Korean Job Discussion Forums

diablo3 · Joined: 11 Sep 2004

When I left (which is way back in time when dinosaurs ruled the planet), the students rebelled against the replacement teacher and had to quit after 5 days, then there was no new teacher, so the students decided not to come anymore. It took a while before some came back while others simply changed class.

No strategy, planning, or methodolgy by the school is the source of the problem, or this would not have happened.

After I came back to Korea, they wanted me to come back for emergency situations ... I never bothered.

It would be good to hear stories (positive, negative, or otherwise).

sadsac · Joined: 22 Dec 2003 Location: Gwangwang

First hagwon after 3 years there a rocky transition for the new teachers. Current hagwon, 3 years, new teachers are finding it a little tough, but we are going to radically change the curriculum to remove the need to compare one teacher to another. It should work out okay, they're good people. Smile

rhinocharge64 · Joined: 20 Sep 2006

They went bust!! Enough said DUDE.

xCustomx · Joined: 06 Jan 2006

I was the only foreign teacher for nearly two years. Enrollment went from about 35 to 70 while I was teaching, and back down to 30 or less when I left.

Mi Yum mi · Joined: 28 Jan 2008

Worked at one place where the bossed were evil. We had a bunch of great teachers and the students loved us, but they hated the bosses. They screwed us around and we both (waegs) quit. The bosses charged more for the students to be taught by the waegooks. He also gave a better deal if they signed a contract for a year of English and paid up front. When we left we got most of the students to follow us. We got people to hire us cause about 100 students would come with us (small boring town). Back when people were making about 1.6 mil my buddy qand I were making 2.0 and we were the shiat.

Original school had to pay all their student fees back. They all got a ew months of free English. School went bankrupt and the bosses wanted to kill us.

thegadfly · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

I worked for a place that went from 50 students to 1200 students in the two years I worked there -- went from being one of two foreign teachers to the "Director of Foreign Faculty" and "Curriculum Director" -- with 14 other foreign teachers and 6 Korean teachers.

In the five years after I left, it went through 10 DFF's, 2 name changes, and finally went belly up. It no longer exists, but if you whisper its name on the boards, ghosts from the past rise up and moan about the depths to which it had sunk.

(...seriously -- like, fer real! PM me if you want the name -- just post a thread in the OT forum with the name in the title and you too will see ghosts....)

BreakfastInBed · Joined: 16 Oct 2007 Location: Gyeonggi do

They're on my 2nd replacement in less than a year, but the school seems to be fine enrollment wise. I was told one of the top-mom leader type parents threatened to pull her kid after I left when my first replacement came on board, and that the school feared a domino effect might follow. That was the excuse they gave the guy when they let him go at least. There was no catastrophe. I think my departure just caused a big administrative headache.

mrsquirrel · Joined: 13 Dec 2006

I heard there was a mass suicide and they closed the place down.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

All the other teachers had to do more work for two weeks until they brought in an Aussie with no visa yet. I met him a while later and it seems things were carrying on along the slow, gradual decline I had noticed over six month. One of the Korean teachers I kept in touch with told me that one of the classes really missed me.

So, all in all, not very much, though I really hope the place carried on dwindling down and is now out of business or about to go out of business.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Mass suicide.

They decided they just couldn't go on, and that it was better to end it all.

Same sad outcome as squirrel.

mrsquirrel · Joined: 13 Dec 2006

^ Better be careful there or they will get the Welsh police in to investigate.

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bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Well, immediately before that, I'm told a lot of drunkenness and debauchery took place.

lastat06513 · Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:34 pm Post subject:

two of the earlier hakwons I had worked for went belly up in 2004......the first one (ULI) closed ALL their schools around Gangnam.......tragic?.....yeah right!

Fresh Prince · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: The glorious nation of Korea

I agree with lastat06513...definitely not tragic to see that happen.

One hokwon decided early on that they weren't going to pay pension and severance. They budgeted down to the wire, or possibly failed to budget at all: Either way they had no intention of paying what they owed contractually, however at the last minute they reversed course and decided that paying what they owed would be easier than not paying. I think they didn't have the money to fly another teacher over, or at least wanted to save up a bit first.

Three months later, they still didn't have a foreign teacher and it wasn't surprising as I was one of the very few teachers they had that actually stayed through the entire contract. Had I known what I would be in for earlier, I too would have left early. Before the six month mark, they tried to hire another teacher so that I would have to pay them back for the airfare, lucky for me they couldn't find anyone willing to work there. The list of problems went on and on but I'm sure that whoever they found left quickly.

Crowzone · Joined: 31 Jul 2006

If only Hogwans played it smart and had some overlap of teachers -- even a week would be sufficient, but that would require a bit of planning ahead, something that MUST be against some law or something in Korea..