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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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 Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 6:11 pm Post subject: English camps cheating Koreans |
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http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=2953783
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A 44-year-old mother surnamed Seo, 44, sent her 12-year-old daughter to an English camp on Jeju Island for a hefty fee of 2.35 million won ($1,991) back in January with the hope that the program would boost her daughter�s English speaking abilities over winter vacation.
The camp was advertised as a four-week English immersion program for both native English-speaking students and Korean students and to help students prepare for foreign language high school.
But the reality of the camp fell far below expectations.
A week into the program, Ji Yeong, speaking under a pseudonym, fifth grade, called her mother to tell her about the situation. There were only two students in the program including herself. There were no native English-speaking students at all. Ji had to take the same course as other students who paid a relatively smaller fee of 500,000 won for a part-time course.
Flabbergasted, Seo flew immediately to Jeju Island to retrieve her daughter. She asked the camp organizers for a refund. But the organizers replied that no refunds were made after the session started.
Seo is in the process of filing a suit with the Korea Consumer Agency against the company that runs the camp to reach a settlement |
We all know that sleazy owners run ads with pictures of white kids they find on the internet and put into their advertising. They also run ads with pictures of beautiful white college students and then imply that they are the teachers at the school. You'd think Korean parents would be wise to this shell game by now.
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Last year, 225 similar incidents for language and specialty camps were filed with the Korea Consumer Agency, a 44 percent increase from the previous year.
Of these victims of the scam, 71 percent claimed that �the institute refused to terminate the contract� while 19 percent claimed �different service was given than what was outlined in the contract.�
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If more Korean mothers followed up and checked up on the camps there would be many more complaints. The mothers are usually happy just to get the kids out of the apartment for a couple weeks. As for the owners, guess what? They lie. They cheat people. Why don't Koreans understand how sleazy some of these owners can be? |
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skeeterses
Joined: 25 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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| From experience, I can say much of the ESL Industry in Korea is a fraud in itself. One rule that many ESL teachers have to learn when working in shady hogwons is this: "We pretend to teach, and they pretend to learn." |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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| I wish they would publish the names of the specific camp and the owner(s) in the story. But the shadier outfits constantly change names, anyway, and register things in their sister's name. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:27 pm Post subject: Re: English camps cheating Koreans |
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| wylies99 wrote: |
| Why don't Koreans understand how sleazy some of these owners can be? |
..because it is usually all portrayed as the foreigners fault?.
| Skeeterses wrote: |
| One rule that many ESL teachers have to learn when working in shady hogwons is this: "We pretend to teach, and they pretend to learn." |
In some cases parents have been complicit in creating this system though. If I call some parents to complain about their kids behaviour they don't care, neither do they do anything to help me out. Some parents want me to hit their kids, but many will complain if I try to discipline them at all.
They are happy just to get the kids off their hands for a few hours. They know that hagwons are not serious educational establishments and they have low expectations. |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 12:39 am Post subject: Re: English camps cheating Koreans |
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| Julius wrote: |
| wylies99 wrote: |
| Why don't Koreans understand how sleazy some of these owners can be? |
..because it is usually all portrayed as the foreigners fault?.
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Did you read the article? Nothing there portrayed these parents' problems as the fault of foreigners. Give credit where it's due. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:01 am Post subject: Re: English camps cheating Koreans |
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| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| Julius wrote: |
| wylies99 wrote: |
| Why don't Koreans understand how sleazy some of these owners can be? |
..because it is usually all portrayed as the foreigners fault?.
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Did you read the article? Nothing there portrayed these parents' problems as the fault of foreigners. Give credit where it's due. |
Actually its your fault. |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:14 am Post subject: |
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| Riiight... There's a time and place to complain about racism, and that's usually when racism is actually occurring. Go ahead and keep crying wolf if you want to, though. |
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thunderbird
Joined: 18 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:47 am Post subject: |
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| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| Riiight... There's a time and place to complain about racism, and that's usually when racism is actually occurring. Go ahead and keep crying wolf if you want to, though. |
cuz theyd never blame foriegners 4 something like this wud they? |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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I never said they wouldn't, I said they didn't in the article in question. When there's racism, by all means call it out. The article is about Korean hogwon/camp bosses scamming Korean parents. The only mention of foreigners in the article is that there weren't enough of them at the camps, so why cry racism? It makes no sense.
If you want to find anti-us racism to complain about, go to the thread on MBC. |
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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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| So there's no word-of-mouth about these scam school camps among Koreans? Nothing on the internet? |
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yodanole
Joined: 02 Mar 2003
Location: La Florida
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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How many times have you heard this from one of your better students?
"As I know, foreign teachers in Korea are not qualified to teach English".
If I had 10 won.... |
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sojusucks
Joined: 31 May 2008
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 2:39 am Post subject: Re: English camps cheating Koreans |
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| Julius wrote: |
| wylies99 wrote: |
| Why don't Koreans understand how sleazy some of these owners can be? |
..because it is usually all portrayed as the foreigners fault?.
| Skeeterses wrote: |
| One rule that many ESL teachers have to learn when working in shady hogwons is this: "We pretend to teach, and they pretend to learn." |
In some cases parents have been complicit in creating this system though. If I call some parents to complain about their kids behaviour they don't care, neither do they do anything to help me out. Some parents want me to hit their kids, but many will complain if I try to discipline them at all.
They are happy just to get the kids off their hands for a few hours. They know that hagwons are not serious educational establishments and they have low expectations. |
I've experienced that a lot too. Korea, the land of edutainment. Very employers expect "real" education. The parents, however, could. |
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Whitey Otez
Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: The suburbs of Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:56 am Post subject: |
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| skeeterses wrote: |
| From experience, I can say much of the ESL Industry in Korea is a fraud in itself. One rule that many ESL teachers have to learn when working in shady hogwons is this: "We pretend to teach, and they pretend to learn." |
Well said and absolutely true.
As a rule, I take no credit for a student's success in learning. The best I can do is no harm. I also document (using pictures of the whiteboard with time stamps) that I led the horse to water, and you can't fault me when they don't drink. |
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madoka
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:27 am Post subject: |
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| Whitey Otez wrote: |
As a rule, I take no credit for a student's success in learning. The best I can do is no harm. I also document (using pictures of the whiteboard with time stamps) that I led the horse to water, and you can't fault me when they don't drink. |
I deal exclusively with motivated, ambitious students who seek me out and give me a good chunk of money to teach them, so I cannot fairly compare myself with NETs.
That said, if I ever run across any problems, I always ask myself how I could have presented or explained the material better. Then I make adjustments in the future. Otherwise I would feel like I wasn't doing my job. |
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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 4:11 pm Post subject: |
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| madoka wrote: |
| Whitey Otez wrote: |
As a rule, I take no credit for a student's success in learning. The best I can do is no harm. I also document (using pictures of the whiteboard with time stamps) that I led the horse to water, and you can't fault me when they don't drink. |
I deal exclusively with motivated, ambitious students who seek me out and give me a good chunk of money to teach them, so I cannot fairly compare myself with NETs.
That said, if I ever run across any problems, I always ask myself how I could have presented or explained the material better. Then I make adjustments in the future. Otherwise I would feel like I wasn't doing my job. |
Wait, on another thread you claimed you lived in the U.S.A. Now you're claiming to be a teacher in Korea? Something doesn't add up. |
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