Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nicam]

A friend of mine is considering accepting an offer at a new school in the "education district" of Seoul. I can't make out what kind of school it actually is, and thought maybe someone here might have some input.

This is a copy-and-paste of a recent e-mail he got from the recruiter:

"As far as I know, you will be teaching at BIS' new campus in Sanggye-dong in Nowon-gu. Nowon-gu is the northern-most district in Seoul. It's sort of halfway between the mountains of Suraksan and Bukhansan and "the city". This district is also known as the "education district" because of the number of schools, universities and educational institutions. Most of its residents are students and young families. This new campus will be opened in mid-September.

BIS itself can be considered as a hagwon, although it's different from the other hagwons because they don't only teach English or ESL. It's like an international school where they teach all subjects like in North American elementary school and all these subjects are taught in English."

[reimund]

I'm not of much help, but I know that there's another branch by that name in Bundang. Perhaps it helps to know that they have multiple locations, because it shows that they're decently established (there are, of course, exceptions).

[ttompatz]

It is JUST A HAKWON with all the attendant risks.

It is for school aged kids to attend AFTER school and it may have a kindergarten as well.

IT IS NOT an international school of any sort.

.

[Konglishman]

I am always really annoyed when I see a hagwon calling itself an international school. To begin with, it is misleading. Finally, it wastes my time since I like to occasionally investigate any possible better job opportunities.

[gojulie]

They do have a single branch in Canada. And they teach subjects like math, science, social studies, etc. The school has mostly kids who have lived in Canada or the United States for some time.

I work at a branch and I still wouldn't call it "international." It is cute how they like to pretend that they aren't basically a hagwon.

BTW - private message sent to OP.

[suhleafs]

Yeah, basically this school's a dumpster fire. They reported me as a part-time employee so they could either avoid paying taxes altogether or report the bare minimum required. They actually took about 95k KRW off my paycheque each month as "tax" and must have pocket the difference off me. I imagine they did the same to the three other teachers I worked with and "saved" about 4 million won over the course of a year.

I also found out that they did not pay into my pension and did not take any money off my paycheque for my share of it either. My current employer's accountant and lawyer will be contacting them soon.

[esetters21]

As others stated, it is basically a hakwon. I interviewed at one of the branches last year. I chose to decline the offer. I think with the addition of the Nowon branch there will be only 3 in all. If you like working from 10 in the morning until 7 at night M-F for normal hakwon pay, then I say go for it. That wasn't what I was looking for.

[maingman]

ttompatz wrote :

It is JUST A HAKWON..

well the korean kids have to learn somewhere, yes..

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OP unsure if this may help

http://www.internationalschoolsreview.com/nonmembers/logonandsignup.htm


http://www.internationalschoolsreview.com/

[ttompatz]

[CrikeyKorea]

My er, friend named Crikey Korea works for BIS parttime... anyways, like someone just said, its called an international school because we dont teach Engrishee per se, for example from 2pm-6.15pm, i teach science(my main subject) math, reading-comprehension and social studies, I have taught at a variety of schools, and by far the students here speak English the best.

It is a hagwon, there has never been any problems with them at all, in fact the have been more than accommodating, they have branches in seolleung and bundang that i know of, and some island of the west coast of canada, vancouver island or something i dunno... anyways hope that helps

[maingman]

http://www.englishedseoul.com/

[maingman]

http://www.englishedseoul.com/