Former Wonder Girls Member Hyerim Talks About Teaching English At A "Hagwon" After Quitting Her K-Pop Idol Life

Former Wonder Girls member, Hyerim recently spoke in a YouTube interview where she talked about the jobs she had after quitting her life as a K-Pop idol.

In the interview, Hyerim shared that she taught English through private tutoring lessons and group lessons, and she even opened up about her experience teaching elementary boys at a “hagwon” (private academies in Korea).

Surprisingly enough, Hyerim confessed that none of the elementary boys treated her as if she was a K-Pop idol.

None of them asked to take a picture with me or anything. It’s possible they just weren’t interested in me. I was in charge of a bunch of elementary school boys. A bunch of mischievous boys. They were cute.

— Hyerim

She then went on to describe her hardships of teaching English to little kids.

What I learned is that you have to be strict. You have to scold them and shout, ‘Sit down!’ But I wasn’t able to do that, so I couldn’t discipline them well. There were various reasons why I ended up quitting, but that was the hardest part.

— Hyerim

Hyerim continued,

The next class was quiet while our class was rowdy, so I would get complaints. It’s not just about knowing English. You have to know how to care for the kids. I think teachers are really impressive for that reason.

— Hyerim

When she was asked if the rowdy kids were harder or if her time with the Wonder Girls was harder, Hyerim picked the kids.

Those are two completely different hardships. But it was harder for me when the kids were rowdy. I didn’t know what to do. When I went to drink water, they would lock the door on me. Working at the ‘hagwon’ was really hard.

— Hyerim