Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wonkavite62]

I am being considered for a job at Chungdahm Institute. It might be good, or bad. I want info, good or bad about teachers who've taught there.
If you reply, would it be okay for me to ask you more questions, and discuss the school FURTHER?. They are offering more than one option, and I am told I could earn 3000 000 won monthly, if I teach 30 hours a week. I am an experienced teacher from the U.K.
I am trying to decide whether to go back to Japan where I worked for a year, and learned a lot of Japanese, and did a lot of sport. Or should I go to Korea, where I might save more money, but fewer holidays.
I was told I could work in Seoul with Chungdahm. That would be good.

[laoshihao]

Be careful of which branch you end up at. Ask to speak to teachers who have been there at least six months and are teaching both hourly and salary. I understand hourly people usually have to pay for their own place, which can be expensive depending on where your branch is. Salaried teachers are given a free apartment. Hourly sometimes don't get enough hours to meet the approxiamate pay they were promised. Sometimes salaried people end up not getting paid for their overtime hours. Some branches have programs that are not CDI affiliated so if they tell you you will be working with five years olds that could mean three in western age. The contract at my branch says holidays are five in winter and five in summer. Apparently at my branch that means days the owner chooses and not the teacher and they are not five in a row, but one here, two there, another one there, etc.

I hope the branch you're looking at is a good one, but be aware that there are some really terrible branch owners and managers in the CDI franchise system.

[djz]

stay away from CDI

[MERIPARKER]

Some people do well with CDI and some really hate it. It pays better than most schools but you will get absolutely no vacation from there. Sick days can be a real pain in the bum too. Every branch is different. You definitely need to talk to some of the teachers that work at the branch where you are looking to go. My husband works for CDI and he likes it and he gets paid really well. I couldn't work there because I need to have a vacation and the money wasn't quite good enough to give up vacation.

It depends on which is more important. Do you want a life or do you want money? If you want to save money and only do it for a year then I think it may be worth it.

[lifeinkorea]

I was offered a job there too, sounds like a slave shop.

[tacoman]

I was offered a job at Chungdahm through Aclipse. CDI doesn't offer much vacation you say? If you are salary, I assume they are paid days off, if you are hourly, would you still get paid vacation days? I will definitely talk to other teachers before working at a location and I would need hours that would allow me to have a night life because there' no point in living if I can't interact with other human beings.

[blackjack]

http://www.google.co.kr/search?hl=en&newwindow=1&as_q=cdi&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.eslcafe.com%2Fkorea%2F&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images

[aaron.southkorea]

[deleted]

[Olivencia]

Chungdahm is awful.

[ttompatz]

A salaried employee at CDI is no different that one working at any other hakwon. Same-same.

I have often heard of the "benefits" of being an hourly worker at CDI. You can make bundles of won.

Truth? The salaried employees are filled up first. Extra classes up to their limits cost the company nothing.

The hourly employees get what's left. If they are busy, you are busy. If they are not, you are not.

Now for the really bad news. Yup... you can make lots of cash IF (big if) you are kept loaded all the time. That is NOT usually the case.

More bad news, you do NOT get paid holidays, no pension, no medical, no housing, no severance. Add up all the stuff you don't get and you find that by-and-large the salaried employee end up with a better deal in the long run.

Now the really bad news.... A newbie at a Gyeonggi public school with a couple of afternoon classes tossed in will make MORE coin and do fewer classes than you. In addition he is assured of his medical, pension, severance and up to 6+ weeks of PAID vacation each year.

Some other provinces have an even better deal for their PS workers (if you are willing to actually experience Korea and not Metro Seoul and area).

The ONLY time CDI makes sense is if you are on an "F" visa and can fill in the dead time with other work.

[hagwonnewbie]

I imagine the places where hourly workers get the most hours are also the places with the highest costs of living. (Gangnam for example).

[sesyeux]

someones really keen to get me to become interested in a CDI position too.
it's not really what i want anyway so haven't looked at it but everyones advice here is right on the money - each school is going to be different so just ask the current teachers everything you want to know.
i have heard of a lot of teachers leaving though. sometimes i think they sell it a lot different to how it is. do your research though, you'll be fine.

[bocceman]

i'd stay away.

i know this will sound like nothing but a wild rumor from your end, but a trusted co-worker of mine was originally recruited by them (along with a lot of other gyopo and foreign teachers) from the states.

long story short, a lot of them got screwed over in a way i found suprising for a big, successful, "reputable" company.

take it for what it's worth...

[Dude Ranch]

I would apply for CDI but they will place you anywhere they want. So you could end up anywhere in Korea with no say over the matter. Even though they have regional specific ads it means nothing. oh well.

[Chaz_Bangalang]

Franchise/branch/branchise/franch you will

be monitored incessantly (beyond reason).

have to attend many pointless meetings that you won't be paid for.

have to sit through many ridiculous workshops where badly prepared team leaders and chosen instructors pass down their �expertise� through mock teaching, if you�re lucky you may have to mock in front of 40 other teachers for a program you�re completely new to (the idea being that through this you will leave the workshop knowing exactly what you�re supposed to be doing for that program).

end up doing over-time work where you will receive a third of your normal hourly pay.

spend endless hours prepping (at least for the high level classes)

have limitless lists compiled about you, how long you have taken breaks for, how much the students like you, how many comments you have uploaded to the student website, what time you came in, what time you logged off, how many times you have been late, your level of energy, your level of professionalism, your level of delivery, how long you spent on certain class components.... this particular list goes on and on and on..... these lists will be measured against all the other instructors and used to �motivate you� to justify why you�re not getting a pay raise, a bonus, why you�re not getting as much of a raise as you hoped or why you need to do this, do that, change this, change that.

you will receive verbal warnings each time you go over the 5 min break in between classes, then a written warning then probation and then the firing squad.

and finally, (this is the kicker...)

you will get a cheap bottle of sweet italian wine as a thank you for all your efforts at Choesok (the harvest moon holiday).

You have been warned.