If you enjoy being treated like an idiot, lied to at every turn and working overtime unpaid, this school is for you.
Benefits
+ They pay on time (but you can’t get a pay-rise, even after one year, they told me they’d rather hire someone new for cheaper)
+ You teach alone, with no co-worker in the class to interfere.
+ Locations are pretty good – easily excessible to some nice areas on the weekends.
Disadvantages
- Phone tests: Each kid must be phoned once a month on your own time, no extra pay
- Essays: 40 a week, to be graded on your own time, no extra pay.
- Working 5 and a half hours straight, no breaks, 5 minutes between classes
- Some of the worst textbooks and material I have ever seen: Full of mistakes, a cheap deal from the Philippines.
- In-class cameras for them to monitor you. And for the parents to watch you from home!
- ‘Interactive whiteboards’, BUT you have to buy and bring your own laptop to use them.
- A weekly meeting that you must attend (no pay, of course), at which the wheel is reinvented every time.
- Parent meetings that you must attend – no extra pay, see the theme yet?
- Incompetent bosses who will lie to get you to do what they want.
- Pointless paperwork to be filled in every day/week
Basically, they want a one way working relationship – they want to squeeze every last drop of work out of you, for minimal pay, and then toss you aside.
Avoid.
Benefits & Pay
Working Conditions
Integrity
Location
DISCLAIMER: Reliable Teacher Hagwon Review does not verify the statements made in these reviews. These reviews are user-generated content and may or may not be accurate. We do our best to weed out ones that are inappropriate or blatantly exaggerated, but we cannot claim responsibility for any misleading information posted by our reviewers. If there is a review that you believe should be removed, please contact us.
I worked for this academy for three months and was fired for not showing up for unpaid sat meeting which was told on Friday at a very late hour”pass” 2a/m with a single text message when I was pissed drunk. They made me head teacher(no additional pay), which I denied, still forced upon, and started making me come in on sat for reasons I still can’t understand. I was in a room full of Korean people, speaking Korean, while I sat like a toddler blinking my eyes whenever MR KNC looked at me and said something. All the people present looked very serious, with lot to say, and me just blinking my eyes. They might have tried to teach me Korean, expecting me to fully understand all the noise they were making in the meeting. Seeing Mr KNC on the weekend was great, when I had to see his ugly face most days during weekday. He comes creeping to my class and stands in the doorway with no apparent reason almost everyday. Sometimes, I thought he must have some special feeling for me the way he glaze at you.
What ever you do, stay far far away from him if you work for hyunjae. If he likes you, you will become the next head teacher and suffer as I need for two months. STAY AWAY MR KNC
Benefits & Pay
Working Conditions
Integrity
Location
DISCLAIMER: Reliable Teacher Hagwon Review does not verify the statements made in these reviews. These reviews are user-generated content and may or may not be accurate. We do our best to weed out ones that are inappropriate or blatantly exaggerated, but we cannot claim responsibility for any misleading information posted by our reviewers. If there is a review that you believe should be removed, please contact us.
I agree 100% with GARYGUEGAN, although I would like to add a few things.
Disadvantages
-Supervisor, “Sun” slept with many Mok-dong Campus (which is actually located in Sin-jeong) foreign teachers. She would also blow up in rage and accuse foreign teachers of being liars and stupid. She later went on “vacation” and upon return was transferred to a different campus.
-Accommodations are deplorable. All accommodations are in lower-middle class areas. Teachers are provided used furniture and fixtures. Many things (i.e. AC, clothes washer, plumbing, etc) would break down and not be taken care of for months. If something does break down, they will not trust you and demand that they send a Korean co-worker to validate your claim.
-Notice is rarely given. Paperwork is abundant. You will spend many hours working without pay. On any given month, expect to work 21 to 30 hours on your own time.
-You must bring your own laptop to use in class, WITHOUT being insured by the school. Therefore, if you go to the toilet and the kids break your computer…it is your fault.
-Parents constantly complain over very trivial things. Such as color of clothing you wear, hair style, etc.
-Co-teachers will undermine your pronunciation by telling children you are wrong.
-You have NO personal life. They have keys to your accommodations (they do knock before entering though), they know your cell phone number and will call/text you at any time of day or night, and they have employees living in the same neighborhoods to check up on you.
-Sick? If you are a foreign teacher, you can forget it…even with a hospital note. If you miss a day or days, you will be docked in pay. If you are a Korean teacher…no problem…you can be sick, get married, go to a funeral, etc.
-Your vacation is set by the school, not you. Summer 2009 vacation was set and repeated for three weeks. Many teachers made their plans and reservations for international travel. On the fourth week, the summer 2009 vacation was changed. Too bad to those who lost money to make changes with air/car/hotel reservations.
Advantages
-The kids are relatively great compared to some academies.
-You have your own classroom, with phone, so you can personalize your teaching environment and make many phone tests.
Benefits & Pay
Working Conditions
Integrity
Location
DISCLAIMER: Reliable Teacher Hagwon Review does not verify the statements made in these reviews. These reviews are user-generated content and may or may not be accurate. We do our best to weed out ones that are inappropriate or blatantly exaggerated, but we cannot claim responsibility for any misleading information posted by our reviewers. If there is a review that you believe should be removed, please contact us.
I never took a contract with this school, only worked for them here and there casually, so I can’t comment on wages, housing etc – or even working conditions as I wasn’t expected to do any of the usual paperwork the other teachers did, and I didn’t attend any of the meetings (although they have a few of them I hear).
All I CAN say about this Hagwon (my branch was near Jamsil, technically I think it’s called the “Gangnam” branch) is that the students are SUPERB. Like most foriegn teachers in Korea, I don’t have a teaching degree, and am not very good at disciplining kids, they tend to walk all over me – but the behaviour from students at this school is excellent. They study in silence and speak only when you ask a question and then, only in English.
Having worked as an emergency teacher for SEVERAL hagwons, the discipline and atmosphere at this one is by far the most condusive to teaching. If ever there was a discipline issue (rarely, but there’s always one kid). You are given several options, all of which involve sending the child out of the classroom so as not to disrupt the studious environment further. To me, this was a REAL bonus, and made my job at the school, SO much easier. In fact, it’s the first job I’d taken where I didn’t have a sore throat at the end of the week from raising my voice.
In short, if you’re like me, and not the best at discipling kids, this is a GOOD hagwon to work for. Many hagwons will side with the children over disciplinary disputes, because they view the children as “customers” – but the Korean staff at KNC will support you 100% and the student will be sent back into the classroom and made to appologise to you – then sit quietly and study.
Benefits & Pay
Not Rated
Working Conditions
Not Rated
Integrity
Not Rated
Location
Not Rated
DISCLAIMER: Reliable Teacher Hagwon Review does not verify the statements made in these reviews. These reviews are user-generated content and may or may not be accurate. We do our best to weed out ones that are inappropriate or blatantly exaggerated, but we cannot claim responsibility for any misleading information posted by our reviewers. If there is a review that you believe should be removed, please contact us.
For all the reasons mentioned above and,
If you have an IQ of 70 then this is the place for you! If you started with an IQ of 115 then you probably left with an IQ of 70. It is a mind numbingly boring routine and you’re teaching grammatically incorrect English, yet no one notices why this might be contradictory. And when you come to my class to question why 3 of my students were “turned around” because you think that’s going to be your biggest problem…
I called in sick, partied hard for 3 days and flew home! Best thing I’d ever done in my 2 years in Korea!!
Benefits & Pay
Working Conditions
Integrity
Location
DISCLAIMER: Reliable Teacher Hagwon Review does not verify the statements made in these reviews. These reviews are user-generated content and may or may not be accurate. We do our best to weed out ones that are inappropriate or blatantly exaggerated, but we cannot claim responsibility for any misleading information posted by our reviewers. If there is a review that you believe should be removed, please contact us.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
If you enjoy being treated like an idiot, lied to at every turn and working overtime unpaid, this school is for you.
Benefits
+ They pay on time (but you can’t get a pay-rise, even after one year, they told me they’d rather hire someone new for cheaper)
+ You teach alone, with no co-worker in the class to interfere.
+ Locations are pretty good – easily excessible to some nice areas on the weekends.
Disadvantages
- Phone tests: Each kid must be phoned once a month on your own time, no extra pay
- Essays: 40 a week, to be graded on your own time, no extra pay.
- Working 5 and a half hours straight, no breaks, 5 minutes between classes
- Some of the worst textbooks and material I have ever seen: Full of mistakes, a cheap deal from the Philippines.
- In-class cameras for them to monitor you. And for the parents to watch you from home!
- ‘Interactive whiteboards’, BUT you have to buy and bring your own laptop to use them.
- A weekly meeting that you must attend (no pay, of course), at which the wheel is reinvented every time.
- Parent meetings that you must attend – no extra pay, see the theme yet?
- Incompetent bosses who will lie to get you to do what they want.
- Pointless paperwork to be filled in every day/week
Basically, they want a one way working relationship – they want to squeeze every last drop of work out of you, for minimal pay, and then toss you aside.
Avoid.
DISCLAIMER: Reliable Teacher Hagwon Review does not verify the statements made in these reviews. These reviews are user-generated content and may or may not be accurate. We do our best to weed out ones that are inappropriate or blatantly exaggerated, but we cannot claim responsibility for any misleading information posted by our reviewers. If there is a review that you believe should be removed, please contact us.
I worked for this academy for three months and was fired for not showing up for unpaid sat meeting which was told on Friday at a very late hour”pass” 2a/m with a single text message when I was pissed drunk. They made me head teacher(no additional pay), which I denied, still forced upon, and started making me come in on sat for reasons I still can’t understand. I was in a room full of Korean people, speaking Korean, while I sat like a toddler blinking my eyes whenever MR KNC looked at me and said something. All the people present looked very serious, with lot to say, and me just blinking my eyes. They might have tried to teach me Korean, expecting me to fully understand all the noise they were making in the meeting. Seeing Mr KNC on the weekend was great, when I had to see his ugly face most days during weekday. He comes creeping to my class and stands in the doorway with no apparent reason almost everyday. Sometimes, I thought he must have some special feeling for me the way he glaze at you.
What ever you do, stay far far away from him if you work for hyunjae. If he likes you, you will become the next head teacher and suffer as I need for two months. STAY AWAY MR KNC
DISCLAIMER: Reliable Teacher Hagwon Review does not verify the statements made in these reviews. These reviews are user-generated content and may or may not be accurate. We do our best to weed out ones that are inappropriate or blatantly exaggerated, but we cannot claim responsibility for any misleading information posted by our reviewers. If there is a review that you believe should be removed, please contact us.
I agree 100% with GARYGUEGAN, although I would like to add a few things.
Disadvantages
-Supervisor, “Sun” slept with many Mok-dong Campus (which is actually located in Sin-jeong) foreign teachers. She would also blow up in rage and accuse foreign teachers of being liars and stupid. She later went on “vacation” and upon return was transferred to a different campus.
-Accommodations are deplorable. All accommodations are in lower-middle class areas. Teachers are provided used furniture and fixtures. Many things (i.e. AC, clothes washer, plumbing, etc) would break down and not be taken care of for months. If something does break down, they will not trust you and demand that they send a Korean co-worker to validate your claim.
-Notice is rarely given. Paperwork is abundant. You will spend many hours working without pay. On any given month, expect to work 21 to 30 hours on your own time.
-You must bring your own laptop to use in class, WITHOUT being insured by the school. Therefore, if you go to the toilet and the kids break your computer…it is your fault.
-Parents constantly complain over very trivial things. Such as color of clothing you wear, hair style, etc.
-Co-teachers will undermine your pronunciation by telling children you are wrong.
-You have NO personal life. They have keys to your accommodations (they do knock before entering though), they know your cell phone number and will call/text you at any time of day or night, and they have employees living in the same neighborhoods to check up on you.
-Sick? If you are a foreign teacher, you can forget it…even with a hospital note. If you miss a day or days, you will be docked in pay. If you are a Korean teacher…no problem…you can be sick, get married, go to a funeral, etc.
-Your vacation is set by the school, not you. Summer 2009 vacation was set and repeated for three weeks. Many teachers made their plans and reservations for international travel. On the fourth week, the summer 2009 vacation was changed. Too bad to those who lost money to make changes with air/car/hotel reservations.
Advantages
-The kids are relatively great compared to some academies.
-You have your own classroom, with phone, so you can personalize your teaching environment and make many phone tests.
DISCLAIMER: Reliable Teacher Hagwon Review does not verify the statements made in these reviews. These reviews are user-generated content and may or may not be accurate. We do our best to weed out ones that are inappropriate or blatantly exaggerated, but we cannot claim responsibility for any misleading information posted by our reviewers. If there is a review that you believe should be removed, please contact us.
I never took a contract with this school, only worked for them here and there casually, so I can’t comment on wages, housing etc – or even working conditions as I wasn’t expected to do any of the usual paperwork the other teachers did, and I didn’t attend any of the meetings (although they have a few of them I hear).
All I CAN say about this Hagwon (my branch was near Jamsil, technically I think it’s called the “Gangnam” branch) is that the students are SUPERB. Like most foriegn teachers in Korea, I don’t have a teaching degree, and am not very good at disciplining kids, they tend to walk all over me – but the behaviour from students at this school is excellent. They study in silence and speak only when you ask a question and then, only in English.
Having worked as an emergency teacher for SEVERAL hagwons, the discipline and atmosphere at this one is by far the most condusive to teaching. If ever there was a discipline issue (rarely, but there’s always one kid). You are given several options, all of which involve sending the child out of the classroom so as not to disrupt the studious environment further. To me, this was a REAL bonus, and made my job at the school, SO much easier. In fact, it’s the first job I’d taken where I didn’t have a sore throat at the end of the week from raising my voice.
In short, if you’re like me, and not the best at discipling kids, this is a GOOD hagwon to work for. Many hagwons will side with the children over disciplinary disputes, because they view the children as “customers” – but the Korean staff at KNC will support you 100% and the student will be sent back into the classroom and made to appologise to you – then sit quietly and study.
DISCLAIMER: Reliable Teacher Hagwon Review does not verify the statements made in these reviews. These reviews are user-generated content and may or may not be accurate. We do our best to weed out ones that are inappropriate or blatantly exaggerated, but we cannot claim responsibility for any misleading information posted by our reviewers. If there is a review that you believe should be removed, please contact us.
For all the reasons mentioned above and,
If you have an IQ of 70 then this is the place for you! If you started with an IQ of 115 then you probably left with an IQ of 70. It is a mind numbingly boring routine and you’re teaching grammatically incorrect English, yet no one notices why this might be contradictory. And when you come to my class to question why 3 of my students were “turned around” because you think that’s going to be your biggest problem…
I called in sick, partied hard for 3 days and flew home! Best thing I’d ever done in my 2 years in Korea!!
DISCLAIMER: Reliable Teacher Hagwon Review does not verify the statements made in these reviews. These reviews are user-generated content and may or may not be accurate. We do our best to weed out ones that are inappropriate or blatantly exaggerated, but we cannot claim responsibility for any misleading information posted by our reviewers. If there is a review that you believe should be removed, please contact us.