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Jon's Notes:

When I first arrived in South Korea in 1996, I recall the won about 750 to
the dollar.  When I left in 1997, the won reached almost 900 to the dollar. 
After I left the Korean economy exploded and it reached as high as 2100 to
the dollar.  Things have settles down and now it appears stable at 1200 or
so. 

Should the employer decide not to sign the proper legal documents to release
the foreign employee from his or her contract, the employee will not be able
to work in Korea any longer.  Should the employer for whatever reason decide
to blacklist the foreign employee, that person will not be able to enter
Korea for as I recall for a period of five years.  The foreign employee has
no legal recourse.


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Hi Jon,

I have no problems with you posting my Korean tales on your webpage.  Thanks
for considering my feelings before including it. 

Steve

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 Take care in Korea: things can so easily go wrong.

                                           
                
                   After spending 4 years undergrad, and 2 years postgrad -
I was so looking forward to escaping to foreign parts and experiencing
another culture. I had previously been to Japan, Malaysia and Singapore... 
but only worked there on a short term contract - based on work experience
allowance at University. 

                   I placed my adverts on every possible esl website, and
had lots of interesting offers. I read every word written on the black, grey
and white lists, and spoke to teachers in Korea who had, had both good and
bad experiences. I settled on signing for an agency in Pusan and travelled
to the city at the end of May 1997. 

                   Things did not get off to a good footing, as the position
that I was promised never materialised and I had to spend my first two weeks
living in a yogwan and watching my precious won slowly disappearing. 
Eventually a hogwan from the E2 group showed an interest in me, and I
started working there after my E2 visa had been arranged and a brief trip to
Japan.

                   The school was really good, the director spoke very
little English, but did not interfere at all in the teaching (as he
explained that was the job that I had studied to do) and was actually very
strict on classroom behaviour - which meant that there were lots of well
behaved children who wanted to study English, and who where aware of the
severe punishments for not following classroom rules. The flat where I was
living was old but fully equipped and comfortable, the Korean teachers where
friendly and wanted to interact with the foreign teachers, he paid on time
and only charged 3% tax (other teachers that I met where paying 7-10%). 

                   It was like a dream, but all too quickly it turned into a
nightmare. The economy crashed and at the end of 1997 Mr Park, the director
at E2 went bankrupt. He sold on the school and business as a going concern
and Mr Lee (a member of the JEL franchise) took over. He promised the earth
and delivered hell. The first thing that he did was moved all his students
from his old school into our school. These students where, to use a term
suitable for printing, monsters - they neither cared about studying English
or for the property around the classrooms - and pretty soon the building was
wrecked, with grafitti everywhere, and posters and pictures torn off the
walls. Mr Lee had no interest in taming these children, and pretty soon all
of the excellent E2 students signed off their books and went to more serious
hogwans. 

                   The pay reduced from 1.5m won to 1.2m won and tax
increased to 7%.... and pretty soon there was an ongoing flow of teachers
(both Korean and foreign) arriving and departing the employment of the
school. Pay dates became eratic and I heard that each teacher who left never
recieved their last months pay, housing deposits (500,000 won) and
contracted bonuses (1 months salary plus flight to any location). Moral was
low and hours long (I was working 6 days a weeks and an average of 45 hours)
as teachers became scarce. Eventually it all became too much and after 9
months I had to move on. This was easier said than done, as although I found
a job in a local elementary school - Mr Lee would not sign my letter to
consent that I could be released from my contract - and I had no option but
to leave Korea. 

                   Like others I put down the experience to bad luck on my
part, but although I have the excellent memories from E2, have the fears
inside of JEL - which means that I will probably never return to Korea. Yes
there are some excellent schools out there, but those bad hogwans are more
widely available - and will continue to be so. If you plan on working in
Korea...  take care as things can so easily go wrong.