Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Sapa]

I'm wondering if anyone has worked or knows anything about the Olympic Wonderland school in Jamsil. I have heard alot of bad things about the Wonderland franchise in general, but i'm looking for more specific things about this school. Obviously different franchises are run in different ways, so this might be one of the good ones.

[ttompatz]

[CentralCali]

Why the heck is anyone even considering working for a Wonderland or a BR outfit? Why don't the recruiters tell the hagweon owner that their choice to affiliate with either of those outfits is a deal killer? {Note: Yes, I do know that last question is purely wishful thinking.}

[Ramen]

When someone tells me that they are working at or have worked for Wonderland, I can't help but to think this someone is either very bold or stupid.

[wylies99]

During my last visa run to Osaka, a (very)young lady told me about how she was SO HAPPY to be working at a Wonderland.

Then she told me that she "got to choose her roomates."

She also told me that her boss had "loaned" her 5 million won and wasn't charging too much interest.

I still have no idea what happened to her, but this wasn't very long ago and it all smelled very fishy.

[ESL2007]

I worked at Olypmic Wonderland. I definitely wouldn't recommend that you work there.

They never paid my severance, foreign teachers were treated like crap, they were constantly trying to shortchange teachers, and you can expect to teach about 10 classes per day on average.

It was the worst experience of my life.

[ESL2007]

Here is a list of other events that happened at Olympicd Wonderland.

1. The Korean female teachers beat up a 35 year old foreign teacher during her last week.
2. On teachers day the Korean teachers took the foreign teachers gifts.
3. On your last day of work you must fight the bosses to get your severance.
4. They don't give you health insurance.
5. They take a 600,000 won deposit from you and never pay it back.
6. They ask you to do a lot of unpaid extra work.
7. Almost everything the head teacher said was a lie. She was very manipulative.
8. Foreign teachers are put in their place. They are made to feel inferior.
9. Housing is very bad. They get all the appliances from the dump, seriously! None of them worked. The toilet leaked, the washine machine didn't work, the refridgerator was dirty and didn't work.
10. Foreign teachers teach a minimum of about 46 classes per week at 2 million won per month.

The list goes on.

[DCJames]

Wonderland is a relic from the early days of Korean ESL. It's notoriuos for being one of the worst in Korea.

There are so many better places to work. Why the hell would you work there?

[SHANE02]

Avoid this place.

[ESL2007]

Oh, I forgot a few other important things...

1. They charge you something like 40,000 won for garbage removal at your apartment, even though it doesn't really exist.
2. They charge you a tax rate of something like 9 or 10 percent, when it should be less than 5 percent.

Yup, you will basically be teaching more than twice the amount of classes that the average ESL teacher in Korea teaches. They will try to make you very tired and too scared to question your conditions. It's a business policy at Wonderland I assume.

[ESL2007]

Can you please tell us all who your recruiter is? I think that people who recruit for Wonderland should be exposed. They should know better!

[ESL2007]

And there is more!

Whenever the parents would come in they would have us lie to them. Basically we had to be "salespeople" for the school. Not only did they rip off teachers, but they also ripped off parents. One day about 4 mothers came in extremely perturbed. They removed their children from the school because they hadn't ordered books (which parents had paid for). They would charge parents money for school books and then never order them. They would tell teachers to spend like 3 or 4 class days on 1 page out of a book and would have us do different activities. Then they would pocket the money that they charged the parents for the books.

When I first came to Korea I was so excited. Then, as soon as I arrived here that changed. When I got to my motel, which was supposed to be paid for by the school, they demanded that I pay for it. They wouldn't let me into the hotel (where my luggage was) until I paid. So, great first impression!

Then I was expected to work early the next morning after a 19 hour flight and arriving at the hotel at 12:30 pm. When I got there the head teacher didn;t even smile. She pulled me into a side room and told me to get to work immediately.

I could go on and on. Luckily now I work at a really great school and I have a much better impression of Korea. Please, I urge you, do not go to that school!

[maingman]

CentralCali wrote


Why the heck is anyone even considering working for a Wonderland or a BR outfit? Why don't the recruiters tell the hagweon owner that...


>Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 6:44 pm Post subject:

maingman wrote :


Provide a # structured and mandatory communication
between host teacher (Korean) and outside agency/ recruiter

[RJjr]

I don't know about ones in Jamsil, but there are two up on the north side of the Olympic Park and in 2007, I talked with a dude who worked at the Wonderland across the street from the Olympic Park's north entrance. He was going on and on with complaints about that school. I can't remember all the complaints, but one that I do remember was when he told me about how many people had keys to his apartment. My boss and the apartment manager had keys to my apartment, but I was really shocked at how many people had keys to his. This list was as long as his complaints about that school.

Jamsil is on the opposite side of the park, so I think you're asking about a different Wonderland. I've read and heard so many bad things about Wonderland, although a recent poster named gaychel seems very happy at her Wonderland franchise.

[gaychel]

I didn't say I was happy, I said I was brand spanking new, my contract seemed good, and my coworkers seemed happy.

A month later, I have some complaints, but they're nothing big. Most of them have to do with communication between the Koreans and the foreigners.

My one major gripe is the hours, which seem to be typical of Wonderland schools. We are short a few teachers, and while someone was just hired to start in July, we're there all day teaching like crazy. There are lots of breaks, and we're allowed to do whatever we want during them, but it's a bitch going out and hearing everyone else talk about sleeping in until 11 or 12 every day. But I always have my nights off, so it depends on what kind of schedule you'd like. I'm pretty sure all Wonderlands run from about 9:30-6:30.

My director seems to run a very laid back ship with happy people working it. There is a lot to be said about the fact that it's a franchise and needs to be investigated thoroughly, but can be alright if you get in with the right boss. One of the foreigners' contract is up in August, and he's thinking about re-signing and coming back.

We'll see how happy I am in a few days when I get my first paycheck. We get paid on the 7th, but we asked if we could get paid before the long weekend and he agreed (good sign). We'll see if that actually happens (the other foreigners say he always pays early if payday falls on a weekend or holiday), and if it includes the extra $$ we were promised for doing the work of an additional teacher or two along with pension and correct taxes.

Overall, I'd say that my experience has given me plenty of reason to tell people to not completely write off the possibility of working at a Wonderland. It depends on what your schedule is like and what you want out of this job. The teaching formula seems to work pretty well, as the halls are filled with kids speaking decent English and I have seen improvement in them just in the 4 weeks I've been there. Personally, hour wise, there are other jobs out there that would have been much more suited to my lifestyle and schedule, but I've been given everything I was promised and then some.

Definitely do your research. From what others have said about the location you're asking about, I'd run.