Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Snowkr]

Hi All

Is anyone familiar with SLP schools in Korea? They sound like some sort of franchise operation and I usually try to steer clear of those but I've been told that these are reputable.

What about Gwanju City... (may have spelling wrong)?

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!

thanks

[wren]

a couple friends of mine are working at SLP schools and are having a rough time of it... their salaries are not competitive yet they put in 10 - 11 hour days on a regular basis, working far harder than most of the english teachers i know here! they say they would never recommend for friends of theirs to work at their schools. apparently they are treated well when it comes to holidays and being fed when they stay late, but it seems that the costs far outweigh any benefits. i've never seen a bunch of more stressed-out teachers. thus, SLP has been dubbed in our circles as "Slave Labour Program." enough said.

of course, each branch of the franchaise is variably owned & operated and some have more experience than others.

good luck!

[Gollum]

Go to www.efl-law.com, and you'll see that SLP carries a warning.

I'd steer clear.

[mithridates]

SLP depends on the school. The ones in Pyeongchon and Sanbon are good - I worked at the first one. My friend worked at the one in Sanbon for three years and had either three or four classes a day. The hagwon was 15 minutes walk from her apartment that she shared with a good friend of hers, and it was big.
SLP's a chain, so there's no way to know unless you know someone who works there.

[Snowkr]

Thank you so much, everyone.

SLP sounds a bit like a franchise I worked for in China called EF. My school was awesome... others were a nightmare. The reputation is not something I want to be associated with so I'll pass on this one. Just accepted a better looking job anyway.

Thanks for the feedback!

[just because]

Just want to point at while we are at it that the SLP at Changwon is very dodgy as well...

Unpaid saturdays, 11 or 12 hours days etc......

[PaperTiger]

Mr. Kwak and Mrs. Jung (husband and wife team) are rotten to the core. In the eight months that I worked for them, they went through six Korean teachers who left because they weren't paid or were paid late (like everyone else). Did I mention they habitually pay late, all the while giving you every assurance that it will happen tomorrow? Overtime? You will be threatened to be fired if you don't work it, or promised untold riches if you do....I worked 60 hours of overtime and only got 100,000 won. When I asked for an explanation, ca veille salope showed me her calculations scrawled minutely in pencil and rattled off her treachery in Korean.

If the prospect of teaching 80 minute classes using 20 minutes of substandard "Sogang University" materials isn't enough to scare you off...contemplate that nearly %80 of all your classes will be placed exactly two levels higher than they can handle. You're responsible for planning the classes, however, they WILL NOT spend the money to provide the necessary resources. How about kids that are shamelessly ill-bred allowed free-run of the school, whenever you have a problem they go to the front desk where Mrs. Jung or her accomplices will coo over the child and say "Did that crazy foreigner scare you? Oh poor thing!!!" Like being watched by a camera in every class (no audio, mind you) and then being called out on the carpet for every thing that you did by people who have no clue about teaching (that never stopped them from teaching English...aside from not being able to READ or SPEAK it).

Should I even mention the mosquito-infested hovel I had to SHARE? Just by dumb luck I managed to get a roommate that I didn't detest and not more than two months later Kwak and Jung show up with a couple that are moving in the next day. I had to walk through the living room to shower in what was, to all appearances, an airplane bathroom. Mind, this is a two bedroom apartment with a third clothing room that even Tokyo residents would call tiny...that's the one they put whoever they hated most at the time. It was dirty (before I moved in...thanks) and the buzz and bite of mosquitos keep me awake and twitching all night for 11 months. I never knew mosquitos lived past September.

They show you a room full of (broken) computers on the second floor to showcase their formidable research facilities, meanwhile the only functioning computers are being used to chat and download fatal Korean viruses onto already overloaded systems.

While I was there, the psychotic Kyopo Kim Min (who is now a recruiter, ha ha ha...I actually called him accidentally when looking for a job this winter) pulled a teacher out of his class, not once but three times to try and have a fist-fight with him right in the stairwell.

Min bragged (in English) about a recent incident involving a recruiter that never got his finders fee, got TWO gangsters to come and collect at our school. The SLP gangster showed up, and since he was bigger than the two of them put together that ended the dispute right then and there.

Mrs. Jung and Min fired five foreigners while I was there, because they had the gall to call them on their bulljive (keeping passports, degrees, transcripts, late pay, retarded management practices). Two teachers had finished their contracts and had to go to the Labor Department to get ca putaine de salope to pony up the money.

One good thing, their cook was AWESOME. She rarely cooked fish (I thought people only made catfood out of mackerel, but they eat it here like it was swordfish) or seafood, almost never made that sludge with seaweed and old mussels people are so fond of here. The only part of that experience that was worth remembering.

Trust me, it's not worth it. If you think I'm exaggerating or being too bitter, then go for it. Plenty of people went home after that experience, but there were PLENTY of posts on English Spectrum about those curs (and many other branches of SLP) before hagwan owners bribed someone enough to shut them down.

[mnovak]

Avoid Bupyeong (Incheon) SLP at all costs. Decent holidays though.[/b]

[Snowkr]

Whoa...


Okay then. Point taken. Officially avoiding franchises now.

Thanks everyone.

Oh and I do like the pictures!

[PaperTiger]

Snowkr,

If you're looking for a job for the first time in Korea, there are several lont-term teachers and lifers who have availed their services to those needing advice. I suggest you do your homework and find out from experienced teachers what are the right questions to ask a potential employer and what things you should look for as indicators about their hagwan. There are some things that could give some good clues about your employer merely by reading the contract. Just keep in mind that promises are not really promises here in the land of the morning megaphone and contracts are as meaningful as toilet paper to most bosses (I exaggerated, they're actually LESS meaningful). Contact people on this board and ask around before committing yourself to anything, be sure to shop around...there are good bosses and unconsionable (no, I can't spell it!) crooks who will take you for the most miserable ride of your life and it's not easy to tell them apart without any experience.

Remember all hagwan owners are small businessmen, meaning they had the capital to begin this venture...it's no guarantee they have the financial, communication, and organizational skills to pull it off. I worked for a well-meaning alkie stockbroker who claimed he hadn't turned a profit in two years time...its seem the less thought and time people put into their school the more they kvetch about not making any money (and screwing YOU to make up for it). Be careful and have fun...it's possible.

Try worknplay.com, my boss is a pretty decent guy and he's hiring now. JES Island...you should have experience though (on the off-chance you're not an ESL virgin).

[rapier]

There are no reputable, excellently well-run professional schools in Korea. It's stupid the way these foreigners with no teaching qualifications think they're worthy of working in Harvard and are hugely dissapointed when they come and find that the photocopier is broke etc in korea. then they whine, whine, and whine some more.

If I had a B.ed and a M.A I wouldn't dream of being in Korea. but stillthey come.

if you've made up your mind a quick fix job in Korea is for you, then don't expect to be treated like a king for throwing a few kids around for a couple of hours every day.

d**m whining waeguks!!!

[AdamH]

Easy now, Rapier. Take a deep breath. There you go. In with the peaceful peachy air, out with the snot-green bilious air.

Let me buy you a coffee and see if we can arrange for an ajdumma to give you a hug. Everything will be all right again soon.

----------------------------------
Yeah, I know, I get pretty angry when my students beat me at Kartrider too.

[Snowkr]

Hi again

I had forgotten about this post but just ran across again tonight and saw the last 2 responses. Very funny. I mean that, seriously. That last one had me laughing pretty hard...

I'm not an ESL virgin. I taught in China and saw a good bit of crap there too. Still my experience was good. I just want to be able to say the same about Korea.
No real fancy qualifications... I have a music degree from an Australian Uni and I'm American so that's a bit off to some. I've worked with kids for a long time teaching music and recently now teaching language but I'm a long way off from calling myself an experienced ESL/EFL teacher.

I'm using a recruiter called Footprints but I'm not in Korea yet so I really can't know exactly what I'm about to walk into! I'm just praying that my school is more than "legit". At least it doesn't sound too good to be true.

Thanks again for the SLP info. I can do without another controversial franchise on my CV.

[eamo]