Korean Job Discussion Forums

radcon · Joined: 23 May 2011

Mentor? That is freakin hilarious. Good one. How exactly does tour Korean boss "mentor" you? Comic gold.

DosEquisXX · Joined: 04 Nov 2009

SeoulNate · Joined: 04 Jun 2010 Location: Hyehwa

Fox found him in the other thread:

http://www.cev.co.kr/html/sub05_05.html

the writer of the posts is the mysterious fake BIO writer on their website.

wanderkind · Joined: 01 Jan 2012 Location: Japan

grizzly101101 · Joined: 29 May 2015

DaeguNL · Joined: 08 Sep 2009

adr90 · Joined: 08 Aug 2015

A couple of old blog posts about the place I found while doing research on CEV (circa 2011)....
http://chamomileissomewhereelse.blogspot.kr/search/label/Changnyeong%20English%20Village

http://danandheatherw.blogspot.kr/2011/04/update-on-our-korean-disasterrecovery.html#comment-form

http://wordswithdrdicks.blogspot.kr/2011/03/sweet-goddam.html

They're all about the same disgusting event, all written by current teachers at the time.

jcd · Joined: 13 Mar 2012

adr90 · Joined: 08 Aug 2015

Review of CEV

TL;DR: If you want time to travel, an easy job, and a reliable paycheck, come to CEV. If you want a good boss, the feeling of making a difference, and to breathe without inhaling mold, don’t come to CEV.

Work Expectations: This is a bit hard for me to score, because what I consider important others wouldn’t at all. If you’re a real, licensed teacher, CEV might drive you a little batty because we’re more like performing monkeys. If you just want an easy paycheck and a base to travel around Asia, then this could be perfect.

Staff teach (in a busy week) four 45-minute periods a day, for four and a half days. The ten-minute gaps are for writing reports and sitting at your computer. After students leave (no later than 4:30 each day), teachers have almost four more hours of desk-warming. This is where I suggest prospective teachers pick up a hobby. In my time there, one teacher finished a master’s degree, another picked up day trading crypto-currencies, one wrote rough drafts of three different novels, and another explored opening a photography business. If you prefer, you can also just watch Netflix (the supervisors have extremely poor vision, so they probably won’t be able to tell).

In short, this is probably the easiest job you’ll have in your life. A lifer in Daegu once told me that teaching English in Korea is about 30% teaching, 70% performing. At CEV, I’d say it’s more like 10%/90%. So if you want to make a difference in the world, look elsewhere because neither the CEV supervisor nor the greater education system is interested in that sort of thing.

Score: For the folks wanting to make a difference 2 / 5 stars
For the folks just wanting a paycheck 5 / 5 stars

Work Environment: Living, working, and socializing with the same 3 other couples can be pretty…weird. You better hope you like them (I liked mine, thank goodness). It’s really a psych major’s dream experiment.

The greatest issue with work would be the relationship forced upon you by the bosses, the married couple. There will be culture shock, especially in a Korean work environment, but this goes far beyond the cultural differences. Any time teachers repeated to Koreans the strange things the bosses said, their eyebrows raised and they asked if we were okay, if we needed to contact the government about our conditions. The superintendent lies habitually. I don’t know if he believes all his lies or not, but just be assured that about 95% of what comes out of his mouth is a lie. Anytime he talks about immigration, it’s definitely a lie about “new laws only I know about” and “secret rules” to intimidate new teachers into doing whatever he wants.

Anytime we went out in public in a group the superintendent prepped us one what to say, told us how to say it, and prompted us in public to smile, say hello, say thank you, etc. Like we were five years old. He also does it to teachers’ parents who visit. Independent thought is, of course, discouraged, so anytime teachers wanted something they manipulate the conversation until he comes up with the idea himself (think “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”—it works!) Two teachers worked there for seven months before the bosses learned their names.

Information is withheld from teachers as much as possible, to the point that we had to quietly go to the secretary to get paystubs. It wasn’t until my contract was halfway over that I learned my actual employer was the county government of Changnyeong-gun. The superintendent lied and told me otherwise. There are many other stories, but this review is getting long enough.

Basically, if you want to be treated like a person with a name, things are going to bug you here. Be prepared for lots and lots of mind games. And mountains out of molehills.

Score: 1.5 / 5 stars (I reserve 0 for the hagwons who shut down overnight and leave you stranded)

Benefits: Paychecks are fair and come on time (if they hadn’t, combined with the complete lack of regard/respect the director and superintendent would’ve made me do a Midnight Run). Vacation is contracted at 2 weeks in a year, plus Korean holidays, but in the past few years teachers regularly get 5. In 2018, though, it may go back down to 4. Bonuses of about 100,000 won are magnanimously bestowed upon us by our Supreme Leader And Korean Father (yes, note the sarcasm) whenever the mayor of the nearby town drops by for a visit. Not the best benefits to be found in Korea, but pretty decent. (Also, if you have a master’s degree, make sure that’s recorded in your employment documents with immigration and CEV, and make sure you’re getting paid roughly 100,000 won more a month). Don’t let the superintendent tell you “probationary six months” either, because that’s a lie designed to save him money.

Score: 4 / 5 stars

Living Conditions: The apartment building is a two-minute walk from the office/classroom building, so commute is ridiculously easy. The apartments are large by Korean standards, roughly 600 square feet with lots of storage space. The apartment building was built in 2011-ish, so appliances are new. They are also, however, the cheapest grade possible. Expect plumbing to break and other problems to occur during your stay. Mold is also a serious problem, particularly in two of the apartments. Teachers reported leaving for the weekend and suddenly being able to breathe easy again, but getting sick as soon as they returned.

The superintendent and director also live upstairs and enjoy “ambushing” you frequently with hugs and waves and over-the-top smiles. They also sometimes sneak into your apartment to check it out while you’re at work. One teacher noticed her books rearranged after work one day. Another teacher was told they left their window open and a cardboard box flew out, but they found evidence that the director (or perhaps secretary, acting under the director’s orders) had been in their apartment and had to create some believable story to get onto them about having a cardboard box in their living room. The superintendent also just bought new security cameras and watches the footage every Monday morning. It’s actually really Orwellian. Thankfully, he’s like 61, so he doesn’t understand technology and it’s not as bad as it could be.

CEV is also very remote—more remote than I thought when moving there. You’ll live in the middle of an onion field. The views are nice, but getting places is rough. As an introvert who doesn’t like to party hard every weekend, I didn’t think this would bother me at all. But it did. A lot. Pro tip: buy a scooter. Seriously. It will keep you from going mad.

Score: 2 / 5 stars. Would’ve been higher except for the isolation and lack of boundaries with bosses.

Overall score: 9.5 or 12.5 / 20 stars

This overall score pretty much tells it as it is: there are worse jobs in Korea. But there are plenty of better jobs, too.