Interested In Teaching In Korea

[seykota]

After teaching in Thailand for several years, I came to Korea with my wife (Thai) and our 2 year old son. We will definitely be returning to live in our house in Issan but not for two or three years because we are saving more each month than my monthly salary in Thailand (our two bedroom apartment, 3 mins from the beach, is rent free). My school is part of a network and I have been asked to find some teachers; the schools will pay your airfare to Korea from Thailand, pick you up at the airport... I have set out the basic details below and I can e-mail a copy of the contract, if requested. There are positions in Cheong Ju City (1 1/2 Hours from Seoul), Chuncheon City and Hwacheon City available at present.

New teachers are welcome to apply for these positions at small English Language schools. We can provide training and orientation at our school on Jeju Island prior to you starting your contract, if you wish.

We provide accommodation, flights and all costs associated with getting your E2 visa. The classes are small and the kids are great.

Qualifications

• Native English speaker with 3 or 4 year University degree

(your transcript must sealed in an envelope by your university)

• A valid passport from the USA, Canada, Australia. UK. New Zealand or Ireland.

Working Conditions

• Working Hours: 25 hours per week (Mon to Fri)

• NO Split shifts

Benefits

• 2.0 million won a month

• All national holidays and 7 days of paid vacation

• Medical insurance is 50% paid by the school

• Air fare provided

• Single apartment furnitured rent-free (eg. Not Shared)

Please contact Pete for further information

E-mail : [email protected]

Phone: 82 64 723 8877

Mobile: 82-102 893 8212

[pop_corn]

only english?

hehe if they need spanish teacher let me know

[Ijustwannateach]

I think some info about cost of living, wages paid by other employees in the area, etc., etc. would provide some perspective here. 80,000B does not by any means go as far in Korea as it does in Thailand.

"Steven"

[alaina]

Even though Thailand isn't always great as far as money and employment conditions go, I'm not sure Korea is thought of as a popular alternative here.

It's nice that you are willing to vouch for these schools, but Korea has possibly the worst reputation in the TEFL circut. The amount of first-hand horror stories I've heard dwarfs the amount of positive ones.

I'm curious to hear more about your experience, as it may serve to counter the more commonly told stories.

[PeaceBlondie]

Good grief, pearl, do you mean that TEFL jobs in Korea are even more worsest than the ones in Thailand?

[mayacan]

I taught in Korea in the 1994-95, and it was best experience in my life. I have been a high school teacher in Los Angeles since the late 1980's, and took a year off to go and teach there. I taught in the very lovely town of Choong-ju, in Choong-chong-buk-do province. The area is thriving with culture & history.

Yes, they paid for my airfare, gave a me a apartment, and I turned down an automibile, and my salary was enough for me to live on $400.00 a month U.S. money, and send about $1,100.00 per month home into my savings account.

For the first time in my life as a teacher, I felt that my job really mattered. To have a your students walk in everyday and bow to you upon entering and leaving the classroom is gratifying. My students wanted to spend their free time on weekends with me showing me their historical sights, and other places of interests. Since I'm a history teacher back home, they wanted me to see and learn about their history and culture.

After a couple of months of living in Choong-ju, the town's people begin to know who I was. I was unique at this times because they had never seen a Chicano (Mexican-American), so a day never went by without getting stopped by store owners who would ask me to come in for tea or food. Everybody bowed to me, and would always say "good morning teacher", believe me, that was a wonderful feeling.

I brought with me books about the Aztecs, Mayans, and American Indians of the Southwestern U.S., we together began to see the similarities between the cultures. I made many friends there in my one year stay, and I met the love of my life, my future wife.....It was surely the best year of my life.

Sure I heard a few horror stories from other white foreigners, but those were the ones who wanted Korea to change to their values and customs....they forgot the old saying, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do".....In order to truly experience the full experience of another culture, you must totally immerse yourself in that culture, and live with them, live as they do, and respect them as your equal.....Unfortunately, many of the foreign teachers that I met were not willing to do this.

I have been to Thailand 5 times since 1995, and each time I travel to the Land of Smiles, I have a more gratifying experience because each time that I return, I know a little more of the language, the culture, and I make a few more friends, they become my friends because they tell me, "your not like the other farangs, your like us, and even your skin is like Thai people".....The world is an amazing place, leave your hang ups at home, leave what you have learned at home, and come with an open mind, open heart, and a gentle spirit....and enjoy the good moments, the laughter, the smiles....and let the bad moments run off of you like the rain runs off your skin, yet nourishes you at the same time...learn and grow from the bad experiences....for life is just an illusion.....peace..

Mayacan

[PeaceBlondie]

I taught in Korea in the 1994-95, and it was best experience in my life. I have been a high school teacher in Los Angeles since the late 1980's, and took a year off to go and teach there. I taught in the very lovely town of Choong-ju, in Choong-chong-buk-do province. The area is thriving with culture & history.

Yes, they paid for my airfare, gave a me a apartment, and I turned down an automibile, and my salary was enough for me to live on $400.00 a month U.S. money, and send about $1,100.00 per month home into my savings account.

For the first time in my life as a teacher, I felt that my job really mattered. To have a your students walk in everyday and bow to you upon entering and leaving the classroom is gratifying. My students wanted to spend their free time on weekends with me showing me their historical sights, and other places of interests. Since I'm a history teacher back home, they wanted me to see and learn about their history and culture.

After a couple of months of living in Choong-ju, the town's people begin to know who I was. I was unique at this times because they had never seen a Chicano (Mexican-American), so a day never went by without getting stopped by store owners who would ask me to come in for tea or food. Everybody bowed to me, and would always say "good morning teacher", believe me, that was a wonderful feeling.

I brought with me books about the Aztecs, Mayans, and American Indians of the Southwestern U.S., we together began to see the similarities between the cultures. I made many friends there in my one year stay, and I met the love of my life, my future wife.....It was surely the best year of my life.

Sure I heard a few horror stories from other white foreigners, but those were the ones who wanted Korea to change to their values and customs....they forgot the old saying, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do".....In order to truly experience the full experience of another culture, you must totally immerse yourself in that culture, and live with them, live as they do, and respect them as your equal.....Unfortunately, many of the foreign teachers that I met were not willing to do this.

I have been to Thailand 5 times since 1995, and each time I travel to the Land of Smiles, I have a more gratifying experience because each time that I return, I know a little more of the language, the culture, and I make a few more friends, they become my friends because they tell me, "your not like the other farangs, your like us, and even your skin is like Thai people".....The world is an amazing place, leave your hang ups at home, leave what you have learned at home, and come with an open mind, open heart, and a gentle spirit....and enjoy the good moments, the laughter, the smiles....and let the bad moments run off of you like the rain runs off your skin, yet nourishes you at the same time...learn and grow from the bad experiences....for life is just an illusion.....peace..

Mayacan

Thanks, Mayacan. I worked with Tzotzil Mayas in Chiapas for a couple of years, and they resemble Asians or even Thais in many respects. When I show pictures of Tzotziles in a mountain setting, kids in northern Thailand assume the pics are of Meo, a hill-tribe in Thailand.

Why am I not surprised that a Mexican-American can appreciate an Asian country more than an Anglo? Probably because my experiences have made me prejudiced.

[seykota]

I read many horror stories on davescafe.com about teaching in Korea before we (my Thai wife & our 2 year old son) came here but I took them with the proverbial “grain of salt” because I had also read plenty of horror stories about teaching in Thailand. I’m quite content with teaching here, I’ve never had a job of any kind that did not have some bad points.

As I mentioned in my original post, the accommodation is rent-free though I negotiated with my school so we could have a larger apartment. I agreed to being paid only half the end of year bonus, which is 1 month’s salary = 80,000 Baht, for a 2 bedroom apartment.

We save between 45-50,000 Baht per month from the 80,000 Baht salary, admittedly, we don’t go to restaurants or bars but we do eat well and drink some beer at home. We have 2 English movie channels, BBC, Star Sports, National Geographic, a couple of kids channels on our cable TV package, which costs 200 Baht per month. If we wanted to pay about 800 Baht per month we could have a greater selection, however we are happy with the cheaper package. We will use these cable TV savings to buy a satellite dish system when we return to our house/farm in Thailand. The cost of living is definitely more here than Thailand but it’s nowhere near as expensive as Japan, if you’re a party animal you’re not going to save money anywhere.

I’m left to prepare my lessons and I must say I don’t spend a great amount of time doing it, my foreign teacher predecessors didn’t spend ANY time so my boss is happy. I ‘m the only foreign teacher at this school and I have my own office, classroom, wireless Internet……..

I’m in contact with a couple of other teachers that came here after we finished our TESOL course in Thailand and they don’t have any ‘horror stories’ either.

Maybe we are just plain lucky? Maybe there are a lot of whingers who write on the ESL forums?

I’m happy to answer any specific questions.

Regards

expatpete

[mbkudu]

That's not bad and you're living with your wife and kid, so a single person could save more than that.

[Buki]

Mayacan: I love what you wrote. I definitely agree of what you said. Particularly on embracing new cultures and trying to immerse ourselves in the daily lives of the people that we live with. I think, with that attitude brings so much our understanding of the world and even of ourselves.

Seykota: I am just curious, do you have Asian teachers there as well? I know a few in Japan and one in Seoul. But what is the market for Asian teachers in S. Korea?

[sweetbear]

mayacan, I also taught in Choong Ju and loved it ! I was there for a few years before coming back to Thailand. I do miss my friends and the savings. Want to go back sometime soon...

Korea gets a far worse reputation on the internet than is warranted in my opinion. Sure there are problems, but no worse than some problems I have encountered even here in the land of smiles.

[mayacan]

Wow, it's great to hear from somebody else who knows where Choong-ju is in Korea.....(lol). I wonder what years were you there? I was there in 1994 through 1995. I would have stayed there for at least a year longer, but I fell in love and she wanted to come to America to marry and live.

You know, everything was not all peaches and cream, but the good memories out number the bad ones. Especially having a Korean girlfriend in a small town, we faced some issues of prejudice from males, and the older people, but you know you'll face that in small town USA too.

I will say that I didn't go overseas until I was in my thirties, so I certainly feel that I was mature enough to handle the change of life. I wouldn't have have been able to adapt so readily if I went right out of college.

Sadly though, I have since divorced, and my ex-wife has gone back to Korea, we were together for 8 years, the 8 best of my life......Now and then I have some interest in going back overseas again, but at my age (49 years), I'm not sure it's so wise. I'm at a wonderful high school where the kids are great, I'm head basketball coach of a pretty respected program. I make enough money to be able to live a half mile from the beach here in L.A.

But again, my stay in Korea was a fantastic excursion in my journey through life, I always recommend teaching overseas to my students after they have graduated from college. Who knows maybe I'll take all my years of teaching, my credential & masters, & end up teaching in Thailand..

and.....maybe meet a wonderful Thai woman who loves receiving a daily snoothing massage, and a man to spoil her....

As a said, just have an open heart, an open mind, leave your hang ups at home, and walk with a gentle spirit as you listen to the wind as it guides you through life.....

Peace,

Mayacan

[seykota]

Mayacan: I love what you wrote. I definitely agree of what you said. Particularly on embracing new cultures and trying to immerse ourselves in the daily lives of the people that we live with. I think, with that attitude brings so much our understanding of the world and even of ourselves.

Seykota: I am just curious, do you have Asian teachers there as well? I know a few in Japan and one in Seoul. But what is the market for Asian teachers in S. Korea?

Buki

The Korean Government only grants E2 (Teaching) visas to passport holders from the recognised English speaking countries plus my boss tells me that if an applicant looks anything but "white", no matter what passport they hold, the answer is no. Unpleasant but true.

Another interesting point is the age factor, although the forums are full of " no-one over 40 years of age" plava, the fact is the good schools want good teachers. I would say it's more like no-one over 55 years. Infact, an Aussie from Ban Phe who's 53 years old was snapped up a few weeks ago.

Seykota

[kenkannif]

^ I know a few black albeit American teachers working in Korea so it's certainly doable for them. Heard the same about non-natives though.

[Buki]

Thanks for the information. I do have first hand experience teaching young Korean adults (university students) back in the Philippines (since its a lot cheaper to study there and the same time, they can enjoy the weather and the white sand beaches). It is really a pleasure teaching them since they are very eager to learn the language. The only problem that I have encountered with my students, is that they are quite demanding. Specially with the issues of them paying for their short term education and they think they are not getting their money's worth. But generally speaking, they are very nice people and I am still in contact with some of my students all over S. Korea.

I have not heard of the horror stories about the troubles back there. Though, in every country... there would always be problems in the education system. But any problems can be solved as long the mind is set and you just go on with your job.

[seykota]

By the way, we have 3 vacancies on the Southern Coast available (2 are at the same school), if anyone would like some specific information please let me know.

[email protected]