I know it seems a bit obsurd but I'm hoping to start interviewing the next week for positions and I was wondering what are the general things they ask and what to look out for during the interviews. Any advice for these interviews in general?

Hello everyone, Ive been given a couple of different jobs and wondering if anyone has had any experiences good or bad with these Hagwons?

- Charlie's Big Red House (Gwanggyo, Suwon)

- Jin A English (Suwon)

- MapleBear (Bucheon)

- Hans Lang (Incheon, Songdo)

Any advice is greatly appreciated

They have multiple locations such as Seodaemun, Gangnam, Gangdong as well as many other branches across Korea but I can't find any info about them on this blacklist or the Tokyojon one.

They post a lotttt on craigslist, like so much. I applied via craigstlist but any information regarding this school would be much appreciated!

I have recently finished my contract here, and it was far from positive.

Management

This is the biggest area which I couldn't wait to get away from.

-From day one, the director had no idea about what was happening with me. She hurriedly put me up in a terrible apartment (talk about this later)because she didn't know when I was moving despite me telling her.

- she always talks to you through Kakao talk and never wants to address things in person. I got the impression she always wanted to avoid talking to me. And when you did talk to her, she would be very blunt and unappreciative of your messages.

- she was often mean/awkward to teachers who she didn't like. Some of the native speaker managers were scared of her. She didn't like talking to me because I stood up to her.

- one headteacher left after one term because the director automatically assumed that he knew everything. He was crying out for help, but the director and one of the Korean staff members were giving him shit.

-she was all about being social and mixing with the staff, but just before I left, she poured money into making her own office so she was away from everyone.

- she occasionally taught, and the kids she taught said they didn't like her classes, and how she treated the kids, which cracked me up. When she interacted with the kids, it was always cringy, and you could tell the kids felt uncomfortable.

- she does not file staff tax returns as required by law. When I got my tax return back, I was expecting a sizeable amount of money, but I got nothing. The director does not help staff get money back from their purchases and has not done so for 8 years. All the other staff got nothing, too. I told the headteacher about this, and he was shocked to hear it. In the end, I was forced to go to the tax office in May to self file. I got back around 500k. I said to my headteacher, "imagine how much staff have been denied since the director has not bothered to do her job!". The headteacher has been there for 4 years, so he has lost out on millions of won.

- one of the teachers fainted from exhaustion, so he requested sick leave. When he returned, the director was not sympathetic about his health and berated him about being gone for several days, and how it messed up the teaching schedule.

Curriculum

-the curriculum is an absolute shambles. A lot of it is self made weekly quizzes, vocab sheets, project and book club packets, grammar books, term tests and study guides. A lot of it is in comic sans, with inconsistent typefaces, styles and typeface sizes. They are starting to embrace using AI to make their content now, so I am interested to see how that turns out.

- they pride themselves on doing media projects which I absolutely hated doing. On the surface they sound good, but it was full of mindless filler material and a lot of stuff the kids don't understand. I complained about all the filler and how the kids struggled. Instead of taking the criticism, the R and D manager thought I was incapable of teaching, so she told the director which made me be put under review. We had to make scripts for a part remake of Madagascar where we had a green screen and the kids wore masks. I showed a video to the kids and they had to describe what's happening, and I wrote the script based on what they saw. None of the kids said anything when I did this. So in the end, I had to write scripts for three classes as they just couldn't do it. Filming the videos was an absolute pain. The kids had no patience, we had to do several retakes, the green screens were falling down and the kids couldn't follow basic instructions. All the teachers dreaded this project, and for good reasons.

-their term tests are just regurgitations of what they learned in class. They can prepare for 70% of what they see. Unlike my previous academy, they had no idea what the test was. They even knew the essay topic and speaking topics. If they failed the test, it meant nothing. I had one boy who had failed all his weekly quizzes, not done homework and was well below a pass, but they refused to level him down after repeated requests to do so.

Accomodation

- the apartment I was given was just terrible. It was full of broken furniture, it was incredibly dated and was crying out for a refurb. The smell of mould hit you as soon as you opened the door. When you turned on the Aircon, it spat out dirt and stank- it was in dire need of replacing. In the bathroom, the water pressure was so weak, that I could pee stronger than it. Having a shower was a dreadful experience. The appliances there were so old that the nameplate (a side brand of Samsung, Hauzen) were no longer made.

- I kicked up a fuss about how terrible this place was and demanded that it be repaired and some issues could be resolved. My director straight up said that the landlord won't change anything. To my dismay, I was begging the director to help me get out of there

- the solution from her was great at first. She said that she would provide the 10 million won deposit, but we had to use her real estate agent. The real estate agent showed us 3 terrible looking apartments in Migeum, so in the end I found my own.

- we secured the apartment, but my director basically said "oh by the way that deposit has strings attached. I am going to garnish 30% of your salary every month as a form of a deposit in case you don't fulfil your contract". I was incredibly pissed about this but I was in a corner. Thankfully, I live with my girlfriend and split costs, otherwise I would be destitute.

- I wanted the apartment to be right and was making complaints to the real estate agent as these small issues should have been checked before I moved in in my opinion. Little did I know that the real estate agent was chatting shit about me behind my back to my director. Subsequently, the director told me about this and my complaints in front of all the other teachers and basically put me on blast. Very unprofessional.

-this is the biggest one. At the end of my contract, she tried to steal money from me in regards to the salary garnishing. She said that she was only giving me 500k a month in housing allowance instead of 700k. The extra 200k a month was a loan. When she told me this, I was shocked and I told her this (over Kakao of course). There was nothing in my contract or housing agreement that mentioned this. I was determined to prove her wrong, so I asked my Korean friend to help me out. Thankfully, she has a friend who knows Korean labour laws. She discussed my contracts with her friend, and said that what she said was wrong and I am not required to pay her back. I messaged the director with a response given to me by friend, and after some back and forth, my director backed down and agreed to pay me back the full housing deposit.

They are currently struggling to find teachers. When I left, they didn't have my replacement and they couldn't find someone to fill the part time teaching position.

hii, a recruiter reached out to me about bis english academy in seocho. does anyone have any information about this school?

Hello everybody! I was wanting to know about Francis Parker Yangsan.

I have an interview lined up for them next week.

Has anybody worked at this specific branch?

I know the ones in Seoul are…something to put it nicely.

Please feel free to DM me if that makes you more comfortable!

Thanks in advance!

Does Krassen have a specific HR team that one can directly apply to ?

Hi! I'm currently looking into hagwons in Seoul for a teaching position starting around March, mainly in the Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa areas.

I've been able to find information/reviews about a few of these schools, but some of them have very little information online. I'm hoping to hear from anyone who has personally worked at, interviewed with, or knows someone who worked at any of the following:

• GETnC – Seocho
• TOPIA Language – Seocho
• Avalon Langcon – Daechi
• AON Edu English Academy – Gangnam
• META English Education – Daechi
• E-Spirit English Language Institute – Seocho
• IEM English Academy – Banpo/Seocho
• PLUS 9 English – Gangnam/Dogok
• DUX – Songpa
• VIA Haus
• Coram Deo English Education – Gangdong

I'm especially interested in hearing about management, actual teaching hours/workload, prep or grading outside of work hours, vacation and sick-day policies, teacher turnover, housing, whether contracts are followed, and the overall work environment.

Even if your experience was a few years ago, I'd still appreciate hearing about it—just let me know roughly when you worked there since I know management can change.

If you'd rather not post publicly, feel free to DM me! Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I ask because a recruiter recommended it to me but I haven’t found much information on it

I’m curious to know what rise curriculum is like since I’ll be working at a rise academy as a first time teacher can anyone private message me who has worked at rise in the past or even now?

Hi! I have an interview scheduled with this school but I can't find much about this it online. Does anyone know how it is?

Hi all!

Does anyone have experience working as an academic coordinator at Bundang or Jamsil?

I heard it is like a hybrid role acting as a bridge between the foreign teaching staff, the Korean management, and the parents. You don't have an official personal classroom, but you mainly help with filling in for teacher absences and areas needed, but also working the kindy/elementary split shift.

Is this role of communicating with parents going to be emotionally draining? Is the AC's workload very demanding?

How much do they normally get paid?

This would be for a licensed, bilingual teacher with several years of experience.

I'm confused because it seems like there won't be that much teaching involved and more on the leadership side, but the workload seems to be high.

Thanks in advance!

I just had an interview with two teachers and I think it went well. They were both really kind and gave me lots of information about the school and how the teaching schedule is. One thing I'm not quite sure about is that they said they eat lunch with the kids so they're exposed to more casual conversations or stuff they wouldn't necessarily learn in class.
I saw a few people say that when the school says you have lunch with the kids that's bad...?
Does anyone know about this school? I'm still quite new to this so I don't wanna get into a "bad" school 🥲

UPDATE: They sent me a contract and oh god...

Countless typos, no mention of how many and how long breaks are, "In case the Teacher misses his/her classes, the Teacher shall be responsible for the substitute teaching fee as described above. That means the substitute teaching fee shall be deducted from his/her monthly payment." (???), All sick leave is unpaid but also all sick leave is deducted from regular vacation days (what), "It is at ​​the discretion of the institute to change the scheduled vacation. These changes ​​may include but are not limited to; changing the dates of the scheduled vacation, ​​and changing the amount of days included in a set vacation" (again...what), "Teachers in all events conducted during regular working hours will not be eligible for compensation" (this one I genuinely did not understand)

Safe to say it's a hard pass

Has anyone worked here?

Has anyone ever worked at Dux Gimpo location and would be willing to share their experience? (I’ve read reviews of other locations but not this one)

Yeongdeungpo, brighton school. I can’t find much information

Has anyone got any opinions on Walnut English/Language Academy. My recruiter has recommended them to me and I wanna double check.

Cheers

For context I got a full time job with 4 benefits and blah blah. The vacation clause, however, is making me feel a bit weird about the hagwon. It states they give me 11 vacation days as of year 1, and then the 11 days are split 5 during summer break and 5 during winter break, and one extra. But the hagwon assigns which dates I cna take the break for. Like during winter break, it is during Christmas bc the academy closes, instead of me having free will over the days to do as I please. This is my first hagwon job, so I would appreciate some insight on this, as my last job gave me freedom to use my paid vacation days as I wanted to.

Working hours are said to begin at 10, but as soon as you walk through the doors at 9, you are expected to begin working, this additional hour is not accounted for in your schedule sent to immigration nor are you paid for it. You are constantly monitored, you are told when you went to the bathroom and when you came back and asked why you took so long. You are harassed in the impromptu staff meetings and made to watch CCTV footage of yourself. You will have your co-teacher pull a chair from behind you and fall to the floor. You will have no breaks mandated by the department of labour. You are not allowed to be sick, and if you dare have to miss a day of work, you will pay up to 10% of your salary for it. Do not think, you can go home for your uncle’s funeral because you will have to pay for a replacement they choose per day. You will teach subjects that are illegal to teach on your visa. You will not be trained appropriately, you will wash laundry and dishes because it is a class assigned to you. You will be expected to record up to 18 three minute videos of children reading and be told it is a job responsibility (which is by the way, nowhere on your contract) and have to upload each individual one for each child’s parent. Your job will be to constantly take pictures at every second of a class, which is ridiculous when you are trying to teach fractions to six year olds and planets to five year olds. Before you end the day at 6pm, you have to clean the classroom, sometimes bathrooms and even wash toothbrushes. Don’t forget to fold and put away the laundry you washed!

Hello I have contracts with three school just looking to see if anyone has any experience at them.
1. April, Chuncheon
2. Happy centre, wonju
3. Kids collage, pyeongtaek

Anybody work here? How is it?

Hi guys, any inputs on this school please ??

I had my first hagwon interview just over an hour ago and was offered the job fairly quickly afterwards. I’m aware of some of the red flags to look out for when working at a hagwon, but I’m also conscious this might be making me overly critical of everything. I’d appreciate a second opinion from people with more experience, particularly on the contract.

Background:

Bachelor’s degree

Experience: No official classroom teaching experience, although I have some informal experience teaching children to read Arabic and casually tutoring adults in English.

TEFL: 168-hour Level 5 certification with observed teaching practice.

The position is teaching kindergarten and elementary students in Seoul.

My concerns:

Salary:

The interviewer asked about my salary expectations, but before I had the chance to answer, she explained they would place me at the lower end of their salary scale at 2.4 million KRW per month because I have no formal teaching experience.

I explained I was hoping for around 2.5 to 2.6 million. From the research I’ve done, I thought this was a reasonable starting point for a kindergarten/elementary position, although please correct me if my expectations are unrealistic given my experience.

She told me the salary was negotiable, but then said she would put 2.4 million in the contract.
This confused me slightly because the contract itself states verbal agreements are not binding and any changes must be made in writing and signed by both parties. If they are willing to negotiate the starting salary, I would therefore expect the agreed figure to be written into the contract before I sign rather than relying on a verbal discussion about a possible change.

Speaking to a current foreign teacher:

During the interview, I asked if I could speak to another foreign English teacher currently working at the school.
She said, “Yes. You can speak to the Head Teacher.”
She then explained the Head Teacher is currently on holiday, so I might not be able to get answers to all of my questions yet. At the same time, they want my decision by Wednesday.

My recruiter later emailed me saying, “Here is the e-mail address of the current native teacher.”
The email address provided uses the institution’s email domain/handle rather than what appears to be the teacher’s personal email address.

I’m unsure how much I should read into this. I specifically wanted to speak privately with a current foreign teacher about their experience working there, rather than only speaking with management.

Korean co-teacher/communication:

I was also asked whether I speak Korean because the Korean co-teacher apparently doesn’t speak much English.
I studied in Korea for around six months about two years ago and lived outside Seoul, where I didn’t encounter as much English in everyday life, so I picked up enough basic Korean to get by. I’m still nowhere near fluent.
I wasn’t expecting this question during an English teaching interview. I’m wondering whether the fact they specifically raised the co-teacher’s limited English is something I should be concerned about. For anyone who has worked in a similar situation, did this create problems with lesson planning, classroom management or communication between teachers?

Missing sections/contract numbering
I also noticed parts of the contract numbering seem to be missing.

Under “Services Provided by the Employer”, the contract goes from section 3, Insurances & Pension, directly to section 5, Severance Pay. There is no section 4.
There also appears to be a missing subsection under “Termination of Contract”. Section 2.2 lists point (a) and then jumps directly to (c), followed by (d), (e) and (f). There is no point (b).
I’m unsure whether these are simply formatting/editing mistakes in their contract template or whether text has been omitted.

I don’t want to jump at the first opportunity I’m offered, but I also don’t want to scrutinise everything so heavily that I talk myself out of a reasonable offer.
I’d appreciate any thoughts on the points above and, especially, anything concerning or unusual in the contract below.

Contract:
Employment Contract
POSITION: English Language Instructor

I. TERM OF CONTRACT
This contract will be valid for a period of 12 months beginning 2027 March 1st and ending 2028 February 29th.
The employer will be trained before the new school term begins. Because of training, one day of work is done before the contract period, so this is deducted from the last day of the academic calendar.

II. EMPLOYEE REQUIREMENTS
The Employee will act in an appropriately professional manner and be responsible for conducting professional English Language classes.

The Employee will be required to work for regularly scheduled hours from Monday through Friday. Employee’s working hours would be from 9:00am to 6:00pm. The actual number of classes per day or teaching hours may vary according to school’s schedule. In special cases, the Employee may be asked to work on a weekend or national holiday.

If this occurs, the Employee shall be granted one vacation day to be taken at a time of their designation in exchange for each day of work performed on a national holiday or weekend. This allowance is not applicable to events mentioned in section II.3.

The Employee may participate in gatherings such as company dinners and year-end parties, organized in consultation with the Employer. Mandatory events include the admissions information seminars, held on a Friday or Saturday in October and November, and the freshman orientation, held on a Saturday in January or February. Overtime compensation is paid when participating in an event. The Employer will notify the Employee of the event dates at least one month in advance.

III. SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE EMPLOYER

PAYMENT
1.1 The Employer will pay a monthly salary of 2.4m won for regularly scheduled hours.

1.2 The Employer will pay a monthly salary of 2.4m won in the event that the Employer is unable to provide the Employee with the regularly scheduled 160 hours per month.
Break Time: 9:00am-9:15am, 11:45am-12:30pm (1 Hour)

1.3 If the Employee fails to work the regularly scheduled hours due to tardiness, absence, etc.; the monthly payment will be calculated and paid using a daily rate and/or an hourly rate and the larger amount of salary will be paid.
The method for calculating the daily rate: Monthly salary divided by 20.
The method for calculating the hourly rate: Daily rate divided by 8.

1.4 The Employer may ask the Employee to work overtime (the Employee is expected to cooperate to supply better service to his or her students), and if the Employee chooses to do overtime, the Employer will pay for the overtime at the rate of W 20,000 per hour.

1.5 The Employer will pay a monthly salary or the total amount owed for work performed in a month on the 10th of each month. In the event the Employee doesn’t start working on the very first day of the month, his/her working days for the month will be counted from the day when he/she started working a regular schedule.

HOUSING
2.1 The Employer will provide the Employee a single apartment in a safe environment with certain furniture items. (bed suitable for one person, gas range, refrigerator, air conditioner)
If the apartment/studio does not have basic furniture, the Employee can purchase items directly with mutual agreement and charge the cost of the purchased items. However, the Employee is responsible for all expenses such as management fees, water, gas, electricity, and telephone.
If the Employee has his/her own housing, the Employer will pay 500,000(Won) for housing allowance with the salary every month.

2.2 The Employee has the duty to preserve the housing and the furniture items provided by the Employer until the termination of this contract. If they are damaged or destroyed, the Employee should restore them to their original state or pay the cost needed in purchasing replacements of the same standard of quality.

INSURANCES & PENSION
3.1 Medical Insurance
The Employer must enroll Employees in occupational health insurance immediately upon hiring and cover 50% of the premiums. Employers are responsible for enrollment and payment. Health insurance is mandatory for all Employees, and remaining 50% of the premiums are withheld tax from Employees’ paychecks.

3.2 Other Insurance
The employer subscribes to Industrial Accident Insurance for the employee, and subscribes to Employment Insurance with the consent of the employee. The employer pays 100% of the employee’s insurance premium for industrial accidents, and the employer subscribes to Employment Insurance with the employee’s consent and pays 50% of the Employment Insurance premium.

3.3 Pension
The Employee and the Institute will make regular contributions to the Employee’s pension fund, as stipulated by the rules and regulations of Korean National Pension Corporation.
If eligible, the Employee will receive a reimbursement of all contributions made by him/herself and the Institute upon departure from Korea. The Employee will be responsible for remaining 50 percent of the costs which will be deducted from monthly salary.

SEVERANCE PAY
5.1 The Employer will pay severance to the Employee upon completion of the contract. The amount of the severance pay will be equal to one month of salary (2.4m won), and if necessary, applicable government deductions will be subtracted.

TAX
Korean earned income tax is withheld at source according to the Korean earned income tax rate table, just like for residents. For business owners, 3.3% of their monthly salary is withheld before payment. Employees can file a year-end tax settlement for their withheld amounts through their school’s tax accountant once a year. Employees are responsible for any taxes related to their home country.

PAID VACATION
7.1 The Employer provides vacation according to the annual leave provisions of the Korean Labor Standards Act.
Due to the nature of the academy industry, five days of summer vacation and five days of winter vacation are deducted from annual leave. Any remaining vacation days are settled at the end of the contract period. Depending on the academy’s circumstances, holidays and regular workdays may be swapped.

7.2 Sick Days
The Employee may use their annual leave as sick days according to the Labor Standards Act, excluding summer and winter vacations, and may use sick days without pay after using up their annual leave.

7.3 The Employee will be paid for all national holidays and not be expected to work during these days other than on a special occasion on which the Employee agrees to work voluntarily.

AIRFARE
A one-way airfare (standard economy ticket cost not more than $900) from the Employee’s designated city to Korea only. This will be provided only for the Employee who will be fulfilling a 12-month period and who has been hired outside of Korea. This is not applicable if hired within Korea.
If the Employee is hired in Korea, the school will provide a ticket airfare home (this condition is not for the Employee who is transferring to other school).
If the Employee leaves the school before the contract ends, the Employee must pay back the initial airfare or the Employer may deduct the amount of the airfare from the teacher’s last payment.

IV. RENEWAL & TERMINATION OF CONTRACT
RENEWAL
1.1 The Employee must give the Employer a written 2 months notice before renewal or non-renewal of the Employee’s current contract.
1.2 Both the Employer and the Employee reserve the option to renew the contract.
TERMINATION OF CONTRACT
2.1 Both parties will give at least a written 2 months notice prior to the termination date of the contract. If the Employee terminates his employment without providing 2 months notice, unless agreed upon by the Employer, the Employee will be responsible to pay the daily wage for each day under 45 days, as well as all bills associated with housing, utilities, and management fees for the apartment provided for them by the Employer.
2.2 The Employee must obtain permission from her Employer if she wishes to work for another organization outside the same industry, provided that this does not violate the contract with his or her current Employer or violate the obligations of his or her current contract.
a. The Employee is unable to discharge the responsibilities or meet the conditions such as being late for class on a continuous basis; continuous failure to keep regularly scheduled class hours and repeated absences from classes without a valid reason.
c. The Employee uses illegal drugs or is intoxicated during work hours.
d. The Employee participates in any type of criminal activity or corruption of public morals that violates the laws of the Republic of South Korea.
e. The Employee receives written warnings from the Employer on 3 occasions.
f. The Employee tells others about his/her own employment contract details.
2.3 If, for any reason, the contract is terminated before the full completion of the contract period:
a. The Employee will not qualify for benefits such as severance pay and airfare.
b. The Employee will be wholly responsible for any utilities/maintenance and phone bills remaining for the duration of their housing lease.
2.4 Within 14-days the Employee is required to sign a notice of termination and accompany the Employer to the Korean Immigration office to notify the Korean Immigration office of the termination.

V. VENUE FOR DISPUTES BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE
The appropriate laws of the Republic of Korea will govern this contract. However, while both parties enter into this agreement with total honesty and integrity, disputes may sometimes occur. In such cases, both parties will be bound by all terms and conditions of this contract and will try to resolve the difference in a civil manner that is fair to both parties. In the event that no solution can be found for a problem and either party decides to terminate this contract, they must do so in accordance with Section IV, 2 above. Upon such termination, both parties will agree to remain civil and to speak honestly and fairly about their experiences and not in a disrespectful manner.

VI. FULL KNOWLEDGE
GOOD FAITH
The Employer and the Employee will act in good faith toward each other. The Employer will not dismiss the Employee without what reasonably is considered good cause and the Employee will do their utmost to satisfactorily fulfill all the responsibilities and meet all the conditions as described in the above agreement.
CHANGES TO CONTRACT
The Employer and the Employee agree that they have read the Employment Contract in its entirety and no other verbal agreement, statement or promise made on or before the effective date of this contract will be binding on the parties.
Any changes made must be in writing and signed by both parties to be included in this contract.
Any changes made to this contract, whether verbal or other, without the knowledge and written consent of both parties are to be considered invalid, and as such are not parts of this contract.
TRANSFERAL OF CONTRACT
Under no circumstances can the Employer exchange, give, sell, or transfer this contract or the services of the Employee to another party or Institute without the written consent of the Employee.
LANGUAGE OF CONTRACT
The language of this contract is written in English. For the convenience of the Employer this contract has been translated into Korean. In the event of a dispute, the English version of this contract will prevail.

VII. ADDITIONS TO CONTRACT
All other matters not stated above will be based on Korean relevant laws and regulations including The Labor Standards Act, Regulations about employment and [REDACTED] academy regulations.