J.M. English School: Seokchon-dong, Seoul

I worked at this school for over a year and was asked to stay on longer, but it was a difficult place to work. Don’t get me wrong – some of the things are difficult simply because you are in South Korea – and attitudes about work are very different there. For instance, ANY school will ask you to come in on your day off and be surprised that you ask to be paid for it. Or that you feel you can refuse to come in if they don’t pay you. Employees do not refuse their employers in South Korea. This is where the Western vs Eastern thinking clashes. Also, if your boss has a problem with you or has to correct you, they tell your co-worker, who then tells you. Needless to say, this does not go over very well with Westerners!
The difficulty that I and my fellow teachers found with the headmistress, I’d say, mainly fell into the category of “She is not open to ideas beyond her own” She is an educated woman who has her methods of doing things and that is how you must do it. If you are OK with that, you’ll probably get along fine. As a person, not as a headmistress, I found her to be very pleasant and had many nice conversations with her – but as a headmistress – she is not a good manager of people, she gave us paperwork to do solely for the sake of keeping us busy and she had cameras in the classrooms to watch the teachers, not the students. Other teachers at other schools said they could have been teaching the kids witchcraft and the headmaster didn’t care, but at JM, the headmistress is very much involved in the classroom.
I will say, a nice thing about working at JM was the location was fabulous. Our apartments were a 5 minute walk from the school, we were right in the middle of the city, with shopping, subway, an amusement park and both Korean and American food very close. And according to other teachers who worked in other schools, our one-room furnished apartments were very nice in comparison.
Also, the headmistress did make sure that our winter break was at Christmas. Other schools scheduled their winter break in January or February, so their teachers could not go home for Christmas, but we did.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this hagwon. I was treated very well for the first six months of my stay in Korea. My apartment appeared clean, I was told how to go places, and always paid on time. Lunch was always provided, but only if you enjoy Korean food all day everyday, as the others have said.

About nine months into my contract the administrative team began playing games with me. They told me I was “getting sloppy” with my lesson plans and general teaching duties. No real evidence, it was just an intimidation technique, I think. I was not allowed to go home when I was actually sick.

I taught many classes with bronchitis and a high fever simply because there are no substitutes here. After insisting on taking a half day to recover, I never quite recovered my “reputation” and the staff was always looking for reasons I wasn’t doing my job.

11 months in I was asked to leave. The school cited that I was “emotionally unstable” but couldn’t really back up this claim with evidence.

I fought for my bonus and pension, and did receive both, fortunately.

I must say that I feel I am very hard-working by American standards. A lot of this is simply standard practice in South Korean English hagwons, I realize, but there were basic tenants of human decency and respect that I felt were ignored here, and it made working there during the last four months nearly unbearable. I would not work there again.

At the end of my stay, my apartment was falling apart, partly due to the cheap nature of the furniture. I was asked to pay 400,000 won (taken from my bonus) to cover apartment costs.

A lot of teaching materials were stated to be provided, and simply were not delivered. Most of my lesson plans were busywork, and not actually necessary in the actual teaching of classes.

If you are considering working here, you MUST be a very self-directed, independent individual and open to criticism at all times. You will be told how to do things, and you must take them at face value.

I don’t have anything good to say about JM English School. My best piece of advice for those thinking of working here would be don’t do it. It isn’t worth the stress or the hassle. For starters, this place calls itself a school but it is important to remember that school is the farthest thing from what it is. It’s hard to even call it a business because after spending a year there I am still trying to figure out how it works. The director of the school is more suited to the position of dictator which wouldn’t be so bad if she had any knowledge or sense whatsoever. The entire school runs subject to her whims and those whims very seldom make sense. They will demand a great deal from you, which is fine if you don’t mind that kind of thing. I didn’t but it did get to a point where things got ridiculous. Like expecting whole workbooks to be made with only two weeks notice on top of all the extra work they’d already asked for. Everything at JM is last minute and they won’t listen when their expectations are unreasonable. You will be expected to do what they tell you without question and it doesn’t matter if what they demand makes no sense at all. This school is severely lacking in common sense. As far as I am concerned very little teaching actually happens, especially in the kindergarten programs because weeks of potential learning time is lost to preparation for open class and English festival. This wonderful time of year will find your students being mocked, berated and threatened by the director until they memorize a script that will somehow show their parents that they have learned English and should sign up again next year. Somehow this counts as learning English and it must work because your students will be able to recall any line from the selected play anytime they hear a word that is mentioned once in the play. They will, however, be unable to answer “What did you do last night?” As for the hagwon classes, there isn’t enough time to even learn. There is so much jammed into one hour that there isn’t enough time to even check for understanding before moving on, and then the administration will wonder why the students aren’t able to answer the questions from the last unit. There are serious flaws with the curriculum here and with the expectations they have for the students. JM prides itself on an ability to rush through workbooks, force children to read things they don’t understand and then do it all over again with the next book. If you’re looking to actually enjoy the year, your students and sharing your language, don’t bother teaching here.
As far as anything outside of school, don’t count on JM to help you out. They’ll pick you up from the airport and that’s about it. Once you’re there, they don’t worry about you anymore. You’ll have to rely on the other English teachers to show you around and explain everything.
The mouldy apartments, lack of orientation (teaching or getting around Korea), and constant arguments over correct payment amounts just aren’t worth it. Find another school.

The most difficult part about writing a review for JM English is finding anything positive to say. Here are the very few pros: the students are phenomenal, the location is decent, and you usually get paid on time (there were a few times that it came in late). Now let’s get real. Without a doubt, this is the worst job I have ever had. I have experience teaching in Korea and I am very familiar with the hogwon system. JM English has absolutely nothing normal going on. The school is technically owned by Mrs. Kim, but is run by her daughter, Ms. Lee, who doesn’t have a clue about tying her shoes laces let alone running a hogwon. Ms. Lee is the single most disappointing person I have ever met. She believes in tearing the children apart, though screaming and physical threats. It is not uncommon everyday to have her pop into one of your class, bring your students to tears, and then merrily go on her way. Ms. Lee is demeaning to her staff, will try to short you on overtime (every paycheck), does everything at the last possible second, and will blatantly lie to get you to do what she wants. It is important to note that this is a Christian school, focused on instilling Christian values to the students. Good luck with that JM.
JM English has been open for at least 10 years, yet there is no set curriculum or pre-made lesson plans. All lesson plans must be made by you (the teacher) and handed in on the Wednesday for the following week. The difficulty is that everything is left until the last minute. It is quite common for your Korean coordinator to tell you on Thursday what they would like on your Wednesday lesson plan, unfortunately time travel technology is still currently being researched. A note about your Korean coordinators: They are really friendly and will help you as best they can, but it is important to note that their job is to execute Ms. Lee’s grand plan as it comes to her through divine revelation. A note about your schedule: The typical schedule will run from 10am-7pm. If your last class finishes (for example) at 5pm, you are required to stay until 7pm. Most of the staff works mandatory overtime, because Ms. Lee refuses to hire another teacher to balance the workload. The school will schedule open classes on 4 Saturdays (usually with a class in the morning and one in the evening to totally kill your day). A note about your contract: You do not get sick days (although you are promised three). One of the teachers I knew had an allergic reaction to medication, causing her face and throat to swell. Ms. Lee refused to take her to the doctor, until she had made sure her classes were taken care of. When finishing your contract, JM will try to wait until the last possible minute to let you know the date that you will be leaving (they don’t go by the contract). In my case I was told 4 days before my departure date. JM has also tried to make the last few teachers pay 400,000- 800,000 Won for their apartments because, “the building is getting old”. So let’s break it down simply: If you are thinking of working here then you are OUT OF YOUR MIND. There are far better places to teach in Korea with no Ms. Lee.