Reading Town – Guri: Gyomun-dong, Gyeonggi-do

I worked for this hogwan in 2005, when it was brand new. The curriculum was well-designed and the school was very well-organized. I had no problems from a teaching point of view. The students enjoyed the classes and we were very successful at attracting new students and at retaining the students we had.

My main problem with this school had to do with the director, Mr. Choi. When I first started working there he was very polite and friendly. He would take us out for dinner every night, buy us gifts and compliment us frequently. Then I started to ask some questions about why I didn’t have medical insurance and why I wasn’t getting national pension. That’s when things started getting ugly. After many fights, myself and the other teachers got those mandatory benefits. But because of my questioning I was subject to many hostile situations with Mr. Choi.

At one point he angrily accused me of calling the pension office to tattle on him, which I did not.

At another time, he started a campaign against me and my teaching that was obviously designed to humiliate me and perhaps make me quit. Despite the fact that I work hard and always try my best he pulled out my cover letter and resume and started questioning my honesty in those documents. He also made me sit in on classes given by other teachers and write reports about why other teachers were better at their jobs than I was. I refused to write the reports because I didn’t want to give him written evidence that he could use against me.

About a month or so before I left I went to the doctor and found out that my health insurance had been cancelled without my knowledge, while money was still being taken off my pay.

I confronted him about this and he got very angry with me, accusing me of calling him dishonest (which he is). I demanded that he reinstate my insurance, which he did.

Later, after leaving the hogwan I realized that Mr. Choi had registered me as an independent contractor with the tax office, despite the fact that I was an employee. The tax records showed that he had only paid taxes for one month out of my twelve month contract, despite the fact that he had taken tax money off of all of my pays. I submitted documents to the tax office, who did an investigation into the matter.

While this school has a good curriculum and good students, I would be wary about the honesty of Mr. Choi.

One good note is that I was always paid on time and for the most part the deductions that were taken off my pay were accurate. I also had a fairly decent apartment, although it was a 35-minute walk away from work.