korean hagwon's

bytesize

ok, i am going to work for a year in a hagwon, i am not sure which one yet as i have a few i can choose from. i had decided to pick a wonderland chain one, at the time i didnt realise it was a chain, but have now been turned off the idea somewhat. the reason being is that i have been doing some research and for the past few days i have been reading blacklists about peoples experiences in hagwons in korea. i obviously still want to go but am in much need of some help in finding out about the specific hagwon's i was offered. it is difficult to find specific information about them, and i have tried. i was wondering if there is anyway ye would be able to find out, through some korean sites or maybe you have heard about them from people ye know.

i am really in need of help and would greatly appreciate it. i can give ye the schools info if you are able to help me.

many thanks.

Hobbes

Might be another forum better suited to your question but I do know from other people that a lot of issues that crop up are normally down to culture differences. Korean culture is very different and even the smallest things you take for granted can offend a Korean who is not familar with the foriegn culture.

bytesize

thanks for replying hobbes. i am very familiar with korea and know about its culture. i understand that our culture is somewhat different than theirs and know many things about the work place.

some things that have made me reconsider are:

late or non payment
bad living conditions
threats from principals/owner of schools
breaking of contract on schools part
lack of resources to deal with breaking of contract
- for example the school, by law, can hold back on paying
non payment of end of contract fee, and/or non payment of flight tickets
no health insurance
fees being taken from pay and told were used for bills or other services which were already paid for or were agreed to be paid by school

the list goes on.

obviously, or rather hopefully, not all schools are like this. but i am praying that there are only a few bad apples and i dont end up with one of them.


could you recommend a different forum i could post this in?

again, thanks for your help

Hobbes

I can only comment somewhat on the Contract part. Koreans concept of a contract varies to the Western ones. Although this has changed a lot, it is still possible.

I'm cross posting the thread to a forum which might be better to ask in for you.

Trotter

Hobbes wrote:

I'm cross posting the thread to a forum which might be better to ask in for you.

Thanks Hobbes

bytesize

thanks hobbes. lets hope someone in this forum may know something which can help me in some way.

Tom Dunne

For those that are sitting there like I was, asking "WTF is a hagwon?" details here.

kittex

A friend of mine is teaching in one at the moment, about an hour from Seoul and he loves it.

He is sharing a flat with other international teachers and they go sight seeing together, helped each other settle in etc.
He has had no problems with pay or anything like that and goes into Seoul every weekend.

He has no training, just his under graduate degree, so was quite glad to be in the type of school that set the curriculum and provided resources.

bytesize

thanks for the info kittex. has made me fell a good bit better.

sorry about not saying wat a hagwon is, tom