Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lvasia]

I'd like to hear stories from people who've had bad experiences working for large or chain hagwons who've been around a while and are supposedly trustworthy. Some examples: ECC/YBM/CDI/Yes Youngdo/Kid's Club/Jungchul...there are many others.

Would be teachers think that going to such schools guarantees good conditions, timely payment, contract honored, bonuses and such guaranteed. Has that been the reality? Let me know. Love to hear from you.

Best wishes,

K

[mole]

New gestapoMOD mode is contagious, I guess.
I'm generally not on troll patrol, but this oozes of troll.

Have you heard of any positive experiences at said locations?

[DRAMA OVERKILL]

"Anyone here had a horrible experience at your hagwon/place?", followed by "Anyone had a bad experience at a large/chain hakwon??"

Next thread, coming soon:

"Anyone had a less than average experience at an independently run hakwon???"

[Young FRANKenstein]

[PokerZero]

I had a very good year at a franchise of one of the chains you mentioned. Hope that helps.

[tfunk]

[whatever]

When will this kind of thread end? It's either a dumb question, laziness with regard to the search function, or pathetic trolling...

OK, I've got your answer:

No. Nobody has ever had a bad experience at a hakwon of any kind. Satisfied?

BUT, I'M WRITING A BOOK ON THE SUBJECT! WAAAAH

[Czarjorge]

When was the last time you successfully used the search function?

[lvasia]

thanks for the replies that weren't rude. i posted this because experiences at a large chain or small hagwon are completely different as you know. i wanted to separate them.i don't regret these posts. i've received enough interesting messages and stories since doing this. i'd rather get stories from people who reply to my questions personally and want to share their story than simply do a search!

once again, i'm sorry there are so many rude people who are teachers in korea and other countries. you may be working with people who have never really gotten to know another foreigner. you are representing foreigners/westerners/americans/aussies or whomever to them. in some parts of asia there are still people who have never seen foreigners. this can't be said about koreans, but there are many who have only seen them and haven't really dealt with, worked with or become friends with them. their experiences with you mean a lot.

as i posted before, i met people who hired an aussie to work in their hagwon and after his time finished decided to not hire foreign teachers again. it didn't seem that they hated him, but there were too many problems. how many hagwon owners have done this i wonder? of course it's their side of the story and the problems could be based on misunderstandings.

anyway, that's all. cheers.

[uberscheisse]

the search function on this site hasn't worked effectively in years.

kinda pathetic, really. i've been on other phpbb boards that have no problems with searches.

search for something specific, your result is pretty much every post on the board. kinda narrows it down, don't it?

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

YBM was pretty good. They paid on time but expect long hours if the school is short staffed. More $ though so...

[Xerxes]

I use site:http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewforum.php?f=4 in the Google search engine, and out pops many searches instantly and of very very good quality. I read how to do this from some bloke on these forums but I cannot remember who, so a shout out to whoever.

You can, in fact, use this method "site:(insert some web address here)" with Google to bypass any search engine at any site and have better results.

Next!

[kimchipig]

I worked at Pagoda in Seoul for a year and I have to say it was not a pleasant experience and it got worse as I went a long. They had a clever way of writing their contracts to make it look like you were getting paid better than you actually were and they worked you like a dog.

That said, that year in the trenches set me up for a really nice gig after I left, where I stayed for many years.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[lvasia]

well, a few things. the chain hagwons know the benefits that you will expect: bonus, sick days, standard hours and so on. they should know something about western culture, what you like and dislike. and there's a much greater chance of getting paid on time, getting paid period...small hagwons may be run by someone with no experience working with foreigners, who doesn't know what a sick day is or what a standard contract for foreign teachers is like. that said the chains will treat you more like a number, will probably have more students, may force you to use a teaching program which you don't like, not allow you to do your own thing, not give you a holiday when your whole family flies over to korea to visit...