Program Reviews

The CIEE short term teach english program is a great experience. CIEE provides a lot of support during the lead up to the program and throughout. The visa process and the housing search are the most stressful aspects of the process, and CIEE really helped provide support. The one downside of the program is the price. You have to pay a CIEE fee, which I think is a bit too expensive. If you apply directly through the ministry, I believe it is free, however you do not have the guarantee of being in Madrid.

The CIEE team is marvelous. They respons promptly to questions about enrolling and any questions during the course. My experience with the course instructor was also wonderful. CIEE has recruited really knowledgeable people who are so excited to share everything they know about the TEFL field with you, which makes the prospect of the practicum less daunting. The online platform is fairly intuitive, but engagement with classmates is really what you make it. You get out what you put in. A word of caution, though: 11 weeks goes by FAST. There is a lot of material to get through, plus assignments, so it's important to stay on top of it. When the website suggests 2-3 hours per day, take it seriously.

This program offers significant content and live sessions for those who look forward to entering the teaching field, and for those who want to further their education. I've been an English teacher for a while and wanted to get extra training in ESL. Therefore, I made the decision to join this program. The flexibility of the course and the support that the CIEE team offers, encourages you to accomplish your goals successfully. I'm glad I took this program. I was able to add this experience to my resume and find more job opportunities.

This program made moving abroad very smooth! They help so much with figuring out paperwork that I personally would have been so lost with. They also make sure to keep in contact with you when you’re abroad and respond to any questions or problems you may run into fast. Getting to travel on the weekends and being able to connect with people from all over the world is something I very much appreciate about the program I did! I have now done two programs with them and definitely would recommend them to anyone!!!

Here is my story and I hope it helps others who are interested in teaching abroad understand the impact that it can have on your life. I first found CIEE at the end of 2016. I knew that I wanted to teach abroad, but I wasn’t sure how to get started. When I first applied, I was paired up with Luke Beland, who to this day I cannot express the amount of appreciation I have for him. I wanted to work in the public school system and after completing my TEFL and my application, I interviewed with the Epik program but unfortunately due to a mistake on my end, I was not given the position. Luke called me to let me know of the issue and that I couldn’t continue with public schools, but he told me that it wasn’t too late and that I could move my application to a hagwon. There were only 2 weeks left, so I knew I had to work hard to get the chance to go in 2017. After I completed my end, he got me an interview with a hagwon in Paju and I passed! I was so excited that I was finally going to go to Korea! He made the process for pre-departure very easy, including the visa process. When I arrived in Korea, I did experience a bit of a culture shock. I thought my work ethic was superb but seeing the long hours and hard work from the Korean teachers and their expectations was next level. It wasn’t to the point that I would quit or felt overwhelmed, but it definitely made me work harder and become more flexible. CIEE set the expectations for me beforehand and in my interview, I was told most of the tasks I would need to complete but doing and seeing it in person is a little different. I’m happy to say that rising to the challenge helped me grow in ways I didn’t know was possible. That’s why I would like to stress to people who are interested in going abroad that being flexible and accepting of the country’s culture (including the work culture) is crucial to getting the most out of the experience in a positive way. CIEE did offer an orientation and multiple get togethers in my first year. I was happy to meet other teachers that would be in a short distance from me. Although I was in Paju and the meeting was in Seoul, it wasn’t hard to get to. Korea’s public transportation is really the best in the world, in my opinion, and going to the orientation prepared me for using it during my stay. I was happy to also meet the in-country team that would be supporting me during my time, although I think I contacted Luke more and he was always willing to help.
My salary was standard, as all my other friends who didn’t use CIEE, received the same pay. I know people might think 2.1 KRW isn’t a lot for the month, but when you don’t need to pay rent, utilities, TV, etc. it really goes a long way. I was able to use that money to travel all around Korea and experience so many of their different festivals. I fell in love with country, the job, and the kids. I decided after my contract ended, to stay on with my hagwon. I was promoted to Head Foreign Teacher. Soon after, I got married and due to my husband’s job location, we relocated to Gimpo, where I had my first child. The hagwon in Gimpo was definitely a bit more demanding, which made me understand that not all hagwons are the same and I really appreciated the one that Luke set me up with. I eventually moved back to the States with my husband and now 2 children. Besides meeting my other half and having my two bundles of joy, I took so much away from my time in Korea. I feel truly fortunate to have had this amazing experience and it all started with CIEE and a coordinator who did not give up on me, even when things didn’t look so rosy. So, if you are reading this, I hope you can take away from it that getting the right organization to help you in the beginning is very important! It’s important to get off on the right foot and to feel supported as the first year can be the most difficult due to assimilating to a new culture. Also, being open and flexible will help you not to take things so harshly and can eliminate a lot of the stress that may come from going abroad. It helps you appreciate the opportunity you have and to take full advantage of learning and adapting to a new culture. Finally, if you are looking for a game changer in your life, this might really be a program for you!

I'm really thankful I decided to go with CIEE when I initially made the decision to teach English abroad in South Korea. I chose to go the public school/EPIK route, and, as someone who has no experience with teaching, I was intimidated by the program's application. CIEE provided me with LOTS of resources (lesson plan tips, an EPIK application guide) that made me feel much more confident and organized during the process. I was also really impressed with how communicative they were and how quickly they responded to all my questions (which was A LOT since EPIK and the visa require a lot of documentation). The TEFL course was helpful - and, in my case, my pay increased for having the certification. Even after my arrival in Korea, CIEE provided support, messaged to see how my experience was going, and connected me to other CIEE staff nearby in case I needed anything.

If you're thinking about teaching abroad in Korea, I highly recommend going through CIEE. Having the extra support before and after arriving can take so much stress off your plate - and your priority should be on having a once and a lifetime experience!

Normally, I don’t write and post reviews, but I felt like I needed to warn others about CIEE. CIEE is an organization that is just full of lies. I’m actually kind of sad to write negatively about them because I really did have a very positive experience doing a study abroad program through them back in college. Therefore, I assumed I would have an equally positive experience doing a teach abroad program through them. Unfortunately, I assumed wrong. When I received my first contract offer from Luke Beland, the CIEE person in charge of communicating about job offers, I had many questions. I wanted to make sure that this was a good offer. He said that I probably wouldn’t get another offer and I should just accept the one I was given. He also assured me that 2.2 million won was much higher than the average salary because most teachers only get paid 2.1 million won. In fact, he was quite wrong. For a kindergarten hagwon, a 9am-6pm job, the pay should be at least 2.4/2.5 million won for all the work you must do. I asked him if he had any concerns about the contract and he told me no. Yet, this job couldn’t have been with a worse hagwon. The director of the hagwon had me work at 3 different branches within my 4 months of being in Korea. I never felt like I ever got into a routine because I was constantly being moved from school to school. For 2 of those months, I had to commute back and forth between 2 different schools, which were on opposite sides of the city, and which was also time-consuming and exhausting. I purposely chose the hagwon route so I would only be at one school, so obviously I was upset. There were also so many changes, extra work not specified in the contract, and a lack of help or understanding from CIEE. I paid CIEE all this money for support, yet Brad, who is supposed to be your go-to in-country support, continued to gaslight me and make me seem like everything I was going through was “normal.” In fact, none of it was normal, as I found out after talking to other foreign teachers who had been teaching at hagwons in Korea for several years. In fact, he assured me that everyone who used CIEE has had positive experiences at this particular hagwon. Actually, 5 different foreign teachers who also used CIEE have quit from this hagwon in the 5 months that I have been living and working in Korea. So that was another lie they told me. Our orientation was also a joke and was really just an excuse to eat one dinner together and then have the rest be free time. We weren’t actually given any advice on how to be good teachers or anything related to teaching. I felt burnt-out after only 3 months. In fact, I had to move to an apartment all the way across the city, a 12km distance, in a completely different neighborhood in order to be closer to my new school. This particular hagwon has many different issues. First of all, there was no support whatsoever for the foreign teachers. I was thrown into my new school with my new kindergarten class with no help or guidance, yet I was expected to do everything perfectly. Some of the students were also really badly behaved, but because their parents were paying money to the school, they wouldn’t be kicked out. They would always listen and respect the Korean teacher, but never the foreign teacher, which made classroom management nearly impossible. The foreign teachers were also required to pretty much do everything, except talk to the student’s parents. This means taking the kids to the bathroom, serving them lunch, writing weekly logs, writing weekly comments, and writing monthly report cards for all the students. We also taught up to 9 classes a day, including classes such as Math and Science. In fact, I know some teachers who taught 45 classes a week for only 2.2 million won. We were also in charge of all the special events, which occurred frequently each month. In addition, there was a complete lack of communication between Korean teachers and foreign teachers, and usually the Korean teachers would expect the foreign teachers to guess what they were thinking and get mad when we didn’t do things exactly how they wanted. There were also many last minute projects, last minute requirements, and constant changes to projects/expectations. Even though we had “break” times which were only 30 minutes here and there, we couldn’t really take the break because we had to do all of these other preparation things for classes, events, etc. I couldn’t even relax during lunch since I was constantly serving the kids more food, so by the time I ate, my food was cold. This particular hagwon is also quite cheap, as seen in the very crappy apartments we were given. I know that if I had just used a different recruiter, I would probably have ended up at a much better hagwon and I wouldn’t be leaving my contract early. Unfortunately, my mental health has deteriorated and seeing as this country does not have adequate resources to support me, I had no choice but to leave. While I did enjoy living in Korea itself, the job couldn’t have been worse, and CIEE is a large part to blame for this, seeing as they set me up with this school. Hopefully my review will help others avoid the same HUGE mistake I made choosing CIEE to guide me in this work abroad journey.

Teaching in Spain as an Auxiliar de Conversación has changed my life. I studied Spanish in college but never studied abroad. Coming here ignited a passion for teaching abroad as well as the Spanish culture. If you're on the fence about doing something like this, especially with CIEE, then I say DO IT! It has changed the trajectory of my life in such a better way and I've met such amazing people along the way. Teaching in Spain was a great way to better my Spanish, the 3 day weekends let me travel all the time and the activities put on by CIEE allowed me to make a lot of great friends.

CIEE has been so helpful in navigating the moving/teaching abroad process. Their staff is always on hand to answer any questions or guide you in the right direction; they also have staff in the US for anything you need before you leave and staff in Spain for when you arrive and are living here. I don't think I would've been able to get through all the paperwork without their guides and help. They even hold an orientation where they go more in-depth about what to expect and how they can help. I 100% recommend CIEE if you're looking to teach English abroad.

I am currently a Conversation Assistant in Madrid through the help of CIEE, and I enjoy what I do. I have studied abroad before, and CIEE has offered a more meticulous and detailed process. The best support they can offer is through the visa process, which is no small feat for Spain. They are quick to respond to questions and are 100% transparent on what needs to be done from your application to your arrival. I would recommend to anyone who has never studied abroad before, take a chance and take that journey.