Pink Bus Institute is a private school in Seoul, South Korea.
Address: 1452-1 Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Website: Pink Bus Institute
Pink Bus Institute - Private School - South Korea
- Details
- Category: Korea, South in Asia (School)
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Institute Review
Do not under circumstances take a job at this "school". Though hesitant, I want to share my story so that people will know my experience and form their own opinion.
The school is run by a married couple who speak little to no English. Communication is frustratingly difficult because a Korean head teacher would have to translate my concerns into Korean and then the administration's response into English. Despite not having any English teaching experience himself, the husband would select the textbooks. He was not open to suggestions about the curriculum and was obsessed with completing as many textbooks as possible, even for the young 4 year old students! Teachers were constantly observed on CCTV, even when school was not in session. Administration was hellbent on knowing the private conversations between teachers and everyone felt the tension. The lack of trust was further illustrated when the male supervisor set up his office directly inside the teacher computer area. Despite the small size (literally a small corner), he wanted to listen in on conversations or watch our computer screens. Once, he yelled at two foreign teachers for speaking in Spanish (one of them was a native Spanish and English speaker), calling it disrespectful. It always was horribly awkward to have private meetings with him directly in front of other staff members.
As mentioned earlier, the Korean head teacher would serve as a liaison between Korean teachers, management, and foreign teachers. The wife treated each one horribly. Whenever one quit (three in one month), she would call their new employment and talk negatively about them. She never would change her behavior and expected everyone to meet her high expectations. Korean teachers had to dress and behave a certain way or face harsh punishment. In addition to management work (updating website, taking photos, calling parents, bus duty multiple times a day), Korean teachers would be made to stay late to help decorate for big events called Pink Day. The immense pressure caused multiple co teachers to quit, including mine so I was without a promised co teacher for four months. In fact, my co teacher quit because the supervisor called her at midnight on a Sat*r*ay to come to work. My co teacher's refusal resulted in her termination and nasty rumors were spread to the parents, making it difficult for her to find employment. Because of the absent teacher, I was forced to do double the work with zero help.
Foreign teachers did not escape completely unscathed. Outside of contract and unique to PINK Bus, we were asked to take the bus with students after a long day. The experience would be incredibly stressful since students would be antsy after classes. Unless you were lucky, the bus rarely stopped outside of the apartment complex and would drop you off at the nearest station, sometimes an hour away. Again, this time was off the clock and I would often arrive past my contracted time of 6:30PM. If you did not have to take the bus, teachers had to clean their classrooms and other parts of the school. We were given little prep time for the large amount of work require to run a successful classroom.
The boss liked to change the schedule frequently and without warning. We would have no time to prepare for newly scheduled classes . If we needed to go to the bank or the doctor, we would have to ask permission to leave, even if we had a scheduled break. We were only given twenty minutes to leave the building (Korean teachers didn't get a break period) and were scolded for going a minute over. They scheduled breaks so that you didn't have down time with co workers so there was no spirit of comradery among staff. Everyone was stressed to tears because of the awful working conditions.
The owners are incredibly cheap and do not want to spend money on necessary supplies. They try to cut corners whenever possible which is why teachers have to take the bus constantly or clean classrooms or meet with prospective parents. My students received new crayons at the beginning of the year but the administration refused to pay for new ones when most of the crayons were finished or went missing. I typically purchased dry erase markers and art supplies at the local dollar store so that my kids would be happy. The air conditioning in the building is broken and is "too expensive" to replace so students had to learn in stuffy, uncomfortable rooms. With sweat dripping onto their desks, it was nearly impossible to learn anything. We were given small fans or air conditioners, but these provided little relief especially since they broke so easily. Furthermore, n the teacher's workroom, there were only two working computers for eight teachers! Though we were made to eat lunch with our students, I would ask to work downstairs during lunch because it was the only opportunity to catch up. One of the few "perks" was that lunch was free and typically delicious.
As mentioned in another review, Wednesday is a designated fun day called "Pink Day". In no way was this day remotely fun. Unless the day was a test day (once a month), teachers had to plan crafts and lessons around the month's theme. These days were hard to plan because of frequent schedule changes, making it challenging to ask for supplies in advance. My co teacher and I always created crafts and games for our students, but it took a significant amount of work to make sure the day was successful. Foreign teachers had to MC events while Korean teachers took pictures to put on the website.
Pink Bus is obsessed with appearances and Korean teachers take carefully crafted photos so that parents believe their child is doing well, even if that is not the case. On report cards, we can not write anything less than positive, even if it is well intended advice or concerns. Instead of separating students based on ability level, students are separated by age so a first year 7 year old can be the same class as a three year 7 year old. The new students would feel discouraged and become disruptive in class, making it challenging to teach. Even worse, the rigid, misguided curriculum robbed children of their creativity and their natural joy for learning. The focus was always completing the textbook, not making sure the student was successfully comprehending the material. As a teacher, it was incredibly frustrating to force students to follow one learning strategy rather than encouraging their own unique abilities. During my last week of classes, my students had to sit in an incredibly small classroom and finish phonic pages (due to vacation or sickness) like little robots. It was heart breaking to see students so blatantly miserable and upset.
One of the most frustrating situations about Pink Bus was the uneven work load. Though I was hired for five year old class I was also made to teach the four year old students even though it was not in my contract and gave me an extra class. Each month I had to write nearly twenty report cards and prepare classroom materials for two classrooms, even when I did not have a co teacher. The workload was overwhelming and my health deteriorated. In addition to the daily phonics lessons for thirteen students (as oppose to the average six), I also had to prepare mathematics material for all five classes (40 students at one point). Even though I didn't have experience teaching ESL math, the director made me official Math teacher for Pink Bus. I had to prepare all the supplemental material and was constantly criticized for not having students complete more pages. Even though I came in to work a half hour before anyone else, I was told to work hard and that I was not doing enough. My best efforts were never recognized and it seemed that they always wanted to point out any "mistakes". The lack of help and support was exhausting and I would return home too tired to move.
The worst part of the experience was the horrible, abusive treatment I received from another foreign teacher. This teacher was determined to make my life as miserable as possible. The head teacher at the time helped me set up a bank account since the teller only spoke Korean. I also had to go to the doctor after getting a nasty sinus infection from the weather change. These two events caused her to snap and I was subject to verbal and emotional abuse on a daily basis for my one year contract. I could not ask for help from any of the other foreign teachers since she intimidated them into not speaking to me, a fact confided to me after the conclusion of one teacher's contract. Despite my efforts to make peace and even buying cookies//coffee, this teacher continued to slam her fists in front of me, send nasty messages to me and to other staff members, and forbid me from walking home with the other teachers. Once, a teacher started to walk home with me and was dragged away! If anyone talked to me, they had to tell this teacher the contents of the conversation. Another time, I had overslept and got to school late. I had to explain that my alarm died overnight and show my phone as proof since the teacher lied and told everyone I went to a coffee shop. Management did not want to lose a foreign teacher so I was made to endure the mistreatment the entire term of my contract. Never in my life have I encounter anyone as cruel and immature as this person. I experienced every type of mistreatment and could go on for days, but the bottom line is that management will not support you if you are experiencing a difficult, unfair situation. Rather than acting as upstanding professionals, I found myself in a "Mean Girls" scenario that not only threatened my well being, but made the work environment toxic and unhealthy for everyone.
At the end of my contract, Pink Bus begged me multiple times to extend my contract so that they could have more time to find a replacement. Even though I made it clear from the beginning I would not stay under any circumstances, staff pressured me daily to reconsider. As soon as I refused, staff resumed the terrible treatment. I had to move out of my apartment on the last day of my contract, even though other teachers were allowed to stay until their flight. Worse, my supervisor (the husband) did not tell me this directly, but rather my coworker who was moving in. I could keep my suitcases at the school but had to pay for a hostel in Itaewon. My final check and bonus check were deposited a day late. Even after my last day had past and I was no longer an employee a Korean teacher called me (25 times yes really) demanding that I return to Pink Bus to finish some already completed lesson plans. Though the supervisor told me to submit six months, the teachers wanted twelve. Fearing that I would not receive my pension or my belongings back, I worked on the other plans during my final day in Korea. I dropped off the plans when I picked up my belongings. The director promised I could stay in the former employee's (the one who tormented me) apartment since her move out day was two days earlier. Surprise, surprise the girl didn't move out (despite starting a new job). Luckily, I had a free night in a hotel airport and planned ahead. The job was petty and childish right until the bitter end.
If there is anything to take away from this review it is that the school is run by individuals who lack ethics, decency, and integrity. They are shallow, spineless people only concerned with making money. Your ideas, health, and beliefs are not valued and the school will exhaust you at every available opportunity. You won't find support with your fellow teachers. If you experience a hellish coworker, you need to deal with it on your own. Expect to work 10 hour days, getting your own materials, and being subject to constant schedule changes. None of your hard work will be recognized. They will kick you on your way out. Despite all of the hardships I experienced at Pink Bus, I am grateful that I was able to form wonderful relationships with my students. On my last day, I was able to sneak a goodbye message to the parents. I miss my class everyday, but I am so thankful to be out of that harmful environment. Please, do not support this school and its practices by signing on as a foreign teacher. Despite whatever promises they tell you, Pink Bus will never change.
DO NOT WORK HERE!
The school is run by a married couple who speak little to no English. Communication is frustratingly difficult because a Korean head teacher would have to translate my concerns into Korean and then the administration's response into English. Despite not having any English teaching experience himself, the husband would select the textbooks. He was not open to suggestions about the curriculum and was obsessed with completing as many textbooks as possible, even for the young 4 year old students! Teachers were constantly observed on CCTV, even when school was not in session. Administration was hellbent on knowing the private conversations between teachers and everyone felt the tension. The lack of trust was further illustrated when the male supervisor set up his office directly inside the teacher computer area. Despite the small size (literally a small corner), he wanted to listen in on conversations or watch our computer screens. Once, he yelled at two foreign teachers for speaking in Spanish (one of them was a native Spanish and English speaker), calling it disrespectful. It always was horribly awkward to have private meetings with him directly in front of other staff members.
As mentioned earlier, the Korean head teacher would serve as a liaison between Korean teachers, management, and foreign teachers. The wife treated each one horribly. Whenever one quit (three in one month), she would call their new employment and talk negatively about them. She never would change her behavior and expected everyone to meet her high expectations. Korean teachers had to dress and behave a certain way or face harsh punishment. In addition to management work (updating website, taking photos, calling parents, bus duty multiple times a day), Korean teachers would be made to stay late to help decorate for big events called Pink Day. The immense pressure caused multiple co teachers to quit, including mine so I was without a promised co teacher for four months. In fact, my co teacher quit because the supervisor called her at midnight on a Sat*r*ay to come to work. My co teacher's refusal resulted in her termination and nasty rumors were spread to the parents, making it difficult for her to find employment. Because of the absent teacher, I was forced to do double the work with zero help.
Foreign teachers did not escape completely unscathed. Outside of contract and unique to PINK Bus, we were asked to take the bus with students after a long day. The experience would be incredibly stressful since students would be antsy after classes. Unless you were lucky, the bus rarely stopped outside of the apartment complex and would drop you off at the nearest station, sometimes an hour away. Again, this time was off the clock and I would often arrive past my contracted time of 6:30PM. If you did not have to take the bus, teachers had to clean their classrooms and other parts of the school. We were given little prep time for the large amount of work require to run a successful classroom.
The boss liked to change the schedule frequently and without warning. We would have no time to prepare for newly scheduled classes . If we needed to go to the bank or the doctor, we would have to ask permission to leave, even if we had a scheduled break. We were only given twenty minutes to leave the building (Korean teachers didn't get a break period) and were scolded for going a minute over. They scheduled breaks so that you didn't have down time with co workers so there was no spirit of comradery among staff. Everyone was stressed to tears because of the awful working conditions.
The owners are incredibly cheap and do not want to spend money on necessary supplies. They try to cut corners whenever possible which is why teachers have to take the bus constantly or clean classrooms or meet with prospective parents. My students received new crayons at the beginning of the year but the administration refused to pay for new ones when most of the crayons were finished or went missing. I typically purchased dry erase markers and art supplies at the local dollar store so that my kids would be happy. The air conditioning in the building is broken and is "too expensive" to replace so students had to learn in stuffy, uncomfortable rooms. With sweat dripping onto their desks, it was nearly impossible to learn anything. We were given small fans or air conditioners, but these provided little relief especially since they broke so easily. Furthermore, n the teacher's workroom, there were only two working computers for eight teachers! Though we were made to eat lunch with our students, I would ask to work downstairs during lunch because it was the only opportunity to catch up. One of the few "perks" was that lunch was free and typically delicious.
As mentioned in another review, Wednesday is a designated fun day called "Pink Day". In no way was this day remotely fun. Unless the day was a test day (once a month), teachers had to plan crafts and lessons around the month's theme. These days were hard to plan because of frequent schedule changes, making it challenging to ask for supplies in advance. My co teacher and I always created crafts and games for our students, but it took a significant amount of work to make sure the day was successful. Foreign teachers had to MC events while Korean teachers took pictures to put on the website.
Pink Bus is obsessed with appearances and Korean teachers take carefully crafted photos so that parents believe their child is doing well, even if that is not the case. On report cards, we can not write anything less than positive, even if it is well intended advice or concerns. Instead of separating students based on ability level, students are separated by age so a first year 7 year old can be the same class as a three year 7 year old. The new students would feel discouraged and become disruptive in class, making it challenging to teach. Even worse, the rigid, misguided curriculum robbed children of their creativity and their natural joy for learning. The focus was always completing the textbook, not making sure the student was successfully comprehending the material. As a teacher, it was incredibly frustrating to force students to follow one learning strategy rather than encouraging their own unique abilities. During my last week of classes, my students had to sit in an incredibly small classroom and finish phonic pages (due to vacation or sickness) like little robots. It was heart breaking to see students so blatantly miserable and upset.
One of the most frustrating situations about Pink Bus was the uneven work load. Though I was hired for five year old class I was also made to teach the four year old students even though it was not in my contract and gave me an extra class. Each month I had to write nearly twenty report cards and prepare classroom materials for two classrooms, even when I did not have a co teacher. The workload was overwhelming and my health deteriorated. In addition to the daily phonics lessons for thirteen students (as oppose to the average six), I also had to prepare mathematics material for all five classes (40 students at one point). Even though I didn't have experience teaching ESL math, the director made me official Math teacher for Pink Bus. I had to prepare all the supplemental material and was constantly criticized for not having students complete more pages. Even though I came in to work a half hour before anyone else, I was told to work hard and that I was not doing enough. My best efforts were never recognized and it seemed that they always wanted to point out any "mistakes". The lack of help and support was exhausting and I would return home too tired to move.
The worst part of the experience was the horrible, abusive treatment I received from another foreign teacher. This teacher was determined to make my life as miserable as possible. The head teacher at the time helped me set up a bank account since the teller only spoke Korean. I also had to go to the doctor after getting a nasty sinus infection from the weather change. These two events caused her to snap and I was subject to verbal and emotional abuse on a daily basis for my one year contract. I could not ask for help from any of the other foreign teachers since she intimidated them into not speaking to me, a fact confided to me after the conclusion of one teacher's contract. Despite my efforts to make peace and even buying cookies//coffee, this teacher continued to slam her fists in front of me, send nasty messages to me and to other staff members, and forbid me from walking home with the other teachers. Once, a teacher started to walk home with me and was dragged away! If anyone talked to me, they had to tell this teacher the contents of the conversation. Another time, I had overslept and got to school late. I had to explain that my alarm died overnight and show my phone as proof since the teacher lied and told everyone I went to a coffee shop. Management did not want to lose a foreign teacher so I was made to endure the mistreatment the entire term of my contract. Never in my life have I encounter anyone as cruel and immature as this person. I experienced every type of mistreatment and could go on for days, but the bottom line is that management will not support you if you are experiencing a difficult, unfair situation. Rather than acting as upstanding professionals, I found myself in a "Mean Girls" scenario that not only threatened my well being, but made the work environment toxic and unhealthy for everyone.
At the end of my contract, Pink Bus begged me multiple times to extend my contract so that they could have more time to find a replacement. Even though I made it clear from the beginning I would not stay under any circumstances, staff pressured me daily to reconsider. As soon as I refused, staff resumed the terrible treatment. I had to move out of my apartment on the last day of my contract, even though other teachers were allowed to stay until their flight. Worse, my supervisor (the husband) did not tell me this directly, but rather my coworker who was moving in. I could keep my suitcases at the school but had to pay for a hostel in Itaewon. My final check and bonus check were deposited a day late. Even after my last day had past and I was no longer an employee a Korean teacher called me (25 times yes really) demanding that I return to Pink Bus to finish some already completed lesson plans. Though the supervisor told me to submit six months, the teachers wanted twelve. Fearing that I would not receive my pension or my belongings back, I worked on the other plans during my final day in Korea. I dropped off the plans when I picked up my belongings. The director promised I could stay in the former employee's (the one who tormented me) apartment since her move out day was two days earlier. Surprise, surprise the girl didn't move out (despite starting a new job). Luckily, I had a free night in a hotel airport and planned ahead. The job was petty and childish right until the bitter end.
If there is anything to take away from this review it is that the school is run by individuals who lack ethics, decency, and integrity. They are shallow, spineless people only concerned with making money. Your ideas, health, and beliefs are not valued and the school will exhaust you at every available opportunity. You won't find support with your fellow teachers. If you experience a hellish coworker, you need to deal with it on your own. Expect to work 10 hour days, getting your own materials, and being subject to constant schedule changes. None of your hard work will be recognized. They will kick you on your way out. Despite all of the hardships I experienced at Pink Bus, I am grateful that I was able to form wonderful relationships with my students. On my last day, I was able to sneak a goodbye message to the parents. I miss my class everyday, but I am so thankful to be out of that harmful environment. Please, do not support this school and its practices by signing on as a foreign teacher. Despite whatever promises they tell you, Pink Bus will never change.
DO NOT WORK HERE!
The pros
The location is between two of the most popular lines
Unless payment fell on weekend or holiday, pay was always on time
Apartment close walk to school
Unless payment fell on weekend or holiday, pay was always on time
Apartment close walk to school
The cons
70,000 won apartment fee per month
Toxic work environment
Bus duty
Working lunch
too many to list
Toxic work environment
Bus duty
Working lunch
too many to list
Advice to Management
Grow a spine
Stop watching CCTV and monitoring teachers during non class time
Allow teachers time after school to go to bank, doctor, coffee shop, etc
Improve the school by getting new tables, supplies, air con, etc. These are necessary expenses
Stop going through student textbooks without the homeroom teacher present
Treat your staff as people, not objects for you to ridicule
Encourage creativity by allowing teachers more flexibility in the classroom
Ensure an even as possible work load.
Do your part in creating and promoting a professional, positive work environment for everyone
Stop making suggestive comments to female employees
Keep a consistent schedule
Hire bus riders (which is cheap!) so that teachers have more time to prepare for class
Stop watching CCTV and monitoring teachers during non class time
Allow teachers time after school to go to bank, doctor, coffee shop, etc
Improve the school by getting new tables, supplies, air con, etc. These are necessary expenses
Stop going through student textbooks without the homeroom teacher present
Treat your staff as people, not objects for you to ridicule
Encourage creativity by allowing teachers more flexibility in the classroom
Ensure an even as possible work load.
Do your part in creating and promoting a professional, positive work environment for everyone
Stop making suggestive comments to female employees
Keep a consistent schedule
Hire bus riders (which is cheap!) so that teachers have more time to prepare for class
Institution Location
Seocho-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Relationship
Teacher
Show more
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Institute Review
Similar to the other reviews on here, I will try to fully explain my story and the facts of what happened during my time at Pink Bus. First of all, the school is run by a couple, one of which speaks no English and the others is very limited. I stayed at this job less than a year and suffered a lot of physical illnesses from the frustration of this position.
First, the schedule constantly changes meaning that often some teachers have more working hours than others and creates an unfair working environment. This negative environment is what really kills the place. It becomes increasingly difficult to be patient with the kids and teach well whilst working here.
Second, 2 days week teachers must take the school bus which does not even return us to Nambu Terminal, we must then take the metro or bus back home. In no other hagwon does this happen. The other days, we must vacuum, mean mop and classrooms. After a long day in this awful place the last thing you want to do is clean the room or take the bus with screaming children.
Third, Wednesday is designated as a fun day. It is not fun. The foreign teachers made to MC events or give presentations or concerts. Normally on these days nothing is planned so since we don't use books on these days, we often have to play with the kids all day which really takes a lot of energy.
Fourth, I had literally no help from my co-teacher. She was never in the room and the bosses were constantly shouting at her and giving her other tasks to do, which prevented her from helping me in any way. This added to my frustration. The others teachers had a co-teacher in the room for the majority of the day, I was not given this luxury. Again, adding to the unfairness of this place. Teachers were always crying in this place due to the stressful and intimidating environment.
Fifth, perhaps most importantly....due to my large class size of 13 kids at that time and busy schedule at the start of my time in the school, I began to get stressed. All of the Korean teachers quit because they are treated like animals, which left us 3 foreign teachers. We were stretched and constantly covering classes. We were spoken to rudely by the boss and I was shouted at for trying to make a monthly plan even though that was not my job (since the teacher in charge of that had quit). So, eventually I took a sick day because of extreme dizziness and laryngitis. As far as I know, the boss made the staff try to come and find me to PROVE I was sick. He assumed I was lying and thought I went on vacation because it was a Friday. He wanted to come to my house to make sure I was telling the truth. This was my first sick day and this lack of trust really made me despise this man. I had about 50 missed calls from my colleagues because he was forcing them to call me to find me. My boyfriend had to call the boss and explain that I was in hospital. Still he did not believe me and said my doctors note wasn't good enough, and that I should buy the 30.000 won letter than explains exactly what is wrong with me. A few months later, I needed to take another sick day as it turns out I developed a serious stomach problem that I am still dealing with today as result from stress. Again, he thought I was lying and even wanted me to come to work before I went to the hospital. He insisted he should drive me there but thankfully my colleagues helped me get out of that situation. The boss really refused to trust me on anything. However he did then get the bus driver to take me directly to the hospital which was nice....
Sixth, communication in this place does not exist. The parents were lied to about my leaving. The schools tries to sugarcoat everything just so it looks good in photos. These kids are not happy, they lack creativity and any sense of fun. We study books all day and I can see it really suppresses them which makes me deeply sad because I genuinely care about my kids. They deserve to have some freedom or at least a playground to run in.
Seventh, prepare to be watched on CCTV. A lot. You always feel like you are walking on glass and big brother is watching. The boss will sit in her office watching all day long looking for something to complain about. I was told not to set my bag on the chair and I was not allowed to put some science kits on a chair either.
Eighth, the school generates so much money but will not spend any money on resources for the children. We had requested some clay for the children, but that was too expensive. I asked for erasers and some board erasers, those never came either. My children had to ration erasers and would get given pieces of broken erasers. Anytime I personally bought them new erasers they were so happy like it was a gift.
Ninth, the owners have typical old-style Korean thinking which means they are incapable to managing foreign staff. There is no motivation, just constant criticism. They expect us to work hard for them and that we should never complain. They will try to give extra work or extra tasks to submissive people. We shouldn't leave the school on our breaks. This old-style mentality means that they are so picky about everything. I once talked to my work-colleague in Spanish but we were told not to do this because it was insulting and offensive to the people around us.
Tenth, the students are indeed put into classes by age. This means that so many fall behind, because I am sure some of the kids there have learning disabilities. Again, they care only about photos and appearances.
Lastly, in my classroom we had no air-con for a long time. Instead we were given a fan for a very large classroom with 15 people in the room. This is insane. The children always complained they were too hot and the sweat was dripping down their heads. We were then given a small aircon and they expected this to work. Poor kids.
This is just an awful place to work at. During my time, none of the teachers there were happy. We brought each other down with out steps and negative thinking. We tried our best to be positive but bad things were always happening all around us. Once a foreign teacher was accused of being disrespectful to the boss because he accidentally walked into her in a meeting.
The teachers and head teacher here all tried very hard, but when everyone is being shouted at and being treated like a s*a*e, then it is impossible to have a happy and motivated work-force.
I assume the current teachers at the school will tell you there are only elements on truths in all of these reviews on the website. Please listen carefully to these reviews because they speak the truth. I learnt this through experience and gained a life-long illness from it. Unfortunately I did not read the reviews before taking the position because it seemed lovely when I went to interview there. Things in the school will never change as long as those two are in charge. There is a reason why there are no positive reviews.
DO NOT WORK HERE
First, the schedule constantly changes meaning that often some teachers have more working hours than others and creates an unfair working environment. This negative environment is what really kills the place. It becomes increasingly difficult to be patient with the kids and teach well whilst working here.
Second, 2 days week teachers must take the school bus which does not even return us to Nambu Terminal, we must then take the metro or bus back home. In no other hagwon does this happen. The other days, we must vacuum, mean mop and classrooms. After a long day in this awful place the last thing you want to do is clean the room or take the bus with screaming children.
Third, Wednesday is designated as a fun day. It is not fun. The foreign teachers made to MC events or give presentations or concerts. Normally on these days nothing is planned so since we don't use books on these days, we often have to play with the kids all day which really takes a lot of energy.
Fourth, I had literally no help from my co-teacher. She was never in the room and the bosses were constantly shouting at her and giving her other tasks to do, which prevented her from helping me in any way. This added to my frustration. The others teachers had a co-teacher in the room for the majority of the day, I was not given this luxury. Again, adding to the unfairness of this place. Teachers were always crying in this place due to the stressful and intimidating environment.
Fifth, perhaps most importantly....due to my large class size of 13 kids at that time and busy schedule at the start of my time in the school, I began to get stressed. All of the Korean teachers quit because they are treated like animals, which left us 3 foreign teachers. We were stretched and constantly covering classes. We were spoken to rudely by the boss and I was shouted at for trying to make a monthly plan even though that was not my job (since the teacher in charge of that had quit). So, eventually I took a sick day because of extreme dizziness and laryngitis. As far as I know, the boss made the staff try to come and find me to PROVE I was sick. He assumed I was lying and thought I went on vacation because it was a Friday. He wanted to come to my house to make sure I was telling the truth. This was my first sick day and this lack of trust really made me despise this man. I had about 50 missed calls from my colleagues because he was forcing them to call me to find me. My boyfriend had to call the boss and explain that I was in hospital. Still he did not believe me and said my doctors note wasn't good enough, and that I should buy the 30.000 won letter than explains exactly what is wrong with me. A few months later, I needed to take another sick day as it turns out I developed a serious stomach problem that I am still dealing with today as result from stress. Again, he thought I was lying and even wanted me to come to work before I went to the hospital. He insisted he should drive me there but thankfully my colleagues helped me get out of that situation. The boss really refused to trust me on anything. However he did then get the bus driver to take me directly to the hospital which was nice....
Sixth, communication in this place does not exist. The parents were lied to about my leaving. The schools tries to sugarcoat everything just so it looks good in photos. These kids are not happy, they lack creativity and any sense of fun. We study books all day and I can see it really suppresses them which makes me deeply sad because I genuinely care about my kids. They deserve to have some freedom or at least a playground to run in.
Seventh, prepare to be watched on CCTV. A lot. You always feel like you are walking on glass and big brother is watching. The boss will sit in her office watching all day long looking for something to complain about. I was told not to set my bag on the chair and I was not allowed to put some science kits on a chair either.
Eighth, the school generates so much money but will not spend any money on resources for the children. We had requested some clay for the children, but that was too expensive. I asked for erasers and some board erasers, those never came either. My children had to ration erasers and would get given pieces of broken erasers. Anytime I personally bought them new erasers they were so happy like it was a gift.
Ninth, the owners have typical old-style Korean thinking which means they are incapable to managing foreign staff. There is no motivation, just constant criticism. They expect us to work hard for them and that we should never complain. They will try to give extra work or extra tasks to submissive people. We shouldn't leave the school on our breaks. This old-style mentality means that they are so picky about everything. I once talked to my work-colleague in Spanish but we were told not to do this because it was insulting and offensive to the people around us.
Tenth, the students are indeed put into classes by age. This means that so many fall behind, because I am sure some of the kids there have learning disabilities. Again, they care only about photos and appearances.
Lastly, in my classroom we had no air-con for a long time. Instead we were given a fan for a very large classroom with 15 people in the room. This is insane. The children always complained they were too hot and the sweat was dripping down their heads. We were then given a small aircon and they expected this to work. Poor kids.
This is just an awful place to work at. During my time, none of the teachers there were happy. We brought each other down with out steps and negative thinking. We tried our best to be positive but bad things were always happening all around us. Once a foreign teacher was accused of being disrespectful to the boss because he accidentally walked into her in a meeting.
The teachers and head teacher here all tried very hard, but when everyone is being shouted at and being treated like a s*a*e, then it is impossible to have a happy and motivated work-force.
I assume the current teachers at the school will tell you there are only elements on truths in all of these reviews on the website. Please listen carefully to these reviews because they speak the truth. I learnt this through experience and gained a life-long illness from it. Unfortunately I did not read the reviews before taking the position because it seemed lovely when I went to interview there. Things in the school will never change as long as those two are in charge. There is a reason why there are no positive reviews.
DO NOT WORK HERE
The pros
The school is located in a prime area in Seoul, just minutes from the subway and not far from the accommodation.
Payment is always on time.
Lots of extra-cirricular activities for the kids.
The apartment I lived in was very modern (although the monthly apt fee was around 70.000 won)
Payment is always on time.
Lots of extra-cirricular activities for the kids.
The apartment I lived in was very modern (although the monthly apt fee was around 70.000 won)
Advice to Management
Implement a training programme for the teachers, even if it is monthly or every 6 months.
Provide some sort of communication through meetings.
Place your office OUTSIDE of the teacher's lounge and do not eaves-drop in on conversations.
Foreign teachers should not be taking the bus.
The curriculum needs some sort of creativity so the children do not suppress their individualism.
Stop watching staff on CCTV.
Stop shouting at staff members in front of everyone.
Stop changing the schedule every week or month.
Improve the facilities, such as new desks and the proper resources such as pencils and erasers.
Stop checking through our books and other things when we are not in the room.
Provide some sort of communication through meetings.
Place your office OUTSIDE of the teacher's lounge and do not eaves-drop in on conversations.
Foreign teachers should not be taking the bus.
The curriculum needs some sort of creativity so the children do not suppress their individualism.
Stop watching staff on CCTV.
Stop shouting at staff members in front of everyone.
Stop changing the schedule every week or month.
Improve the facilities, such as new desks and the proper resources such as pencils and erasers.
Stop checking through our books and other things when we are not in the room.
Institution Location
Seocho-gu, Seoul
Show more
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Institute Review
A school near Gangnam and between two of Seoul's major bus terminals sounded perfect! But after working there I found out that the recommendation I had wasn't completely accurate. I'm going to write about some facts that happened while I worked at Pinkbus Academy, then you can decide if you want to work there.
Firstly it's poorly organised. The owners are a middle-aged couple who rarely attempted to speak English to us. Therefore the majority of communication is relayed between them and your assigned Korean classroom administrator. Also during my one year there, they employed a total of three managers because each left within two months of arriving. A man called Mr Kim ran the elementary classes we taught but he was never actually introduced to us. Another example of the owners lack of organisation was that they hired the new round of English teachers before the end of the previous teachers contract. It was a complete mess! The new teachers didn't have an apartment initially, and the old teachers feared losing their flight home. Then I remembered the exact same thing happened to the girl before me, she flew home to Oz to visit family expecting to return to Pinkbus. Before she returned to Korea the owners passed a message to her through another teacher telling her the job was no longer hers.
There were several breeches of contract during the year I worked at Pinkbus Academy. The first was that the English teachers had over 30 hours time with students. It was exhausting and made worse because we didn't get a break at all. The owners actually told us not to leave the building during lunch time and to stay with the children to eat lunch. Also the duties on our contract differed from what we actually did. For example, our day ended with either taking the school bus or mopping our classroom floor, and one American teacher was told to tutor the owners son one-to-one during work hours. None of these duties were on our contracts. The worst was when our wages were delayed on a few occasions with poor excuses.
As you can tell the owners didn't treat the English teachers with much respect. They would only speak to us directly if they were annoyed at something, otherwise they would ignore and just walk past us. We would get the blame if something went wrong. One day all the English teachers were called into the office to watch CCTV footage of a classroom where a student had been crying. The owner told us he suspected the student had been hit, insinuating that it was us to blame! Another example, a colleague of mine was denied a reimburs*m*nt for a lock to his apartment even though that is the owners responsibility. Towards the end of our contract there was some hostility from the owners so they withheld our last pay cheque, flight and bonus. After we left employment at Pinkbus we had no choice but to go to the school to plead for the money.
In my opinion the owners are totally unfit to own an English academy. It is clear that Pinkbus Academy is a business for them first and an education centre second. They have very little teaching knowledge and no language experience. They once asked an English native speaker to edit a banner, then they ignored it completely and put it up grammatically incorrect in front of the school building. They have a 'We are always correct and we are always wrong' attitude.
Pinkbus Academy is run by inexperienced, disorganised, profit seekers. They will make you work long hours and give you no respect. I have tried not to go into too much detail but as you can tell there were a lot of bad situations and none of them ended well. Someone could get by in this job if they have no teaching expectations and just want to save some money for a year. Although I would definitely not recommend it!
Firstly it's poorly organised. The owners are a middle-aged couple who rarely attempted to speak English to us. Therefore the majority of communication is relayed between them and your assigned Korean classroom administrator. Also during my one year there, they employed a total of three managers because each left within two months of arriving. A man called Mr Kim ran the elementary classes we taught but he was never actually introduced to us. Another example of the owners lack of organisation was that they hired the new round of English teachers before the end of the previous teachers contract. It was a complete mess! The new teachers didn't have an apartment initially, and the old teachers feared losing their flight home. Then I remembered the exact same thing happened to the girl before me, she flew home to Oz to visit family expecting to return to Pinkbus. Before she returned to Korea the owners passed a message to her through another teacher telling her the job was no longer hers.
There were several breeches of contract during the year I worked at Pinkbus Academy. The first was that the English teachers had over 30 hours time with students. It was exhausting and made worse because we didn't get a break at all. The owners actually told us not to leave the building during lunch time and to stay with the children to eat lunch. Also the duties on our contract differed from what we actually did. For example, our day ended with either taking the school bus or mopping our classroom floor, and one American teacher was told to tutor the owners son one-to-one during work hours. None of these duties were on our contracts. The worst was when our wages were delayed on a few occasions with poor excuses.
As you can tell the owners didn't treat the English teachers with much respect. They would only speak to us directly if they were annoyed at something, otherwise they would ignore and just walk past us. We would get the blame if something went wrong. One day all the English teachers were called into the office to watch CCTV footage of a classroom where a student had been crying. The owner told us he suspected the student had been hit, insinuating that it was us to blame! Another example, a colleague of mine was denied a reimburs*m*nt for a lock to his apartment even though that is the owners responsibility. Towards the end of our contract there was some hostility from the owners so they withheld our last pay cheque, flight and bonus. After we left employment at Pinkbus we had no choice but to go to the school to plead for the money.
In my opinion the owners are totally unfit to own an English academy. It is clear that Pinkbus Academy is a business for them first and an education centre second. They have very little teaching knowledge and no language experience. They once asked an English native speaker to edit a banner, then they ignored it completely and put it up grammatically incorrect in front of the school building. They have a 'We are always correct and we are always wrong' attitude.
Pinkbus Academy is run by inexperienced, disorganised, profit seekers. They will make you work long hours and give you no respect. I have tried not to go into too much detail but as you can tell there were a lot of bad situations and none of them ended well. Someone could get by in this job if they have no teaching expectations and just want to save some money for a year. Although I would definitely not recommend it!
Institution Location
Pinkbus
1452-1 Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-867. South Korea (ROK)
1452-1 Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-867. South Korea (ROK)
Relationship
English Teacher
Show more
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Institute Review
I am leaving this review here to protect future naive young adults seeking "fun" employment in Korea, at what sounds like a cute school located in the heart of Seoul.
Spending nearly 3 years in Korea, a place I call a second home, I was so sad to have such horrible working experiences here, but I am also very thankful for what it taught me-anything that is way to easy to get comes with a price.
After a total of a 30 minute interview, I was offered a teaching position at PinkBus. The foreigner who interviewed me was very informative and seemed to half-answer all my questions, which seemed odd at first, but after arriving I understood why. They were only try to survive before they were free.
When I first arrived, they were not prepared with my house, the director smiled with a blank face when I told him I would be ready to move tomorrow....4 days after I had already been in Seoul, and homeless with all my stuff crammed at my friend's small studio apartment.
After I had to ask my friend to call the director, because communication was going nowhere-his English is horrible, he broke the news that they could not provide me with a house for one more month.... awesome...
Then we were all expected to get health checks, totally normal and understandable. My health check came back a little strange and they found something in my lung, nothing major thankfully. But the director had asked me to please stay home in case it was serious. But that only came with a price... I was to get a threatening letter from the director's wife saying I would be compensated if I ever skipped again.
I could say more, but the other post about this school is true and i am so surprised they are still running. Please save yourself and do the research for a better school. Please learn from my mistake!
Spending nearly 3 years in Korea, a place I call a second home, I was so sad to have such horrible working experiences here, but I am also very thankful for what it taught me-anything that is way to easy to get comes with a price.
After a total of a 30 minute interview, I was offered a teaching position at PinkBus. The foreigner who interviewed me was very informative and seemed to half-answer all my questions, which seemed odd at first, but after arriving I understood why. They were only try to survive before they were free.
When I first arrived, they were not prepared with my house, the director smiled with a blank face when I told him I would be ready to move tomorrow....4 days after I had already been in Seoul, and homeless with all my stuff crammed at my friend's small studio apartment.
After I had to ask my friend to call the director, because communication was going nowhere-his English is horrible, he broke the news that they could not provide me with a house for one more month.... awesome...
Then we were all expected to get health checks, totally normal and understandable. My health check came back a little strange and they found something in my lung, nothing major thankfully. But the director had asked me to please stay home in case it was serious. But that only came with a price... I was to get a threatening letter from the director's wife saying I would be compensated if I ever skipped again.
I could say more, but the other post about this school is true and i am so surprised they are still running. Please save yourself and do the research for a better school. Please learn from my mistake!
Institution Location
Seoul, South Korea
Show more
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Institute Review
I was invited to interview at this school, but found a bad review on this site . When I mentioned the bad review to my recruiter, they lied and said it had been written 3 years ago (it wasn't - it had been written last month, on 1/23/2015) and urged me a second time to interview with them (they must be desperate). I went back to look at the review again the next day, only to find that it had been promptly removed. People who are familiar with this situation told me that it is likely that the teacher was still in Korea and that the school pressured him/her to remove their post. If you find this posting quickly enough, you can see what the contents of his post were here in the google cache. Just look at the page source code in google chrome by going to View > Developer > View Source, and then hitting Ctrl-f to search the page for the comment written by "Guy Fieri".
For those who have arrived too late to see the google cache results (they are replaced each time the web site is re-scanned), here is what I found in the cache:
Pink Bus school is not only the worst run school I've ever seen, it's the worst job I've ever had. I had been in Korea at a prior job for over a year with no major problems before coming to this school. Throughout the year working here problems continually arose that the managers refused to address. The owner and her husband work together to run the school and the owner's brother runs the after school program, but none of them communicate with each other or get along very well. On top of that, they speak barely any English, which was fine when we had a head instructor who translated back and forth the directives and responses. However, they were all treated so badly that we had three of them quit on us, and after six months in they stopped trying to hire on new ones.
The foreign and Korean staff are treated absudly terribly. We're made demands of last second and forced to do a significant amount of non-teaching work for long hours every day. The curriculum was chosen by the owner's husband who speaks very little English, so there is no comprehensive direction to take the classes in. The books are chosen based off of which levels had done them already and for some reason they're keen on not repeating books they've used before. The class schedules make no sense and change constantly, and attempting to do anything different results in reprimands from the bosses, as they're constantly monitoring everything you do on the CCTV. They in fact sit in their office all day in front of a row of monitors that show all the classrooms.
The class schedule and after school schedules were constantly changing without warning, sometimes with as little as five minutes to prepare for a new class, and frequently many times during a week. Students were constantly thrown into new classes based on age and not ability level, and if a student dropped out for any reason the owners would take the teacher into their office and yell at them and blame them and throw extra work in their direction. We were given no assistance in any way when preparing or for our living situations, and they took any opportunity they could to convince us into spending our own money to fix problems that they should have been responsible for.
The school cares entirely about appearances. Never were we asked about the levels of our students, or the curriculums, or anything. We were made daily to vacuum, mop, scrub tables and windows, and clean bathrooms, and expected to do class prep at our homes during our off times. We were also made to, outside of the contract, take the buses with the students, which did not return us to our homes and often resulted in us getting home an hour or more past the time we were contracted for. All of this occurred outside class time and was unpaid.
Any time we confronted them about issues they either feigned ignorance, said they'd fix it and then didn't, or started yelling at us. Many problems arose from them not preparing things we needed to do our jobs, and them not understanding time constraints that we had. Anything that would cost them money they flat out refused to do. They tried to deny us flight money, work related travel expenses, teacher copies of textbooks, classroom supplies, etc. It seemed throughout the year that money was cut from things that the students needed, such as supplies, after school activities, and food for lunch.
Lunch is taken with the students, so it is a working lunch. There are no scheduled breaks and most days the schedule goes for 7 hours without any time to yourself. We were reprimanded for trying to leave during periods when we had no scheduled classes and made to do more class preparation or cleaning.
We were made to lie to the parents about the students' progress, and couldn't grade them anything lower than a B or tell the parents if they were misbehaving in school. The owner would have us pose the kids for sometimes hours to get happy looking photos to put on the website and send to the parents to make it look like the students were having a lot of fun, when in many times these sessions delayed the students taking breaks or beginning lunch. The owner also took the parents' arguments too seriously, and would flip flop different decisions for what to do in class based on whichever parent called last. More fun, less fun, more work, less work. We never got to keep a set tone and they never defended the teachers or school to the parents.
We were yelled at for taking excursions to the corner store or coffee shop during any downtime at work. We received no scheduled breaks and had to take care of and eat lunch with the students. We were not paid for this extra time forced on site or for skipping our lunch break.
Our apartments were tiny, cheap, and ratty. Any time we brought up issues with it they would call up the super and get it fixed but then we'd have to pay for it, despite the fact that it should come from the housing deposit. Our working hours were the same as the standard Seoul Public Offices (9-6:30) but we had to fight for time to go to post offices or government offices for things that were necessary.
We were lied to about working conditions. They told use that we'd have small classes (6-8 students) and that Wednesdays were fun days where we would do field trips and games. The actual classes were at minimum 12 students and often higher, though frequently fluctuating due to dropouts and new students, and the Wednesday fun days were generally used for spelling bees and tests or as makeup work days.
I could continue, but more and more just know that this is a school to avoid.
Please think twice before considering a job at this school. Please contact me if you have anything to say. You can find me on the reddit web site as justicecrusaderr. Send me a PM.
For those who have arrived too late to see the google cache results (they are replaced each time the web site is re-scanned), here is what I found in the cache:
Pink Bus school is not only the worst run school I've ever seen, it's the worst job I've ever had. I had been in Korea at a prior job for over a year with no major problems before coming to this school. Throughout the year working here problems continually arose that the managers refused to address. The owner and her husband work together to run the school and the owner's brother runs the after school program, but none of them communicate with each other or get along very well. On top of that, they speak barely any English, which was fine when we had a head instructor who translated back and forth the directives and responses. However, they were all treated so badly that we had three of them quit on us, and after six months in they stopped trying to hire on new ones.
The foreign and Korean staff are treated absudly terribly. We're made demands of last second and forced to do a significant amount of non-teaching work for long hours every day. The curriculum was chosen by the owner's husband who speaks very little English, so there is no comprehensive direction to take the classes in. The books are chosen based off of which levels had done them already and for some reason they're keen on not repeating books they've used before. The class schedules make no sense and change constantly, and attempting to do anything different results in reprimands from the bosses, as they're constantly monitoring everything you do on the CCTV. They in fact sit in their office all day in front of a row of monitors that show all the classrooms.
The class schedule and after school schedules were constantly changing without warning, sometimes with as little as five minutes to prepare for a new class, and frequently many times during a week. Students were constantly thrown into new classes based on age and not ability level, and if a student dropped out for any reason the owners would take the teacher into their office and yell at them and blame them and throw extra work in their direction. We were given no assistance in any way when preparing or for our living situations, and they took any opportunity they could to convince us into spending our own money to fix problems that they should have been responsible for.
The school cares entirely about appearances. Never were we asked about the levels of our students, or the curriculums, or anything. We were made daily to vacuum, mop, scrub tables and windows, and clean bathrooms, and expected to do class prep at our homes during our off times. We were also made to, outside of the contract, take the buses with the students, which did not return us to our homes and often resulted in us getting home an hour or more past the time we were contracted for. All of this occurred outside class time and was unpaid.
Any time we confronted them about issues they either feigned ignorance, said they'd fix it and then didn't, or started yelling at us. Many problems arose from them not preparing things we needed to do our jobs, and them not understanding time constraints that we had. Anything that would cost them money they flat out refused to do. They tried to deny us flight money, work related travel expenses, teacher copies of textbooks, classroom supplies, etc. It seemed throughout the year that money was cut from things that the students needed, such as supplies, after school activities, and food for lunch.
Lunch is taken with the students, so it is a working lunch. There are no scheduled breaks and most days the schedule goes for 7 hours without any time to yourself. We were reprimanded for trying to leave during periods when we had no scheduled classes and made to do more class preparation or cleaning.
We were made to lie to the parents about the students' progress, and couldn't grade them anything lower than a B or tell the parents if they were misbehaving in school. The owner would have us pose the kids for sometimes hours to get happy looking photos to put on the website and send to the parents to make it look like the students were having a lot of fun, when in many times these sessions delayed the students taking breaks or beginning lunch. The owner also took the parents' arguments too seriously, and would flip flop different decisions for what to do in class based on whichever parent called last. More fun, less fun, more work, less work. We never got to keep a set tone and they never defended the teachers or school to the parents.
We were yelled at for taking excursions to the corner store or coffee shop during any downtime at work. We received no scheduled breaks and had to take care of and eat lunch with the students. We were not paid for this extra time forced on site or for skipping our lunch break.
Our apartments were tiny, cheap, and ratty. Any time we brought up issues with it they would call up the super and get it fixed but then we'd have to pay for it, despite the fact that it should come from the housing deposit. Our working hours were the same as the standard Seoul Public Offices (9-6:30) but we had to fight for time to go to post offices or government offices for things that were necessary.
We were lied to about working conditions. They told use that we'd have small classes (6-8 students) and that Wednesdays were fun days where we would do field trips and games. The actual classes were at minimum 12 students and often higher, though frequently fluctuating due to dropouts and new students, and the Wednesday fun days were generally used for spelling bees and tests or as makeup work days.
I could continue, but more and more just know that this is a school to avoid.
Please think twice before considering a job at this school. Please contact me if you have anything to say. You can find me on the reddit web site as justicecrusaderr. Send me a PM.
The pros
Located in Gangnam by a bus terminal. Which is convenient.
The cons
Almost everything.
Advice to Management
Treat people with honesty and respect and this sort of thing won't happen to you.
Institution Location
Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Show more
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
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If somebody has taken their review down due to work pressures, it doesn't seem right to re-post the information without their consent, especially as that could cause them to be in further trouble with their work, up to and including legal issues in Korea. I'm sure you're trying to help, but you could be endangering somebody else in the process. I'm sure they will be happy to repost their issues if they still feel that way when their time at the job is finished.
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Institute Review
Pink Bus school is not only the worst run school I've ever seen, it's the worst job I've ever had. I had been in Korea at a prior job for over a year with no major problems before coming to this school. Throughout the year working here problems continually arose that the managers refused to address. The owner and her husband work together to run the school and the owner's brother runs the after school program, but none of them communicate with each other or get along very well. On top of that, they speak barely any English, which was fine when we had a head instructor who translated back and forth the directives and responses. However, they were all treated so badly that we had three of them quit on us, and after six months in they stopped trying to hire on new ones.
The foreign and Korean staff are treated absudly terribly. We're made demands of last second and forced to do a significant amount of non-teaching work for long hours every day. The curriculum was chosen by the owner's husband who speaks very little English, so there is no comprehensive direction to take the classes in. The books are chosen based off of which levels had done them already and for some reason they're keen on not repeating books they've used before. The class schedules make no sense and change constantly, and attempting to do anything different results in reprimands from the bosses, as they're constantly monitoring everything you do on the CCTV. They in fact sit in their office all day in front of a row of monitors that show all the classrooms.
The class schedule and after school schedules were constantly changing without warning, sometimes with as little as five minutes to prepare for a new class, and frequently many times during a week. Students were constantly thrown into new classes based on age and not ability level, and if a student dropped out for any reason the owners would take the teacher into their office and yell at them and blame them and throw extra work in their direction. We were given no assistance in any way when preparing or for our living situations, and they took any opportunity they could to convince us into spending our own money to fix problems that they should have been responsible for.
The school cares entirely about appearances. Never were we asked about the levels of our students, or the curriculums, or anything. We were made daily to vacuum, mop, scrub tables and windows, and clean bathrooms, and expected to do class prep at our homes during our off times. We were also made to, outside of the contract, take the buses with the students, which did not return us to our homes and often resulted in us getting home an hour or more past the time we were contracted for. All of this occurred outside class time and was unpaid.
Any time we confronted them about issues they either feigned ignorance, said they'd fix it and then didn't, or started yelling at us. Many problems arose from them not preparing things we needed to do our jobs, and them not understanding time constraints that we had. Anything that would cost them money they flat out refused to do. They tried to deny us flight money, work related travel expenses, teacher copies of textbooks, classroom supplies, etc. It seemed throughout the year that money was cut from things that the students needed, such as supplies, after school activities, and food for lunch.
Lunch is taken with the students, so it is a working lunch. There are no scheduled breaks and most days the schedule goes for 7 hours without any time to yourself. We were reprimanded for trying to leave during periods when we had no scheduled classes and made to do more class preparation or cleaning.
We were made to lie to the parents about the students' progress, and couldn't grade them anything lower than a B or tell the parents if they were misbehaving in school. The owner would have us pose the kids for sometimes hours to get happy looking photos to put on the website and send to the parents to make it look like the students were having a lot of fun, when in many times these sessions delayed the students taking breaks or beginning lunch. The owner also took the parents' arguments too seriously, and would flip flop different decisions for what to do in class based on whichever parent called last. More fun, less fun, more work, less work. We never got to keep a set tone and they never defended the teachers or school to the parents.
We were yelled at for taking excursions to the corner store or coffee shop during any downtime at work. We received no scheduled breaks and had to take care of and eat lunch with the students. We were not paid for this extra time forced on site or for skipping our lunch break.
Our apartments were tiny, cheap, and ratty. Any time we brought up issues with it they would call up the super and get it fixed but then we'd have to pay for it, despite the fact that it should come from the housing deposit. Our working hours were the same as the standard Seoul Public Offices (9-6:30) but we had to fight for time to go to post offices or government offices for things that were necessary.
We were lied to about working conditions. They told use that we'd have small classes (6-8 students) and that Wednesdays were fun days where we would do field trips and games. The actual classes were at minimum 12 students and often higher, though frequently fluctuating due to dropouts and new students, and the Wednesday fun days were generally used for spelling bees and tests or as makeup work days.
I could continue, but more and more just know that this is a school to avoid.
The foreign and Korean staff are treated absudly terribly. We're made demands of last second and forced to do a significant amount of non-teaching work for long hours every day. The curriculum was chosen by the owner's husband who speaks very little English, so there is no comprehensive direction to take the classes in. The books are chosen based off of which levels had done them already and for some reason they're keen on not repeating books they've used before. The class schedules make no sense and change constantly, and attempting to do anything different results in reprimands from the bosses, as they're constantly monitoring everything you do on the CCTV. They in fact sit in their office all day in front of a row of monitors that show all the classrooms.
The class schedule and after school schedules were constantly changing without warning, sometimes with as little as five minutes to prepare for a new class, and frequently many times during a week. Students were constantly thrown into new classes based on age and not ability level, and if a student dropped out for any reason the owners would take the teacher into their office and yell at them and blame them and throw extra work in their direction. We were given no assistance in any way when preparing or for our living situations, and they took any opportunity they could to convince us into spending our own money to fix problems that they should have been responsible for.
The school cares entirely about appearances. Never were we asked about the levels of our students, or the curriculums, or anything. We were made daily to vacuum, mop, scrub tables and windows, and clean bathrooms, and expected to do class prep at our homes during our off times. We were also made to, outside of the contract, take the buses with the students, which did not return us to our homes and often resulted in us getting home an hour or more past the time we were contracted for. All of this occurred outside class time and was unpaid.
Any time we confronted them about issues they either feigned ignorance, said they'd fix it and then didn't, or started yelling at us. Many problems arose from them not preparing things we needed to do our jobs, and them not understanding time constraints that we had. Anything that would cost them money they flat out refused to do. They tried to deny us flight money, work related travel expenses, teacher copies of textbooks, classroom supplies, etc. It seemed throughout the year that money was cut from things that the students needed, such as supplies, after school activities, and food for lunch.
Lunch is taken with the students, so it is a working lunch. There are no scheduled breaks and most days the schedule goes for 7 hours without any time to yourself. We were reprimanded for trying to leave during periods when we had no scheduled classes and made to do more class preparation or cleaning.
We were made to lie to the parents about the students' progress, and couldn't grade them anything lower than a B or tell the parents if they were misbehaving in school. The owner would have us pose the kids for sometimes hours to get happy looking photos to put on the website and send to the parents to make it look like the students were having a lot of fun, when in many times these sessions delayed the students taking breaks or beginning lunch. The owner also took the parents' arguments too seriously, and would flip flop different decisions for what to do in class based on whichever parent called last. More fun, less fun, more work, less work. We never got to keep a set tone and they never defended the teachers or school to the parents.
We were yelled at for taking excursions to the corner store or coffee shop during any downtime at work. We received no scheduled breaks and had to take care of and eat lunch with the students. We were not paid for this extra time forced on site or for skipping our lunch break.
Our apartments were tiny, cheap, and ratty. Any time we brought up issues with it they would call up the super and get it fixed but then we'd have to pay for it, despite the fact that it should come from the housing deposit. Our working hours were the same as the standard Seoul Public Offices (9-6:30) but we had to fight for time to go to post offices or government offices for things that were necessary.
We were lied to about working conditions. They told use that we'd have small classes (6-8 students) and that Wednesdays were fun days where we would do field trips and games. The actual classes were at minimum 12 students and often higher, though frequently fluctuating due to dropouts and new students, and the Wednesday fun days were generally used for spelling bees and tests or as makeup work days.
I could continue, but more and more just know that this is a school to avoid.
The pros
Located in Gangnam by a bus terminal. Which is convenient.
The cons
Almost everything.
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