This is a review of Saekyung College in Yeongwol County, Gangwondo, South Korea.

I would strongly advise all interested applicants to steer clear of this college/university. After nearly 9 months spent there, I can honestly say it is good to be out of that poorly managed, uncaring, misunderstanding and terrible excuse for a college and people who run this glorified high school.

The director will try to say that he will take care of you and will constantly re-inforce this notion. But, when it comes down to it, the director will follow the bidding of the college president who is deranged, illogical, irrationally, selfish and wont think twice about pulling some b.s. on you like triple your student load without giving you time to adjust or plan. The college only cares about making money. They dont care about their teachers, especially if youre foreign or the students. Even the college students hate the town and the college. Things will seem fine and peachy until you realize how many winter/summer camps you will have to do without any curriculum or co-teachers.

You will have to fight for every right you have on your contract and in the Korean Labor laws until you realize that at this college, contracts mean nothing. I am still owed 220,000 Won to this day, return flight was denied, no sort of severance even after pulling of 16 winter camps with 2 days notice of elementary to high school ages and various levels, you will be heavily coaxed into working overtime. The director was shocked when we first asked that we needed to be paid overtime when we worked past 5 pm. Even more ridiculous, this time around, he told us dont even bother asking for it!

The previous two directors before this one left early because this college was so ridiculous. During my time there, they went through 3 secretaries (none of them enjoyed their jobs) and the other two foreign teachers of Japanese and Chinese also left the English Language Village.

Location: Yeongwol County is the armpit or one of the armpits of Korea. The town offers nothing to a teacher. The restaurants are mediocre at best and youll need to travel at least an hour away to get a proper meal. The downtown smells of exhaust, cigarettes, sewage and the traffic is a particular mess. There are some foreigners around but youll have nothing to do but relate to the despair and solace in which you all wallow in. The apartments look as they belong in parts of New Orleans or Compton. You will find spit in the elevators as well!

Do yourself a favor, save the stress, anxiety, alienation, xenophobia and frustration. Dont be misguided by the 2.5 million salary tag, its not worth it. Head for the big cities Seoul, Busan, Daegu, where schools are modern, developed and using proper techniques. You cant trust recruiters either because most of the time, they will have never met the director or visited the school. I was baffled when I read the original TEFL Blacklist for this school and couldnt believe how ridiculous it sounded but reality set in and will set in for you.

There have also been problems like this with nearly every other past foreign teacher and I can refer you to some of them to verify these accounts.

Do your research and be very careful. Take care and remember, you can take the peasant out of the village but you cant take the village out of the peasant.