Job Hunting

I have an interview tonight, as well as a few more on the weekend. I've also sent off some resumes to Japan.


Do not work for Gwak Hae Bong at ILS (International Language School), Chase Golden Apple school, or Intensive Learning System in Ok-Dong, Ulsan, South Korea. I'm not exactly what the school's name is now, as it has been frequently changing. He is a crook.

Due to my unsatisfactory teaching (???), I've been released at (or apparently just before, according to the wonjongnim) the six-month point of my contract. Of course, being released before the six-month point would mean that I would have to pay back my initial plane ticket.

When pressing for reasons as to how exactly I was not a satisfactory teacher, all I got was that they were unhappy with my teaching. I really could not get any specific complaints out of anyone. My impression is that they didn't really like me from nearly the beginning of my contract and that they are trying to get rid of me before I receive more employee benefits (such as not having to pay for my flight). This seems to be a rather blatant example of theft to me. Maybe you guys have been told some reasons as to why I was an unsatisfactory teacher. I really haven't been.

Anyway, all of this does bring up some contractual issues. I began working on exactly the 15th of March. I was told that I can continue working up until the 14th of September. That would equal up to six months, plus a day. Also of note, I will have been working for 184 days as of March 14th (by my reckoning). That is 1.5 days over six months. So either way you look at it, I will have passed the six month point before the final day of my work (14/9/05). To cement this fact even further, section 2-1 of my contract states that "The total Agreement term is approximately one year, commencing from the date of arrival in Korea.". I arrived on March 14th, so one more day can be added to the total. With this knowledge, they really have no reason to tell me that my initial flight would be coming out of my final pay (and indeed, I was told that). This makes me very upset.

In addition to this violation, I should be getting at least 20 days notice as per section 14-2 of my contract. Interestingly, articles 32 and 35 of Korean labor law states that I should be getting either 30 days notice or 30 days pay (http://www.efl-law.com/faqans_19.html). My employer has completely ignored this. I constantly tried to explain this to Susan, my "manager", but was told again and again to just contact you guys (KCWS); that you would sort everything out. Of course I realize that this is just bullshit, as this, as far as I know, is not really your job; at least not directly (correct me if I'm wrong).

Unfortunately, I have numerous other complaints. One is that I have received absolutely no pay slips (and therefore, I don't know exactly what my deductions are and also have no tax record as of yet as a result). Upon further reading over at efl-law.com, I discovered that if I am in a Korean Health Insurance plan, that I would have a health card. Since I have no such card, have no confirmation of enrollment, and have signed nothing to be included in this, I must conclude that I am in no way covered under a health plan. Section 9-1 of my contract states that, "The teacher will be covered by medical insurance under the Korean Medical Insurance Union, a private health organization" (bolding mine). The contract violations are numerous.

As for my accommodations, I would say that they are small, yet adequate. The only good thing about where I live is that my landlord is a really nice guy. The accommodations are definitely sub-par when compared to other teachers that I know, but that's not really an issue to me. The only reason that I bought that up is to point out yet another contractual violation. Section 12-2 of my contract states that the furnishings to be provided by the employer include: "television, refrigerator, washing machine, bed, wardrobe, fan, kitchen table, basic utensils, chairs, two burner gas hot plate, and telephone." I have bolded the items that my employer did not provide. The extra things that were provided included bedding (blanket, pillow and pillowcase), air conditioning and cable-TV service (although it may have been deducted in my pay, but I don't think so). There is a washing machine that is available to me in my building, so that wasn't a huge problem for me, although I did assume that I would have a washer included IN my room after reading this contract. It took me just about a month before I had a phone. That ended up being a cell phone (which I had to pay for!). Unfortunately, that was stolen about a month after I had it. After that, I had to fight to get a house phone. One of my Korean co-workers (the nice one, named Julie), had to convince the wonjongnim that I should have a phone. Apparently he didn't think that I was responsible enough to have one, since I "lost" the first one. As for the fan, I'm not sure if the air conditioning would count as a fan or not. I have no kitchen table or chairs at all.

My boss and his wife speak absolutely no English, and the manager (Susan) that they have is, to be honest, a two-faced, self-serving, liar (yet friendly most of the time). She all too often gets the other foreigner and I mixed up. The boss will often tell her something to be passed onto the other foreign teacher or myself, and the message won't make it. Sometimes one of us (most often the other teacher) will be told something, and the other teacher will not be told. This has made for a lot of stupid situations where it was assumed that one of us knew something and we didn't. One example of this occurred last week. The management decided to shuffle some classes around. In accordance to that, our daily planners were adjusted. On the day which this change was to happen, less than five minutes before class, I was informed that management had changed there minds and were now leaving the classes as they originally were. Of course, I had spent a few days prepping for this change, so that threw my day off substantially. When I complained that I had not been informed of this, Susan became quite angry at me and told me that she had informed this the day earlier. I told her that she had not, and she became further angered and left the room. When telling this to the other foreign teacher, he told me that Susan had told him the day before. There are numerous instances like this, and I am sure that this has made me do a number of things which the wonjongnim had not wanted me to do; therefore putting me out of his favour. Even further, my Korean co-worker, Julie, apparently overheard Susan telling the boss' wife that I had been smoking pot before school. Apparently my eyes were somewhat bloodshot that day. I ride a motorcycle. I think that a better explanation would be that the wind had irritated my eyes, a bug had flew in them, or that something in the air bad bothered them. To say that I was smoking pot is an outright wrongful allegation. First of all, pot is so scarce in Korea that I have no idea where to get it (especially in Ulsan!). Secondly, why would I intoxicate myself before teaching kids? Thirdly, the law in Korea is extremely harsh for consuming pot. Why would I risk the horrible fines? This was nothing short of lying on her part. This manager, Susan, I think is responsible for much of the confusion at work and for the boss thinking that I am a "bad teacher.”

I am not the only one at my job who has this opinion. The other foreign worker here recently had a phone interview with a potential new employee. It was a short conversation, where he basically said "don't come here.” After the stories in this e-mail, I'm sure you can conclude why he would say such a thing. It turned out that the management (Susan) was eavesdropping on the conversation. My co-worker was threatened with job termination for that. Even more strangely, this was brought up in my final meeting on Monday. Why the hell was this brought up? I was not involved in this interview at all. Did they just get me again confused with the other teacher?

Now I will be the first to admit that I'm not the best teacher. Before coming here, I had very little teaching experience. My only experience has come from teaching the odd Sunday school class to kids. Did they not realize this when they hired me? It was certainly in my resume. As far as I know, I am the second foreign teacher to work for this hagwon. The other teacher has had years of experience before teaching at this school. They were basing their teacher expectations upon one other teacher, who has substantially more experience than me. They seem to have very unrealistic expectations for a greenhorn ESL teacher. I must say, that while I did learn a lot about teaching while working here, I am extremely disappointed in this school. I would not recommend that anyone even consider working here.

I will be going to both the labor board to file complaints (and hopefully getting what's owed to me) and to the tax office, to see how much tax I have been paying (if any!!!).

As for my future plans, I will stay in Korea. I even plan to stay in Ulsan. I like it here. The foreign community is wonderful, and I have made some good and supportive friends. One of them has even offered me a room in his two-bedroom apartment. I also have some job prospects. I am not worried about my near-future here.

In conclusion, I would strongly advise that nobody works for this school. To the best of my knowledge, it is no longer named "ILS," or "International Language School". The new name is something like "Chase Golden Apple English School,” or "Intensive Learning System - Okdong Campus".

Do not work for Gwak Hae Bong that runs a school in Ok-Dong, in Ulsan, South Korea. He is a crook.

That was pretty much the letter that has been sent out all of the Korean blacklists. I hope that my warning is heeded.




Now, before you read what I am posting here from Dave's ESL-Cafe, you should probably take into account that I am bitter about Korean private school directors in general. This article was written by someone who worked in Korea for some time a few years ago, but this really did apply to what I have experienced.

From Don't Teach in Korea, at Dave's ESL-Cafe.com:


I am writing this as a warning for people who want to teach in Korea
primarily as a means to save money to pay off student loans or to pay
for graduate school. Also, I am writing this for professional ESL
teachers who are considering working in Korea.

I worked for two years as an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea,
between 1996 and 1998. I was employed for five months with a major
language school chain, and then quit my job in order to work on a
tourist visa for the remaining year and a half. I left in early 1998,
a few months after the Korean currency crisis began in December 1997
and then returned to the United States.

I would advise against obtaining employment in Korea for the
following reasons:

1) The Language Schools and Korean Employers

Non-payment of salary and harassment of the foreign teaching staff
by Korean management is the rule instead of the exception among
language schools (hagwans). Even universities and corporations
engage in these practices.

Please see the U.S. State Department's Official Warning regarding
teaching English in South Korea:

http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html.

Here is an excerpt from the State Department's guide:

"Due to the growing number and seriousness of problems experienced
by American citizens teaching English in Korea, we counsel against
taking such employment, even at reputable colleges or universities,
except upon receipt of a favorable written referral from a current
American citizen employee. We receive several complaints daily
from Americans who came to Korea to teach English.

Despite contracts promising good salaries, furnished apartments
and other amenities, many teachers find they actually receive
much less than they were promised; some do not even receive
benefits required by Korean law, such as health insurance and
severance pay. Teachers'complaints range from simple contract
violations through non-payment of salary for months at a time,
to dramatic incidents of severe sexual harassment, intimidation,
threats of arrest/deportation, and physical assault."

I signed a twelve-month contract with BCM language schools in
1996 and lasted only five months with the school to which I was
assigned. Foreign teachers were paid by the minute for classes
(effectively cutting the hourly pay rate by one-sixth), housed in
tiny, filthy apartments with no furniture, and yelled at for minor
problems with students or work.

Most of the teachers either quit before their year contract was
finished or they were fired on some pretense (example: one teacher
was fired for being five minutes late). A few teachers were
fired two weeks before their contracts were finished so that they
couldn't get their plane fare home and severance bonus.

There was basically no organization at the school or structure to
the curriculum. The goal was to merely milk the students for as
much money as possible instead of giving them proper English
lessons. Teachers that the students found entertaining were given
more hours than teachers with teaching degrees and experience
were given. ESL qualifications were considered worthless by the
management, which I found to be true for language schools
generally in Korea.

After I had accumulated enough outside work and contacts, I
decided that I would quit the day after I was paid for the
previous month. When I told the manager that I was quitting,
she started ranting that I was going to be put in jail. And this
is the best part: after screaming at me for a minute about
possible imprisonment, she calmed down and told me that the whole
incident was an error in translation!

The Korean teachers defended her saying that the manager's
English wasn't that good and that she didn't mean to say any of
it. During my stay in Korea after leaving BCM, I would regularly
hear stories of teachers being threatened with imprisonment or
even being physically assaulted by the management.

I left with just one day's notice (I didn't want them to get any
more deposit money from another month's paycheck) and flew to
Japan to get a tourist visa. After coming back to Korea, I had
to leave every 90 days to renew the visa (the rule for Americans).
I would fly to another country and come back after a few days.

I worked part-time at language schools and at companies through
agencies and taught private students. Even the temporary agencies
would regularly try not to pay me, saying that they didn't have
the money at the time. I was always able to get them to pay me
with enough persistence (other teachers I spoke with were cheated
by the agencies, however).

This was the way to make a lot of money until the immigration
crackdown started.

2) Korean Immigration

In 1995, English teaching jobs began to proliferate and foreigners
swarmed to Korea. Most with work visas found their job situation
unacceptable, quit, and either went home or began working on a
tourist visa (which is highly illegal). Soon, the number of
illegal English teachers greatly exceeded the number of legal
teachers.

This influx of illegal workers, in combination with the declining
health of the economy in 1997, prompted Korean immigration to start
seriously pursuing foreign teachers working on a tourist visa.

Previously, immigration hadn't been that thorough in its
enforcement of Korean laws regarding working illegal because of
the relatively small number of foreign teachers.

Korean immigration began regularly questioning people when they
were leaving the country, sometimes denying people re-admittance.
Immigration officers began following foreigners on the subway and
grabbing them when they went to their jobs at companies or private
homes. Building security guards would contact immigration if they
saw foreigners repeatedly entering a home or building. Immigration
would actually enter private homes and arrest the foreigner there.

Strangest of all, immigration officers would pose as potential
private students and approach foreigners for English lessons (this
is called entrapment in the US). Just admitting that you are doing
illegal work to an undercover immigration officer is grounds for
deportation in Korea.

Korea is supposedly a democracy, but the country has a long
tradition of police state tactics and proof basically isn't
required for deportation. For example, I heard of people being
grabbed on the subway, searched, and then being deported just for
carrying ESL textbooks and not having a work visa.

If you are working illegally or if you are teaching private
students part time while working legally at a language school,
there is a very high change that you will eventually be caught,
fined, and deported (even in Seoul where there are relatively many
foreigners). Rights of privacy don't exist in Korea in they way
they are understood in Western countries.

3) The Won Exchange Rate and Outside Work

The won (the Korean currency) was slowly declining in value from
the time I arrived in 1996 until it abruptly collapsed at the end
of 1997. The currency began to recover at the end of 1998.
As of mid 2002, the won is at less than 50% of its previous value
from its 1995-1996 peak.

The language schools have raised their pay in won, and so have many
of the temporary agencies. The pay the agencies are offering is
still below the pre-crisis level in exchange rate terms, however.
Also, private students can't afford to pay any more than they could
before the crisis. Even with the economic recovery, there is less
private work available now then there was before the currency
crisis and the prices of many goods (such as those requiring
imported inputs - like food) are higher. Private students were
previously the most lucrative form of outside employment and make
up the majority of outside work for teachers working legally at
a school.

Speaking with Koreans that I have kept in contact with since
leaving, the additional work has dwindled noticeably from its high
point when English instruction began en masse.

Private students tend to provide unstable work, ending classed
easily, taking long breaks, or running out of money. Companies
and language schools tend to conduct additional classes for short
stints as well. When the exchange rate was good, it was still
possible to make a lot of money on an unstable schedule but the
prospects are now dimmer. The depreciated won, combined with the
more stringent immigration policy, make teaching significantly
less lucrative than it was in past years.

Also, if you are working on a tourist visa, many of the best
outside jobs will be unavailable to you. You need a work visa to
get most jobs through agencies, even though taking such work is
still illegal. I kept my foreigner ID card after I quit my hagwon
and lied to the agencies to get work with companies. I even worked
for the Ministry of Education with an invalid ID card. Remember
that if you quit or are fired by your work visa sponsor, you can't
legally work for someone else until the visa period is completed
(usually one year) or you get an employee release document.

4) The Other English Teachers

All you need to teach legally in Korea is a four-year degree in
something from somewhere. This is just a formality required by
immigration as most Koreans believe that basically any white
foreigner from North America can do the job. TESL is not
considered to be a profession by the majority of Korean employers.

These low standards apply just to those with a work visa. Most of
the illegal teachers had some college, a high school diploma, or
where high school drop-outs. Unqualified people wanting to work
legally even had fake diplomas printed up and submitted them to
immigration to obtain a visa.

Generally, the English teachers represented people who had failed
in some way at home. Korean employers appear not to do a
background check on the foreign teachers they hire, as a fair
number seemed to have mental problems or felony records
(I'm not kidding). People trying to save money or teaching as a
career were definitely in the minority.

The scariness of the English teachers can be a problem as you might
have to share an apartment with one of these potentially dangerous
people or maintain a good working environment with them (which is
difficult).

Most of the English teachers I spoke with were unhappy working in
Korea. Some people fled the country after just a few months and
most of the people who made it through one year didn't come back
for a second year of teaching.

This includes people who had taught ESL in other developing
countries or had worked for the Peace Corps for a few years before
coming to Korea. Teachers who had worked in Africa, Morocco,
Japan, China, Latin America, and Thailand (and had enjoyed those
experiences) all expressed dissatisfaction and boredom with working
and living in Korea.

The only people I met that liked Korea were the Mormon missionaries
or members of other conservative religious groups, people with
absolutely no social and/or economic prospects in their own
country, or people who were running away from something at home
and had finally found a place where they could almost complete
hide from the Outside World (Korea is that isolated).

All of the people defending Korea on this job information board
probably fall into one of these three categories. If it was a
requirement that you had to post a picture with your testimonial,
you would see that the Korea apologists are a collection of side
show freaks.

5) Living Conditions in Korea

Korea is seriously polluted, especially Seoul. I had a sore throat
for the first month that I was there due to the air pollution.
The water is undrinkable (you must drink bottled water) and
brushing your teeth with it can cause problems. I had to have my
teeth cleaned and gums examined when I returned home (there is
still some gum damage along my upper back teeth). Many of the
Koreans have badly stained teeth and dental problems.

Korea is an OECD member, but it is still very much a developing
country. Pharmaceutical products are sub-standard (sometimes
even causing reactions), milk is unpasturized for the most part,
and diseases which are almost unheard of in North America (such as
tuberculosis) abound.

Perhaps the worst part about living in Seoul is the numbing
sameness of the place. It is merely block after block of the same
ugly buildings and apartments, seemingly expanding out forever.
I have been to fifteen developing countries and I have never seen
anything that looks worse than Seoul (including Detroit).
Bucharest in Romania is a slum, but it is a slum with architectural
character. The total lack of variety and external stimuli began
to ware away at me even more than always having to look over my
shoulder for immigration.

I went to Korea with higher expectations. My primary purpose was
to save money for school, but I also thought I would be exciting
and a learning experience. I am interested in the developing world
and learning about other cultures. I enjoyed visiting the other
Asian countries that I traveled to when I was working in Korea.

I learned to speak some Korean during my stay and read books on
Korean culture and history. The conclusion that I came to after
two years was that Korea is just a painfully dull place. Many of
the Koreans think Korea is awful and want to escape (which often
breeds resentment against anyone holding a North American
passport).

Ultimately, everything worked out for me. I used the money I saved
while teaching in Korea to pay for graduate school and to put down
payments on a car and a condo. I am now working as an analyst for a
government agency on the West Coast of America.

If I were seeking a job now, I would teach somewhere else where I
could save money. There are two other big markets for English
teachers in Asia.

If you have decent qualifications and are presentable, Japan is
certainly worth considering. The pay differential between teaching
in Korea and teaching in Japan is now much narrower and the language
schools in Japan are professional and organized for the most part.
I visited Japan three times while I was working in Korea and was
impressed by how clean and modern it was. All of the English teachers
I spoke to appeared to be normal people who could actually hold down
a job in their own country. Teaching in Japan has it own particular
difficulties, but everyone I met said that they were happy living
and working in Japan.

Working part-time at another language school or company is still
illegal and is actively prosecuted, but all of the English teachers
teach private students unmolested (Japan is strict but not a
police state). Problems exist with some of the language schools,
but most are honest according to the discussions I had with English
teachers.

If you are less qualified or want to work in a developing country,
Taiwan is a good bet. From what I can gather, there are a number
of shady employers in Taiwan but not nearly on the scale that they
exist in Korea. The English teachers in Taiwan also tend to be
scummy, but Taiwan is livelier and more open to foreigners than
Korea, and there is plenty of opportunity to save some cash.

As for professional ESL teachers, work in a country that takes ESL
seriously. The language schools in Korea are just trying to make
a fast buck and the public schools and universities are not
prepared or organized for ESL teaching. There are plenty of other
more interesting places to go where ESL teachers are actually valued.

I just ask you to weigh the evidence. The sheer volume of negative
feedback about Korea on this message board and on the Internet in
general should tell you something. If you notice, other countries
do not have this level of negative feedback. Also, the U.S. State
Department has not issued an official warning for any other major
ESL market other than Korea (there is no serious warning for Japan
and none for Taiwan). How do all of Korea's defenders explain
this?

During the time I was working in Korea, the exchange rate was
excellent and outside work was plentiful. If you were working
freelance on a tourist visa, it was worth enduring the problems of
living in Korea if you really needed to save a lot of money
(tax-free) in a short period of time. Now, however, due to the
reduced value of the Korean currency vs. the US and Canadian
dollars, the incredible amount of latitude Korean immigration has
for arresting English teachers, and the continuing struggle
teachers have to go through just to get paid, I would recommend
not teaching English in Korea.

John Balance
June 11th, 2002
Anchorage, AK (USA)
Avoidkorea@hotmail.com

Posted: June 11, 2002

Of course I realize that many other people have had good experiences in Korea. I've met many very nice people here, both Korean and foreign. Many of my friends that have been here a long time really like it here. Even still, most of them tell me stories about how they have been cheated, lied to or screwed over in one way or another. When compared to somewhere like Japan or even Taiwan, there seem to be a lot less horror stories. All this takes is a quick look through the forums at Dave's ESL-Cafe or at the Asian review section there to see that.

Because of this, unless you have an aching desire to go to Korea, go to Japan or maybe Taiwan instead. If you're not worried about the money, I've heard that China is a great place to be.

Oh, and mum. I'm sorry, but I'm still staying in Asia. Love you.