EnglishClub TEFL Forums (archived)

Hi everybody,

This is my first visit and post. I've deliberatly looked for another forum than Dave's Esl. I've got a serious question and I hope I can get some good answers. Basically my stiuation is like this :

I signed a contract at a hogwon in South Korea last year December and moved to SK in December.I had lived in Taiwan for 4 years before that. What's beasically been happening at my school is that the management has gone stir crazy. They fired a co-worker for no reason at all - really no reason. That happened in Feb. In the same month 2 other people was first fired and then "re=hired" because they didn't want to resign their contracts . Theywere re-hired after they went to the Labour Board. A couple that worked at the school before I came, who did the legal thing and gave notice, was fired on the spot and they walked away with very liitle money. Basically the woman was constantly sick and they wanted to go back home. A couple of people have done midnight runs. School has been blacklisted on one of the hogwon blacklists. Our schedule was changed to an inhumane 6 hour marathon shift with virtaully no breaks in between, but we still need to be at school at 9(we only start teaching at 12 until 6). They're now trying to harras the one girl that hasn't resigned out of her kob early. They want her to quit so they don't need to pay her severance. They are screwing the other girl over financialy and in other ways too.

I did try to do a google search on the school before I came over, but couldn't find anything on them.

All this has made me feel very, very antsy and unsafe. I do not want to work for this school anymore and I basically want to leave with my next paycheck. It'll be before my 6 months anniversary, basiccally before I've "paid" back my plane ticket.

I do not suffer from culture shock - it's not my first time living aborad. My question is : do you think I should just leave or should I
a) give a months notice (and suffer being fired on the spot) It wouldn't matter a lot though, as I really do not like the school, plus their curriculum is horendous.
b) wait until my 6 months anniversary and then leave
c) do a midnight run

Your insigts and opinions would be appreciated.

Thanx.
b

sounds awful.

It depends how much you need the money.

I would say to give a months notice: it's the ethical and legal thing to do (even if your employers are unethical, no reason for you to follow suit). A month will give you time to plan your next move and send out some CVs for your next job.

If you do a midnight run, you won't have time to plan your next move. Staying there for 6 months will make you very unhappy.

If you can put up with the risk of being fired on the spot and losing one month's pay, I think it's the best option. take time to cover all your bases before handing in your notice: eg are you fully paid for the time you have worked up until now; make sure overtime has been paid and make sure records on your holiday entitlement are up to date; then hand in your notice and keep your fingers crossed that they will uphold their side of the deal.

if you want to discuss it more, you can pm me or post here again.

All the best, Susan

I would say to give a months notice: it's the ethical and legal thing to do (even if your employers are unethical, no reason for you to follow suit). A month will give you time to plan your next move and send out some CVs for your next job.

If you do a midnight run, you won't have time to plan your next move. Staying there for 6 months will make you very unhappy.

If you can put up with the risk of being fired on the spot and losing one month's pay, I think it's the best option. take time to cover all your bases before handing in your notice: eg are you fully paid for the time you have worked up until now; make sure overtime has been paid and make sure records on your holiday entitlement are up to date; then hand in your notice and keep your fingers crossed that they will uphold their side of the deal.

Hi,

I work at a small English teacher recruiting company in Tokyo (http://educareer.jp/), and I've been an English teacher for about 10 years.

I agree with HanifKhan. You really ought to stay ethical when possible. I say this because when our Recruiting Manager sees that someone broke a contract, or changed jobs at strange times in a season, that's an immediate red flag. Not a deal breaker, but (and I guess I'm spilling trade secrets here...) I've seen good teachers lose out on good positions because they were perceived to be unreliable with their contracts in the past.

Anyways, if you're interested in teaching in Japan please have a look at my company.
https://www.facebook.com/EduCareer-117812694913690/

Cheers,
Ryan