Job Discussion Forums

[Mark-O]

Once in a while I like to do something a bit crazy, spontaneous and courageous ... usually this takes the form of me visiting the sister forum for Korea.

Now I know several posters here have taught in Korea before, and it is you who I am looking to for an honest perspective. Is Korea really that bad? The incessant whinging and whining on the forum makes me wonder why anyone bothers teaching out there at all! What happens to these people to make it such an unbearable teaching environment?

[dmb]

I too wonder. I have thought about spending a year in Korea, but the Korean forum puts me off

[Gordon]

It has been a long time since I worked and lived in Korea (1996). However, it isn't as bad as the Korea forum makes it out to be. I think the forum is indicative of the type of teachers in Korea, but not what the teaching is like. The teachers I knew and met in Seoul were really money hungry and cut throat. They would do almost anything for money. I was quite bad myself, but fortunately I grew up and money is not the object of my desire anymore.
When you're in this business for money, you can be difficult to be around. Perhaps, the teachers on the Korea forum want everyone else to be scared off by coming to Korea and therefore can get the jobs more easily themselves. There are enough to go around, but it is with the private students where the money is to made.
Just my 2 cents worth. I do miss the spicy Korean food though, so much better than Japanese food IMO.

[scot47]

Korea is full of insane EFL teachers. Many are from the US but there are others from Canada, Australia, the UK and other parts of Anglophonia

[Gordon]

I admit that the owners of these hogwans (language schools) are the most untrustworthy scumbags one will ever meet. It makes even the sanest teacher become neurotic over time. This is another very real possibility.

[Mark-O]

Gordon,

Is it fair to say that a lot of the teachers out there are very young and inexperienced ... or at least on the forum?

One thing that did strike me on there is the apparent wealth of spare time they have. It is by no means rare to have posters on there with 1000's of posts accumulated in a matter of weeks! That computes to average posting of double figures a day, making our very own Roger's stats look feeble!

I would like to know more about TEFL in Korea, but the Korean forum doesn't look like the best place to get it from.

[Gordon]

[justcolleen]

[lagerlout2006]

Gordon I think is right that teachers are there ONLY to save money. They would rather be at home and complain all the time..There are happy teachers but many - likr thboard who complain about everything..It gets tiresome.

And no it is not a case of a light workload. For one thing there are few holidays..Longest are 3 days each for Lunar New Year and Thanksgiving..And if they fall on Sat and Sunday guess what? That break becomes a long weekend..I was there one stretch when every damn public holiday fell on a Sunday.

Work itself is not so bad--although kids can be nasty--but at hakwons I was always left alone and paid on time etc etc...

Yes the amount of posting there is absurd..I think there was thread a while back that hit 100 pages...Not a typo---100.

[lajzar]

I used to work in Korea.

Never again

[hamel]

hey guys, be careful with generalizations about teachers in korea.

[Gordon]

[Bindair Dundat]

[shmooj]

From someone who spends a lot of time on both forums I think you have to really read the Korean forum widely to see that it also has the very balanced views of the long-termers too. I have actually met two of the long-termers through the forum though I've only been here six months - both on separate occasions too. They were people who really enjoyed Korea and they helped me enjoy it more too.

Don't forget too that Korea (especially Seoul) is one of the most wired places on earth. Almost every teacher has immediate access to ADSL/Cable connections if not at home, certainly at PC rooms that profilerate across the city. It is really easy therefore for Korean forum teachers to post and be part of the forum. Not so for many of us in other parts of the world.

Also, the Korean forum has it all. You can find something for everyone there hence the high post rate and the huge range of forums there. The rest of the world forum is just too thin on the ground to really enable people to amass huge amounts of posts unless they are really well travelled and experienced.

A view from this side of Seoul Tower...

[leeroy]

When in need of amusement I sometimes head off over to the Korea forums. Man, that place sounds awful! I'm not sure which sounds closer to hell though - Korea or China...