Job Discussion Forums

[mlomker]

[Gordon]

[Tiger Beer]

[VanIslander]

There are countless hundreds of jobs every month advertised for anyone with an undergrad degree to teach in South Korea, for between 2.0 and 2.2 million won plus month's bonus pay at end of year.

With some experience, celta or equivalent or grad degree, one can easily pull one of many 2.3-2.5 mill jobs.

The demand is so high.

2.0 mill a month (low end for newbies) is $26,000 u.s. a year, with free apartment!! for teaching 30 classes, each 50 min. from 3 pm-9pm monday to friday. a VERY TYPICAL position in korean hagwons.

I ate and drank out four days a week, nearly every week, travelled and hotelled on the weekends, made a trip overseas and basically didn't bother ever counting my pennies and still managed to save $10,000 u.s. every year without an iota of effort. "struggling financially" and esl teaching haven't gone hand in hand for me, nor from other esl/eflers in korea that i know of.

i have recently turned down a couple of 2.5 mill offers (i've a few years experience, still...who turns down 7000 u.s. in raises!) in favour of a position that pays 2.2 and only monday-thursday afternoon schedule with three-day weekends and a two-bedroom apart. to myself.

many positions in the middle east are no better, especially once all factors of quality of life are factored in.

japan certainly ain't more lucrative from the advertised positions i've inquired about.

that said..... LOOKING beyond the ads can get one a sweeter job i'm sure.

but for someone looking for the easiest chance at landing a decent pay, South Korea is definitely easy.

Nothing I stated above is beyond the reach of anyone who'd gone to university and got a degree in hand (and two copies of sealed transcripts on order).

btw.... over 30 hours is overtime, standardly here, which means one could make hundreds more per month. BUT... most hagwons DON'T require more than 30 hours a week, from all i've ever heard.

i'll be doing 20-22 classes a week, 50 min. each... which less than average i admit. 30 hours is soooooooo common, like at least two-thirds of all positions if not more.

[Gordon]

VanIslander, what about the private teaching in Korea these days? When I was there in 95, everyone did it, but were always cautious. Immigration was on the lookout, but probably not as much as today. There were always so many other opportunities to make extra cash. My wife and I did some voice recording for toeic books, book illustration, edited a manual and wrote a children's book. This was all far more lucrative than teaching English, but involved a lot more legwork and determination.

[Porlestone]

[Porlestone]

Mlomker, happen to have any good Vietnam blogs off hand that actually present a realistic view of the place? I did a google search and couldn't believe my eyes. It looks like most people do these "look at me! I'm in Vietnam" type of websites and make it sound all rosey. "Look at this, we ate a YUMMY dinner at Ben Thanh Market, it was wonderful!" type of stuff. No one's website seems to offer a realistic view of the immediate society, the racism, the rip offs, the .

This one here is the only I've seen that starts to present the realities of Vietnam: Tales of Asia writeup.

[Gordon]

Thanks Porlestone. I didn't intend to make Vietnam out to be paradise, but I met a number of teachers in Saigon who were happy with their situation. In particular it was those who were involved in other work as well, like translation or writing.
I never said that you can make the most money in Vietnam, I said

[Porlestone]

[JZer]