LCI Academy/Kids Club – Saha: Hadan-dong, Busan

DO NOT work for LCI Kids Club. The corruption and illegal procedures are overwhelming. They do not register the foreign teachers for health insurance as is legally required. Instead, they take your 50,000 won per month, pocket it, and if you get sick or go to the hospital they ask for your receipt to reimburse you. If it’s over 20,000 won the director, Jenny, throws a fit and refuses to pay. She did this to me and other co-workers. They do not register you for national pension. It’s all under the table. Some teachers get their pension when they’re done and some do not.

You live and work at the school. The studios are on the fifth floor of the school building so Jenny is your boss and your landlord. She takes out 100,000 per month as a maintenance fee, but no maintenance was ever done on my studio even after requesting it several times. I went 7 months without a bathroom light working properly. She has paid several teachers late by up to two weeks. She paid me early by one week and did not realize it because she mixed me up with someone else. Your utilities and electricity are taken out of your pay check, which means she can charge whatever she wants. Some of the rates are absurd compared to nearby friends.

Lastly, I gave my two months notice of leave to her. She accepted it. One month later she sat me down and told me she’s not pleased with my performance and fired me. Illegally. Normally you need three written and signed warnings. I received none. Not only that, but she demanded I leave 2 days after I was fired. The real reason is she had just hired a new couple who arrived that same day I was fired. Not a coincidence. They were in my studio the day after I was kicked out. I did not receive the 30 days required for termination, nor the 30 days of pay. She lied to me on way too many occasions. The director has us teaching nine classes everyday even though the contract says a maximum of six. The director does not care about anything except money. We’re not allowed to give students a grade lower than an A- in fear of displeasing the parents. The location of LCI Kids Club is in an industrial part of Busan where it is extremely smelly, polluted and dusty. The one plus is it’s on the subway line, line 1! . It takes 35 minutes to get downtown on the subway, to Seomyeon. It takes over an hour to get to Haeundae. Do not work at this school under any circumstances. Most normal recruiters do not work with them because of their terrible reputation. Find a better school. It will be worth it to be patient. You will not be happy at LCI.

My time at LCI Kids Club in Sinpyeong was great! I enjoyed all of my students and co-workers, very much. My director was fair and kind to me; I had no major problems during my time at LCI. I really enjoyed the city of Busan, there were always fun things going on. The school is very close to subway line 1, so it was easy to get where ever I needed to go. The accommodations are on the 5th floor of the school, but this was very convenient, in my opinion. I really liked not having to travel on the bus or subway to get to work, especially when the weather wasn’t that good outside.