If so, please share your experiences positive and negative. I may be venturing to Korea for a year to teach English and want to know what I'd be getting myself into before I do it.

1/10/2007 2:19:09 PM

http://www.google.com/search?q=esl+korea

1/10/2007 3:17:21 PM

Wow! You mean there are actually ways to teach ESL abroad? No fucking way!



The post is aimed at those who've done it before. I want to know what they thought of the experience.

1/10/2007 3:26:42 PM

yeah, but as a missionary ...

However, I did have some friends we met while there who were teaching for those after school academies and things. Generally, they enjoyed it, and the kids love the americans. If you have a choice on what part of korea to go to, here are a few pointers.

If you want to really enjoy the culture, go to a smaller city away from the metro areas.
(I recommend the east coast - Kangung City... i loved that area)

If you have connections in korea, find someone that can hook you up with a business that pays to have english speakers talk with their employees... there is alot more money to make in that part of the industry.


I dont know if they have these programs, but if there was one where you could spend a few months in like 3 different areas of the country, that would be pretty awesome

[Edited on January 10, 2007 at 3:32 PM. Reason : .]

1/10/2007 3:30:36 PM

Quote :

"The post is aimed at those who've done it before."

maybe you should actually click that link then

i wasn't being a dick -- there are a number of sites with message boards dedicated to this type of discussion

1/10/2007 3:39:50 PM

Just noticed the boards in there. Sry.

1/10/2007 3:54:16 PM

http://www.gaijinsmash.net/

1/10/2007 4:50:27 PM

you HAVE to visit:

http://www.eslcafe.com/

it is the #1 job and resource site for those wanting to teach ESL abroad. you will find all sorts of listings, and in the forums, thousands of personal accounts. you can make a thread about it there, or just browse the exisiting hundreds of threads to get general and school-specific insight.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea

also, visit:

http://www.lilithgallery.com/articles/2005/DONT_teach-english-in_SouthKorea.html

http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~jonb/dont_teach_in_korea.html

good luck

[Edited on January 10, 2007 at 6:23 PM. Reason : ]

1/10/2007 6:18:30 PM

Thanks for the resources!

1/11/2007 8:20:11 AM

i have a friend who is currently in japan teaching ... i could put you in touch with him if you're interested in getting his opinion. he's 25. he and his wife have been there for about a year now. he seems to like it a lot thus far. i believe his started as a missionary-type commitment.

1/11/2007 9:50:32 AM

a friend of mine's older brother is currently doing it and is having a great time. He made a lot of money is the car sales business before doing it so he isn't too worried about money at the moment. I want to say he's in Eastern Europe but im not positive

1/11/2007 11:04:27 AM

i have a friend who spent a summer in china doing esl, she thought it was great. my wife and i considered it shortly after that, but never got around to it

[Edited on March 11, 2009 at 10:45 AM. Reason : bump]

3/11/2009 10:42:58 AM

Gamecat did you ever end up going?

Im seriously considering doing this before I get any older and settle down into a career, and no significant other to worry about. Korea seems to be very popular and doesnt require a ESL Teaching certificate and I love Korean food.

Ive checked out the links but does anyone have any more info, specifically on the company that advertises on ePack (Paragon Recruiting)?

3/11/2009 10:49:05 AM

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/01/11/120-taking-a-year-off/

3/11/2009 2:13:43 PM

does anyone know if you HAVE to take the tefl courses that are offered? I have a teaching degree, so would that work?

3/11/2009 7:37:55 PM

wow you are brave. if i ever get my act together i will teach esl one day too

3/11/2009 8:08:14 PM

^^ It depends on the country but most of them don't care if you have TEFL or even if you have a teaching degree, especially in Asia.

If you like getting screwed in the ass by your employers, I recommend Korea. Otherwise Japan has a better reputation for not taking you for a ride (that's where I work currently).

Also the won is worth nothing right now so be prepared to be poor if you go to Korea.

3/11/2009 9:11:29 PM

thanks to this thread and the link to that forum i just found out i'm eligable for greek citizenship. THANKS TDUB!!!

http://www.helleniccomserve.com/greekcitizenship.html

3/11/2009 9:15:38 PM

^^ I hear Japan is alot more competitive to get into. How did the application process work for you and how do you like teaching?

If you could give a brief description of your thoughts and experiences that would be great.

3/11/2009 9:39:58 PM

That depends entirely on what program you're doing and where you want to live in Japan. If you're wanting to do the JET Program, which is by far the best gig around (that's what I do), it is highly competitive. But it's also worth the trouble to try and get into it if you are serious about wanting to do EFL in Asia.

As far as private companies go, it's a lot easier to get a job, especially if you're not one of those people who only want to live in Tokyo. Tokyo's overrated anyway.

Interac (http://www.interac.co.jp/recruit/) is one of the biggest employers of ALTs (assistant language teachers) in Japan. Like all companies, you'll hear good and bad about them but most of the people I've met who work for them seem to think they're okay. You'll be working in the public schools for the most part so that means most of the time you won't have to work weekends, which is nice.

GEOS (http://www.geoscareer.com/) is one of the bigger eikaiwas (private English schools) in Japan. Almost everyone I know who has worked for them says they're a decent company. And one of the cool things about GEOS is after you've worked with them for a year or two you can request a transfer to almost anywhere. Two of the people I know who work for GEOS recently got transferred to Tokyo because they wanted to try it out for a year.

There are a bajillion other companies but those are the two I am most familiar with that are also nationwide.

One of the huge advantages of Japan over Korea is the way they handle visas. In Japan, a company sponsors your visa, but if the company turns out to be total shit you can quit and go work for another company. In Korea, you can't do this. You have to get permission from the company that you work for to quit. Some of my friends had a horrible experience in Korea related to this, and I have heard many many more stories in Korea of employers completely screwing you over because they know the government could care less. At least in Japan you have plenty of venues to work with if the company you're working for isn't a good fit for you (there's even a union, though I've heard they're pretty impotent lol).

3/11/2009 9:56:20 PM

My friend did it in South Korea...i think there is another thread on this. She had a great time and stayed in an awesome area of Seoul. Very modern. I think it was the Gangnam section of Seoul. She did it for an entire year...went to India, China, Nepal, Cambodia during her downtime.

3/12/2009 4:40:43 PM

thanks for the info and links wolfpackgrrr. Im going to take a look at those and hopefully get an application in.

What confuses me is the wide variety of experiences in Korea....some people get screwed over and some enjoy it and stay for a few more years.

joepeshi do you know what recruiting agency your friend went through? If possible would she have the time to talk to me over email about her experience and how she got the position?

3/13/2009 12:19:50 AM

Quote :

"What confuses me is the wide variety of experiences in Korea....some people get screwed over and some enjoy it and stay for a few more years."

You're going to find that in any country. But I have met a lot of people doing ESL in Asia, and the worst stories always seem to come from Korea. I honestly believe it has to do with shady business practices in the English schools and the government not really caring to enforce what laws they have to protect foreign workers. Why do you think it is so much easier to find employment in Korea than Japan?

If you do decide to go the Korea route, this is advice I have received from many people who taught in Korea. Only go with a company where you have personally talked to people employed there (it's even better if it's someone you know since some companies are known to pay people to say good things about them). Only go with a company that will sponsor your visa BEFORE you arrive in Korea. It's a common practice for the less reputable companies in Korea to claim they'll give you a visa when you show up, then force you to do tourist visa runs every couple of months (which is illegal and if customs decides to stop you on one of your runs you can find yourself deported).

3/13/2009 12:29:32 AM

^thanks for that info. Im going to try and contact Paragon Recruiting to talk to them about the visa process and how much help they can offer if something goes wrong. I knew something was wrong since there are so many positions open and the pay is higher than most other countries, but maybe I will get lucky, though Japan is definitely my first choice.

from what I have read the public schools are better than the "hagwons" since you will always get paid by the government.

3/13/2009 12:46:33 AM

^ Depends on the public school. One of my friends was working for a public high school outside of Seoul. Part of her employment was the agreement that her employer paid for her housing (quite common in Korea from what I've heard). Well, one day the board of education just stopped paying for her apartment. So she had two choices, start paying for the apartment herself and suffer a large pay cut as a result or go back to Australia. She ended up finding another job in China

3/13/2009 2:56:18 AM

My wife and I have several friends teaching in Japan, China, and Korea. They've all had a wonderful experience as far as we know.

3/13/2009 5:21:15 PM

i teach in Taipei right now, it's pretty kick ass. i just started year 2.

i've heard some negative things about Korea from people out here. most people say that it gets boring after ~8 months. are you asian? if you're not, get used to being surrounded by people that work 24/7/365.

3/14/2009 9:16:41 AM

^ how did you get involved with the program in taipei?

3/14/2009 11:21:51 AM