Korean Job Discussion Forums

[abc12345]

I was wondering if anyone has heard about this school. If you have, can you please list some of the pros and cons about this place? Thanks in advance!

[Smee]

Run a search, there are scores of threads on POLY School.

For example:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=88717&highlight=Poly
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=102374&highlight=Poly
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=94126&highlight=Poly
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=89833&highlight=Poly
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=79541&highlight=Poly

[Seoul_Star]

Since it is a chain school, each branch may be different. At some Poly schools, you may work 7.5 or 8 hours a day. At others, you may work up to 10.5 or 11 hours a day.

Things to watch out for:

-Hours: If your contract says 33 teaching hours a week, and mentions nothing else, call the school and ask them how many ACTUAL hours you will be expected to work. Don't listen to any BS about "just 33 teaching hours" because this often translates into 55+ actual hours in the office each week, a lot of it spent grading book reports, endless piles of student books/journals etc.

-Your contract will show a base salary of like 1.6 or less, PLUS additional "bonuses" which add up to equal your salary. This was made up for the express purpose of not having to pay you a full month's salary for your severance pay. For your severance, you will just get paid the base salary listed on your contract, which is lower than your monthly salary (often more than $1mil lower).

-Overtime: The contracts from this chain in particular often times seem to have teachers working overtime, which is cleverly broken down to make it seem as though you are not working over time, and thus should not be paid for it. ASK how many hours you will be expected to be INSIDE the building, don't ask about the actual work hours, because they will often be quite dodgy and just quote you the teaching hours, which don't include the extra hours you may working grading book reports, essays, piles of student homework, online homework etc.


I lasted a year contract at Poly school, and then I found another job. I know three teachers working at two different POLY schools, so if you want, send me a PM and let me know which one you are considering. I may be able to put you in touch with someone who works there. None of them have ever complained about late paychecks or strange deductions, but they have complained about things like the school not paying their rent or utilities on time, their boss refusing to give them their degree back etc. I've also seen a few Poly schools black listed ( I think Bundang? and one other), so it's worth checking into and seeing what others say about each individual branch.

Regarding what another teacher posted in the first link above, the materials written by KPS are still crap. That information is not outdated at all. Their written materials are fairly poor, but luckily you will get many books from reputable publishers in the USA. As of 2007 I could still open a POLY published textbook and find many problems, a lot of them are basic proofreading problems, such as questions with no place to write the answer, crossword puzzles where the correct answers don't fit in the boxes, poorly designed puzzles where the boxes meet together but do not form actual words, some grammar and spelling mistakes so glaringly obvious that 2nd grade students find them almost right away etc.

[seoulroad]

Hey...I have a friend who works for a POLY and she loves it. You get paid a LOT...2.8 million (so that kind of makes up for the crappy severance pay). But the reason you get paid so much is b/c you have to work 10 hour days. Usually 6-7 teaching hours and the rest prep. (six 40-minute classes a day I think). The kids are great b/c their English level is quite high. So it all depends on what you want I guess.

[Typhoon]

2.8 for 10 hours a day is not a lot of money. Do the math.

[georgewallas]

[Typhoon]

You got that right...it is not worth the money. While I was at POLY I got 3.3 for the same time that is mentioned and it still wasn't worth it. There are a lot better jobs that pay more per hour and have a lot less stress.