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ChungjuWonderland
Joined: 20 Apr 2011
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 Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:30 am Post subject: Do not work at Chungju Wonderland |
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Do not work at Wonderland in Chungju. I used to work there. Trust me find another job, there are lots of them out there. The owner is Meg, the hogwan is kindergarten to older students. They have been open for about 3-4 years. Phone number is: 043-236-5131 call ask for Meg. Address 1634-1 2nd floor, Yeunsoo-dong, Chungju, Chungbuk ,Republic of Korea
Here are some things that have happened there.
Didn't pay for healthcare insurance as promised.
Employee was forced to pay over 3,000.00 us dollars in medical bills out of own pocket. The school is probably going to get sued over this.
An employee was let go one month before their contract was finished, so they didn't get their bonus.
Contract is written saying you have to comply with rules and be professional. The owners turn this into "You have to do anything we say
Contract states hours that are not accurate. The owner expects you to work OVER 45 hours a week. And not pay overtime, even when this violates Korean law.
Owner does not allow you to do what you would like to do on your break, even if it is your break.
Owner goes through personal things on your desk, claiming to look for lesson plans.
Owner and contract says you will be in a 2-3 bedroom flat, but were put in a one room studio, this was a couple (two people) living in ONE room. Where the bed takes up most of the space.
Owner expects you to work the weekends without any notice.
You are not allowed to talk to employees about things that frustrate you.
Owner uses fear and punishment to discipline the kids, this includes hitting the kids or yelling at them. (The kids learn this is how you handle your frustration, and do the same thing)
Owner uses this fear and yelling on the teachers as well.
You aren't allowed to use your computer to talk with friends during your break.
You are not allowed to wash your hands in the only clean sink available until all 50 kids wash their hands first. The owner yelled at one of the teachers for doing this.
The owner has fired teachers then an 30 minutes later said no, you get one more chance.
The owner denied one teacher to take an hour and half off to go to church for a religious holiday they observe. Even though her classes would be covered, and the teachers are working more hours than stated in the contract. No consideration or sympathy.
Teachers were told to come early to start teaching, then told that was wrong and they had to find and pay for their own place to stay for 10 days.
Schedule changes often, including the day of something else you planned.
Owner expects you to plan for everything, and organize things. Then things will change last minute and all of your planning has gone to waste.
If you do decide to work here, be sure to have things in the contract that say the employer will respect the employee and the employee will have a say on how things are going to happen. Get exact start and end times including training, orientation, or ANY other thing that will make you stay late.
Be ready to give up any American standards, and work like a slave, with no praise, feeling like you are wrong all the time, accused of things you don't do, and in an unorganized environment.
Wonderland in Chungju near Cheongju is bad. Should be blacklisted, and you shouldn't work there. Other Wonderland's might be ok, but the Wonderland in chungju is not good. |
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RMNC
Joined: 21 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:36 am Post subject: |
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Do not work at ANY Wonderland.
Also make sure you post this one esllist.com so that others will know |
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thegadfly
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:18 am Post subject: |
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Do not work at Wonderland.
Good lord -- people post about problems at Wonderland as if it were a surprise -- if you can FIND these forums, you can find tons of people repeating it like a freakin' mantra:
Do not work at Wonderland. |
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Ramen
Joined: 15 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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Lies!
It's the best hagwon in korea.  |
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blm
Joined: 11 Nov 2010
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| Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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| RMNC wrote: |
Do not work at ANY Wonderland.
Also make sure you post this one esllist.com so that others will know |
Hadn't seen that site before.
Found this review (http://www.esllist.com/korea-south/743-public-school/283-yulgil-elementary-school)
Is pretty epic and a lot worse than what most people complain about here. I'm really glad Kimmi helped the poor guy/gal
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"Although I signed a contract with this school in December 2010 when I arrived two months later, in February, the accommodation they were supposed to supply was not ready and I had to find alternate accommodation for 10 days. The start date for the contract was changed after I arrived in Korea. I was supposed to start work with them February 24th, 2011, the alternate contract they wanted signed was dated 24 April, 2011. The meant that the school did not have to cover my airfares.
The school had stated in the original contract that it was located in a city area but was in fact a rural school located well out of the city. While working in a rural school would not have been an issue it is a requirement that they pay a rural allowance and additional holidays. The school stated that this was at the discretion of the Principal and so refused to pay it on that basis.
The accommodation was unliveable. While it was a large room, which is rare in Korea, it was not heated as the heating system was broken, as was the hot water system. The school did say they would have it fixed, but it would take a week or so to do. As it was still snowing in Hyeon-ri at this time of year I did not think it was acceptable to live without heating and hot water. The cooking facilities were there but not connected, and the washing machine was also there but not connected and would need considerable plumbing work before it could be connected. While the school had provided some of the furniture stipulated in the contract, they had not provided all of it and were very vague about when it would be provided.
A bed is listed as a part of the furniture to be provided but bedding is not. Some schools will provide it. The co-teacher, Miss Lee, told me they had provided bedding which turned out to be a bed cover stained with blood and bodily fluids and two pillows that were growing mould.
I would have purchased bedding if I had been taken to the accommodation earlier but it was late in the evening, well after the shops are closed in a rural area, and so I was left with nothing. It was then that I was advised that there were no banks that provided access to overseas funds in the town and that I would have to wait until early the next week to access my funds which meant five days with no way to shop for food or provisions. Miss Lee seemed to think it was acceptable for me to have no bedding, heating, hot water or food for five days!
As it was a rural area my overseas phone would not work and so I had to ask the co-teacher to be able to use a phone to contact the agency that had placed me in the job to let them know what was going on. The co-teacher refused to allow me access to a phone until I had signed the �new� contract they presented me with. This contract was totally different from the contract I had signed in December 2010. It was for a different school, the date had been altered from February 2011 to April 2011, meaning the school did not have to refund the airfares, and the conditions had changed substantially.
It would seem that changing the school is not an unusual occurrence if you deal with an incompetent and unprofessional agency. They will contract you to one school to get the Visa processed and when you get here you find you are allocated to a different school. They do not tell you this until you get here of course!
I refused to sign the �new� contract and was eventually allowed to call the Agency. The Agency advised that I just sign the contract anyway! They claimed it was for my own protection when in fact it was just to ensure they got paid.
I did not sign the contract and I had to find my own way back to civilisation. Fortunately I bumped into another foreigner, quite by chance, who offered me all the help I needed and I was able to get back to the city. I then spent the next two weeks fighting the school in order to try to obtain a Letter of release, based on the original contract, and to get my documents back. The co-teacher, Miss Lee, contacted Immigration and told them that I had just not turned up but that they knew I was in the country and so I should be deported. Fortunately I had already been to Immigration over the issue and so there was a record on file, along with a copy of the �new� contract so they were aware that the co-teacher was lying when she called. Immigration then provided a lot of help in order for me to be able to work here. Based on the illegal behaviour of both the agency and the school, they were very happy to help.
The co-teacher, Miss Lee, failed to behave in a professional or ethical manner. She behaved badly and lied blatantly to all concerned. Fortunately I had documentary evidence of her lies as well as photographs of the accommodation to support my claims. I suspect that her lies were based on the fact that she was caught out in not doing what was required of her, and lying, and was attempting to put the blame for this problem elsewhere.
I would be very concerned about anyone else being subjected to Miss Lee, and to the Yulgil Elementary School. " |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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I was going to say never work for wonderland. I think maybe I've heard of a couple that are ok. But most are not so great, outright dangerous to work for. Unless you really trust the recruiter or the advice of a friend who worked at a specific location, then run like hell.
As for the public school, not sure what the deal was with that. Sounds like the recruiter may have lied to get you to take the job. Good thing you got out of it.
Make sure you know some phone numbers and how to call them before you get over here. Use a pay phone, put in some 100 won coins and keep putting them in. Then call for directions to immigration and use that English only line for foriegners too. Know those, call them, and ask how to get out of town. Get to Seoul and then look for help. Bring enough cash to stay in a motel or hotel. Figure out where your friends live if you have any in korea. Always be prepared. Always be prepared. Always be prepared. That's the best advice I can give any newbie. |
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Smee
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 8:29 am Post subject: |
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| We should also make a thread called "Do your homework before coming to Korea because you'd think by now everyone has heard of Wonderland." |
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nw25th
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:46 am Post subject: |
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Meg sounds like a lot fun...wink wink...nudge nudge...  |
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sojusucks
Joined: 31 May 2008
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| Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:55 am Post subject: |
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| Wow. Thanks for the warning. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Wonderland and Herald hogwans are the pits but so are many other chains. |
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danielleb63
Joined: 10 May 2010
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 3:36 am Post subject: Icheon Wonderland |
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Hi everyone,
My friend and I are working for Icheon Wonderland currently and it is fine. The boss is great, we always get paid on time and have decent hours. If anyone is looking at this job since our contracts are finished in July, I would definitely recommend it. |
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hogwonguy1979
Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Location: the racoon den
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 3:56 am Post subject: Re: Icheon Wonderland |
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| danielleb63 wrote: |
Hi everyone,
My friend and I are working for Icheon Wonderland currently and it is fine. The boss is great, we always get paid on time and have decent hours. If anyone is looking at this job since our contracts are finished in July, I would definitely recommend it. |
wonder how much this person was paid for this endorsement |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 4:32 am Post subject: |
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| Ramen wrote: |
Lies!
It's the best hagwon in korea. |
you gotta love the humor. |
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ChungjuWonderland
Joined: 20 Apr 2011
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 10:37 am Post subject: Chungju Wonderland NOT sure on the others |
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As the original poster of this string, I didn't intend to imply all Wonderland Hogwans are bad. The one in Chungju is specific to the owners. It may have a bad reputation in other areas too, but I can't verify or deny those claims. I can tell you that you shouldn't work in the Wonderland at Chungju.
Since my original post 4 American teachers left the school. I have heard also that the American teacher that is there now, isn't very happy either. But I don't want to speak for him. |
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soupsandwich
Joined: 20 May 2011
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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OP...just take the experience as "lesson learned"....
There are quite a few others on this board (some won't admit it), including myself, who started at a Wonderland...wet behind the ear, did not know anything.
Just try to learn from it (and...it is not uncommon for a little slap on the head and some yelling at Korean schools) and move on.
Best of luck
soupsandwich |
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