Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Nester Noodlemon]

[sarahsiobhan]

tophatcat (and 99% of everyone else on this thread) has it right. kprrok is being a nit-picking jerk. The consensus is that Wonderland is Hades, with the exception of two so far. And of the two, one was just alright, and still had bad working conditions compared to other places.

Update on the Pohang situation- the last teacher to quit, despite giving her notice in full accordance of her contract, has been unable to get a letter of release despite it being promised.

Do not work for Wonderland. Not in Pohang, not anywhere. It's not worth it.

[curlyhoward]

[DosEquisXX]

I was told something similar. That the VP/principal wanted to see my work and lesson plans. That may have been true. However, it was clear that she got a good look at what I did beforehand. She didn't use things verbatim, but she certainly took bits and pieces of my work and used it for her assignments.

I really don't care much about that stuff. I would care if somebody was breaking my ass over it and wanting me to create additional lessons for them.

[Shapur]

[Ukon]

[sarahsiobhan]

Actually, in the case of the Pohang debacle, when the second teacher left (the OP) the bosses tried every nasty trick in the book to screw them around, and nearly succeeded in scuppering the new job/visa. A big part of the reason Immigration sided with the OP was because a former teacher had kept documented proof of financial shenanigans that the boss had previously committed. The boss at the Pohang Wonderland actually was questioned about the potential fraud, and we can assume that was unpleasant, but even with that and teachers leaving in droves and telling Immigration horror stories, the most recent teacher to leave (again, who quit in full accordance with the contract, gave enough notice etc.) he is STILL trying to screw them around.

I guess Immgration needs a lot more than fraud and repeated horror stories and teachers quitting left right and center before they consider that there might a bit of a problem.

So, yeah. 'Just quitting' is NOT as easy as it sounds, especially if you want to stay in Korea.

[Shapur]

I once had a recruiter try to convince me to sign on at a Wonderland when I was a relative newbie about 9-10 years ago.
After visiting the Wonderland in question I never spoke to that bozo again.
I wouldn't let a dog work there, let alone a human being.
I must have met scores of people who have worked in various Wonderland branches over the years and not one of them has ever had a good word to say about any Wonderland branch. Ever.
I just heard one horror story after another. Literally scores of them.
As for those who are trying to defend Wonderland (kprrok).
Who are you trying to kid?
Yes, I'm sure there are a couple of good branches.
But out of how many branches? 30? 50?
The very few "good" branches are very obviously the exceptions that prove the rule.
99% of the information out there is extraordinarily negative.
After ten years of seeing and hearing the same old crap, at this point it's perfectly reasonable to say it.
"Don't work for ANY Wonderland!"
Why take such an insane risk?
If you happened to luck on to the 1 or 2 good branches you must be one of the luckiest people alive!

[hogwonguy1979]

I've been around these parts for close to 15 years now and wonderland has had a bad rep from the time i got here.

whats amazing is how many teachers still wind up there even with all the info out there about avoiding this place in total

then again i think w.c. fields said it "there is a sucker born every minute... and they wind up working at wonderland"

[hogwonguy1979]

a funny epilogue to the prisoner of wonderland saga, one the ladies is currently back in korea teaching and has been back and taught once or twice before since then. from reading her blog she seems quite happy

good on her surviving and coming back and for doing well

[staticnomad1986]

I started working with one of the major recruiters around here for my first year teaching in S. Korea and I was told the glories of a certain private school position. So I agreed to interview. New as I was and it was the first school I was working with, it didn't strike me to ask the name [duh! I know]. I get an e-mail that says Wonderland school would be calling me at X time. The name sounded familar from roaming the boards, and with quick search I saw why. Turns out they never called at the interview time anyway. Then the recruiter finds an "even better position" to interview for. I had to ask via e-mail three times before I got the name of the school. It was Jungchul. I declined the interview. She asked why. I was honest and said that for a 1st year, I didn't want to walk into a school that had such an overwhelmingly bad reputation. I never heard from the recruiter again.

[Mr. BlackCat]

I have to second (third, fourth...?) the sentiment that if you're too lazy to even google the school name before relocating to a whole new continent then you have no one to blame but yourself. There was a book written about this company, for christ sake. It's like someone coming on here and complaining about investing with some guy named Bernie Madoff. Having said that, it is still useful to post your experiences so new people have a more recent account of the problems.

I also find it funny that for every thread warning people about the evils of Wonderland there are always a couple of posters who will come and defend the company. It's even more bizaar because usually these people will admit their experience wasn't great but then, like kprrok, go to great lengths to defend them such as posting several times, using bold and large fonts and insulting other posters. I have worked for a couple of great companies in my lifetime and I don't think I would go to that extent to defend them, so I have to question the motivations behind these posters. I know the answer will be they're just trying to defend the truth, but come on. Someone has a negative feeling about something you yourself admitted to being ambivilant about and it irks you that much? Like I said, there must be more to the story.

There have been so many reports about Wonderland I find it hard to accept the position that you should still look at each individual branch seperately. Why take the risk? It's not like there are no jobs here, so why put yourself in a position where in all likelihood you'll be taken advantage of. It's like going to a hotel and being offered several rooms of varying quality, but choosing the one filled with coked-up sex offenders because, hey, not all coked-up sex offenders will rape you. Why not just take that private room with a lock on the door down the hall instead?

[tophatcat]

[LeePDX]

I just finished reading the Island of Fantasy, by Shawn Matthews. My favorite thing that he described about the Koje-do Wonderland were the transportation vans labeled "Everybody laughs at Wonderland." Oh yes, and the McDonalds themed classroom... Is that school still in operation?

[mdsb87]