Institute Review
I am from a small city called Wonju in South Korea and I had never thought that I would be studying at the US university. Studying at the US schools seemed like IMPOSSIBLE to me, because i graduated from a regular high school where they don't have any system to help students to apply to the US universities, and also US schools' tuition's way more expensive than most of the Korean universities. The latter one was why my family opposed me going to the US university. I really had hard time, because I had to study both tests to apply to Korean and US universities at the same time, didn't even have money to take tests like ACT, SAT, or TOEFL, and didn't have a proper place to study. However, when my family who should've been at my closest side was against me, this school was a shelter for me. They did everything to help me. I was able to study at the school til whenever I want to leave. Every day, I left the school at 3-4 in the morning, but the headteacher never said anything to me, instead he always backed me up. I had my own desk, so that I didn't need to bring all the books from home to the school. I often didn't eat dinner, because I thought it was a waste of time to go back home just for dinner or sometimes I just did't have enough money and the principal and the headteacher fed me. They were even willing to pay the fees for taking tests, if I don't have money. You can already see how much they care about their students. They helped me like this, not because it was me, but because I was one of the students of the International English School. Now, i'm attending a college at the U.S., with four-year scholarships which worth about $20,000/year.
They don't spend their money for themselves, but for the school and the students. The head teacher have been buying videos and books only for the students, because he knows that they really improve students' English. For almost every holiday, such as Children's Day, Christmas, New Year, etc, the principal and the head teacher buy presents for every student in the school and they even wrap them up one by one on their own. They have been doing this since when I started attending this school, which is like 14-15 years ago. Honestly, which institution would do this? Only for students? All they think about is their students. If one student misses a class, the head teacher tries to fill the gap between that student and the class, by teaching that student on the weekends. Yes, he doesn't need to, but he has been doing that, because he really wants to help students.
I was a student of this school, but also a former employee of the school. I worked at the school before I go to the US and then came back after one college year to work here again. My mom was surprised when she heard how much the school was paying me, because they were paying way more than what other schools are paying. (No offense) It was not because it was me. They have been paying the same amount to the former employees, too. They are also cash-paying teachers way more than average that they could get if they worked at other schools. They give the teachers round-trip airfare (most schools pay for one-way only), better housing (most give a studio or one room apt, but this school gives a full apartment that is good for one family to every teacher and those apts are all really close to the school. It takes like 5-10 min walk), free dinner every day, pension, health care, severance, and raises and bonuses every 6 months for teachers who stay more than one year. They also write really nice letters of recommendations for their teachers. I know all of these, because I was with them when they were doing these things. I was with them, when they were buying round-trip tickets, when they were buying dinner and even we went out sometimes when new teachers came, or when old teachers left. I know that the school is giving the whole apt to teachers, because I was the one who had a part-time job to clean the apt for the new teachers, and literally it took me days to clean lol. Everything they did and they're doing for their teachers is what they did for me exactly the same way. I don't think I can be treated this well while I'm working.
There are way more things I can write about this school, but I'm a busy college student, so I will wrap this up. This school's special. You can just see why students are going to this school for more than 10 years (like me), like the principal and the head teacher - tho they make students work reallyyyyy hard lol - and why they speak English so well. Like for me, many people asked me if I'm really Korean, who never went to the U.S. before I came to college, because (as they said...) my English is so fluent. Without this school, I would not be able to achieve things that I did. I am truly grateful for all their help and can proudly say that International English School is the reason why I am here.
Institution Location
Musil-ro 181, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, 220-040, South Korea.
Relationship
Former student & Former employee