As a person who worked there for over a year and a half I thought I would weigh in. And by worked there, I mean in the main building in Chungdahm Dong. I knew all the top dogs there, and got along very well with InChul.

There is a bit of a cult there, but thats so they get consistent teaching qualities. While it was never admitted to me, I came to realize that the purpose of the training was less about training than screening, though they could be more forthright when someone doesn't make the grade. Politics also play a part - I was hated by one guy in particular who took to swearing at me, but i clicked with bigger fish, and he eventually had to pipe down.

If you make the grade there's a hefty steady paycheque. Mine was 3.6 mil back when I started in 04, which is not bad for base pay, but I did have to pay rent. Pay goes up from that point. I knew one guy who went to stanford and was getting paid 50,000 an hour (which is 6 mil a month). I'll tell you right now, retention rate is key. If kids drop out in your first class...dude, you're getting fired.

There's also one thing none of you mentioned - the structure. Humans function best in well structured environments, and CDI has the best I've seen. Your time is organized into 5 minute chunks and the time goes by very quickly. No more dead time/playing worn out games/using a book they've done a half dozen times...we've all been there with sub-standard programs. CDI has excellent material, there's no question about that. So even with only 20 mins of breaks over 6 hours, the time passes quickly.

Oh, and the CCTV is to prevent disputes. The only way to settle he said/she said disputes between student and teacher is to see what actually happened. And there is the added side benefit of keeping everyone in line. I benefited from it, cuz they saw that my classes had the greatest interaction in the school. And the question remains...if you have nothing to hide, why do you care? It is also a great tool to weed out bad teachers.

Anyway, thats about it. everyone else flamed CDI cuz they got the runaround...but I can almost assure you thats cuz they are just bad teachers. That said, CDI could be clearer with disclosure.

There's a saying that in terms of foreigners all you find in Korea are military, misfits and mercenaries (corporate as well as military). The fact of the matter is that by nature ESL teachers are just not that professional...if they were, they wouldn't be teaching int he first place. To get into CDI you have to be better than the rest. That means ok clothes, clear eyes, etc...but also punctuality. That is the first mark of professionalism (and it's in cdi's handbook i think).

Anyway, you will not find a better place to work. Yes there are drawbacks, but every school has that. I taught for almost 7 years in total, (both Korea and Taiwan) and CDI ranks at the top of my experience.

Remember to consider who you're getting your advice from. As Dale Carnegie said, "any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain....and most fools do."

And just so you know I actually worked there, look up my name in the directory. It's usually the first one.

Aaron Fecht

CDI '04-'06