YBM ECC – Howon: Howon-dong, Gyeonggi-do

There are two ECC’s in Uijeongbu, Gyonggi-do. One is Howon, the other is Shingok. Both are owned by Mr. and Mrs. Lyu. I worked there for a full year, fulfilling my contract and received my severance and plane ticket home and pension with no problems. Mrs. Lyu runs the schools and Mr. Lyu handles the money and it is well-known that Mrs. Lyu is a terrible woman, treating all the staff very badly, but the Korean staff much more than the foreign teachers, mainly because she doesn’t speak enough English. As with many hagwons, it is a business and making money is the only objective. Education is severely compromised in efforts to have nice photo-ops and to impress the parents with ‘open classes’ that kids have rehearsed for hours a day for months. It was very frustrating to be forced to give every child perfect report cards, have to make 4-year-olds rehearse a play for hours a day, watch the Korean teachers! scream at children and often hit them, and watch Mrs. Lyu severely mistreat her staff. As a foreign teacher, you are trapped and, if you quit, will need to pay thousands of dollars for a plane ticket home, not get your severance package or pension, and will end up losing thousands of dollars. Also, although it didn’t happen to me, many teachers had bad experiences. You should know if you choose to work here that you will work long hours. Often you have to stay late into the night setting up for various events or having to smile at parents and you are only paid for your actual teaching hours. Meetings (of which there are many) are unpaid, 5 Saturdays are unpaid (and often you need to work more and they find loopholes for that), all your prep time, time you have to be at school to set up or prepare, welcoming new students, parents nights, student orientations, student competitions, curriculum development…. many many more unpaid working hours. Also, even despite all the unp! aid hours, you will work into overtime most, if not all months! . Be prepared for long days. You will have to teach kindergarten and elementary, almost certainly. The good things is you do get paid every month and on time. If the Lyu’s like you, it will be a pretty easy ride. The apartments are okay, not great. You will likely have a roommate. If any parents complain about you, you’re in big trouble. You could be arbitrarily fired. I think it’s pretty standard for a hagwon but with one of the worst directors I’ve heard of. Uijeongbu is on the Seoul subway line so it’s easy to get into Seoul but doesn’t have that much to offer on its own.