English Education in Korea: Unrealistic Expectations. In hindsight that should have been a red flag. It is illegal and unethical to charge this to the Teacher. As I passed through the gate at Seoul’s Incheon airport and boarded my flight to Italy, I felt nothing but relief…. A Teacher fled the Suwon campus in October 2018 on account of unbearable/borderline abusive working conditions at the school. In the blacklist post, I have tried to be more informative and have provided evidence of the hagwon’s illegal operation – including excerpts from the contract. I trust anyone that sees his malicious post can see it for what it is: online trollin’ at its saddest. If we didn’t look smiley or happy enough, she would enter the room and yell at us in front of the students. This is probably one of the most talked about issues amongst English-speaking foreigners teaching in South Korea. College jobs are plums. Like for example in Taiwan they are called buxibans so you could do a search for buxiban horror stories. He wanted to leave, she wanted to stay and go to another job. She was employed to patrol the halls and check up on foreign teachers during their lessons. If you need help clarifying as to whether a Hagwon or a Hagwon teaching contract is reputable then please feel free to contact me as I would hate to see someone end up in the same misery as I did. Over the space of about 15 minutes, she lost her shit. https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/06/09/BC-Offshore-Schools-in-South-Korea-Probation/. Yet at the time I was so terrified of my Hagwon, I didn’t trust them not to steal my money. I didn’t want to be trapped in my situation any longer so I felt that running away was the only alternative. Why it detailed which pages of the students’ homework books had insufficiently sized red circles. No problems but I've had friends at other places have general hagwon problems (illegal contracts, no pension, terrrrrible working hours, ect). Fortunately, the writer was able to leave her hagwon amicably and obtain a letter of release that allowed her to remain in the country and find work elsewhere. At this point, I really wasn’t happy with the situation. I was projectile vomiting like the exorcist and could barely walk without feeling faint. Life in Skopelos, Hagwon Blacklist post about Lykeion Language Forum, What it's Like Teaching English in... Japan! I left because it was having a damaging impact on my mental health and wellbeing and honestly, I am surprised I stuck the conditions at Lykeion Language Forum for as long as I did. 31 Students On Their Worst Teacher Horror Stories. “Those small t’s don’t look like small t’s… Make them more like t’s!”. If we took any of our generous five days vacations, or we had a public holiday, we had to message the school with our whereabouts and itinerary. They didn't happen to me, but just curious what people's experiences have been or even horror stories that might have happened to your friend. My boss was clearly abusing her power. I've had two years with hagwons and I'm on my second with Epik. If you do your research and prepare correctly, you can easily get a very good job. Korean Hagwons are privately operated after school academies. I ended up hugging my English teacher from the back because I thought she was my mom." The visa run one sounds bad. The results as stated above are not representative of the costs: The Japanese government pays over 4,400 participants of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET) over three million yen annually, totaling $130 million in salaries alone. The school I was teaching at was Lykeion Language Forum, Suwon. I didn’t see anything wrong with my writing (and neither did the other teachers). I was moved into the girl’s former apartment (schools and Hagwons in Korea provide foreign staff with accommodation) and the place had not even been cleaned before I moved in. However, they knew how miserable working there was making me so I am sure that they could understand. I guess my main reason for staying as long as I did was because I’d left everything (job, apartment, etc) to go to Korea and didn’t have much saved up as a plan B (lesson learned there). Looking to teach English abroad? Easy work day: You’ll only teach a few hours a day, with the rest of the time to lesson plan; at hagwons, you’ll be in the classroom the whole time you’re there, which is exhausting. She called me into her office to tell me that my red circles were not big enough and started analysing the circle sizes. Definitely never happened but thanks for the laugh, whoever you are . You always expect people to act in the correct way. Also read an article on a BC offshore school in Qatar having similar issues. I had to take photos of my boards every day for a month. However, I think that it’s important for me not to gloss over my experience. getting fired on the 11th month. Take a break from more formal ESL lessons and bring English to life with brief yet entertaining short stories. Get hired with a TEFL certification. I also believe that it is difficult to truly convey a bad situation in your life to others (through writing or otherwise) without coming across as a Debbie Downer or seen to be exaggerating. We were really treated like petulant children as opposed to professional adults. “Hier j’ai fait des préservatifs.” (“Yesterday I made jam”—at least I hoped that’s what I’d said.) There is even a post on Reddit  and another on Waygook discussing the illegality of their contracts. It contained simply my personal experience at. Foreign workers have very few rights. I knew this when I signed the contract, and I wasn’t overly phased by it. I also know that some weird dude has set up a hate site about me – whatever weird dude. By Colin Marshall. However, no-one ever found it in themselves to stand up for me. Whatever the little good that comes out of experiencing their culture it is no match for the horrendous working conditions that prevail in that country. When researching teaching English before I left home, I had come across more than a few horror stories from past teachers. With a population of over 52 million people, Seoul is ranked as the 16th largest city in the entire world. Have you thought about Japan? I did return in 2018 for a year but that only lasted about 3 months. There used to be an amazing thread on Dave's called the Freaky Foreigner thread or somwthing. A few horror stories shouldn't deter someone from a good experience. If you’re interested in teaching English in Korea, you've come to the right place! I had not left all of that to be treated like a petulant child. It was specified on our contract at the beginning that the school operates its own pension plans rather than the governments. Accents are not a problem. You did the right thing. I am not sure about how familiar you are with Korean contract law. To add to that, I discovered that the school was illegally documenting foreign employees as independent contractors. This was not just a standard “board practice”, it was unnecessarily aggressive. We would later be given a talking to by the management to reassert to us about how much people were paying to attend the Hagwon, and that image was everything. It was kind of a bummer, but it was just for a month. Japan spends more on English education than European countries, yet their approach has proved ineffective. There is even a post on Reddit and another on Waygook discussing the illegality of their contracts. The class giggled. I lived in Korea for over 7 years. I have recruited one from this community and I'm hoping there will be another? And the value of the English-training market is estimated at 30 billion RMB ($4.5 billion US). Do you want to continue teaching? This is about my personal experience working at ILCE (I Love Clover English) academy in Daejeon, South Korea. So happy that I left and regret not doing so sooner. When I told her that I had to leave, because I had another class waiting for me she pulled me back into the office by my wrist and twisted my arm. During this mock, the headteacher noticed the sheer horror that was my handwriting and warned me that I had a month to improve it or else I’d be sent back home. I had given up my career, my house, and left everything behind to move to Korea. Since so many of them are continually opening up left, right, and centre (education is big business in Korea), it is not uncommon for them to just suddenly go out of business either. I did work for like a month in a hagwon and when I moved in to the place no one had cleaned it. I heard some horror stories about teaching in Korea: Stuff like that. on account of unbearable/borderline abusive working conditions at the school. The Teacher that did a midnight run from the Hagwon in October 2018 would later tell me that he had similar experiences with the Professional Smile Checker. In my experience zero training is pretty normal around Asia. Seoul is the capital – and largest city – of South Korea. Regular hours: 8 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday; at hagwons, you might work 2-8 pm, or a split shift. I had seen them take money from other workers already. I've also had two coworkers in hagwons that were so incompetent I'm surprised they made it into their twenties let alone got hired somewhere. I went straight to my foreign headteacher and told him while very upset and he just stared blankly as though it was no big deal. Because many Teachers have fled over the years. It was the summer of 2013, and I received my first job offer: the opportunity to teach English in China. 2. The hagwon can dress it up any way they like. I know one dude who fell asleep during his lesson. I tried to make the most out of my time in Korea and take my mind off my work situation. Are you teaching English in Korea? So that one school that was raided had their teachers deported and now teachers from 3 schools were asked to leave (but not deported and banned from Korea?). Some gave accounts of being thrown into a classroom within the first few days of their arrival with no training, preparation time or resources. During this mock, the headteacher noticed the sheer. They are out there. It transpires that she would scream at him and give him warnings over outrageous things like a student’s pencil breaking while he was sharpening it. Because of the language barrier, teaching in Korea is not anything like it would be in America. One midnight runner is a rogue instance, multiple midnight runners equal a screaming red flag. Short stories strike the perfect balance of challenging, engaging and rewarding for language students. The only down side is that you were not there long enough to have discovered more of the wealth that is the country’s culture, people and natural beauty. Why? I slept on clothes for the first night since I arrived late on a Saturday evening and spent the next day shopping for cleaning supplies and tidying the place. Complaints have however been received from Australian citizens teaching English in Korea about alleged misrepresentation of their living and working conditions. Some of them are quite comedic, though, such as hogwans trying to get my Kiwi friends to learn an American accent. All the new teachers arrived and found out that budgets had changed and they didn't have jobs. Unable to find any related work in the UK, he took the opportunity to travel and teach English in Japan. Teaching English in Japan: real stories from Tefl teachers. However, promising that I would make a conscious effort to improve wasn’t enough for them. This isn’t only an issue for the students with unqualified teachers, but for the teachers themselves feeling like they don’t know how to do the job. I would have sat down with the Head Teacher, and the Professional Smile Checker and came to an agreement, but I felt depressed in my situation and afraid of the hagwon. that was my handwriting and warned me that I had a month to improve it or else I’d be sent back home. Thanks for sharing! Highly visual, fun and easy to navigate, the entirely free site lets you access hundreds of original and famous short video stories in Korean, perfect for improving your listening skills. Melissa Douglas is a British Travel Writer and Blogger based in Athens, Greece. I was teaching English at first but unless you have a teaching degree, then TEFL/CELTA teachers in Italy are somewhat restricted in what they can do – schools prefer those with a teaching degree or bilingual Italians so I was effectively freelance, working for two agencies and covering classes or tutoring here and there so I was literally running all over the city working in various places for a couple of hours… Not the most stable or ideal schedule! My name is Melissa and I’m a full time Travel Blogger from the UK . I know that I was a good teacher and I know that my students would have been wondering what happened to “Melissa teacherrr”. Oh yeah....it's called woorking abroad...only a few are lucky enough to get themselves into good working conditions!!! I left because I did not feel I should continue working for an employer who treats their staff in such a manner. A few days later, Professional Smile Checker came in with a thick bible-like collection of spreadsheets for each foreign teacher to take a look at. Honestly, with the way that I looked, I think it was pretty evident how ill I was. That sounds dramatic, and believe me, I would have much rather left on good terms. I didn’t necessarily want to leave Korea, since I truly loved the country. The Hagwon showed not the smallest ounce of compassion and tried to guilt him into staying in Korea. ILCE (I Love Clover English), Daejeon, South Korea Thu, Mar 12 at 1:15 AM. Reading that back now, I realise how ridiculous it all sounds, and it was. We also didn’t have a pension or healthcare (a legal requirement in Korea). The list goes on. After two days I was more stressed by constantly being hassled by the school than I was by being ill, so I dragged myself in. However, the Hagwon made me go to the Doctors to obtain a sick note every day. Good for you to not let other people – less happier than you to bring you down. If you find yourself living a real-life Hagwon horror story as I did at Lykeion Language Forum in Suwon, I understand how traumatic it can be. However, I had to bide my time. This deters them from midnight running. My experience in a public school was worse actually. Feel free to discuss anything generally related to being a teacher in Korea! The most recent horror film I watched was on a plane last time I went back to the UK. The Chungnam Office of Education (CNOE) in South Korea is looking for 2 Japanese Native Teachers to teach Japanese in an International Public High School starting March 1st 2021. It may also be the soul of ESL reading practice! Another useful resource to use is the forum at the Facebook group LOFT: Legal Office for Foreign Teachers. For the first month, I was made to practice writing the alphabet on the blackboard for an hour every day like a naughty child. Hagwon Horror Stories: Kevin M. Maher’s English-Teaching Expat Novel “No Couches in Korea”. I feel really lucky, as I know there are private companies in Japan that also treat their foreign staff badly, but never to the extent that happened to you in Korea. If you have researched teaching English in Asia, or talked to people who’ve been there, you’ve probably heard a handful of horror stories that make you a little weary about your decision to be an ESL teacher. The only person that I got along with at the Hagwon, a fellow British Teacher, came in distraught one day. When I told her that I had to leave, because I had another class waiting for me she pulled me back into the office by my wrist and twisted my arm. When I first arrived in Korea, tensions were high at the school as the last teacher had left abruptly due to not seeing eye to eye with the Hagwon management. It contained simply my personal experience at Lykeion Language Forum. T hough it may not come as a shock to some of you, the adventure of this experience doesn’t come without its fair share of frustrating and uncomfortable situations. Another useful resource is this article on quitting your job in South Korea. They can imply that these teachers are just “irresponsible” or “can’t handle the culture” or whatever. ban from visiting Korea again. The school was very aggressive about my inconveniencing them by being ill. I totally hear you. Cleaning fees, agency fees to find a new teacher, fees for leaving early – you name it, it was deducted. After my first day at the Hagwon, I was asked to perform a mock lesson in front of the other teachers. There were many problems that followed on from the board incident. It was no coincidence that I found myself being treated poorly when the former teacher had conducted a midnight run. They didn't happen to me, but just curious what people's experiences have been or even horror stories that might have happened to your friend. I know that my blog has become very well known in Suwon and Seoul. The headteacher came in to check up on me every ten minutes or so and her scrutiny on my writing bordered on clinically insane. This was also illegal since the notice period is 30 days. . As mentioned, there are currently very few laws protecting foreign teachers in Korea, but by addressing the issue and helping others avoid experiencing the same problems and upset, we can start to initiate positive change. There are tens of thousands of foreign English teachers in Korea and most of them love it. I'd say the average teacher has a good chance of not getting any training. If you’ve considered teaching in Korea, you’ll probably have spent a fair amount of time trying to decide whether to go down the public or private school route. I’ll let you draw your conclusions if you let me share my story. What did you do there? Apply for English teaching jobs in Korea with a leading agency. As mentioned, there are currently very few laws protecting foreign teachers in Korea, but by addressing the issue and helping others avoid experiencing the same problems and upset, we can start to initiate positive change. It makes no sense to bring up the horrors and re live them again and again--time better spent curving out some joy even if it's mediation. Where did you work next? She writes for numerous high profile travel publications across the globe - including Forbes Travel Guide, Matador Network, The Times of Israel and The Huffington Post. I was 26 when I moved to Korea. I felt singled out. I hadn’t realised at the time that this was extremely illegal. Anyone have any updates on them? Refused to pay or reimburse me for my visa run even though it was clearly stated in the contract. I’m sure that I could write a piece about my Hagwon that would rival my university thesis. More About Seoul and Sungdong-gu. I heard some horror stories about teaching in Korea: not getting paid on time. However, equally, I believe that those that stick out terrible and abusive work conditions, just for the sake of completing a contract send the message that it is okay for foreign employees to be mistreated. FOUR more teachers left the school in Feb 2019. The sub lady kept trying to teach through all the noise, talking quietly and writing translations on the board. There was a Woman, let’s call her “professional smile checker” as that seemed to be the predominant focus of her role. Since they operate as businesses and are not managed by the government, they have a pretty bad reputation for not really giving a damn about either their teachers or students, provided that they are in the green. I guess the reason that Lykeion felt the need to watch and monitor us like this was because they were terrified of Teachers leaving. Although the labor board is in place to mediate situations where a Hagwon tries to exploit a foreign worker, the process can be long and arduous. Oh my god this sounds awful, I don’t know how you coped as long as you did!! If you are considering a role at Lykeion and this hagwon horror story is the post you read first, I strongly recommend reading this Hagwon Blacklist post about Lykeion Language Forum. I had a bad time working there and it made me depressed. Hey! The bulk of English teaching jobs are in hagwons, private language institutes. However, at the time, it was terrifying. on quitting your job in South Korea. 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