Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Amber72]

I just finished a 16 month term of employment at Kids Club, in Dangam-dong Busan. When I started my position, in August 2007 the English program had just been initiated to teach Kindergarten students 20 minute classes in rotation with their regular Korean Kindergarten schedule, while running an after school English hogwon for elementary and middle school children.

In March of 2008, the school underwent massive expansions, opening up a new 4 floor building up the hill from the other two sister schools. At this time the quality of the working environment at Kids Club began declining at a steady, and drastic rate. Two weeks prior to the opening of the new building, a Korean recruiter operating under the English name �Mary�, who was actually the lady who worked in conjunction with my Canadian recruiter, was employed by Kids Club to work as a manager or head teacher despite having never taught before.

Mary lost the respect of the foreign teachers almost immediately. After having over-hired for the schools expansion, she lied to the teachers waiting to depart from their own countries, having already signed contracts and couriered their document, saying that the school wasn�t going to open as the building permit was rejected. Her source of inspiration for this story came from the petitions and legal battles started by neighboring hogwons, angered by the competition school opening literally across the street. The truth of the matter is the director over-estimated the so-called �faith and loyalty� the mothers of Dang-gam dong have in her, and not as many children registered for the new school as she expected.

The school opened before anyone could be prepared, in fact, before the construction of the school had been completed. Cramming school of English Kindergarten students into a building already filled to capacity of Korean Kindergarten students, for two weeks until being able to move into the new school, while training three new foreign teachers to work the new �system� was chaos. That was until the big move. I wore a face mask for weeks after starting work in the new building, as the air was so filled with saw dust that I would have a thick layer on my desk and computer first thing every morning. May I remind you, this is a school for children aged three and up. I was reprimanded numerous times for wearing the mask, which I felt was necessary because of the ongoing repertory problems I had since my tonsillectomy a few months earlier. The director eventually agreed that I could wear a mask as long as I removed it when parents were around, so as to not alert them to the health problem.

Mary continued to frustrate the foreign teachers until she was eventually fired by Kenny, one of the directors sons, who had started working at the new building, months after its initiation, as a sort of �right-hand-man� to his mother. The rumor was that Mary had failed to inform Kenny that there was to be a staff meeting that night, and after having been bawled out by his mother for not performing efficiently as a manager, Kenny called Mary (in the middle of the night) saying �if you come into work tomorrow I�ll kill you�. At first this came as a surprise to most of the staff, but the events of the months to follow made this rumor seem rather believable. Kenny resented being at the school having prior ambitions to produce movies. His resentment accumulated like chipped bricks on his shoulders, and the ice staff walked on around him got continuously thinner. One day, while over-hearing a teacher complaining about the new policy of having to write a daily report on every student (valid), Kenny started kicking the door to his own office while screaming violently �DO WHAT YOU�RE TOLD, OR QUIT!�

Many teachers at Kids Club have taken Kenny�s advice with stride. . Some teachers have lied about being Christian in order to get the job, only to find out that there would be hours worth of penance to do every week in return. Korean teachers have a mandatory Christian prayer and song meetings once a week, in addition to church on Sunday. Although religion is one of the first questions the director will ask a newly arrived foreign teacher, she�s not about to pay for a return ticket when getting an undesirable response. She has however, responded by telling some teachers that they�ll be going to hell.

Other teachers quit because the director spread nasty rumors about their skills as a teacher, as well as their personal lives, to not only other teachers but to those who work in various businesses in the neighborhood. Some of these individuals had worked for the director for over 10 years.

The school�s day to day operations are planned as they come. No curriculum has been developed until this point, and the students have been studying there for nearly a year. This is due to the constant change in teachers, managers, and contracts made with book companies. They had eventually signed a contract with Herald NIE, in exchange for advertising (despite having exceeded the legal restriction on registered students and classrooms). The Herald NIE books give the parents and school everything they�d like in a book, repetitive grammatical exercises that require the student to work through 4 small books at the time, which can be completed effortlessly and make any student look like they�re making remarkable progress in English.

When my turn to take Kenny�s advice came along there were complications at first in hiring a replacement. An American teacher had signed a contract and sent in his documents, but they spent weeks at immigration awaiting a visa number. Mary, still working from the outside doing recruiting for the school, told the teacher that immigration was busy at that time of year (mid November�) and to just hang tight and wait for them to be processed. Another rumor came my direction, this time stating that because the construction workers had protested in front of the school for not paying them in accordance with their contract, which had then caused attention to be directed to the schools violation of building codes (too big) and thus having been sued, immigration was investigating them.

On my last day I was treated with a lot of disrespect, and my school screwed me out of even more money I expected they would on even my most pessimistic day. For not having completed my contract, they deducted hundreds of dollars more than they should have for my flight, as well as additional surprise financial penalties for days off that had been negotiated. I departed on my last day with $1300 less than I expected, not a thank you from management, and tears in my eyes. The school has a bad reputation with families in Dang-gam dong, I think it should be noted by potential teachers and recruiters as well.

[DeLaRed]

what made you stay for a whole 16 MONTHS?!

[Donald Frost]

Thanks for the post.

[Amber72]

I really liked the kids...and my apartment...

[ChinaBoy]

Why did you cry on the final day?

[Amber72]

...just had an emotional month...
Tried to argue with Kenny about the pay but he's the type to not respond at all when someone asks him a question so it was frustrating (he also has nervous tics, which I noticed get activated when asking him questions). Had to go home with way less money than I thought I could live on, as I wont get another pay cheque till the end of January. Good thing is, I thought wrong and am home relearning what it's like to live on a student-like budget.

[crosbystillsstash]

I tried to read the Op, but it was freaking my eyes out. Even my 2nd graders use paragraphs.

[moosehead]