Story: Teaching English in South Korea

Part One: Should I Go To South Korea To Teach?

So, for whatever reason, you’ve started thinking about getting a job in South Korea teaching English. Well, before you hop on a plane, there are some important questions you should ask yourself. “Why?” is a good question to start off this introspective. Once you have an answer to “why?” check out the questions I have for you below:

Are you looking for easy money while getting a chance to see Asia? So many people come to Korea to teach thinking that’s exactly what they’re going to get – easy money and a chance to see Asia. If this is all or part of your reasoning, you should keep the following in mind: Jobs in Korea are just that – jobs. Koreans tend to have an extremely high work-ethic and will expect the same of you. The Korean peninsula is small enough that you can see a lot of it on the weekends, and you will be in a good position to “see Asia” once your contract is finished – just don’t expect your time there to be a paid vacation.

Do you like working with children? While there are certainly jobs available in Korea teaching English to adults, the majority of the ESL/EFL jobs available to foreigners involve children. At my most recent job in Korea, I taught kids in first through eighth grade; many foreigners teach kindergarteners and preschoolers as well. Keep in mind that teaching little kids requires a special kind of patience that not everyone possesses. If you’re not one of those people who can work well with the little ones, don’t sign up for a job teaching them.

How willing are you to spend a year outside of your comfort zone? KOREA IS NOT A WESTERN COUNTRY. This might seem obvious to some of you, but you’d be surprised how many westerners get here and are simply crushed by the differences – and there are MANY differences. They speak a different language, use a different alphabet, and (in many cases) practice a different religion. Unless you’re ethnically Asian, you’ve no chance of blending in. The streets are more crowded – not to mention much dirtier. You’ll have frequent opportunities to use squatty-potties. The food is quite different, as are the fashions. While you can find many Western goods, you’ll have a hard time finding everything you’re accustomed to. I could easily fill an entire book enumerating the difference between Korea and the West. Certainly, Korea is a modern country, and you can dine at McDonald’s and Starbucks if you so desire… HOWEVER, sometimes life in Korea can be extremely frustrating, even to the most well-adapted Westerner. If you’re looking for the comforts of *your* home with different scenery, Korea probably isn’t the place for you; to live in Korea you need to be able to embrace the absurdities, accept the differences, and adapt.

Part Two: Finding an ESL Job in Korea

The most important thing to do when looking for a job in Korea is RESEARCH. I came to South Korea for the first time in 2001. I took my recruiter’s words at face value and did not do any research prior to signing the contract. What a mistake! The job I landed was a nightmare, and I ended up breaking my contract and leaving the country in the middle of the night. Many people do like I did: come to Korea without doing a lot of research only to find themselves in a hellish situation. Please, do yourself a favor and don’t make that mistake!

First of all, where do you want to live? Some people find that even though they enjoy living in foreign countries, they really need regular contact with English speaking expatriates in order to maintain sanity. Others want to go for full immersion in a foreign culture, limiting contact to as few people from their homeland as possible. Many people are in the middle. Where do you fall on this spectrum? Large cities such as Seoul, Daegu and Busan have large expat populations. This means that these cities have plenty of “foreigner bars” and plenty of opportunities to meet people from home, if you so desire. Even in large cities, school components differ. Some schools have large foreign staffs, while other schools only employ one foreigner. Additionally, smaller cities have fewer foreigners. Keep in mind what sort of experience you’re looking for when you consider school size and location.

The majority of ESL/EFL jobs available to foreigners in South Korea are at hogwans – private academies which students attend after public school. (That being said, there are certainly other ESL/EFL job opportunities available in Korea. I am going to discuss hogwans, as they make up the bulk of the jobs available, and as I have personal experience in the hogwan industry.) There are many, many hogwan franchises in Korea. This means that many schools share the same name, even though they are owned and operated by different people. Some hogwan chains have bad reputations overall, while some chains have excellent reputations. That being said, the quality of the school will vary by school.

It is important to get the full name and location of any school you are considering. For example: the hogwan I most recently worked for is part of the Oedae Language Institute chain of schools. Googling Oedae Language Institute gets you a lot of information, but scrolling through the first few pages of search results gets you nothing on my particular branch. However, Googling Ansim Oedae Language gets you information about my school in particular. Google is an excellent source of information on schools in South Korea.

If you are using a recruiting service to help you find a position, you should also Google the name of your recruiter and his/her organization. Recruiters get paid a finders fee for every person they place. While there are certainly many reputable recruiters, there are also those who will tell you whatever they think you want to hear in order to get you to sign with a school. There are plenty of blacklists out there, so if your recruiter has been up to no good, it’s probably been documented online.

In addition to simply using Google, there are several online forums, such as Dave’s ESL Café (www.eslcafe.com), which are great places to pose questions about a specific school, recruiter, city, etc.

Once you’ve found a school or schools for which you are interesting in working, and once you’ve vetted the school/s on Google and Dave’s ESL Café, it’s time to get actual live references. Ask the school to provide contact information for both current and former teachers. If you are replacing someone, try to get in contact with that person. Find out why he/she is leaving. Is it because his/her contract is over, or is it because he/she is unhappy? Ask as many questions as you can think of. Here are some examples:

How many classes do you teach per day?
How many hours are you at school per day?
How many students are in each class? What are their ages?
How does the school deal with disciplinary problems?
What teaching materials/supplementals are available?
How much time do you spend preparing for classes?
Do you work on weekends?
What administrative/non-teaching duties are you expected to perform? How much time do they take?
Do you receive your pay on time?
Do you have health insurance and a health card?
What is your apartment like?

The last step before agreeing to work for a school is signing the contract. Read the contract carefully. Make sure that you understand everything in the contract. If you have ANY questions about the contract, ask to have them clarified before signing. If there are any segments of your contract which seem vague, rewrite those sections in specific language and ask that you be allowed to sign the amended contract. If you think anything about the contract seems suspicious, check with others on Dave’s ESL Café. (Also, one thing to remember – contracts are based on teaching hours. Teaching hours and working hours are different. I taught approximately 24 hours a week, but I was at work about 37 or so hours a week. That gave me perfect time to plan lessons, take lunch/dinner breaks, etc. Take a close look at required duties other than teaching as listed in your contract – some schools will require many hours of administrative duties. As these are not “teaching hours” they are unpaid and do not count towards overtime!)

Part Three: Getting to South Korea

In many cases, when you are offered a job in Korea, you will be expected to come immediately. Most arrangements are not made months in advance. This means that there’s a strong chance that you’ll find yourself running around like mad, trying to get everything done for your work visa – not to mention preparing yourself to leave your country for a year.

In order to get an E2 Working Visa for teaching English in Korea, you will need either your original college diploma or a copy of your diploma that has been certified by a South Korean Consulate. You will also need an official copy of your college transcript. This is the law. If you are unable or unwilling to provide these documents to provide these documents, you will be unable to work legally in Korea. Immigration law in Korea is constantly changing, especially since the discovery of a wanted pedophile teaching at a hogwan. You may be required to submit a copy of your FBI (or country equivalent) background check and/or be interviewed at the nearest Korean consulate.

If a school needs you NOW, they may ask you to come to Korea on a tourist visa. If you come to Korea on a tourist visa, you MUST make a visa run to Japan before you begin teaching. You cannot legally teach without an E2 visa. This means that you must leave Korea, go to Japan (usually Fukuoka), and apply in person at the South Korean Consulate for your working visa. You will need your diploma and transcript for this. It is illegal to work in South Korea without a work visa. If you get caught working without your visa, this will result in a fine and deportation. Do not agree to work without a visa!

While you’re getting your paperwork taken care of, you should also be packing. Remember, you’re going to be gone for a year. Korea is a modern country, and you can find plenty of the things you’ll need here. However, the most important thing to bring is DEODORANT. While deodorant is more available in Seoul than in other areas, it is still very difficult to find. When it comes to make-up, hair-care, skin-care, and feminine products, there are plenty of these products here. If you absolutely must have a certain brand of such a product, you’ll probably need to bring a year’s supply, but if you’re not too picky, there are plenty of quality Korean products to choose from. (Also, I have incredibly pale skin for a white girl, and yet even I have no trouble finding make-up which matches my skin-tone in South Korea.)
South Korea uses different shaped plugs and 220v electrical current. You should, at the very least, bring plug adapters with you if you’re bringing any electronics. If your country (like the United States) uses 110v electricity, you’ll need a power converter too. Power converters are available over here, and as they’re rather heavy and luggage has weight limits, you might be better off buying one over here if you don’t already have one. But definitely buy yourself plug adapters. You might also need some 3-2 converters, as a lot of electrical things are three-pronged and a lot of the plug adapters only have two-pronged holes.

It’s a good idea to come to Korea with enough cash to support yourself during your first month, as you won’t be paid until a month after your arrival. Some schools will provide you with cash advances if you ask, but not all.

You will be expected to begin working on the day your contract starts. Check your contract so you won’t be surprised! Keep in mind that just because you’re in a foreign country, you will still be expected to behave professionally. Behavior which would get you fired back home (ie, not showing up for work because you’re intoxicated) will get you fired in Korea, just as it would in your home country.

When you get to Korea, your employer must arrange for you to get a resident alien card, health insurance and a pension. This might take a few weeks, but all of these things are required by law. As the law stands now, you will get all of your pension contributions, plus the contributions your school makes to your pension fund, refunded to you when you finish your contract and leave the country. Since you get back double what you put in, you’ll make money off of this; don’t let your school cheat you out of it!

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