SAAB Jr. English Christian School: Junggye-dong, Seoul

On my first day at SAAB school I was told that the teacher before me left because the owner’s wife slapped her. I had already gotten my visa and signed a contract with the school so I felt trapped from the beginning. My recruiter was very angry with the school from the beginning because the school didn’t pay the recruiting fee. She advised me to leave many times but I thought I could get through the year.
At SAAB school you will work about fifty hours a week and for most of the year the owner’s stay in Canada. There is no head teacher and no leadership at the school.
After nine months at the school I missed ONE day of work and the owner’s wife demanded that I write her an apology letter or I would be fired. My recruiter advised me that it would be illegal for my school to fire me for something so silly. It was really shocking and hurtful to be treated that way as I felt that I had always given the school my best effort and I had been very patient.
The owner’s wife continued to bully and harass me until the next day when she put her hands in my face and threatened me. My recruiter called the police to the school.
This school needs to be shut down. It is a disgrace and an embarrassment to Korea.

Whatever you do, do not work at this school!

Sadly, I started out there part-time and actually enjoyed it. Which led me to decide to work there full-time….and how I ended up the most miserable and depressed I have ever been in my whole life. Working there part-time in the mornings for extra cash wasn’t bad – that is the only way to work at this place. I just popped into different classes, taught English, and left. Two hours a day was fine. And it was English conversation. basic and easy.

But full time was a nightmare. Serving lunch, constantly having more and more hours to work (but never get paid for), and then of course, at the end, not being paid all of the money I was owed. I didn’t have a contract so I couldn’t do much about my situation. The worst part of the whole thing was that before I started working there, I saw an apartment in a building that I thought would be mine, but when it came time to move into the place a few days before I started teaching, there was no apartment. I had to live with the director of the school for six weeks or so. Talk about awkward. He tried to control what I ate, how much I slept, EVERYTHING. When I did buy groceries, he even ate some of my food! I woke up on weekend mornings to him practicing the clarinet, trying to clear his throat…you get the idea…

There were many other things I was told that were not the case…like how I would just be teaching English to different classes…became being a homeroom teacher to a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds who didn’t speak English or know how to behave…and having to teach them science projects that they didn’t understand how to do (so I would have to do all of their science projects for them), art projects, religion, physical education, cooking, field trips, etc…even serving them lunch, cleaning up for them when they wet their pants or threw up, disciplining them when they bit each other or punched each other, etc. etc. If this had been my full job and I could have gone home after that it might have been tolerable. But it wasn’t, and I couldn’t.

There was a short break between kindergarten and afterschool hagwon, but I know now that the kinder time was lengthened and that’s not the case anymore. Besides, usually I was lesson planning or something on the break and couldn’t do anything then anyway. The afternoon schedule was just brutal too. Children had multiple books even though they were in the same class, so we had to teach 3 classes in one, for example. Many classrooms have no windows and poor lighting, and the school overall is very dirty and dingy. So many behavior problems…lots of the children are indeed very sweet but with zero resources and a poor infrastructure, it’s really hard to make something from nothing. I had to spend so much of my own money just to do anything with my students. I was always sooo very exhausted and everyday was the worst day of my life. Not to mention how sick I was while I worked there…no matter how much hand sanitizer and how many times I washed my hands, I was constantly sick. It’s just so dirty there and there is no hygiene, and the children are permitted to come to school sick. You’re in such close quarters it’s inevitable you’re going to get the germs. One time I was even teaching and running to the bathroom to puke, but I wasn’t allowed to go home to rest. Of course you already heard from other teachers how not going to school one day results in lost wages or someone trying to punch you in the face or demand an apology while threatening you.

Please, do not work here. There are so many better places to work in Korea it’s not even funny. Sanggye is a wonderful area and I actually liked it (it’s up next to nice mountains and Nowon is close by and has a lot going on)…but find another school there if you like Northern Seoul. Junggye-dong has PLENTY of reputable hagwons and SAAB Christian English School is not one of them. This experience of working at SAAB was something I would never wish on anyone. Parents I think know it isn’t a good or reputable school, but it’s so cheap – it’s probably the cheapest English education in Seoul – so they send their kids there anyway.

I just wish I could rewind time and save myself from the experience, not to mention prevent by best friend and other strangers from working there as well. Live and learn. Please learn from our experiences and run the other way!! There is nothing Christian about Abraham and Sarah or their school…

I worked at SAAB school for just under a year and arrived home a few days ago. Initially I was fine with the working conditions and only experienced minor problems- however, during my last few months the conditions became worse and I was feeling the effects of the long working hours. The man in charge of the school, Abraham, is one of the most manipulative and dishonest people I have ever come across. I struggled to get my full salry from him toward the end and he constantly took money from me wherever he could.
I would not recommend this school to anyone and it is my understanding that SAAB school has experienced issues with teachers who leave before the contract is up precisely because of the poor treatment they receive. This school is falsely advertised under the name ‘Wiggly school’. I have also recently discovered that this hogwon has been blacklisted.