MAYBE they could help me find another branch to sign a new contract with.

The only positives (at the time) were the short working hours, and kind Korean desk staff, who unfortunately faced the brunt of the abuse.

Apparently, since my departure, management is even WORSE, and the working hours have increased to a full 40 hours a week (for the same measly salary). Not worth it all. Steer clear, and good luck with your job search.



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YBM Adult division.

Saturday, July 9, 2020, 6:32 PM

YBM Adult division (all over Korea).

I'm an Australian who no longer works in Korea but worked there before. I'd like to add YBM's adult academy to this blacklist because of the way they treat people. I resigned from a very good job about a year ago due to promises made by YBM. They insisted that I resign first and obtain a letter of release which was very risky for both me and the academy I worked for. After doing all of that, and telling them the risk I took and the situation I put the academy in, they kind of brushed it off. About 3 weeks later I went for the scheduled interview at YBM and was told tons of great stuff about the company and about a week later I was told that I wouldn't be hired. A month had passed since I got my release letter and I had to try and reverse the entire process of resigning but my manager told me that they had already found a replacement and the director confirmed it. I was left jobless without any sympathy from YBM's hiring staff etc. (that I blame for me losing my previous job due to false promises from them) and had to start looking for another position which I eventually found but which was a very tiring process.

Rather stay away from this place since you'll just get caught up in a trap. They are still hiring and still expect teachers currently in Korea to submit release letters, which basically means you're going to resign, before being interviewed for a "potential" position. It doesn't make sense and, quite frankly, makes it sound as if the hiring staff are not very organised and thoughtful about teachers and the well-being of other people.



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TASK English in Cheonan, Chungnam

Saturday, June 27, 2020, 7:43:44 PM

I only worked here for a couple of months before I had to quit. At first this place seems pretty good, the curriculum is good and they have a mimicking program that helps students speak English really well. It's only after you have started to work here that it's not a good a place as you first thought. Xxxxxx had a lot of problems with me while I was there. They micromanage everything you do and expect your level of work to be that of someone who has graduated from Teacher's college back in the US and has taught English professionally for at least 5 years. They knew my background and were ok with it but then they started to critique everything I did. The training I recieved was a handbook and watching a week's worth of classes so they don't prepare you for the actual teaching required. The amount of work one person has to do is impossible and you're constantly kept busy including during your "breaks". The kids have told me that they have no time to do their homework because of the sheer amount of it. They don't get to have any fun and be kids cause they always have work to do. I have since learned that in the past this type of thing has happened to someone else as well and they quit because of it. The other teachers also complain about the amount of work and one has quit because of it while I was still working there. It is not a good environment to be working in.



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Sejong Poly

Thu, Jun 18, 2020 at 8:31 AM

Avoid this Poly at all cost. You will regret it. On a good day, working at Sejong Poly is tolerable. On an average day, it is nightmarish. The school suffered greatly due to the change in management over the last few years. Everything about this Hagwon is a disaster. The way they run the school, it is a mess. -You always get different information from management. Often times parent will receive updates before the FTs.

-This place is really unprofessional and bottom line xxxxxxxx.

-Poly is famous for having long hours but Sejong Poly is at another level. 40+ hours with short bathroom break in between class. You get less than 3 mins between class for bathroom breaks. Insane.

-They will do everything that disadvantages teachers if it is advantageous for them, whether that be time, money, etc, from the biggest areas to the smallest concerns.

-They treat foreign teachers like property.

-The working hour is insane. They give 1 to no breaks per week. Prep time non existence.

The xxxxxxxx has no idea how to measure a student's ability but is in charge of organizing the classes. As a result, teachers have classes with students that know how to read and write placed with other students who do not know the alphabet. They overwork their employees and like to belittle employees The xxxxxxxxx are horrible people who thinks they owe you. They have got into legal issue before but they don't learn. Instead they blame the FTs.

Sejong poly is a horrible place to start your teaching career in Korea. Stressful work culture and condescending head instructors. The company places an overwhelming emphasis on customer satisfaction. Teachers are constantly expected to go above and beyond to please parents. Any complaints are 100% blamed on the teachers. You have been warned, Stay Away at all cost



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JM English Academy in Songpa

Fri, Jun 26, 2020 at 6:41 PM

As of 2020, this academy has a strong preference towards fair-skinned applicants. This is often spoken of by senior and returning teachers as a funny gquirkh of the workplace, but the racial bias is very unethical. I invite you to request teacher photos from this workplace - you will not find anyone who isn't fair skinned. If you seek a workplace with integrity, your search is best continued elsewhere.

Classes at this academy are dull and stressful. This school has no set curriculum, and classes change every single year. JM requires you to follow a very specific, extremely micromanaged class standard, yet they do not provide lesson plans (you must prepare these on your own). JM is highly concerned with physical appearances and pleasing parents. Elementary classes tend to be more relaxed (in terms of photo-ops), but the workload is disorganised, unbalanced, and often suffocating. There is a very high staff turnover for both Korean and English teachers.

The location and housing offered by this academy is decent, but it in no way makes up for the chaos of the workplace. While this hagwon is not gas badh as some nightmare hagwons (employees are paid on time, the standard rate of 2.1 million krw), I very strongly encourage you to seek other academies in the Seoul area.



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MPoly Dongnae, Busan

Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 6:13 AM

I gave my notice after working here for about two months. It was an incredibly hostile work environment and there were other issues as well.

- Pay problems. My first paycheck came 4 days late. I was not taxed properly for the first two months. The first month I was undertaxed and the following month I had to pay double. I was not notified of the problem but asked once I received my pay stubs.

- I had to sign an alternate workdays contract. which was broken by the employer. It said that I wouldn't have to go to work certain days but was later told that I would need to report to campus.

- To make up for missed days due to COVID 19 I had to work 12.5 hours days and was not paid overtime.

- For over a week I worked 9-hour days with no breaks.

- Two days a week I had to teach 6 hours straight.

- It felt like there was an invasion of privacy. I was required to give my work laptop password to my coworkers. I was required to give my apartment passcode to my supervisors. They filmed many of the foreign teachers' classes without our permission. They told us it was for absent students to view but we later heard that this was not true. Further confirming this as a lie, they filmed some classes in which all students were present.

- The Korean teachers ate dinner and cooked without the foreign teachers. We had complained about not getting breaks and being hungry, while they cooked and ate during our classes.

- During my last week of classes, one of my folders with all my class materials for four classes was stolen. I asked my xxxxxxx about my folder and they pretended like they were searching for it. I later found out that my folder had been given to the new teacher at the school. I still had to teach those classes, so I had to scramble to find activities for my students.



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Hanseo University

Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 6:15 PM

There is only one person xxxxxxxxxxx there, and absolutely shouldn't be. The other foreign professors hit the door as soon as possible. You'll see Hanseo's ads looking for replacements twice a year, and take if from me, who no longer works there, there is a darn good reason for it.

Generally, they do Hagwon-style behaviors but at the university level: favoritism, nit-picky, micromanaging, gossip, wildly undisciplined / uninterested students and there is nothing you can do about it. They sometimes get aggressive when you don't just pa$$ them on through.

It's out in the middle of nowhere, and you'll be extremely sorry for ever accepting a joyless crummmy job way out in the sticks.



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RISE Yeouido

Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 4:43 PM

Please consider other options before coming to Rise.

This system here is incredibly bureaucratic. The management will make incredible promises to get your employment, but they will not honor them. Examples are lying about working hours, holidays, and most importantly work responsibilities. You will be sold expectations and they will say they cannot help or change anything once you complain. Due to covid we work through our vacation, holidays and weekends.

The school is very cheap. You will not get the resources you need. YOU will be required to attend Rise training camp that is very modern and fully supplied. The actual school in Yeouido is not set up properly. It does not have working air conditioning in some classrooms. They have very limited consumables like paper towels, crayons and sadly not enough food for lunch. They do not have enough computers or touch screen TV's, even though that is an important class type for rise.

The provided housing is very far away from the school and is not pleasant. 20-60 mins by bus pending traffic. The units are dilapidated and have bad mold and silverfish. Again Management will not care.

PLEASE consider other options before coming here.



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Iya skola, Seoul

Wednesday, May 20, 2020, 2:17:11 AM

Everything about this hagwon is a disaster.From the cluelessness of obtaining a visa for you and the unresponsive recruiter hired, to the way they want the school to be run, it's a mess.I was the first foreigner to work at the wirye branch and my god I had an awful time.

First off, when you arrive at the apartment, it will be completely empty. They won't order you a bed until you arrive so you must wait several days. This happened to all four foreign teachers.

The person you interview with will be from headquarters, and she's sooo sweet and she'll describe the school as an environmental green school where you go hiking and do lots of outdoor activities. This is not the case, the franchise locations want their schools to be completely devoid of outdoor activities. So the main reason I signed with them turned out to not even be true which was heartbreaking on its own.

My first day (same for the other foreigners who came later) I was given a schedule with 30 classes and given no instruction on what they even were or how/where to teach them. I was supposed to have training at headquarters, but that never happened for any of us. We were constantly belittled, ridiculed, yelled at, and deameaned for being 'incompetent, unprepared teachers.'

When the coronovirus happened really bad in Korea, I posted a video on Instagram saying I'm really struggling and scared and anxious, never having mentioned the school once but the following day, I was approached, and despite not following me on Instagram but apparently just stalked my account daily, the person came in my room and screamed at me for 'spreading fear to parents and if I don't want to be in Korea then I should just leave'. So rather than given the support I desperately wanted, I was told how much of a burden I am.

Other things: you will be watched all day on the cctc because there is apparently nothing to do except criticize you. Foreigners are verbally abused, literally screamed at, and have rumours spread about them. the schedule changes about twice a week because they can't decide what they want. In one week they changed from 'an English kindergarten' to a 'play school' and back to 'an English kindergarten' three times. But that's a weekly change. They use personal attacks and verbally abuse staff. For example, they told me that i don't belong in korea, that's its not my home and Korea would be better without me in it.

They threaten to fire you all the time but if you try to quit, they will require you pay them back an entire paycheck and they refuse to give letters of release. Pay is late. I once got a paycheck 700,000 less than what I should have received, and so I asked for a pay slip and was then 'fired unless I write an apology letter for not trusting them'

They'll make fun of how you and what eat at lunch time. And don't even think about eating seconds of anything, or they'll start accusing you of stealing food. There is no teachers office, so no one knows where to go.

Headquarters offers a curriculum, but the owners are really incompetent, ordered all the incorrect books and then required us to write a new syllabus and curriculum for each class. It was their own mistake yet they wanted us to fix it for them.

They accept any rich child, so we are stuck with the kids that didn't get accepted in other hagwons for their behavior problems. I'm not kidding, we had a boy go into the girls bathroom and watch a little girl pee from above the stall, we had a child punch the manager, another kid scratched another student making him bleed excessively. One kid broke the gym room mirror. Another kid threw a tennis ball at a two year olds head.

About 5 of the kids scream at the top of their lungs for long periods of time if they don't get their way. And pretty much every student fights eachother. Basically, this is the worst hagwon you could ever work at. The environment is toxic and the owners clear ydont care about the teachers, just their pockets.



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Little River Day School

Thu, Apr 23 at 5:45 AM

My fiance and I completed a year at this abusive, unprofessional gschool.h I want to help anyone I can to not suffer through Little River Day School the way that we did. I could go on for pages about all the reasons you should not work here, but I will try to make it concise through bullet points of the main things:

* I will start by saying that during our one year at LRDS, we saw four teachers midnight run due to the corrupt and miserable environment. If four teachers midnight running within a year isn't a red flag, I don't know what is. The Korean staff also changed on a weekly basis, with the Korean staff fired constantly and without warning. Others left due to the incompetence or the abusive treatment they often suffered. These factors contributed to a tense and hostile work environment.

* Perhaps the most glaring issue: money. The school withheld nearly two thousand dollars in from EACH teacher. The school secretly registered us as independent contractors as well. When we were able to obtain our own copy of the tax documents that the school submitted to the Korean government, the amounts reported were lower than what was deducted from us. When confronted with this we were only screamed at and were refused any answers.

* They also do not give British employees' pension. They do not start paying into the pension (for Americans) fund until ~5 months into your contract. This alone will lose you around 500 dollars if you are an American seeking a pension refund. We were not provided health insurance until 4 months into our contract, another money-saving technique.

* You will not get your ARC (Alien registration card) until 3 months in. Most schools give this within the first few weeks. It is extremely hard to establish a life in Korea without it.

* The school lies about providing lesson materials and a curriculum. They tell all the incoming teachers that they will not need to make their own lessons and that the class materials are provided for them. This is 100% not true. We were provided with a printed list of gsight wordsh, a page with about 100 words in list form, and told that this was the curriculum for our classes.

* We are discouraged from teaching the meaning of the words. We are discouraged from teaching the alphabet to new children. We must only teach from a single piece of A4 paper with a list of words that they need to pronounce.

* This next point is not a joke. You must bring your own paper to use the work printer. You will be screamed at in your face for printing with gprivate paperh (even for lesson materials).

* This leads into a huge, overall aspect of the school that will ensure any teacher cannot properly do their job: this school is extremely disorganized. This point could stretch for paragraphs, but to be succinct: everything is a mess on a fundamental level. There is zero communication about incoming or leaving students, materials that are requested will never be given or will be given months later, they have no clue about the student's abilities, class scheduling, etc. It is guaranteed that as a teacher at LRDS, you will never know what is happening until very last second, and instructions or notices will be extremely unclear. You will be blamed for their mistakes.

* There are zero provided sick days at LRDS. I was told to attend work no matter what, even when I was contagious and feared making children sick. There is zero tolerance. One day I woke up with a migraine with severe vomiting and could not stand. I was in so much pain I could not see clearly. I told the school there was no way that I could teach, at least for the first few hours of the day. Employees showed at my apartment and forced me to work. When my fiance contacted bronchitis, he had to go to work. When I was hit by a car? I had to go to work. If you are considering LRDS, I urge you to think of what a year with 0 sick days meansc there is truly no empathy. As our first coworkers told us gYou can take a sick day, but it will also be your last day.h

* Furthermore, LRDS refused to shut during the Coronavirus epidemic. Though it was gheavily advisedh by the president and most hagwons closed for at least a few days or even weeks, they told us the only way they would close the school is if a student contracted Coronavirusc in which case it would be too late.

* Management is known for flying off the handle and bullying specific employees. If you need proof that countless teachers have had similar experiences, I urge you to search for the Facebook page Jeonju Knowledge, and search for gLittle River Day School.h You will find numerous posts from former teachers saying things such as gthis school closing would be the best day in the world,h shocking behavior and unjust firings.

* If you are a female, expect to be demeaned repeatedly. One of the many instances that my coworker and I experienced this was when we requested a trash can in the female restroom. There is no bin in the bathroom to throw female sanitary items into, which forced us to bundle up our used items and smuggle them out to a trash can across the school. We kindly asked if we could have a trash can in our restroom, and they were appalled at our request, and said to consider gthe position we were putting them inh by asking for such a thing, saying gwhat would the mothers think if they saw a trash can in the women's restroom?h They screamed at my co-worker and told her to use the bathroom across the street. They degraded us and made us feel like we were requesting an inappropriate luxury, and not a basic sanitary right.

* The school avoids speaking to women directly. The school is always staffed with two couples, and they will only address anything business related with the male employees, purposefully excluding females from any important discussions.

* The school lies during the interview and says the provided housing is gvery close to the school.h The school is an over 35-minute walk from the apartments. You should consider how much of your day this walking commute consumes, and how unpleasant walking in the pouring rain across the city feels.

* Any repairs to the apartment will take months to be looked at or just never addressed at all. Both apartments owned by the school had severe black mold. The underfloor heating does not work, so you will freeze in the winter. The A/C is ineffective so you will boil in the summer. They routinely promised new apartments but never changed them.

* They deduct money from the severance, around $600, for cleaning fees, for one person to do a 20-minute sweep of the floor (we saw this). The school tried extremely hard to force us out of our contract a week early to avoid paying severance.

* The kind parents of the children who attend the school often leave gifts such as coffee, food, clothes, even money to the foreign teachers. Korean teachers at the school informed us that the director and receptionist take these for their own use and do not give them to the teachers.

This summary only scratches the surface of the misery this school inflicted on us and all our coworkers. It is not worth the 2.1 million won the school offers (please research the current going rates for salary in Korea. You can do better than this school for the mistreatment they will put you through.) You will be treated like an imported commodity here and given no respect. I pray that no one else must experience Little River Day School.



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GSI Cheongna and GSI Ilsan (Global Standard English Institute)

Thu, Apr 2 at 10:05 AM

I'm blacklisting GSI Cheongna and GSI Ilsan (Global Standard English Institute).

I'll get to the point fairly quickly on what to expect if you stupidly choose to work here despite red flags and warnings, like I did:

-They will do everything that disadvantages teachers if it is advantageous for them, whether that be time, money, etc, from the biggest areas to the smallest concerns.

-The school will list you as IC (independent contractor) to save on taxes, then lie to you when confronted and try to persuade you that it's for your benefit.

-The school will not pay your pension unless prompted countless times throughout the year, giving it a few months before stopping once more. Like a derelict toddler with little attention span, you have to stay on top of their legalities and finances for them if you expect things to run anywhere near smoothly.

-Lies. Lies, lies, lies. Lies by omission, direct lies. The school will collapse before management is honest about the things that really count.

-Housing up in the air. You will likely be placed into an Airbnb and then moved to one dirty place before being moved again to a dirtier place. You will be lied to about permanent housing the entirety of the year, being told it's up to the market when 9/10, it's a grubby money-saving decision. You will be housed in an uninhabitable environment that's not up to health code and dangerous, but you will live like this for months after alerting folks in charge because let's be real, no one here cares about you outside of the underpaid labor you provide.

-Confusion, constantly. Things change fairly quickly and foreign teachers are often the last to find out.

-Prepare to sweat in classes. The curriculum is hugely prop heavy, consuming time after and before work during unpaid hours if you're not careful. You are face-to-face contact with the class for the entirety of the class. Violent and distractingly ill-mannered children are free to roam the classrooms and halls causing destruction so long as their parents pay the fees.

-You will fly in and get straight to work. You will observe classes, train, and meet staff after 10+ hour flights. Once you hit Korean soil, your time is assumed theirs.

-Any financial mistakes they make, YOU will pay for. Late utility? You're paying it. Fees accorded due to their own forgetfulness. YOU pay for it. And if they ever cop the fee, they will make sure you know to prostrate and thank the heavens above that they dispensed such a generous mercy upon you.

-New parents are constantly shown around

I'm sure this sounds biased, from an embittered teacher. I may not be able to convince the reader, but I am a very patient, compromising person. I give people and institutions chances. I communicate often. I do my best not to complain or blame. But there are people and places that will use that quality in people to the last iota and GSI is one of them. DO NOT work here if you don't want to waste a year of your time and potential. If I could rewind time and choose a different place to work knowing what I know now, I would have. There is not a single foreign teacher known in the time spent there that the administration didn't screw around with. They don't appreciate their workers. You are economic fodder to them. They expect good teachers with their hearts in the process but refuse to give what it takes to cultivate that attitude upon first arrival or throughout the year.

To be quite honest, I wish I wasn't writing this. I wish I could say that my year in Korea went smoother. I expected bumps. I expected miscommunication. I expected having to adjust to a new work culture, new hierarchies, and assimilate somewhat to a place I was completely foreign to. I did not expect the constant, unending, parade of absolute disrespect and incompetency throughout the entire working year thanks to GSI. I still had my fun outside of work, but within it was stressful, degrading, exhausting, dangerous, and at times, even nightmarish all rolled into one.

Anyway, it's your choice in the end. Hope you choose better than I did!



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Feinschule, Gyeyang-gu (near jakjeon), Incheon.

Wed, Mar 25 at 11:25 PM

Hi Jon,

I'm back in the U.K. now. I worked at Feinschule back in 2017 and had a bad experience. I'm one of many teachers who worked here and the foreign staff turnover is very high. I'm most certain that they wouldn't remember me and I don't care since I don't need their references and just wish I forgot about ever working here. They pay on time but the management sucked. The foreign teachers were also picked on and warning letters were easily dished out. I got a warning letter for something very trivial, regarding my work, that could've easily been fixed if it was discussed with me.

This institute is more about money than anything else. They hired an xxxxxxx teacher from New Zealand at one point to fill in for a new teacher who arrived late. The New Zealander didn't have the proper paperwork to work here, after being fired from his previous academy, and took on a short-term job here before heading back. It's a shady and xxxxxxxxx institute. As I mentioned before, they pay on time but working here is a nightmare as they pick on work, withhold information, dish out warning letters like it's nothing and are very demanding and misleading regarding work. They also blame everything on the foreign staff and do illegitimate dealings that seem to go against what Korean law states. Gaslighting is also a big part of this xxxxxxxx institute.

Vacation is another matter I'd like to bring out as sick days don't exist here and one finds oneself spending more time just working and working than doing anything fun. Please, stay away from this institute. Anyone who tries to give it a positive rating and go against what I'm saying here is a liar. I wouldn't be surprised by that as I had to lie about his institute when out and about in public in order not to tarnish their reputation.

Cheers



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Little River Day School in Jeonju, South Korea

Thu, Mar 19 at 12:50 AM

Avoid this school at all costs. There are so many things wrong with this school and the xxxxxxx. The school is completely disorganized. There were new students in and out of classes every week. Often times teachers got zero notice for these new students. It was common to walk into class and see a new student sitting there with no explanation or the teacher would be told literally minutes before class began. Additionally, management has no qualifications for teaching English and will rely on teachers to make up curriculum or give you a curriculum that makes no sense when you attempt to implement it in the classroom. Despite this, the school will tell you that all the curriculum is given to the teachers. On top of this the management has no idea how to measure a student's ability but is simultaneously in charge of organizing the classes. As a result, teachers have classes with students that know how to read and write placed with other students who do not know the alphabet. Female teachers were mostly ignored and rarely ever spoken too, while male teachers were actively communicated with. The female teachers were also denied a waste bin for the disposal of feminine hygiene products or any other trash in the women's restroom. This forced women to dispose of products in a trash can outside of the actual restroom and within view of all other teachers and students. There were multiple occasions where the female teachers were yelled at or treated differently without an explanation. Finally, teachers were paid on time but there were discrepancies in our pay and taxes that resulted in teachers being paid less than we were promised in our contracts. The school also disregarded clauses in our contract that allowed teachers to request days off. Teachers were also not provided any information from the school during the Coronavirus outbreak. The school refused to close and put teachers and students at risk because of it. Ultimately, the school was clearly doing xxxx things and relied on teachers to not ask questions and keep their heads down. The school only cared about making money and clearly did not care for the well-being of the teachers. There was clearly never any intention to follow the contract that was given to the teachers. Do not come to this school.



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Little River Day School in Jeonju, South Korea

Thu, Mar 19 at 12:44 AM

I could go on for pages about the terrible things this school drags their foreign teachers through, but I will highlight the most important things here. They hire couples with the incentive that you will be able to live and work together, yet it is just one of the few ways they are cutting corners to save on money. From the first day my partner and I arrived I could tell that one of us was being treated completely different than the other. The first red flag to me was upon arrival to our apartment. There were several things wrong already including not having a proper bed for a couple to sleep on (only two twin sized mattresses that had to be 10 years old), and black mold in several parts of the apartment. We (stupidly and naively) ignored these things.

Next red flag was when the female foreign teachers asked for a trashcan in the women's restroom for proper disposal of hygiene products. We were all told no. Something about it glooking badh to the parents and the grisk of the children getting into it.h This was my second sign of workplace discrimination and misogyny in the workplace. Yet we carried on.

The nail in the coffin for my partner and I was the breech of contract agreements. Things like our time off and sick days were going ignored and almost seemed to be used as leverage and every conversation felt political. We always felt there were power plays going on and very strange hierarchal things going on within management and between foreign and Korean teachers. There were several illegalities going on between the school and the 2 foreign couples that I cannot discuss on this website, but that we have plenty of proof of. We loved the kids and teaching English/living in South Korea but we weren't going to be taken for fools for 12 months. So we left. We were the 4th and 5th teachers to leave the school within the last year. That in and of itself should say enough about this school.

Bottom line? they are completely disorganized and irresponsible when it comes to the care of the foreign teachers. They did not take care of us at all during the outbreak of the coronavirus, and they didn't even care to come fix the issues we were having in the apartment. If you are okay with keeping your head down and acting like everything is fine this might be a good fit. They love non-confrontational folks who they can completely take for a ride. You'll be paid on time, but there will be discrepancies in pay and taxes. You will get a nice beat down old apartment that is a 30 minute walk from the school. You will have to scrap together some lesson plans and materials for your classes, even though you will be promised gall materials and lesson plans are provided by the school.h You will be lied to time and time again in order for the school to save face and feel better about themselves. If they had it their way, the foreign teachers would simply keep their mouths shut, do the 12 months and stay out of everyone's hair. This work environment was toxic and anxiety provoking for all the foreign teachers. We promised each other we would make sure anyone else contemplating working for these ppl would know the truth. Don't waste your time.



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Sahm Yook Elementary School

Fri, Mar 13 at 6:15 PM

Sahm Yook Elementary School is a private Christian Elementary School with a very strong academic reputation among Korean parents.

Right after I signed the contract to work here, I was informed that we were getting a new xxxxxxx. This new principal was well known for being unreasonable and ruling with an iron fist. I didn't really care, I've worked in Korea for 6 years and I've more or less seen the spectrum of bosses, good and bad.

I worked the entire year. I kept my head down, and didn't cause any problems, although there was constant tension due to the demands of the xxxxxxx who speaks no English but insists on making all decisions unilaterally.

When the contract was finished, I received my pay and my pension, but no airfare. My contract clearly states that I am entitled to 800,000 won after completing my contract. My wife, who speaks Korean, called the office and asked about the airfare. They said sorry, they had already turned in the budget report for the year and they hadn't accounted for the ticket money. They would need to speak with the xxxxxxx and call us back.

We waited. No call. Called again and spoke with the xxxxxxx, who said she didn't know I was leaving, so now it was too late to get the money. That's not true; I told them 3 months in advance that I was leaving the country. Additional calls resulted in the xxxxxxx passing us off to other people who quite obviously were not in a position to get me my money.

Anyway, it's insane that a school executive can feel powerful enough to simply revoke guaranteed contractual benefits. I can't believe this has happened but it has. I hope lots of people see this and steer clear.



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ILCE (I Love Clover English), Daejeon, South Korea

Thu, Mar 12 at 1:15 AM

In light of what I know has been happening at this academy lately, I feel it is my duty to let others know of my experience.

This is about my personal experience working at ILCE (I Love Clover English) academy in Daejeon, South Korea. It's difficult to put an entire year of experiences into one letter but I will outline the general issues: (Please note I did complete my full year and left on reasonable terms) Firstly, if you do not want to be a janitor, don't take this job. You will be expected to scrub floors, vacuum the whole school, clean air-conditioner filters and take out trash. Not just for your own classroom but for the whole academy (this is not expected at other academies because their is staff hired to do the cleaning). Also keep in mind this is AFTER WORK HOURS, COMPULSORY AND YOU DO NOT GET PAID FOR THESE HOURS.

Secondly, the fumigation was often done with no consent from me before students arrived, while I was working in my class. A man would just walk in and without any explanation and fumigate. My windows were closed and I was just left there to breathe in toxins. I felt that my well-being and health was not considered at all, yet if you are sick they will not allow you to use a sick day (even though according to the contract you are entitled to take 3 days of sick leave).

Next, THE WORK HOURS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM TO BE. Your agent may lead you to believe that you will only teach five classes a day (seems easy right?), well think again. You will be expected to sit there from 13:00 - 21:00 and some days until 22:00. You will be overloaded with unreasonable amounts of lesson planning, you will have to follow an unrealistic and bizzare lesson structures. The school did not give us vacation on public holidays as promised and they did not tell us when our vacations would be in winter and summer so we did not have time to plan trips back home to our countries. The previous teacher needs to train you but then you are confronted for following the methods taught to you by that teacher, and in my case even under-prepared because they expect you to just start teaching off the bat before you even understand the books, lesson plans, daily reports and where to find things on the server. Management would discuss teachers with other teachers in a negative way, thinking those teachers would not tell each other after work hours in private.

When management is unhappy (often unreasonably) you are expected to walk on egg shells and they make the atmosphere for everyone at work uncomfortable. On more than one occasion there was no communication between management, I was often told by different members that the same tasks should be performed in different ways, which meant depending on who was judging the class, I was always doing it wrong according to at least one members standards.

Many teachers have seen them listening to the teachers conversations in their classes before and during lessons while watching the classroom recordings (it may only be used in case of a report of abuse or misconduct by a teacher/learner, it's there for legal reasons), this information was often used wrongfully. Lastly, the school often asked questions about my personal life and then used those things against me to attack my personal character when I was "in trouble" for something (also usually unreasonable). The whole year felt like a power play where they wanted teachers to feel intimidated and afraid to leave. Finally, after I left they were nothing short of rude. I was discussed by management with other teachers after I had left. Worse things have happened to other teachers at this school. Protect yourself and do NOT take this job, no amount of money is worth the emotional abuse you will endure.



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R&R English Academy Gwangyang Jeollanamdo

Wed, Mar 11 at 1:07 PM

This business needs to close for multiple reasons. The students are rushed to finish books to order new books and show parents the false progress that the students are making. A number of students are unable to keep up and as a result they fall behind. They are not moved to the appropriate level or class that they should be in. Management is constantly changing the curriculum spontaneously which confuses teachers and students.

There is no order or system in place. Students can sign up for a class at anytime and the teacher is expected to teach them in as little as five minutes after signing up with no preparation time given to the teacher. Students are constantly being moved from one class to another. At times the teacher must split one lesson into three lessons as the students are using different books yet in the same class. The teacher is forced to divide their attention to teach three lessons in one lesson which is draining and also unfair to the students who need and pay for that attention.

Management is not hands on with the running of the school and if the teacher has a problem, management will avoid the teacher like the plague. Management will avoid calls and messages and when they finally attend to your query, they pretend to do something about it yet they don't do anything about it. Teachers need to be the first to ask about vacation holidays otherwise management doesn't communicate about school closures. The teacher will be asked to participate in kindergarten events on weekends with no compensation yet the contract states that work runs from Monday to Friday. Management takes advantage of the kindness of employees making them work overtime without compensation.

Dinner is not sufficient, dinner for two people is split to accommodate four people. The business has poor hygiene with floors only being cleaned with water and plates and cups are not washed properly so one needs to bring their own cup. The bathroom is also not clean, the trashcan in the bathroom gets emptied once a week. Employees and students freeze in winter since heaters aren't working.

Xxxxx made sexual remarks about people of color and asked personal questions which are highly inappropriate in the workplace. Xxxxx would go to the extent of making foreign teachers feel as though they are indebted for coming to Korea since xxxxx made it possible.

XXXxxxxx is very very good at pretending like they care about foreign teachers, however, the "clients" (parents) are their first priority. This business will not take care of you as a foreign teacher, instead strangers in the community will end up looking out for you. They also try to alienate you from the surrounding community so that you are wholly dependent on them. Encouraging you to not engage with others on social media. They will not give you sick days regardless of a doctor's note (and a bleeding mouth). The academy does not have the interest of the students in mind at all and really only serves to boost the personal egos of a select few. There is also an extreme disconnect between xxxxx and Xxxx. It is like there is an infantile competition between the two over who can make the most parents happy and the most teachers uncomfortable. Their poor treatment of the teachers is not limited to native English teachers only. In a nutshell this is not a good place to work at.



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Winnie Education, Ilsan

Fri, Feb 28 at 5:43 PM

Be weary of Winnie education.

They offered contracts months in advance which were signed by both parties. They then cancelled/terminated the contracts days prior to the start date leaving the teachers jobless. Their decision-making is fickle, they promised job security but disregarded any wrong doing on their part for abrupt contract cancellation. There was no professionalism with how the situation was handled."



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Gyeyang Global Language Center in Incheon

Fri, Feb 21 at 6:33 AM

I want to warn foreigners of color (esp Black) against Gyeyang Global Language Center in Incheon. The hagwon system has a huge hushed up problem with antiBlackness in general but at this school it was very intense. There are three White teachers in particular who have formed a clique and make it a point to exclude people they don't like. The Korean teachers follow their lead. It's extremely nasty. Also, the principal of this school has a habit of trying to fire teachers ten months into their contract (it happened to me and I heard I'm not the first one) to keep from paying severance. It seems to be the foreign teacher they all pick to be the odd one out. It's an attractive school bc it's stable with only a six hour work day but if you aren't White I promise the vicious gossip and favoritism are NOT WORTH IT.

Not to mention the middle school classes are horrible. Class sizes are too large (17!) and the behavior of the middle schoolers is atrocious. Also very disorganized because you will have high level and low level students in the same class. Makes no sense.



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ARA in Jeonju

Thu, Feb 13 at 7:10 PM

Hagwon name:ARA in Jeonju. Used to be called ILS.

Never have I been in such an unprofessional and unpleasant job my entire life. They overwork their employees for little pay and like to belittle employees. Expected to work on weekends for free. Dont follow through with legal obligations like pay amount, work hours, accommodation for home. They dont provide proper living conditions. Apartment was a dump with no furniture, no wifi connected.Hiring a bunch of people from South Africa as independent contractors to get out of legally paying them properly, giving them medical, etc. They have a relative hiring people in South Africa and give false information on what you will receive from your job. Have seen the two directors of the school act extremely unprofessional and rude to their employees. Makes some teachers travel half way across town to work at their elementary at echo city. Teachers work 10 to 12 hours a day for minimum pay. They will promise you 5 days of paid vacation but will only give you three days vacation. Give out an extreme amount of paperwork, you will be unable to complete in a work day, and expect you to complete it on your own time, unpaid. You will be promised a pay raise for teaching more hours and having more work, but wont be given it.

And sadly, I have seen teachers fired for the color of their skin.

Pay have never once been on time, you will have to constantly call them, asking to be paid.

Also, was told by directors directly to lie to the children and parents that you are from America, regardless of where you are from.

I would avoid this school at all costs. They dont have the parents, students or teachers best interests at heart.



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Apgujeong GATE

Fri, Feb 14 at 4:42 PM

On a good day, working at Apgujeong GATE is tolerable. On a bad day, it is nightmarish. The school is suffered greatly due to the change in principal and management over the last two years.

The school was once known for retaining their staff each year (many have been with the company for 3+ years) but now the staff is leaving on a regular basis. Including a head teacher who quit in the middle of the year, a head teacher who was offered a 3 month contract (after 4 years with the company) and the entire age 6 year group (except one).

The management team is comprised of people who were not able to advance in other YBM schools and were hired because of a friendship with the principal, or those without any relevant experience (teachers in prekindergarten schools and R&D). They lack social skills to deal with the issues the teachers have on a day to day basis, they are unprofessional and openly gossip about the foreign staff. They will also go out of their way to pass their responsibilities off to other staff members. They have created a negative atmosphere at the school which is felt throughout. There have also been a number of bullying reports made against members of the management team which were never dealt with and the complaints were shared, resulting in more bullying and a severing of support for that teacher.

The principal has openly discussed private issues with Korean staff, she has branded the foreign staff as lazy, selfish and gossips. When these allegations are brought up with her, she outright lies and places the blame on anyone possible ? including the management team. There is no loyalty between the principal, the management team, the foreign teachers and the Korean staff.

Management has also cancelled all social events for the staff due to the negative relationship they have with their teachers. They are also actively trying to separate the new teachers from the current teachers in an attempt to keep the new teachers in the dark about the issues.

There have also been a number of serious issues that have been covered up my management and the principal, including a male student inappropriately touching a 5 year old female student. The teachers were forbidden from telling the parents of those involved. The female student was visibly distressed but nothing was done.

The sick days have also been cut, something that is not shared with incoming teachers and the mention of them have been removed from the contract. This seems to be only in effect at this branch.

Only accept at position at Apgujeong GATE if you have 4+ years experience dealing with a system that is set up to ruin the motivation of great teachers and if you are comfortable dealing with the politics of hagwon life in an area like Apgujeong. And even then, I would not accept less than 2.6mil per month in terms of salary ? the job is simply not worth it for any less.



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Seocho SLP

Wed, Feb 12 at 2:08 AM

Management

Let's begin with the management. It is like watching a head on collisioncterrible to watch but you can't look away. **** is delusional and unreasonable. They threaten teachers and will emotionally and verbally abuse them. Upper management is completely useless. They offer no support and show no interest in the teachers and their problems. Several problems have occurred between coworkers and management brushes off these incidents or will even encourage teachers to fight. If management does not like you be ready for a year full of passive aggressive acts and micromanagement.

***** does not manage their classes appropriately. **** follow their own rules and upper management allows them to do what they please. ****** will criticize and condemn teachers and their teaching skills. Double standards are all over this school. I think it is fine to give constructive criticism but there is a difference when the intention is to exert your gpowerh or lack of it.

Environment

The environment of this school is toxic. There is no decorum or professionalism to be found here. The school advertises having teachers who have worked at the school for many years. These teachers and their experiences do no reflect what it is like for a new teacher. New teachers are not properly trained and are blamed for making mistakes unknowingly. Foreign teachers are withheld information until the last minute while the Korean teachers are told information in a timely matter. Important information such as events and holiday dates are continuously withheld from teachers until the date is a couple days away.



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Gyeongsang National University (GNU), City of Jinju, Province of South Gyeongsang, The Republic of Korea

Fri, Feb 7 at 6:17 PM

Gyeongsang National University (GNU), City of Jinju, Province of South Gyeongsang, The Republic of Korea

GNU is being sued for violating its employment contracts. SLE (GNU's School of Language Education) entered into its contracts with foreign faculty members, but abruptly changed certain key terms such as job titles and salary amounts without any sufficient advance notice. When objections were raised, GNU forcefully compelled its foreign faculty members to re-sign the illegally altered versions. These unfair modifications were made not by a proper procedure, but by whimsical wishes of one particular dean who completely disregarded the rights and duties of other faculty and staff members.



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Masan Poly Korea School

Jan 26, 2020 at 2:33 PM

Where do I even begin?

This school is in it's very first year of opening. It opened in Feb 2019 and ever since then, there has been a change of management 3 times and 3 foreign teachers have already left. There are many teething problems with management and favouritism has a huge role at this school. There is a difference about complaining and accepting a culture that may be different from our own. Many staff who enjoy working here say yes to everything and will do extra work with no question. Those who stand up for themselves and have questions regarding anything are viewed to be difficult and are treated very poorly. Xxxxxxx needs to realize that there would be no school without the foreign teachers. They do not take any type of criticism well. The Korean teachers have a whole lot less teaching and work than the foreign teachers, yet they are treated with a lot more respect. It is incredibly frustrating.

There are no words to describe how toxic this working environment feels. Overcharged maintenance fees, late pay, no social gatherings/team bonding, and no basic support for anything leaves you feeling very emotionally drained every single day. I highly recommend you try another school as there are so many other options that I guarantee are better.



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Cheonggu Ehwa

Jan 15, 2020 at 5:38 PM

School is very disorganized. Teachers offer crappy books to the teachers and never take the time to make sure that the material fits the level of the students. Classes are huge and events are always last minute. Be ready to work some weekends short notice. Be ready to have several classes with minimal breaks. Bullying is avid here. A teacher was targeted by multiple teachers, but specifically the head teacher and one of the supervisors. They were subsequently sued and the teacher won. Foreign teachers are always left out of important events, but still expected to perform to the best of their abilities. Korean coworkers, especially supervisors, are very aggressive and often invade the personal space of those who their rage is directed at. Awful housing is usually given. A lot of illegal activity occurs here, to the point that one teacher was singled out because an ex-Korean worker was upset with not being paid what was owed to him. This teacher was black and made to the leave the sch ool for some weeks while the investigation was going on. She was offered her position at the end of the month, but she refused. People often have to wait weeks for their housing allowances. I'm sure most hagwons have subpar lunch options, but hair is often found in the food here.



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POLY Cheongna Campus

Dec 13, 2019 at 1:22 AM

Hello,

This POLY branch is different, they will completely underpay you compared to the other branches for the same amount of work and hours, talking about salaries as low as 2.2 million even with experience. If you are caught talking about payslips, you will be fired or some other "legal" course will be taken against you. The xxxxxx staff will play favorites, if you have an idea and they do not like you they will shut it down, however if a person they like agrees with you they would put it into consideration. The position of head teacher isn't based on experience, but rather who they like at the time. They will change things in the contract without notice or claim they have the right to, threaten to fire you if you disagree with their opinions, and even threaten legal actions if one talks about what happens at the school outside of it. I would not recommend coming here, even if you need to save money or pay off student loans, there are other academies that will pay you better.



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Ara Academy, Jeonju, South Korea

Dec 5, 2019 at 10:57 AM

The school hires teachers every few months and promises them a "caring and loving" working environment. When in fact, the environment is very prison-like where Korean teachers spy on foreign teachers for management.

You don't get paid on time and if you question it, the school makes it seem as if it is your fault.

You are often asked to cover extra classes with no overtime pay.

The school is run by fear and intimidation. Any complaints from students or parents is blamed on the teacher.

The school has fired two teachers for no reason and without any warnings on the 10 month of the contract.

If you complain about something or look unhappy they would want to get rid of you.

Everything in the school is fake and pretentious.



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Kids Club in Yeonje-gu Busan

Nov 17, 2019 at 10:52 PM

This is another review on Liberal Grove (how it is listed on the contract) - Kids Club in Yeonje-gu Busan (Kindergarten and after school classes)

This school is indeed a disaster in terms of organization and management for several reasons.

Curriculum: Or lack of one. You will have enough curriculum to get through 20 minutes of your 50 minute class. The rest is for you to supplement despite some of the teachers only getting an hour or less of unpaid prep time in an entire working day. If you choose not to take your work home and work for free although the school states curriculum is provided, you are pressured and bullied by co-workers and management. The management pays 0 attention to what any of the classes are working on. If you have questions about your curriculum, they cannot be answered due to the fact that the management barely knows what book the classes are working on. I had classes were the same books were ordered 3 times, 4 months apart because the management kept forgetting/not knowing that they had already completed it.

Lack of teaching materials and disgusting classroom conditions: Aside from the curriculum, the school also provides 0 technology and 0 additional materials to teach your classes. No projectors, powerpoints, tvs, computers or anything remotele useful. Instead, occasionally you are given a CD with stolen songs to play on a CD player that, 9/10, doesnt even work. The teachers manual CD for the books is hardly ever provided. When I asked for them to order it so the students could complete listening activities, I was told to make it upE Again, if you dont spend hours trying to find ways to supplement to create visual and engaging lessons, youre shamed. The classrooms are also absolutely disgusting. The walls are almost black with handprints because they have not been washed in years. The desks are old and deteriorating. The walls have giant holes physically in them which students have stuffed with trash, paper, etc. In the course of my time there, they made 0 attempts to clean or fix these problems. Teachers / elementary classes do not get their own assigned classroom so these rooms are never cleaned. For the first two months of the new school year, my classes were not even equipped with pencils or erasers for kindergarten students to use.

Negligence of student safety and wellbeing: Despite gaining over a dozen new kindergarten classes in the last 8 months, the school has neglected to hire any new staff. Instead, all teachers were forced to fill the gap so the school doesnt have to fork out more salary money. This has led to several problems, including classes with over a dozen Korean kindergarten students to one foreign teacher in a building with no main office and no support staff. The lack of ability to communicate effectively with students in serious or emergency situations was concerning. When I voiced this concern, I was told to use a phoneE Eventually, when problematic situations did arise due to having no Korean teacher nearby to help with communication, the school had to beg parents and attempt to bribe them to keep them from suing the school. Teachers were blamed despite them knowing this was an ongoing problem. They still neglected to add any new staff afterward.

Unprofessional and immature management: Xxxxxxx will insist on taking you out and getting you drunk any time you tell them you need to discuss work matters. They will also comment on your physical appearance and discuss highly inappropriate topics in work/professional settings. You are almost forced into after work activities, such as dinners, where xxxxx will likely discuss sex life and talk about politics.

Toxic work environment for teachers: In addition to above, if you arent friends with the boss, forget getting anything done. The head teacher was given preferential treatment by the boss not because of their position but because of their friendship. The head teacher also engaged in unprofessional behavior, such as taking new co-workers out to dinner before they had started work to badmouth other workers at the school, leaving all new employees with a bad impression of the staff before even beginning the job. The head teacher also worked to make sure teachers they didnt like due to personal reasons were NOT renewed, and made sure to manipulate everyones impression of them. They will not watch your classes, but they WILL decide if youre a good teacher based on whether or not they can control you.

Vague contract: The contract is intentionally vague so the school can swing it in their favor any time they want to save a buck. There are hidden clauses in the contract, and the school hopes that you will not cause a fuss and sit quietly while they graze off your salary here and there to keep themselves afloat. They dont pay overtime for phone teaching despite it being after hours, and theyll attempt to twist and turn in order to save even 10,000won. They especially make sure of this by attempting to hire new college grads or teachers that have never been to Korea before in order to take advantage of their inexperience and fear of speaking up.

Lack of support with teacher disrespect: During my time at this school, I had students hit me, bite me, tell me to be quiet, go away, stand on their desks/chairs and a plethora of other things that were extremely disrespectful and disruptive. Despite the management knowing about this, they would encourage us not to discipline the students as to not upset the parents. Removing kids from the class was unheard of, even when the student was a danger to other students (hitting other students or acting inappropriately). Rather than care for the education and wellbeing of other students by providing teachers with support to handle these misbehaving students, the management ignored it in order to keep the parents happy so they can keep getting their tuition money.

Overall, this school has zero regard for actually educating any students and they WILL try to scam you out of money any chance they get.



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Norian School in Dunggu Usan.

Nov 14, 2019 at 5:50 PM

This school is notorious for switching teachers and Xxxxxxx failed to pay wages on time. I would strongly advise every English teacher not to work for this school. They are no longer trustworthy and will be kind only to cheat you. The only reason I lasted there for one year is because I needed the money. After I quit, I was so happy and relieved that I wouldn't have to deal with such xxxxxxx people



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FASTONE ENGLISH (Gwanghwamoon)

Nov 10, 2019 at 6:30 PM

First of all, awesome website for potential teachers out there for the ins-and-outs on the hagwons to avoid.

This one is gonna be a blacklist hagwon for several reasons.

Company: FASTONE ENGLISH (Gwanghwamoon)

Many of my fellow ex-colleagues have posted some pretty accurate descriptions on the horrids that this company has to offer.

My experience was actually pretty good. Before the company started to get obsessed with expanding and standardizing everything from teaching to pay scales to employee evaluations.

First of all, my colleagues were a blast to work with, as I worked part time in the mornings. Front staff was always sweet and there was a good positive vibe passing through the morning hours.

THE BAD:

Everything is "Standardized" -

The company has really shifted its values from providing good teaching experiences to following a uniform way to conduct classes. Sure, we're still able to teach our own ways, but there's always pressure to have to follow company protocol. Even the pay is low, compared with other hagwons.

Employee Evaluations:

This part is a completely vague to the instructors. Even T**** has no idea what's going on in the month-to-month assessments for instructors. The thing is, there is a "ratings system" now incorporated into the evaluations. Clients (sure, I should say students, but we clearly saw them only as customers as a result) have the freedom to evaluate instructor performance on a 5 point likert scale. These totaled and averaged points get tagged onto the instructors profiles when students select which teachers they want. So, as natural, students will only select teachers they feel are rated the highest---no indication on whether the teacher knows how to teach --- just a pure popularity contest. To make matters worse, if a student gives a teacher a low rating, T**** will come down on you --- without even providing the student's name. Now, how on God's green Earth are we supposed to know what we did wrong or improve on our craft? It's a pure business. A stressful work culture and condescending head instructors. The company places an overwhelming emphasis on customer satisfaction. Teachers are constantly expected to go above and beyond for each individual student. Any dissatisfaction students have with classes, or lowered retention rates are 100% blamed on the teachers.

Fishy Hirings:

Honestly, there's plenty of teachers who don't even speak English fluently! Their student notes (something we have to complete after each class, and provide the students with as their study notes) are paltry to the bones, meaning barely even filled with corrections or useful notes from the class. Many of the teachers have accents from non-english speaking countries --- but, because they are on the F visa, they're considered a low-cost hire.

Finally, Getting Fired --- for no reason!

A student made a complaint about me. I had no idea what I did wrong. Because she complained, the company fired me for what was considered "breaking the teacher-student relationship" conduct. I have no idea what happened and the company didn't even do an investigation. Of course, even going to the police ---- because it's korea and i'm a foreigner --- well, they're gonna side with the korean company.

These are all pretty similar to the other black list reviews on here about FastONE, and I would like to add what I think is at least part of the reason why:

TLDR: low pay, hectic schedule, unreasonable expectations, incredibly incompetent Xxxxxxxx. Proceed with extreme caution.



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Kids Club in Yeonje-gu Busan

Oct 27 at 2:12 PM

Liberal Grove (how it is listed on the contract) - Kids Club in Yeonje-gu Busan (Kindergarten and after school classes)

This school cycles through new native English teachers quite often. There is a screen on the second floor of a slideshow with a different native teacher in almost every picture.

Kindergarten phone teaching: Painful. The children have to rote learn the answers to five questions they have learntEin class. The teachers basically just do these for half the classes. The teachers quickly learn to make the questions super easy and ridiculous, like what is the name of our class book?E I was told, even though several parents spoke to me on the phone happily, that the students and parents couldnt understand meE even though the students got most of the questions right and were fine in class. They told me that my accent was a problem and that I should fix my voice (preferably to be American or Canadian).

Kindergarten open class: Unlike in EPIK, where I made my own open class lesson plan and did not need to practice it with the kids (because they knew the coursework), I had to memorise a video of a past open class and practice it with the kindergarten kids every morning for ALMOST TWO MONTHS!!!!! It was an awful, awful period. I had to learn four songs and dances and perform them like a show monkey. The kids were encouraged to SCREAM instead of sing the songs and SCREAM the answers to all of the questions. It was a badly written open class they have been doing at the school for years and it was weird to force to kids to do it for months.

No resources: They provide basic flashcards for some morning kindergarten classes and thats it. They give textbooks that are not very good, there is no way to access a screen or any digital technology in the classroom. There is nothing to do activities or show PowerPoints. They do not appreciate or encourage good teaching. There are only three shared computers in the staff room for 10-12 teachers. The teachers have to keep track of boxes of science activities and crafts for the kindergarten classes, which is up to around 60 kids. I got in trouble one time for not being given the right amount of books, which had just been placed on my desk. There is no training booklet provided.

Students behaviour: You are there for the students ENTERTAINMENT. If a students complains about a teacher, that teacher will probably be fired, unless they are close friends with the management. While some students are great, many are incredibly naughty and badly behaved and the teachers let them do whatever they want or they complain about them. Some teachers wrote the answers to tests on the board. They played hangman on the board for half of class. The students expect snack partiesEfrom the teacher or they put on tantrums. They dont want to do any work.

Management treat teachers as disposable idiots: On my last day they put the new teachers suitcase into my apartment at lunchtime before I had moved out (without my permission). They told me all the kids in one class complained and the co-teacher told me none of them had.

Forced to do out of work activities, harassed and bullied by management: There was a general knowledge that not participating in group activities meant that you were more likely to get fired. I was also told that I should lose weight.

Dance classes: There was a dance contest to English songs while I worked there. I had to choreograph and teach a different dance to three afternoon classes. Its was a waste of time and some students left just before because it was ridiculous and they didnt want to do it. Some teachers spent months doing this instead of classwork.

I was contacted months after I stopped working there and told that I had to pay fees for health insurance, which the employer is supposed to pay. They will literally try to scam you and exploit you for anything they can get.

Classes for at least six hours a day while some teachers hang out in the staff room with much less class hours.



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Singapore International School - Gwangju

Oct 27 at 2:03 PM

The pay is the same or less than a hagwon.

Many of the students are incredibly spoiled and very badly behaved. Students screamed in my face, rolled a chair over my foot and slammed my hand against a wall, to mention a few things.

You have to take photos of almost every class. Most of these photos have the students standing in front of the whiteboard smiling (all for show).

There are student surveys to see which teachers are the most popular (teachers that let them playEin class get higher ratings - by this I literally mean skip around the classroom, chat, draw and catch up homework). For this reason the teachers are scared of the students. If the students didnt want to do work in my class they threatened to tell on me to their parents.

Management will infringe your privacy rights outside of work. You will be under surveillance and any criticism of management is reported to them.

There are very small class sizes - if one student drops out for any reason it is a very big deal.

If you work there you will have to plan events that management should plan, such as Christmas parties and UN day.

The trainingEconsists of two days of rambling from the xxxxxxx which youll be expected to memorize.

I was given no teacher guides and had to make all my own materials based on the textbooks. I was not even given a textbook for science.

There are only a few tv screens in the classrooms of the teachers who have been there the longest.

Being a homeroom teacher requires a lot of extra work. New teachers get the worst classes.

The windows are often opened when the pollution is bad to save the school money. The air conditioner controls were removed from the classrooms.

There is paint flaking off the walls in many classrooms and hallways.

There is constant project work to do on top of regular class work.

You have to write all of your own tests.

Some teachers fall asleep in the staff room, miss classes and yell at students with no repercussions and other teachers get in trouble for the smallest things.



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Lighthouse International School, Ilsan

Oct 27 at 12:43 PM

Housing Provided" until your orientation, then they say, Sorry, you have to provide your own housing.E So minus about $600 from your already low paycheck, and you are clearing $1800 a month before deductions.

No curriculum developed, so add in a couple of hours a night making material.

No classroom computer, overhead projector, screen, audio equipment. This place is so unprepared to be a school it's frightening.

One Korean teacher was so overworked, she cried her entire first week.

So how does more work than a Hagwon with less pay than a Hagwon sound to you?



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Wizville Yeonhui-dong

Oct 23 at 10:29 AM

This is long but it needs to be said about this school. I came to Wizville in Yeonhui-dong with the promise of there being minimal side work, no weekly lesson plans, limited involvement of the parents, that all of the teachers there had been there for many years, that it is a relaxed and fun environment for both the teachers and students, things are handled professionally and everyone is able to do their work quickly and always leave on time. After starting I quickly found absolutely none of that is true! When hired, I was given no training at all and rather than explain how I should have done something or what they prefer to be done, they chose to come into my class and yell at me in front of my students, which is something very common across the management there. They will talk down to you about every little thing you have ever done for things that are often their fault. The management continually takes teachers aside and tells them they are causing problems and that they are the only ones who cannot do their work well, which is never true. They regularly try to scare the teachers by saying they will fire them or put them on a probation period. When you ask about your sick days, they will use every excuse possible to not give them to you or lie and say you have used them all. Also, for any teacher that is not a 5 year-old teacher, you will have 2 homeroom classes to manage and prepare for. They will not tell you, but you are responsible for ordering all of your own material, making all of your own circle time lessons,, ordering books, cooking, art and science supplies. You have to do evaluations for all of the classes youre a homeroom teacher for every 3 months, weekly lesson plans, monthly lesson plans, and Telephone English with a large list of kids every other week that will take away almost all of your afternoon breaks. You have no lunch break because you serve your kids their lunch and monitor the class. They will try to not give you your 1 hour break they legally should give you a day.

As for how they treat the children, the elementary kids there are mostly so horribly behaved, and they do nothing about it. The preferred way of handling kids is by yelling at them and just pulling/dragging them out of the class so they can be yelled at even more, which does not help at all. The MK kids are better behaved, but still the fact that there is no organization with anything that they do makes them act up regularly; an example being making the kids sit for like 3 hours so they can watch their classmates read the same speech over and over. The parents basically run the school. One even calling the daycare teacher to yell and threaten her at like 1am to the point the teacher was left in tears. The schools answer was to send other teachers in there to make sure nothing happens to the kids rather than telling the mom to apologize.

As for xxxxxxxxxx, they are absolutely no help and are often part of the problem. They choose to never share important information with the teachers and have no clue what is happening with the other foreign teachers and instead chooses to do their own thing, even being late every day, yet never seems to be in trouble while other teaches are always being yelled at. Going to this school has by far been the worst experience I have ever had with a job/school. They are unprofessional and have no care for their teachers. They will make the school sound amazing and promise so much to you but they will never keep those promises and you will be so stressed from the work load. This year alone, 7 teachers have quit and I wont be surprised if more do this year. Stay far away from this school!!!!



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Big Heart Christian School

Oct 19 at 5:43 PM

This school models itself as an "international school," but the administration is made up almost wholly of one Korean family. The main "principal" is a senior Korean pastor and part of your contract is that you have to attend his church services once a month so that he can show off his foreign staff. The children at the school are lovely, and your fellow staff are typically wonderful to work with as you are all in the "trenches" together. The workload is insane, especially in secondary, and meeting the ever-changing whims of the administration is incredibly challenging. The pay is incredibly low for what is required of you, and they have the staff on 10 month contracts so that they can avoid paying severance. There are many better schools out there; please consider working at one of them.



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MPOLY - Seo-gu, Daejeon

Oct 7 at 9:29 AM

It's been a few months since I worked there but I'd like to caution any other teachers a huge warning before signing over that contract. I worked there back in March and everything seemed fine. Like the usual standard hakwon job. I had just come out of finishing a year contract with an emotionally abusive hakwon in the same province and was looking for something less stressful. I didn't get that with this one. Don't let them sugarcoat their hakwon to you. I asked if they ever had teachers walk out, or do midnight runs and I was told they had low turnover rates. I later found out within a week that the entire Korean teacher section had 5 new teachers except for one who worked there the longest. That to me was a red flag after being told they have such a low turnover rate.

Within a month, I was already stressed out by how horrible most of the students were. No matter my teaching style, they would talk at all times. Always in Korean and never wanted to speak even a lick of English. There would be kids who would talk over me and mock my accent (I'm English). Ask the most racial induced questions and just ruin the entire classroom for everyone. You were constantly being watched by Xxxxxxx and korean teachers to "evaluate" your teaching style. Or at least that was only for me. I knew my students were improving based off my style, yet it still wasn't enough for the head teachers, mostly the Korean teacher. It didn't help that the kids tended to clam up whenever they came in to watch.

I had one class that I absolutely did not like teaching. None of the teachers liked that class, including the Korean teachers. We had one boy who was so toxic and horrible, that we lost 97% of our class to his bullying. It took constant begging from me, another teacher who did a midnight run dang near a month of me being there, and kids quitting the class before that boy was "kicked out" 5 months too late. They care more about money and reputation than the safety and happiness of both teachers and students. The xxxxx teacher and xxxxxxx have an unsually close relationship that me and some other coworkers questioned. The xxxxxxxxxxx acts in an unproffesional manner and never addressed issues she had with foreign teachers to us. Instead, the head korean teacher always used the xxxxxxxxxx as a 3rd party to deliver messages to us. As if she was uncomfortable or afraid of us.

I got fired over stuff that wasn't even my fault and was told "it's just business". The two coworkers I was closest with even said the firing was unfair and biased. When I applied for a new job, I told the xxxxxxxxx of when I would possibly depart from the hakwon and she seemed fine with this. However, when the time came for me to get my release letter from the xxxxx, the xxxxxx and the head teachers freaked out. Seemingly forgetting the day I mentioned that I would leave. Both teachers met with me and demanded I cancel my release letter and told me I couldn't leave early as they hadn't found another teacher yet. Which wasn't even my problem or fault as they fired me. And WHEN they hired a temp teacher in my place, it was a girl I already knew (they didn't know that) and they kicked me out a week before I was supposed to leave the apartment for good. I had to sleep the entire week in a budget motel as I was running out of money and waited on my last paycheque.

I cared deeply for at least the good kids that wanted to still be there. I was almost fought at by a kid when I kindly asked him to stop sleeping and do his work. Nothing was done about it. It's such a shame this hakwon is like this because they would do much better if they listened to us and treated us as more than disposable tools they can replace whenever they want. I still talk to some students from there and even they said they don't like what's going on (high teacher turnover rate, being given vague answers of what happened to previous teachers). I'm at a much, much,better and emotionally stable job now in Jeju where everyone is respectful and supportive of one another. I miss my two coworkers and some of the kids I'm still in contact with. But I'd never work back there again if I came back to Daejeon.

Please do yourself a favour, unless you enjoy being paid 2.2M with a boatload of paperwork, rude and obnoxious students who don't care about you or teaching, with higher ups not caring as well and staff being apathetic, students ready to fight you, or throw out racial slurs if you're anything but white, don't do it. I'm sure there are other hakwons out there that treat all teachers with respect and students are wonderful/tolerable to teach but this ain't it...

Thanks Jon,

Best



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Thinking Child School (TCS) in Busan

Oct 6 at 10:23 PM

I'd like to post about my time working at Thinking Child School (TCS) in Busan. Though outwardly the school looks great, has many resources and is revered by parents, I had a very unpleasant time working there. The school is run by a couple, XXXXX and XXXX who were for the most part difficult to work with. Your contract will say you have a lunch break but you will be expected to supervise children throughout, even feeding those who didn't want to eat, and clean up after them. I struggled to even get to the toilet during my lunch break and when I did, would sit there for a few minutes in sheer exhaustion. My working hours were from 9 - 6 and there was not one minute I wasn't working during them, even after I asked the xxxxxxx to consider reducing my classes so I had time to plan, they continued to pile them on. XXXXX would watch teachers on camera and berate them for things that they had done that they could have only known about by watching the cameras, for example when tidying my classroom once I had left a book out of place and XXXX had loudly admonished me in front of my colleagues and students' parents. My experience with my co-teachers was also negative although turnover was so high that co-teachers very often lasted only a couple of months. There are a couple of teachers who have been there for a considerable amount of time who perhaps have negotiated a better contract or have more privileges and on learning that, I initially assumed the school would be a great place to work. However, in my experience it was not and if offered a job here, it'd be my advice to cut your losses and run. I have worked in several hagwons since and had much better experiences.



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Wizville Yeonhui-dong

Oct 4 at 1:48 PM

I took this position as a kindergarten homeroom teacher. I was unable to find a lot of information about this place online but my instinct told me that the xxxxxxx and xxxxxxxx were good people and decided to go with my instinct. Unfortunately that turned out to be a dreadful decision.

Upon arriving for 'training' that first thing that struck me about this place was a massive lack of organization. This continued to be a massive issue through the year. Every month there is additional events and activities that you are expected to prepare for with next to no information being provided from management. The sheer number of different things going on means that nobody, management included, is truly aware of what is going on.

The school has very little regard for their teachers well being and happiness. Korean teachers quit every single month due to exhaustion and foreign teachers only stay due to threats of not being given letters of release or worse - being asked to pay to receive one. Regular events and activities means losing your break time. So expect to get burned out quickly. Also while your contract says you will have a lunch break this will be a max 15 minutes to sit down and eat as you will be serving the kids lunch, making sure they eat properly (I have on many occasions been asked to hand feed children that refused to eat), clean up and brush their teeth.

Xxxxxxx requires you to regularly submit work to her to be checked and this will usually be given back to you late or never at all.

Be aware that if you take this position you will be working nonstop for 9 hours everyday. My kids were absolute treasures but sadly and overworked and exhausted person does not make a good teacher.



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Gyeyang Global Language Center. Incheon, Gyeyanggu

Sep 26 at 2:51 PM

If you choose to work here, be extremely vigilant. Make sure you are up on Labor Laws and what is legal and illegal because they constantly try to pull new things. Workplace bullying is real here. We were forced to work Labor Day without extra pay or another day off. According to the labor laws, this is the one day that is mandatory day off OR overtime pay. xxxxxxx. The hours look good but the pay is very very low. I fought to get paid 2.4 so they decided to pay 2.3 and add a lunch fee of 100 so they don't have to pay pension on the full amount.

This school is very tricky in terms of money so RECORD everything. Get copies of payment agreements because they will tell you one price but then not pay you the full amount. Get your pay slips! Look Very closely at the contract because they try to slip in unpaid mandatory overtime work. Breaks and prep time is not guaranteed even though they increase the work load every month. You must make the curriculum, syllabus, tests, and other resources by yourself. They are trying to push for one break time per teacher per week. Currently, only 4 of the 9 teachers have one prep time. The foreign coworkers are very helpful to work with and all but one Korean teacher is pleasant.

Avoid working here!



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Dux

Sep 24 at 6:46 PM

I agree with the poster before who mentioned that if you have any issue with the school and question it, they pick on you. The teaching and students werent bad, but the sheer amount of grading and test making often caused me to take work home on the weekends because there were no break times at school (grading about 80 essays every week ) . They say there are 5 minutes between each class which basically is nonexistent since the kids are coming from their previous class. They mention that you could be askedEto teach overtime. However, its forced on you whether you accepted it or not- no choice.

The worst experience I had here was at the end of my contract. A person whom I shall refer to as M was the root of the problem. He doesnt speak English well, yet is in charge of who is hired or let go when his job is actually in the finances of the school. I had talked to the xxxxxx of the school who wanted me back. They sent M in to discuss the details of my contract which had already been laid out. However, he backtracked on a few things regarding vacation days. When I questioned him on that, he didnt like it and suddenly said Esomeone Edidnt want me hired me back and they werent going to renew my contract. Mind you, this meeting was to just solidify the details of my renewal.

From what Ive heard, M has also denied teachers beds (asking if they really need one in a provided furnished apartment ) , been sketchy on tax information, and refused teachers healthcare. As long as M is working there with the trust of the owners, I would highly advise not accepting this job.

Even when you have breaks or are ready to leave for the day, they will push multiple interviews into your day, requiring you to stay past your last class or even ask you come in up to a full hour before your shift while youre still expected to work your regular shift. Youre not treated well with no support or appreciation from xxxxxx.

The apartments are quite terrible, the pay isnt worth the extensive amount of work ( Ive heard DUXs contracts referred to as slave contracts often) .

Regarding holidays , you get the bare minimum and often have to work less important red days and the substitute / optional Eholidays (like the ones on either side of chuseok )

In short, its not worth the hassle and money.



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Little scholar academy

Sep 24 at 12:48 AM

I have worked at this academy for a month and a couple of weeks. It is situated in Ilsan city, the Xxxxx of the school made it impossible to work for xxx. Firstly I was told that I will receive a one week of training, I arrived from South Africa on Sunday and on Monday I had to start working. Xxx did not prepare my studio apartment. On the contract it stated that I will have a TV, WiFi and other utensils. However to my surprise I walked into an empty room and for a week I slept in a base that didnt have a mattress. It was so uncomfortable. I stayed without the internet for three weeks and xxx kept saying the people will come and install the WiFi, I would wake up e