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Ismellofhockey
Joined: 25 Apr 2008
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 Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:02 pm Post subject: Sokcho Wonderland School |
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Hi everyone, I've just received a good offer from the Sokcho WL School and I'd like to know if anyone here has ever worked there.
Searching through these boards, it seems that the WL chain has a fairly poor reputation yet I can't find posts explaining why this is. Could anyone help me out? |
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Lekker
Joined: 09 Feb 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Sockcho is very beautiful in the Summer. I don't know about the school though. |
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Dome Vans
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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Quote from ttompatz:
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A search for wonderland will bring up lots of good stuff.
Be very careful, read the contract carefully. Look at a few of the wonderland contracts in the contract sticky thread. IF that alone does not scare you away..... then
The chain (without exception for any franchise branch) has a well deserved reputation and they earned it with repeated actions over a long period of time. Check their references VERY CAREFULLY and check MORE THAN ONE. Don't believe anything a Korean working at the branch says.
You have been forwarned.... |
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=116309&highlight=wonderland
I was offered a Wonderland contract last year. Looked at the contract, laughed, did the research, laughed then moved on. You should do the same. |
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Ismellofhockey
Joined: 25 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Dome Vans wrote: |
Quote from ttompatz:
| Quote: |
A search for wonderland will bring up lots of good stuff.
Be very careful, read the contract carefully. Look at a few of the wonderland contracts in the contract sticky thread. IF that alone does not scare you away..... then
The chain (without exception for any franchise branch) has a well deserved reputation and they earned it with repeated actions over a long period of time. Check their references VERY CAREFULLY and check MORE THAN ONE. Don't believe anything a Korean working at the branch says.
You have been forwarned.... |
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=116309&highlight=wonderland
I was offered a Wonderland contract last year. Looked at the contract, laughed, did the research, laughed then moved on. You should do the same. |
Thanks but that doesn't tell me why WL schools have a bad reputation, the best I can gather from that thread is that each institution is different and perhaps the one in Sokcho is decent. As for the contract, well if I'm not comfortable with everything (and I'm not), all I have to do is negotiate. |
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dean_burrito
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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I work at a Wonderland now. I would recommend asking for the emails of any current employee. Make sure any negotiations are in writing and signed. I've been here ten months. It's been a mixed time but nothing worth being a runner over like the teachers for the past three years have done here. Overall I don't regret coming on but am definitely moving on. Get a year of Wonderland under your belt and anyone will hire you because they know you can stick it out. I've got a great job coming up in August. Wonderland was more than willing to give me time off to interview and gave me a 'wonderful' reference.
Good luck. |
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Dome Vans
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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Certain schools are just bad wherever they are SLC, Reading Town and Wonderland, a few examples.
Having a quick look at the contract from the posting thread:
*housing deposit returned two months after contract end! (You won't see that)
*5% tax (Too high)
*33 hours teaching a week PLUS scheduled lesson planning block.
*You should only work up to six month mark to not be liable to pay back the outbound airfare (it says 10 months = wrong)
*Don't accept private health insurance. Accept nothing less than NHIC.
*The vacation and holiday clause is terrible. Doesn't even tell you how many days you get. Expect to only get national holidays off, and classed a paid vacation.
*Employer giving you 20 days notice is illegal. Change it to 30 days.
*NO MENTION OF PENSION. (Big Red Flag)
The only plus appears to be the pay but seeming as they'll take 5% tax and other deductions then you're not likely to see the amount that you should actually receive. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
As I've said before, suppose there was an airliner taking off with 100 seats and you knew that:
10 seats were going to fall out of the plane mid-flight
10 passengers would get food poisoning
10 would be seated next to violent alcoholics
10 would get vomited on
10 would be next to screaming babies
10 would be next to Christian evangelists who couldn't shut up
10 would be seated next to morbidly obese people
10 would get mistakenly arrested by the air marshal
10 would have seatbelts that refused to release them upon arrival
and 10 would arrive safely at their destination after a mildly unpleasant ride.
Would you get on that flight? If not, you'd be an utter idiot to try your luck with a Wonderland. This chain has beat out some very, very stiff competition to earn it's place as the hagwon chain with the worst reputation in Korea. |
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Ismellofhockey
Joined: 25 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Dome Vans wrote: |
Certain schools are just bad wherever they are SLC, Reading Town and Wonderland, a few examples.
Having a quick look at the contract from the posting thread:
*housing deposit returned two months after contract end! (You won't see that)
*5% tax (Too high)
*33 hours teaching a week PLUS scheduled lesson planning block.
*You should only work up to six month mark to not be liable to pay back the outbound airfare (it says 10 months = wrong)
*Don't accept private health insurance. Accept nothing less than NHIC.
*The vacation and holiday clause is terrible. Doesn't even tell you how many days you get. Expect to only get national holidays off, and classed a paid vacation.
*Employer giving you 20 days notice is illegal. Change it to 30 days.
*NO MENTION OF PENSION. (Big Red Flag)
The only plus appears to be the pay but seeming as they'll take 5% tax and other deductions then you're not likely to see the amount that you should actually receive. |
Thanks a lot Dome Vans, I guess this is a pretty dumb question but why is no pension a big red flag, is it just that it shows that this is an illegal contract and therefore I'm guaranteed to get screwed? Or is it simply that I could end up in trouble with the law? |
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Dome Vans
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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Firstly, pension is a legal requirement. If an employer doesn't pay pension then they are in breach of pension law. Expect more problems from this employer.
Secondly, many Hagwons don't include it because it's a way for them to lose extra money. Pension is collectable on completion of contract in a lump sum, if you are from America, Canada. If you're a Brit then it goes back to your pension credit system (whatever that means, nobody on this board has tried this yet!)
Hagwon's are businesses, they don't want to lose more money by paying you your pension.
National Pension Service
> http://www.nps.or.kr/ |
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mammolastan
Joined: 06 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:02 am Post subject: |
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I wonder if Wonderland will work for me --
I'm in the position of getting hired at a Wonderland Academy. I am going to talk to the foreign teachers that are currently working there.
Any suggestions as to what kind of things I should ask these current foreign teachers? Pretty much I would think that asking if they get paid on time and in full is the most important question, yes? |
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SHANE02
Joined: 04 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:14 am Post subject: |
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| Just avoid it. |
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mammolastan
Joined: 06 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 12:36 pm Post subject: |
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sure, avoid it is easy to say for you people who are already living in Korea as an employee.
The fact is that one in the hand is worth two in the bush, you know? |
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hockeyguy109
Joined: 22 Dec 2008
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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| mammolastan wrote: |
sure, avoid it is easy to say for you people who are already living in Korea as an employee.
The fact is that one in the hand is worth two in the bush, you know? |
Mammolastan - Taking any new job in Korea is usually a risk. But when you pick a franchise such as Wonderland, you are bringing the risk factor up pretty bloody high. There are plenty of other Hagwons in Korea you could get a job at which would provide less chances of getting screwed over. |
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joshuahirtle27
Joined: 23 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:26 pm Post subject: |
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I worked at a WL for a year. I made it through my contract and didn't look back when the plane left incheon. I won't say where it was but I'll mention that the name rhymes with kuro (if you know anything about the korean alphabet you know that k and g are the same letter).
I wasn't paid my pension. I was cold in the winter and hot in the summer. I know I worked more than 40 hour weeks but somehow only got paid for "teaching hours" which were 70 minutes (for some reason) and I had 8 classes some days. I was told to improve LATE into my contract but given no resources as to HOW. I was told in month 10 that I was the worst teacher they'd had (merry christmas to me) at the school... however before that there was no problem. All of us were told it was our fault the school was bringing in less students and revenue than last year (it had nothing to do with a global recession). My boss got drunk (not abnormal for a Korean) at an outing we were all having and decided it would be prudent to slap me thrice...
But hey, maybe your WL will be all sunshine and farts. |
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Manuel_the_Bandito
Joined: 12 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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| mammolastan wrote: |
sure, avoid it is easy to say for you people who are already living in Korea as an employee.
The fact is that one in the hand is worth two in the bush, you know? |
Sometimes we wonder, just how is it that a chain like Wonderland ever manages to find teachers. Then you come along to show us how.
If you do take it get back to us in six months when being on the dole back home doesn't seem like it would be such a bad idea. |
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