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English Channel School

 
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djmarcus



Joined: 12 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 2:02 pm    Post subject: English Channel School Reply with quote

Has anyone had any experience with this institute? Apparently they focus on 1-to-1 personal teaching which seems appealing to me.
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Son Deureo!



Joined: 30 Apr 2003

PostPosted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had a friend who worked for their Apgujeong branch. He did genuinely enjoy teaching adults one on one and the money was a cut above your typical kiddie hogwon, but the split shifts and Saturday classes (every other week) were exhausting. One year was all he could handle.
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denverdeath



Joined: 21 May 2005
Location: Boo-sahn

PostPosted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Haven't personally had any experience. However, have had a few friends and co-workers who worked for Direct English...a similar product brought to you by Pagoda Corp. All that I can say is that you should have a good look at the contract and ask lots of questions before signing. You'll probably have to do some split shifts as well. It could be a half-decent first- or second-year gig...at least you don't have to deal with a bunch of horrid ankle-biters(unless you're into that kind of thing).
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BigBlackEquus



Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Location: Lotte controls Asia with bad chocolate!

PostPosted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do a search. Several past posts on this one. Many of them not positive, if memory serves.

Here is one:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=34428&highlight=English+Channel
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lilla_fjaril



Joined: 28 Aug 2005

PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:08 pm    Post subject: English Channel--just say no Reply with quote

I didn't really care about wearing a lab coat except when the front desk staff insisted on keeping the classroom (size of a phone booth) temperature about 90 degrees all-year around.

But I do not recommend this company, especially Samsung branch. my experiences:

1. None of my managers spoke enough English to even attempt to communicate with us, and even though they could have gotten free lessons none of them bothered to even try to learn any English.

2. I had to have my paycheck edited 4 times because I was shorted. Several co-teachers were NEVER paid for training or given raises because they felt uncomfortable asking for the money.

3. Our head manager called a mandatory meeting for a Saturday night and held the whole meeting in Korean--about 5% of her words were translated to us and NONE of our words were translated to her.

4. Our head manager fired a Korean teacher to save money. When the teacher's students complained and asked why she was fired, the head manager viciously slandered her by telling everyone that several students had asked for her to be fired. She made up this huge story about handing out a poll and how all students had hated this teacher etc. etc.

5. Students take 3 tests to help determine their start level. Regularly students are placed in books 1 or 2 levels above their proper start level because they threaten not to enroll in classes if they can't have an advanced book.

6. The curriculum is beyond a joke. I took a lot of years of French and I never learned the French for 'body cavity search" or "de-facto relationship." (Words from beg-intermediate level 3) Email me at [email protected] for more info on this.

7. Several young pretty girls were sexually harrassed by male students and admin did not help them at all. The contract says you cannot refuse to teach any student.

8. only 1/4 of the teachers got to work 6 months of block. Admin will not intervene in this matter even if your manager does not let you work ANY block. And even on block, if someone takes a sick day you'll find yourself back on split to cover them.

9. After I got back home, the admin emailed to tell me they were keeping some of my check to buy a new phone because I had not cancelled my contract. Well I never had a contract and they had set the phone up for me so I contested this charge. They kept the money and just never responded to my email. I emailed head office/admin and they also never responded to my email.

I could go on and on and list at least 1000 things here. This company is SO unprofessional and Kenny and Bob do not care about anything but $$. People told me the whole curriculum was basically stolen from Pagoda when Kenny and Bob defected to start EC, so that ought to tell you how honorable they are. Seriously, email me for more info before you sign with this company. My manager wasn't fit to run a Kool-Aid stand, let alone a language school, and I doubt yours will be either.
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prairieboy



Joined: 14 Sep 2003
Location: The batcave.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

see my response here
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Captain Corea



Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 11:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That was a fine post lilla_fjaril.
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Thumbnail Postermonkey



Joined: 24 Jul 2006

PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I worked there a few years ago.....it had to have been one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. I didn't really "fit" into the grand scheme of things and I think I p***ed a lot of people off there through my attitude and my approach to my kyopo co-workers. Let me elaborate:

1) The lab coats were mandatory.
2) The wage issues were never a problem for me, but a number of my co-workers were short every month.
3) I hated the 6:30-10:30/5:00-10:00 split and I hated the extra work I got (without any prior notice) when people went on vacation.
4) I worked with kyopos who were generally nasty and certainly interested in seting up foreigner co-workers for poor evaluations/firings by the predominantly Korean speaking manager - whom was also a bit of a nasty shrew with the personality of 5 kgs. of wet food garbage.
5) If you made suggestions as to how to improve the environment for everyone, you were fired. If you weren't always smiling, happy and congenial with everyone in your cage as you taught, you were given written warnings.

As far as the curriculum is concerned - they tried rewriting the books in the time I was there. They pulled a teacher into the office to act as a R&D/ sub teacher for other branches. It seems they haven't finished the revisions yet!(LOL) The cast in the office was pretty much as other posters on EC threads have described them.

Give this place a miss. You can find better.
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birdflower



Joined: 18 Jan 2007
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:48 am    Post subject: AVOID ENGLISH CHANNEL! Reply with quote

Different posters, from different time periods, have all said that English Channel is a bad place to work.

1) http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=57787&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=english+channel+learn&start=15
2) http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=74883&highlight=
3) http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=74299&highlight=
4) http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=76761&highlight=
5) http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=77018&highlight=

English Channel's policy of not paying their teachers their last pay check on their last day of work but after they have left the country is a big red flag. As for the idea of staying in Korea to wait for your last pay check, you can not do that as they force their teachers to leave their apartment once they are done working. Where's my f---- hard earned money?!!
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