How to Hire a Teacher...

I have decided that rather then making a terribly long post about all the awful and hilarious things that occurred at Guri Wonderland (구리 원더랜드) during my year, I will break them into smaller posts, a "highlight reel" if you will. This post will go under the "hilarious" file.

The supervisor Rachel calls me into the teachers room and says, "Do you know where the University of Guelph is?" A conversation followed about the university as well as the area, both of which I am familiar with and was able to give positive details about.

Weeks later I asked Rachel about the teacher she was considering to which I received the reply, "Oh, we aren't hiring her, she is too sexy".

It made me laugh how Rachel decided that the appearance of a person made the merits of their teaching abilities. No interview, no essay, simply based on appearance.

And Another - From Many Moons Ago

This author was writing about Wonderland over 5 years ago, but his experience as an interviewee came across as less then spectacular. Here's what was said via Dave's ESL:

Once upon a time many, many moons ago, i went for an interview at Guri wonderland. Yes! the very one.

The woman boss had the unmistakeable air of a b i t c h, and the contract included some nasty clauses such as deducting 10% of each months paycheque for deposit or something..refundable 6 months after you've left the country. Can't be sure (long time ago) but i think there were cameras set up in the classrooms too.

They asked "do you like kids?".. as i watched their crazy brats running riot... ahem.. they offered me of course, but No fanks.

however you can't judge any hogwon on how it was 2 years ago (let alone 6 months ago). they change/turnover fast.

Sadly, our hero Rachel wasn't there, but I suppose the birds of a feather thing may apply as the current supervisor was with another one of the owner's schools during this time.

Needless to say, we've scoured the internet and come up with two less than stellar reviews while receiving nothing positive. I suppose the question to ask is, "why did I go there in the first place?"

Testimonial #4 - Nardus

Another foreign teacher, another failing grade for Guri Wonderland (구리 원더랜드). When posed him with the question, "I'm wondering if you could tell me about the experience you had at this academy" here's what Nardus had to say:

Yes. My time in Wonderland started out well. However after a few months things got a bit sour. The manager forced the foreign teachers to travel on the morning bus to pick up kids-which entailed a real early start with no extra pay. This was not in the contract.
After I had worked there for 11 months, another co-worker informed me that that was my last day...
Luckilly I was not kicked out of my flat that night, but allowed to stay there for a few days.
I found another job, but the manager was a bit difficult about allowing me to go to someone else-she actually wanted a 'finder's fee'!
Wonderland also didn't give me the money for the return ticket-according to them a time limit had expired.

Dodgy people man.

You'll find it common that the school will add "duties" to your job description while at Wonderland. This occurred while I was at the school as well where the foreign teachers were expected to meet the students off the bus in the morning while receiving no compensation for it. This meant the working hours were extended to 9AM rather then 9:30AM. Not a big deal, but just an added task that was unnecessary. What made my situation all the more humorous was the fact that this was implemented after a student hurt himself in his classroom in the morning. The claim was that the foreign teachers couldn't control the students in the morning. Funny thing is, this student was hurt in a Korean teachers classroom.

The lack of professionalism that Nardus felt at Guri Wonderland during his time was not uncommon during my time at the academy.

Again, Korea is an amazing place to live and to teach. Guri Wonderland, however, can diminish that experience and make you not only regret teaching, but coming to the country altogether. Stay away and you won't feel this "dodgy"-ness.

Testimonial #3 - Art Cormode

As will be the underlying theme in most of these posts, I'm beginning to wonder why I failed to do my homework prior to setting off for Korea on July 1st, 2009. I sent an email to an individual that I found to be an ex-employee of Guri Wonderland (구리 원더랜드) and it took under 12 hours for a response and a vehemently negative response.

Here's what Art (artcormode@hotmail.com - feel free to write him yourself) had to say:

Hello, I cannot say this strongly enough. Don't work there. The owner is incompetent, greedy and a thief. I speak for about 10 other teachers that has the dishonour of working in that s***hole. In fact, don't work at any Wonderland school. There may be a few honest ones out there but it isn't worth the risk. I feel it is my moral duty to forewarn people. Don't say I didn't warn you if you choose to work there.

Wow, "moral duty"? Keep in mind, I wasn't at all fishing for negative comments. In my email to Art I didn't pose as a prospective teacher, nor an ex, I simply asked for his opinion on the academy and this is how he responded.

I suppose the tone of this email speaks for itself and should add to the legitimate reasons not to teach at this specific Wonderland.

Watch out for more of Art's stories in the coming days!

The Owner...

Guri Wonderland is owned by "Mrs. Lee", she is a pleasant enough woman who tries her best to speak English. For Wonderland teachers she was relatively generous in taking us out for a couple teachers dinners, although this seems to be a fairly common practice so truly, the generosity was "relative".

However, I had a friend who worked at CDI and really absolutely hated her. Hopefully I can get that friend to chime in and really take a gouge at Guri Wonderland and the Mrs. Lee owned hagwon's.

While I wait for that, I stumbled upon a piece from an author at (again) Dave's ESL who was quite negative towards CDI in Guri. The author wrote:

I know there are numerous CDI threads so I'll make this one short. I know some people love working for CDI and some people hate it. They are individual establishments and CDI Guri is on the low end of the spectrum. The owner is a liar and will do whatever it takes to make life miserable for you and save a buck (sound familiar?). To put it in perspective, the school has had 17 teachers fill five teaching positions over the last 9 and a half months. All twelve who have left, have left on bad terms with the owner. I can go into the details of why it is a horrible place to work but the statistics should speak for themselves.

Teaching for CDI is not a bad gig in general. You get paid well (in my eyes), it is easy to teach the material, and the students are genearlly motivated. When you agree to work for them, you must understand if you are hired at a branch or a franchise. Avoid the franchises unless you know about them first. Guri is simply a franchise to avoid.

Again, I'm not writing this for revenge, I just would not want any teachers to endure the difficulties that I have had to endure in dealing with these people.

The last paragraph is something I want to highlight and what I want to be the theme for this blog. While it will indirectly have a revenge hint to it, the fact is, I want my fellow foreign teachers to have positive experiences in Korea. I want them to come home and have nothing but good things to say to their family and friends. I don't want to hear from someone who heard from someone who knows someone about how bad Korea is because of an isolate incident. I want everyone to have a positive experience. And if all the ex-teachers of Korea come forward with our terrible stories, which invariably will detract people from working at these specific schools, possibly there will be a day when these stories become less and less.

That's my dream.

Testimonial #2 - Mike de Ruiter

While I haven't contacted Mr. Ruiter yet regarding his statement, here is what he wrote on his now defunct personal website - which can be viewed via Google Cache:

two more weeks well, it’s been quite a while since i’ve posted so here’s a quick update. my visa expires in two weeks, so i’m out of here by then. it’ll be good to get out of this place, although i will really miss some of korea, friends i’ve made here, and some of the students. i haven’t ruled out returning to korea ever again. i may come back in the winter depending on how shit’s going in calgary, but i do know i will be a lot choosier with my next job, and will DEFINITELY not be coming back to Guri Wonderland. f*** that place. well, mainly the head’s of the place. some of the kids are awesome.

There's a good place to start. One ex-teacher, one entirely dissatisfied individual. Good luck bringing in new teachers Wonderland!

Testimonial #1 - Andrew S.

I wrote Andrew a couple days ago and asked him what he felt about Guri Wonderland (구리 원더랜드). While he didn't tear the school apart, he actually didn't have anything good to say either. I suppose the highlight of his email was "the school definitely pays on time". While I understand some teachers have issues with that, I would suggest this is the bare minimum an individual should expect from their employer. I will speak to the fact that on several occasions I was not paid on time, and I had disputes over two of my other pay checks.

Here are the "low lights" from Andrews email:

• "i can't say it was the best school..."
• "it was my first time to teach in korea so everything was a new experience and a bit difficult."
• "...there was some confusion about the pension at the end of the contract."
• "don't expect the owner to be very friendly. she all about business."

Going point by point we have our first confirmation that if you want, you can find better in Korea. The underlying tone of this blog, be careful.

The second and forth points highlight how unwelcoming life is at this hagwon - something I will write at length about during my testimonial. As foreign teachers in Korea we are guests, in fact, the E-2 visa is set up in such a way that we have very few rights and are, in a manner of speaking, the property of the hagwon which hires us. With that being said, why does this academy feel the need to make things "difficult" and un-"friend"-ly?

Why, because at the end of the day, they truly do not care. They do not care about the quality of education for the students, nor do they care about the well-being and happiness of their teachers.

The third point is something that some, but not all hagwon teachers have to deal with. Wonderland decided to avoid paying both the health insurance AND pension, which if I am not mistaken, is actually against Korean law.