Job Discussion Forums

[AndyRoofman]

Hi everyone

After too long in South Korea, I am finally returning home (personal reasons) for an extended stay and hope to secure work with one of the private language institutes (the NEAS website lists 22) in my home city of Perth, after a short holiday in Europe.

I am CELTA qualified and have around one and a half years teaching experience in South Korea, in addition to a business degree and substantial real world experience. Having viewed the TEFL.com site (and as an avid reader of Daves cafe), I would meet the basic standards for employment with most organizations listed- however, I have two important and possibly bleeding obvious questions.

These are:
1.) My Korean experience is teaching 8-13 year old kids at an after school academy (Hogwan), which is the starting out point for many prospective long term western teachers. Teaching at one of these academies requires first class organisation skills and a great deal of patience but the reality of these places are that they really serve as glorified after school day care centres rather than serious language institutes. Can anyone advise me as to whether prospective employers are likely to frown upon this Korean experience (ie it doesn't constitute real teaching experience), meaning I should come back to Korea or elsewhere after a well earned holiday and secure myself an adult teaching or public school position?
2.) In Korea we are salaried for all work we provide, however the pay at Australian institutes seems very good (I have seen figures of $40A+ quoted on Davescafe). Even if this is piecemeal, I need to know and assume that this doesn't include preparation time (much like uni tutoring- ie you are paid for one hour but prepare one to two hours for the lesson, therefore the pay is more like $A15 per hour)?


Many thanks

Andrew