Korean Job Discussion Forums

[josesiem]

Anyone point me to a thread about them? I'm sure it's been covered before but I can't find it.

Basically, I want to apply there, it doesn't sound too bad. But I've heard from someone who heard from someone that the place is to be avoided.

Right now I'm stuck in a crap job in Jeju and looking to come back to Seoul soon.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[tob55]

What position are you looking for and do you want to be directly in Seoul?

[josesiem]

I want to be an adult language instructor. And I would prefer Bundang, but anywhere in the Seoul Metro area is fine.

I taught adults last year in Bundang.

[pieman1981]

i looked into that school but decided any school where you have to wear a lab coat to teach in can't be taken seriously!

[birdflower]

Different posters, from different time periods, have all said that English Channel is a bad place to work.

1) http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=57787&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=english+channel+learn&start=15
2) http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=74883&highlight=
3) http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=74299&highlight=
4) http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=76761&highlight=
5) http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=77018&highlight=

English Channel's policy of not paying their teachers their last pay check on their last day of work but after they have left the country is a big red flag. As for the idea of staying in Korea to wait for your last pay check, you can not do that as they force their teachers to leave their apartment once they are done working. Where's my f---- hard earned money?!!

[Young FRANKenstein]

[lilla_fjaril]

Let it be known I am far removed from Korea and in the medical field now and I am only posting this because someone still in Korea brought this thread to my attention.

EC gave me a phone. It worked. I never set it up, I just got a bill and had it deducted from my check. This was how things should work according to the P and P at the time of my hiring. Mid-year I was told to take the phone to an LG store and have it set up for pay-as-you-go. I was to meet a receptionist who would translate. She was late and I had to work so I gave her my phone and she set everything up for me, including my phone number. I was never told I had to do anything with this phone, even when I handed it back in. All I got, a month after the fact, was a quick email from our other receptionist who spoke almost no English saying 'Oops--you forgot to turn off your phone and now can't use. We keep 60,000 won' I emailed management and robert webster and kenny lee and at least asked them to look into it and never got a response. I also had been told i would be sent a final paycheck stub regarding my bonus and what was actually withheld. I wanted this to properly file my taxes. I never received this either and as a result had to approximate my taxes--not something fun for the daughter of a CPA. Is 60 bucks worth getting upset about? I guess that depends on if you grew up poor or not. To me it was--especially when mgmt pushed the task of informing me onto the girl who spoke the least English of the staff.

Everything I posted in my threads is true. I realized in the first month when we had to ask repeatedly for our training pay and our checks were a bit off (I was charged the electric bill from the previous tenant--over 130 bucks--and then reimbursed after twice complaining) that things were a bid shady. After that I kept a notebook of shady dealings--the last-minute mandatory events, the disparate treatment of Korean teachers, the unfair division of labor, the ridiculous textbooks, the Korean teachers told to LIE about their years of experience overseas, the students placed at levels MUCH higher than their ability because they refused to sign up for classes otherwise-all true. It comes down to this--if you want an easy job in Seoul and care about NOTHING else, EC might be the place for you. But only if you don't care if your students actually learn anything.

And Gangnam guy, if you are who I think you are, SW, it saddens me that a man of your professed faith would so staunchly defend the company that fired your beloved partner teacher Ann just to save a few bucks and then LIED and told her students who complained that she had received poor performance evaluations from the majority of students. I know you had it good and there were months when you only had to work 2 or 3 hours a day, I know you had the closest apartment and the lightest student load. But still, Ann cried! She was afraid to tell her parents for fear they would be disappointed in her. No matter what nice things this company did for you, how is it okay for them to treat another human being so horribly?? I chalk it up to cognitive dissonance for you. You like the job and you think you are a good person. A good person could not like to work for a bad company so you've 'convinced' yourself they're a good company, despite the fact that you, yes YOU, are the one who informed me of half of the bad things I posted in the first place.

And OC if you are in fact JA, what about the company that sent you off for personal medical treatment with your friend and partner teacher as a translator and then refused to pay her wages when she was translating for you? I was there and I heard you say you were upset by those things. You were upset by bogus mandatory meetings held all in Korean with no translator. You were upset by the fact we had to ASK for our training pay! I think Gangnamguy (who was slamming me back in late 2006 wasn't he?) or management is definitely impersonating you. If I am wrong, email me to the address you emailed a couple months ago and I will post on this board and let everyone know that you are, in fact, not a member of management. if you guys don't hear from me I didn't get an email and OC is definitely a fraud.

And as far as people getting fired for being late or drunk? 2 words--Til** Lim. Never had a problem with the girl myself but late how many times? Drunk how many times? Fired and re-hired how many times? EC-Samsung has rules I'm sure, but they were pretty selective in enforcing them.

I won't be back except to tell you if OC is real, so when gagnam comes up with some more unfounded accusations for me and uses my absence as proof that I'm lying, the truth is I work in a hospital and I've got more important things to do than respond to his pathetic allegations. To me anyone who reads all the ire on this board about EC and still chooses to go there...well...caveat emptor as they say.

Peace-

[regicide]

[regicide]

[garykasparov]

Wouldn't mind seeing one of their labor contracts in this thread.

[gangnamguy]

Welcome back P_____ S_____.

I never said English Channel was perfect and I have some issues with it myself (no hakwon is perfect if you have been in Korea as long as I have been). But to hear the overly draumatic made for Hollywood exaggerations that is on these boards, I find it very cowardly when people can't go directly to the source (Bob, Kenny, etc.). They have to vent on a message board 3000 miles away especially when someone has left over six months ago. Don't you have something else better to do? You should be enjoying your nursing job.

As far as Ann is concerned, I agree that when she was fired I wasn't happy with it. There is a lot of pressure for Korean teachers at the company and in a lot of ways it's not fair. In my previous posts, I was speaking from a foreign teacher's point-of-view.

Lastly, with regards to you calling out a person's name (T. Lim), who you even said you have never had a problem with, why do you even stoop so low as to call our her faults in the company?

I am done responding to any other posts. My points have been said. Good luck in the U.S. P____S______

[regicide]

[ashishkebob]

1. Great Students who are enthusiastic to speak clearly.
2. Good hours with 6 months of split (you can go to the gym or work on your hobby in the day) and six months of block, where you can be lazy and sleep too much again.
3. Lab Coats, although different, provide a fun and humorous way to enjoy your job. Your attitude counts a lot at EC. If you always complain, then you will hate the job. But if you learn to love your job, despite its unique dress code, then you will be happier.
4. The money is good, after working a few saturdays, or doing overtime. You can save a good amount, depending on your habits. People complain about the hours they work, but there is also a lot of free time, because of absences or whatever.
5. Free Television and internet to enjoy on your free time.
6. Comfortable Couches and Beds to recline on when not teaching.
7. Good coworkers, where half are Korean, and you can practice your Korean language.
8. The apartment is paid for.
9. Cell phone is provided
10. Free Coffee/green tea and Free Cold Water
11. Air-Conditioned offices with comfortable leather seats
12. Your own free locker to place your belongings
13. Nice Staff, who you can get along with, as long you treat them with respect and have open communication.
14. On time pay.


15. Unpaid vacations are the only downpoint, but, that means more money for you in the bank. You can vacation to your hearts content after your fat severance and pension after one year. Time goes fast.

I think English Channel is a great place to work at with good people and good friends made along the way. I've had many good experiences that outweigh the bad. All jobs have its ups and downs, but overall, your job is what you make of it. So be positive, smile a lot, and do your best, because in the end, your students speaking english clearly is your best reward and joy.

[gangnamguy]

Well said. Not sure if you are management but you point out a lot of points that many people take for granted. I have taught at three elementary/middle school hakwons in the past and I will share with you about my experiences of TRUE challenges living in Korea.

Hakwon #1
-------------

Location: Ulsan

Large sized hakwon. Fairly organized class schedule except when they told you you had an extra class five minutes before the class started. Occassionally I had classes of 15 middle school students with lack of motivation that made my job challenging. Since it was my first job ever teaching, I didn't feel I got the necessary training to be a better teacher. However, given the circumstances, this job wasn't horrible either.

Overall Grade: C

Hakwon #2
-------------

Location: Ulsan

Taught the same 13 classes for about 25-30 minutes on top of having to teach the director's daughters for one hour during my work shift. The textbook was "Superkids" which was poorly written and the Korean teachers usually taught the only two pages I had. Also, the head Korean teacher lasted about one month maximum. They went through three of them causing them to lose all the students who lived in the same apartment building. This lead to them shutting down the school after I had only worked there for three months.

Overall Grade: D-

Hakwon#3
------------
Location: Yangju (Gyonggido Province)

Worked there for a month and had NO books or materials to use. The director wanted me to come up with the material. After the second month I told him that I would quit if things didn't change. He begged me to stay and vowed to help me with the lessons and to get the curriculum started. He did help me a little but not enough to make a major difference. I was stressed out, not eating properly, and losing weight. After the second month I gave him six weeks notice to find a new teacher. I paid for a subscription on Dave's ESL to find teachers. About 10 teachers had contacted my email and I gave him all their resumes and information. He saw their pictures and rejected all of them because they weren't handsome/pretty enough or they were too old. The last day of work came along and he told me not to tell my students that I was leaving. I decided it was best for me to do so because I wanted to say goodbye. Apparently it made him angry and he screwed me out of W1,000,000 (2 weeks pay).

Overall Grade: F


Conclusion: For all of the people that have bad things to say about English Channel, they didn't go through the rough, awful moments that I had to go through. English Channel is a piece of cake compared to a lot of hakwons out there. I had more of a reason to whine, complain, and leave Korea but I stuck it out while experiencing much worse situations. English Channel is not perfect but it has its good points.

[gangnamguy]

The CFO has resigned, Bob Webster has left, and who knows if anyone else will leave.

There is a rumor that at one of the branches, teachers were not getting paid their national pensions for the last three months.

Beware people. Not sure how long English Channel is going to last....