Okay, I will go back to the begining. I started working for them (for about a month) with a C4 for a winter camp that i had finished. I was working for 2 days before seeing the contract. I was surprised that they were not an 'international school' but a hogwon as I believed that i would teaching in an actual school. I also only talked with the principal about teaching BC curicullum classes (based on the BC program of studies) which I had done in China. I was also told that I would be observed for one day (first day) only to 'mold me to their teaching style'. I also explained that my passport expired in 6 months and that I would have to pay back an emergency loan before I could get it renewed which would be very expensive. The principal told me 'no problem-we will sign a six month contract'.I was also told that it was not a problem to not have to pay into pension as it was 'very expensive'. A co-worker later told me that they were told that noone was getting their pension.

So, during my first week, I found out that I was going to be working almost 34 hours (I had not seen the contract before then), teaching ESL and not BC classes, that it was now not okay to sign a 6 month contract but that I had to sign a year contract and that I would have a permanent 'supervisor' in my room observing me (one of my co-workers told me this). I refused to sign the contract and actually tried to give my 60 day notice explaining that I just needed until the end of the month and then I could accept another job offer working in a public school for the government. I told her that I had thought they were an actual international school and not a hogwon (' but we are a very good hogwon that does'nt have to advertise') and that I believed that I could not be completely effective as a teacher with the amount of hours that we were requied to work. I also said that I did not want to work at a job that I did not believe that I could put 100% effectiveness into. The principal kept telling me that it would be very bad that I quit ( as the parents would ask questions) and eventually (due to my financial circumstances at the time which she knew about) I relented and signed the 6 month contract-refusing to sign a year one. I also kept trying to get my original degrees and teaching certificate back for a period of about a month (starting from this time) and was kept being told that 'I could come back tomorrow for them' and that 'the owner had them at a house' and that they 'needed to be scanned' (I told them to scan them and give them back to me as it would only take a few minutes-she walked away at that point). Eventually, I went into my file and found them there and took them back.
When it came to my visa run (a month or so after I had began working there) first, the principal kept trying to pressure me to use my holiday to go to a visa run-I kept refusing and also telling her that i had little money and did not want to go to an expensive country like Japan with little money. She kept insisting. Then, they had taken all of the deposit from me (was supposed to be in three equal installments) and I came home (between 10-11pm) to find that they had went into my apartment and left airplane tickets for 7am the next morning. I had been trying to talk to her all day to explain that they had left me with 300 thousand won for a paycheque by taking all of the deductions in one go. She was too busy during the day. I called her and told her that I would not be going. A few days after, they refunded the money they had taken.

My supervisor and myself had a conflicted relationship. I was eventually fired (halfway through my contract) due to,at least in part, listening to her and believing everything that she said about me. The principal kept pulling me into the office to address complaints from pretty much the first day. She would belittle and reprimend me in front of the other teachers in the resource room. She would tell me to 'liven up the class' and then gave me a letter saying how unhappy everyone was that I was behind on the book pages and that I had to teach straight from the book. When I suggested that they should provide training to new teachers, she said that it was my job to know how things were supposed to be (or something close to that effect) etc. etc. We spent a good portion of our time arguing. I was asked by the school to open up a Korean bank account as they would not continue to deposit into my American one. Most of my bills are tied to this account through direct deposit. I found out that I could not open a Korean bank account without my original passport which was being held awaiting an Alien Resident Card. Therefore, I found myself having to send money for bills back to my home country through mail which would take about 2 weeks. I requested a meeting with her to translate between the owner and myself (although I was told later that the owner speaks very good English!) to ask for an advance (I had gotten them before with no problem). He outright lied to me saying that it would not be possible as he had to 'pay the busdrivers' etc. Later, when she was reprimanding and belittling me in the resource room, she said that I was being 'punished' by the owner for previous ESL complaints. After all this, I taught a Kindergarten science class that involved an experiment with candles. Two of my students lit their vocabulary cards on fire with the candles. She never really communicated information to me. Eventually, she handed me a horrible, cruel letter dated April 21rst (our gym day was may 21rst) of 30 day termination (which ended may 20th) citing 'neglect' as the reason for termination. I was pressured up until the end to attend the My 21rst gym day and 'have pictures taken with the parents'.

I had set up another job offer. I kept asking them for my release letter as it was required to be sent in order to process paperwork for my new school. She (the supervisor) kept delaying saying that she needed the name of my new school to put on the release letter-I refused to give it to her and told her that I did not believe that was needed. More delays. I had also emailed her stating that I needed a monday afternoon off to go apply for a new passport (had to make an appointment with the consulate). She told me I could go on tuesday as the consulate would not be open on monday. I called the consulate, told her that it would be open and that I needed to go on the Monday as I had another apointment at 3pm. that had to be done on that day. I got a nasty letter later (when I eventually got my release letter) stating that i had 'taken off' on the Monday afternoon and that is not how things were 'done at CIS' that one ended up a screaming match in front of the reception desk. My appointment at 3pm was with legal aid (I had told her that I would be seeking legal help if I did not get my release letter by a certain date). The lawyer called CIS and got them to promise to have a letter by the end of the week and that they would return my deposit after calling the utility companies to get bills up to the 3rd week of May. I still ended up having to go around to everyone 'reminding' them that the letter was due that day. I also later found out that they purchased the plane tickets for another set of teachers-who had told me that they felt that they were being stalled and could not understand why on the same day that the lawyer called about me.
Well, my last day ended (fittingily enough) with me spending hours figuring out my deposit, them calling the utility companies (for the first time-this was supposed to be done beforehand) and telling me that there is no record of me ever having paid utilities!! i got my last pay deposited-which is at least 300 thousand won less than I (and the lawyer) estimated and lost one days pay either for not attending the gym day or for the national holiday so I am going back to legal aid to try to sort this all out again tomorrow.

I am writing this as I know that I was not the only teacher who was lied to/misled at this school. I think that while there behaviours may not necessarily earn them a 'spot' on the black list-it is definitly in the 'grey' area.

Is there anyway that you could post this annonomyously please?