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cdog151
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Location: Hopefully Seoul
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 Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 4:01 pm Post subject: Kids Club Mokdong...Stay Away or Go? |
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| Wondering if anyone has any info on the Kids Club in Mokdong, seems like a pretty good deal. Anyone know anything extremely bad or extremely good? |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 4:22 pm Post subject: Re: Kids Club Mokdong...Stay Away or Go? |
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| cdog151 wrote: |
| Wondering if anyone has any info on the Kids Club in Mokdong, seems like a pretty good deal. Anyone know anything extremely bad or extremely good? |
Kids club does not have a good reputation. It is a franchise chain. Each school is different. Irregardless of what the contract says (a bad schoolwill ignore it anyway) ..... Get e-mail addresses of another teacher/s there and ask POINTED AND SPECIFIC QUESTIONS.
-What are the hours? (start time / stop time / breaks).
-How many classes per day, week, month?
-Do they ALWAYS pay on time?
-Do they pay at the end of your month or do they have a hold back period (5-10 days after your month end) to prevent runners? (no=red flag 1)
-Do they really pay overtime or avoid it with creative book keeping?
-Do you get credit for classes on the national holidays or do you get the day off but still have to work your 120 hours before you get overtime? (no=red flag 2)
-Do they have national medical (with the little booklet)? (no=red flag 3)
-Do they pay into pension? (no=red flag 4)
-What about the holidays? 10 or more WORKING days? (legal requirement here) (no=red flag 5)
-When and how do you get your holidays?
-What extra stuff do you really have to do - mentioned or not in the contract.
-Then consider the quality of life issues - things that are important to you that aren't mentioned here (housing, furnishings, THE BATHROOM, access to recreational facilities, shopping, banking).
Do they take additional deposits in addition to the delay in payday? (yes=red flag 6)
Most newbies are all starry-eyed when they do their interview and DON'T ASK the right questions then get burned when they get here.
OPEN your eyes, take a deep breath. Your job won't disappear if you don't answer today. It will still be there next week. There are 100's of new jobs listed every week. Take the time to check it out properly.
A year in hakwon hell is a long time.
DON'T take my word for it. Ask some of the runners!
Don't check and you will get burned!!! It is a promise!!! |
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jjmonkey
Joined: 12 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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Great advice ttompatz. I would suggest actually speaking with the teachers on the phone or in person. You can't be sure about information from just an email, which may not have been written by a foreign teacher.
And don't budge on any points; there are enough good jobs that will give you what you want. |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:42 pm Post subject: |
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| jjmonkey wrote: |
Great advice ttompatz. I would suggest actually speaking with the teachers on the phone or in person. You can't be sure about information from just an email, which may not have been written by a foreign teacher.
And don't budge on any points; there are enough good jobs that will give you what you want. |
Speaking to teachers on the phone is nice, but I've heard of recruiters posing as teachers, telling folks what they want to hear. Thank goodness for Dave's and this infernally useful grapevine we've got goin' on. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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Wrench
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| I've seen couple Kids Clubs man they work the foreigner well. Some are good some are bad. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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Phone interviews by themselves guarantee nothing. I had to do this a couple of days ago with the boss breathing down my neck, (making sure I didn't say anything negative about the school) Not that I necessarily would, but if I had, I'm sure my life would suddenly have become very difficult for the remainder of my contract. 
It's a good idea to get the email address of the person who you talked to.
They may have something different to say when the boss isn't around.
It's an even better idea to get the email addresses of former teachers who have completed contracts. There is no real pressure on them to make things sound more "rosey" than they really are.
It's also even better to get several opions on a school as well. It's harder for a recruiter to pose as several former teachers than just one. |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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Have you tried googling the name of the school? If it's particularly bad, often former (or current) employees will write it up. If you look up my former school, for example, you'll find at least three scathing critiques of the way it's run.
It's informative, and amusing! A lot of the complaints I recognized, but the new ones are great (I feel for the people who still work there, but it just thrills me that I'm no longer there.) For example, the new textbooks they ordered (at a deep discount, from the Philippines) have phrases like:
"I don't like that sweater. It makes me appear as the gay." |
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serenitee
Joined: 29 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm also interested in finding out about this specific school. I've read some really negative things about some Kids Club Schools, but not the Mokdong one specifically. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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| serenitee wrote: |
| I'm also interested in finding out about this specific school. I've read some really negative things about some Kids Club Schools, but not the Mokdong one specifically. |
So you get the same answer that the original poster got.... read and repeat. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 2:25 am Post subject: |
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I worked at the Kids Club in Mok-Dong about 4 years ago now. The deal then was that you would get paid on time, have a decent apartment but you would have a very heavy workload.
Since I left I've heard that they have undergone an ownership change so I can't verify what it is like. But I do know that they have a high turnover rate and that the workload has gotten much worse.
Here is the blog of a teacher who taught at the school recently:
http://mebethles.blogspot.com/
Perhaps you can e-mail her for a better idea. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 3:08 am Post subject: Re: Kids Club Mokdong...Stay Away or Go? |
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| ttompatz wrote: |
| Irregardless |
Excellent post Tom. You are one of the best and most helpful posters I have even seen on this board.
Sorry to be a jerk, but I got to call you on that use of "irregardless"
(wondering where the hell such a nonword comes from as my brain "unthaws" from yesterday)
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 3:44 am Post subject: Re: Kids Club Mokdong...Stay Away or Go? |
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| jajdude wrote: |
| ttompatz wrote: |
| Irregardless |
Excellent post Tom. You are one of the best and most helpful posters I have even seen on this board.
Sorry to be a jerk, but I got to call you on that use of "irregardless"
(wondering where the hell such a nonword comes from as my brain "unthaws" from yesterday)
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irregardless
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Main Entry: ir�re�gard�less
Pronunciation: "ir-i-'g�rd-l&s
Function: adverb
Etymology: probably blend of irrespective and regardless
nonstandard : REGARDLESS
usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. |
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daskalos
Joined: 19 May 2006
Location: The Road to Ithaca
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| Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:01 am Post subject: Re: Kids Club Mokdong...Stay Away or Go? |
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| ttompatz wrote: |
irregardless
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Main Entry: ir�re�gard�less
Pronunciation: "ir-i-'g�rd-l&s
Function: adverb
Etymology: probably blend of irrespective and regardless
nonstandard : REGARDLESS
usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. |
Not meaning to hijack this thread, but I will force it into a minor digression. "Ain't" is a word, too, but the only people who use it who aren't ignorant use it to quaintly pretend they are ignorant. I'm all for the idea that usage eventually defines the Language, but ignorant, redundant constructions are to be resisted by people who should know better, a group that, at the very least, should include English teachers.
If you find a dictionary that supports bad English, bury it for a hundred years. If after that the bad English wins, fine. Until then, find a better dictionary. |
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serenitee
Joined: 29 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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| I received an email from someone that recently worked at Kids Club Mokdong and while they only had fairly positive things to say about it, apparently everything- including ownership- is changing within the next two months. So in this case I'm not sure anyone will really know what conditions to predict. I just thought I would post that heads up. |
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