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Ismellofhockey
Joined: 25 Apr 2008
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 Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:02 pm Post subject: Sokcho Wonderland School |
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Hi everyone, I've just received a good offer from the Sokcho WL School and I'd like to know if anyone here has ever worked there.
Searching through these boards, it seems that the WL chain has a fairly poor reputation yet I can't find posts explaining why this is. Could anyone help me out? |
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Lekker
Joined: 09 Feb 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Sockcho is very beautiful in the Summer. I don't know about the school though. |
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Dome Vans
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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Quote from ttompatz:
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A search for wonderland will bring up lots of good stuff.
Be very careful, read the contract carefully. Look at a few of the wonderland contracts in the contract sticky thread. IF that alone does not scare you away..... then
The chain (without exception for any franchise branch) has a well deserved reputation and they earned it with repeated actions over a long period of time. Check their references VERY CAREFULLY and check MORE THAN ONE. Don't believe anything a Korean working at the branch says.
You have been forwarned.... |
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=116309&highlight=wonderland
I was offered a Wonderland contract last year. Looked at the contract, laughed, did the research, laughed then moved on. You should do the same. |
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Ismellofhockey
Joined: 25 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Dome Vans wrote: |
Quote from ttompatz:
| Quote: |
A search for wonderland will bring up lots of good stuff.
Be very careful, read the contract carefully. Look at a few of the wonderland contracts in the contract sticky thread. IF that alone does not scare you away..... then
The chain (without exception for any franchise branch) has a well deserved reputation and they earned it with repeated actions over a long period of time. Check their references VERY CAREFULLY and check MORE THAN ONE. Don't believe anything a Korean working at the branch says.
You have been forwarned.... |
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=116309&highlight=wonderland
I was offered a Wonderland contract last year. Looked at the contract, laughed, did the research, laughed then moved on. You should do the same. |
Thanks but that doesn't tell me why WL schools have a bad reputation, the best I can gather from that thread is that each institution is different and perhaps the one in Sokcho is decent. As for the contract, well if I'm not comfortable with everything (and I'm not), all I have to do is negotiate. |
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dean_burrito
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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I work at a Wonderland now. I would recommend asking for the emails of any current employee. Make sure any negotiations are in writing and signed. I've been here ten months. It's been a mixed time but nothing worth being a runner over like the teachers for the past three years have done here. Overall I don't regret coming on but am definitely moving on. Get a year of Wonderland under your belt and anyone will hire you because they know you can stick it out. I've got a great job coming up in August. Wonderland was more than willing to give me time off to interview and gave me a 'wonderful' reference.
Good luck. |
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Dome Vans
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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Certain schools are just bad wherever they are SLC, Reading Town and Wonderland, a few examples.
Having a quick look at the contract from the posting thread:
*housing deposit returned two months after contract end! (You won't see that)
*5% tax (Too high)
*33 hours teaching a week PLUS scheduled lesson planning block.
*You should only work up to six month mark to not be liable to pay back the outbound airfare (it says 10 months = wrong)
*Don't accept private health insurance. Accept nothing less than NHIC.
*The vacation and holiday clause is terrible. Doesn't even tell you how many days you get. Expect to only get national holidays off, and classed a paid vacation.
*Employer giving you 20 days notice is illegal. Change it to 30 days.
*NO MENTION OF PENSION. (Big Red Flag)
The only plus appears to be the pay but seeming as they'll take 5% tax and other deductions then you're not likely to see the amount that you should actually receive. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
As I've said before, suppose there was an airliner taking off with 100 seats and you knew that:
10 seats were going to fall out of the plane mid-flight
10 passengers would get food poisoning
10 would be seated next to violent alcoholics
10 would get vomited on
10 would be next to screaming babies
10 would be next to Christian evangelists who couldn't shut up
10 would be seated next to morbidly obese people
10 would get mistakenly arrested by the air marshal
10 would have seatbelts that refused to release them upon arrival
and 10 would arrive safely at their destination after a mildly unpleasant ride.
Would you get on that flight? If not, you'd be an utter idiot to try your luck with a Wonderland. This chain has beat out some very, very stiff competition to earn it's place as the hagwon chain with the worst reputation in Korea. |
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Ismellofhockey
Joined: 25 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Dome Vans wrote: |
Certain schools are just bad wherever they are SLC, Reading Town and Wonderland, a few examples.
Having a quick look at the contract from the posting thread:
*housing deposit returned two months after contract end! (You won't see that)
*5% tax (Too high)
*33 hours teaching a week PLUS scheduled lesson planning block.
*You should only work up to six month mark to not be liable to pay back the outbound airfare (it says 10 months = wrong)
*Don't accept private health insurance. Accept nothing less than NHIC.
*The vacation and holiday clause is terrible. Doesn't even tell you how many days you get. Expect to only get national holidays off, and classed a paid vacation.
*Employer giving you 20 days notice is illegal. Change it to 30 days.
*NO MENTION OF PENSION. (Big Red Flag)
The only plus appears to be the pay but seeming as they'll take 5% tax and other deductions then you're not likely to see the amount that you should actually receive. |
Thanks a lot Dome Vans, I guess this is a pretty dumb question but why is no pension a big red flag, is it just that it shows that this is an illegal contract and therefore I'm guaranteed to get screwed? Or is it simply that I could end up in trouble with the law? |
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Dome Vans
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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Firstly, pension is a legal requirement. If an employer doesn't pay pension then they are in breach of pension law. Expect more problems from this employer.
Secondly, many Hagwons don't include it because it's a way for them to lose extra money. Pension is collectable on completion of contract in a lump sum, if you are from America, Canada. If you're a Brit then it goes back to your pension credit system (whatever that means, nobody on this board has tried this yet!)
Hagwon's are businesses, they don't want to lose more money by paying you your pension.
National Pension Service
> http://www.nps.or.kr/ |
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mammolastan
Joined: 06 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:02 am Post subject: |
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I wonder if Wonderland will work for me --
I'm in the position of getting hired at a Wonderland Academy. I am going to talk to the foreign teachers that are currently working there.
Any suggestions as to what kind of things I should ask these current foreign teachers? Pretty much I would think that asking if they get paid on time and in full is the most important question, yes? |
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SHANE02
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