Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dmccuaig]

I was offered a position in Boramae Seoul with Kids College? Have you heard anything about it? Good bad?

[TexasChicken]

Definantly a step above the ding dong deng academy on your resume.

[Stephen Ireland]

I guess it sounds good....IF YOU"RE A PEDOPHILE!!!

[oftenadrift]

Jebus, are they still open?! I can only say, don't sign if they have the same management (the boss went by Clara when I was there)! There used to be a thread on this branch, but I couldn't find the link that provided a picture and long winded warning about her.... >.<

Anyways, I worked at that exact branch in the summer of 2007 and lasted 4 months (which was a pretty impressive record). In the time I was there 6 Korean teachers quit in tears in just one month, and 3 foreign teachers ran (not including the couple that quit just before me after being tossed in a way too small apartment and told to deal with it).

The Korean teachers had pay held, or didn't receive it at all, and my friend who worked with me wasn't paid for her visa run as promised, and was yelled at by the boss for wanting pension and health care. She was luckily an F2 and promptly quit.

The apartment was terrible, get a picture if you're seriously considering it. I ended up living in a larger goshiwon (!) because I couldn't take living in a tiny, narrow room furnished with a bed only, that faced a brick wall (no light). It made my college dorm look like a palace, I could literally touch the opposite walls, width wise with my arms outstretched.

Why I left? The kids were treated poorly and there was no help with supervision (the CCTV cameras accomplish nothing). 13 kids in a kindergarten class is too much, especially when you're not allowed to punish anyone for bad behaviour (it's the teacher's fault if a student with serious issues decides to go psycho on another student. A teacher I worked with had a student randomly stab another student with a pencil... causing some serious damage to her back... and the school lied and told the parents she fell... furthermore nothing was done about the nasty kid despite pleas for some serious help >.<)

Snack time "cooking class" was disgusting... and the boss yelled at me for refusing to give the students (a class of 13) 2 clementines and a jar of mayo... or rotten fruit... or a handful of tomatoes... I ended up using my own money to bring in treats and try and make the kid's day suck less. (On a side note, the Korean teacher's forced the kids to eat the stuff, and some of them threw up!)

Class trips were just terrible. Clara charged the parents a pretty penny for the trips, than took us someplace free. Like the kimchi museum in the mall... where we were kicked out of the food court for not buying anything... and once we were outside, she refused to move the kids into the shade despite the foreign teacher's begging... hence, kids got heatstroke and passed out...

There is a ton of extra work. You have to hand write weekly letters to each of the student's parents, even if they don't read English. You can only say positive things about the students, so forget getting any help with devil spawn. There is mountains of photocopying and supervising lunch... and absolutely no free time when you're on campus (which is from oh, 9-6)...

Anyways, I can't remember too much else right at the moment... just clear events which seriously traumatized me... just don't do it, stay away! I've been working in Korea on and off since 2004 and have been with some great schools - you CAN do much better! I just couldn't read your post and not say something >.<

[3DR]

[jo3jo3]

[shifdog]

I was the guy forced to live in the small apartment with my girlfriend (now wife). We worked there for half a day during the parent student orientation. After having over 5 year's experience teaching in Japan, we got bad vibes that day. Everything was disorganized and fly by night. Clara was rude and bossy to everyone. So we packed up our things on the Monday and left.

Clara was in tears on her knees begging us to stay. It was such a pathetic sight. I guess my actions have been vindicated by the bad experiences of other teachers.

P.S. imoscardotcom I got your PM, but the administrators won't allow me to reply to PMs. You can get in touch with me at 'korea at shiflett dot us'.

[IncheonTOEFL]