Korean Job Discussion Forums

[K-in-C]

Hi there,

I am not familiar with this school. Does anyone have any knowledge of this organization?

Best,

k-in-c

[world_traveller]

I am a teacher at Modern English Studio. These comments are being shared to let potential applicants know about things that may or may not be shared with you by the Modern English Studio management team during the interview process.

Modern English Studio(MES) opened its doors in September 2006. It is located in Jamsil near Lotte World Adventure in Seoul, South Korea. The owner is Dave Park, a Korean born in the US. He has been teaching English in South Korea for 3 to 5 years in a private studio. Therefore, MES will claim that they are an American company and have been in business for several years.

The Studio. MES only hires native Eglish speakers to teach classes. For the past nine months, they have only taught adults. However, they are considering to teach children in the near future. The maximum number of students in each class is 9. On average there are approximately 2 to 4 in each class. A teacher will be expected to teach a minimum of 4 class 5 days a week (M-F). The morning shift starts at 6:00am and ends at 2:30pm. The evenig shift starts at 2:30pm and goes until 11:00pm. When you don't have class you will be expected to work on lesson plans and new course curriculum. You will also have weekend meetings and teach Saturday classes depending upon when the Korean Holidays fall during the week.

Classroom Content. All of the content used in the classrooms is new and often times being developed a few hours before classes are scheduled to be taught. The main text book that is sold to students has been copied from another source and has many gramatical mistakes. There are no original ideas in this text book. The coversation text book is titled, "Speak Fluent English". MES does use a specific repetition technique in the classroom that other institute can claim. However, as a teacher you will find this mundain and somewhat boring after two weeks of teaching in the classroom. The jury is still out on the results.

As a teacher, you will be required to maintain a 90% student rention rate. This is almost impossible given the actual classroom content and teaching method. If you do not maintain a high rention (65 to 90%) rate, you will not be informed immediately. This information will be given to you five minutes before you are released from the company.

Living Arrangements. You really could not ask for a nicer apartment. It is very close to work and public transportation. The apartment are equipt with a washing/drying machine, TV/DVD/CD player, bed, livingroom funiture. Also, there is ample closet space and many good quality wood hangers to hang all of your business atire. Given MES' image policy, you will be greatful for the quality care available for your clothing. Utilities run around 200,000 won per month. MES will also setup a mobile phone service for you.

Staff. There are a varity of teachers from all parts of the world. The teachers are wonderful individuals. You could not ask for a better team. Also, you will be working with a group of professional Korean receptionists. They are the backbone of the organization and will help in anyway possible.

Contract. As mentioned previously, MES claims to be an American company. This idea soon changes after this piece of paper is signed. In Korea, according to Dave Park, an English contract is not worth anything. This document will change for the benefit of the company. If you teach in the morning, you will be told or sometimes "asked" to work at night. There will be additional pay. However, you will be expected to maintain the same professional image at all times. You will be asked to attend meetings on Saturdays with little or no prior notice.

Pay. They will always pay their employees on time at the end of the month. This is always appreciated. They also contribute to the pension plan and pay your health insurance as promised. If you teach additional classes, you will be compensated. This is the same rate (30,000 won) as the normal classes you would teach. There is no overtime rate. MES does promise a 6,000,000 won bonus upon the completion of a 12 month contract. Your chances of being released are much greater than actually receiving this bonus.

Again, Modern English Studio is a startup company that is less than a year old. They are "successful" because they have kept their doors open. Until they work out all of their current problems, I would look for other teaching opportunities. You will be much happier.

All the best,
world_traveller

[spliff]

[wylies99]

[Pak Yu Man]

[da_moler]

I was approached by Modern English Studio last year after they'd seen my resume on the internet. When I replied to say that I was interested, however, they never got back to me, and ignored my subsequent emails. Did anyone else have this experience? I started to think that something very strange was going on with this place. Is it true that they give a free holiday overseas to all staff??