Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DCJames]

Hogwons are all pretty much the same.

[Majeh]

I was offered when a position w/ Avalon when another recruiter found a GEPIK position w/ the same pay, full airfare reimbursement (I was supposed to be an in-Korea hire.) and less hours, I decided to accept the GEPIK position. When I notified the Avalon recruiter, he gave me a hard time about it me turning down his job offer. Recruiter #2 interceded on my behalf and I went with the GEPIK position.

The key was that although I had signed the contract w/ Avalon, their recruiter never gave me a postal address to mail all the required documents; therefore, my work visa had not been transferred to the new employer.

[tnrc75]

[ajp]

Bah, as far as hagwons go avalon's not too bad. Sure the focus is 100% on making money, not on teaching, but all hagwons are businesses and will have that focus more or less.

The curriculum is not great, but if you're a half decent teacher you can learn to work with it and get some good discussions going in class.

The kicker is really who's running the branch. We had a great director when I started my contract with them, but she got replaced by a dragon lady when I was about 4-5 months in and that was a bit of a downer. On the plus side, she liked me for some reason, which I think is the reason I didn't get cheated out of any money when my contract was done.

The take home message of this is, when it comes to hagwons, speak with some of the people who work at that branch and get their opinions. It's hard to make accurate blanket statements about the large chain hagwons..

[DaeguNL]

I chose Avalon mainly because they pay on time

[adventurrre]

Been working at an Avalon-affiliated school under another name for 1 month.... and it rocks.

[toaocoz_09]

They pay on time...yes...and I don't want to sound like a prima Dona but they also....

took me to the wrong apartment and left me there on my first night in Korea...I would have had to sleep on the streets on a cold February night if a lovely Korean family hadn't seen my crying in the elevator and driven me to a nice hotel. Avalon later refused to pay me the money that I spent on the hotel

Brought me over in February then told me I didnt have a job until June! Luckily somebody got fired (for simply handing in his notice because he was unhappy) and I got a job after a month of hanging around

Banned us from traveling out of the country because of Swine flu

Banned us from seeing our families who want to visit (because of course 'everyone in Europe has swine flu' quote from the students...bless em!)

I'm having to do a midnight run next week because the last person to hand in their notice got fired on the spot!

I guess I just got unlucky because my colleagues have had a great time working for Avalon, and afterall it is a buisness so they have to think of money. I suppose it could have been worse but even so I wouldn�t rate Avalon at all to anyone.

[tenchu77491]

Yeonsu-gu Avalon in Incheon by chance?

Avalon is a huge risk. I guess you may get lucky or you may get the shaft. I got the shaft and so do many people.

[Dude Ranch]

what is a good avalon campus in seoul to live and work at? ie. which campus is in the best area for someone looking to have a good time?

[fetuskarate]

Bupyeong, Incheon. The director is an ass who seems to care more about appearances (typical) than actual teaching. He would patrol the halls and look into our classrooms, then come inside *while we were teaching* and reprimand us for the pettiest things: ie, students turning around to speak to each other, a student standing up to throw away trash, physical signs of merriment, etc. He also decided to implement a dress code several months into my contract. Everyone had to suddenly start wearing business casual and acceptable shoes to match.

A few months later, the director decided he suddenly cared about how the teachers actually performed in a classroom, so he began scheduling mock teaching sessions that he never actually attended himself. He didn't seem to care at all about the welfare of the teachers- at one point, some of us were working 37 hours a week in a pinch. We were also required to attend pointless teaching "workshops" that, again, he didn't himself seem to care about.

The worst was when the "big boss" would come to the school. He'd be even more critical toward the teachers, particularly the foreigners. We were then lectured on how we had to smile more. But at the same time, kids could not turn around in their desks, or appear to be happy. Keep in mind, this is an 80 minute class. Teaching became stressful, as his face in the window almost never brought any good news.

While I was there, I watched 4 or 5 Korean teachers quit in the space of 7 months. Nobody liked this guy. Apparently he's not so bad these days, but whatever.

Vacation time sucks as well. You had to ask them months in advance for days off (fair) and you could never guarantee dates, as the director wouldn't make a decision about it until a month or so before. You couldn't take vacation days during certain times either. They tried to count weekends as part of our 10 days, and didn't allow us to take 2 consecutive weekends off... ?! I was also incredibly sick once, and though I'd never taken a sick day up to that point, I was told to come into work anyway- I was told this over the phone, while I was in the hospital with a 39.5 degree temperature. Apparently, you can only pry your rightful days off from their cold, dead fingers.

On a positive note, Avalon paid me on time. We got 100,000W bonuses for Chuseok and Christmas. Even once when Avalon was doing really well financially. I had a really good apartment (after switching out of your standard shoebox). My coworkers were good, and we had a couple of free dinners out.

In conclusion, it's your typical hagwon. Since they're big, it's more of a business than a place of learning, but unless you're a complete dropkick, you won't be fired. As far as your boss, it's a total toss up. Worth it for a first job, but hunt around and you can do better.

[Smee]

[Wurmwood]

I worked for Avalon my first two years. The first year was good because I was part of the corporate chain and there were several other teachers at my school. The second year, I was with a privately owned franchise and my boss was a thieving bastard who tries to rip me off on my pension. There was only one other foreign teacher at my school and I got no vacation time. But then, I was teaching in Jeju at the time, so it kinda evened out. I'd go with Avalon again as long as it wasn't a franchise.

[bde2]

[wesharris]

Snakes on an Avalon.
Snakes on a Bus.

[carleverson]

Despite it's fancy marketing and fancy name, it's really just another kiddy hogwon with really low salaries.

Stay away.