Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gilgamesh]

Hi all...

I am considering the possibility of bringing my 5 year old son to Korea to stay with me. Has anyone had any experience with this situation?? Imformed advice etc. appreciated...

Thanks

[Corporal]

Your post is a little vague. Are you inquiring about where you will keep him/who will look after him once you're here, or, how he will be treated by the general public, will there be things to keep him entertained, etc. Perhaps you could be more specific about what you want to know.

[The evil penguin]

Teach him how to ddong chim and he'll fit right in.....

[kimcheeking]

Send a pm to Sillywilly she brought her 5 year old son here for one year and has recently gone back to Canada

[The evil penguin]

Hey Gilgamesh, I've just realised that you're in the same little backwater as I am. Jinju, the city of.......well....??? ........ a lot koreans live here....

I ran into an american couple yesterday (the husband is an engineer here) who have a couple of kids. They seem happy. There is an international school in Busan apparently where they send their children. Maybe your son is a bit young for school but it was just an idea.
Bring him. It'd be a great experience (if he remembers it when he grows up).
He could even make a bit of money teaching english at a hagwon. So what if he's only five. He already speaks better english then the hagwon (and university) kids ever will. In fact, he'd probably do a better job at teaching then any of us could. He's already got the right qualifications: he can scribble with crayons and probably knows how to make funny gurgling noises. Perfect.

And if worse comes to worse, you could probably sell for a good price at the local market.

Hope this helps.

[Stunted Wookie]

Our son is Canadian....with another wookie on the way I am considering hiring a cheap Philipino nanny.

You know babysitting my terror is a 3D job!

[Lost Seoul]

Try this link for more info: http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=10&highlight=

Also here is a story from one mum who brought her son to Korea:

=========================
www.koreanesl.com
Name

rosemary ferraro

E-Mail Address

r_ferraro#hotmail.com

Title

Here is my story... (1) (Eng/Kor)

Yes I was in Korea the year before last and before I went over there the company I was
corresponding with said I could willingly bring my little boy aged 7 going
on 8 with me.They said they loved children and the lady who corresponded
with me said her boss would really be good to my son and make sure he was
happy and that he enjoyed his stay there with me.

Well I trusted them and every letter said I must not worry I must just get
there and they would take care of all the arrangements for his schooling in
an English school and if I needed to work at night they would take care of
babysitting etc.

Horrors of horrors!!!!

None of what was told to me in letters on email before I arrived..ever
materialised.

When I enquired about what hours I would work they would not be able to give
me definite hours saying their timetable had not been set but I was not to
worry that they knew I had a son and I would not be left in the lurch if I
had to work late hours.

When I asked about schooling I was told quite clearly that there would be no
problem with schooling but I would need to wait till I got there as that is
how it worked in Korean culture...they would sort everything out when I
arrived.

My parents were very worried and said that they felt the offers were not
clear and something was not quite right,.

Well all to true when I arrived no accommodation was available for my son or
I.They did however put us with a Korean family for 3 weeks and we had to
sleep on the floor and my son found this quite traumatic not having been
prepared for this as well as the fact that the Korean family hardly spoke
English and we were suddenly smelling and eating new foods and could hardly
understand what we were eating ...so the culture shock was immediate!!!!

That was not the worst part thought.I must say the Korean family were very
very kind and we both actually enjoyed their hospitality tremendously.

The horror story was my boss!!!He disliked my son from the moment he set
eyes on him and made it very clear that my son was not to come to my work
during teaching hours.No babysitting facilities were set up and I was told
to simply leave my son with the Korean family all day in this 11 story high
rise building!!!Can you imagine!!!!

I went into a state of shock and my hands broke out in sores I think from
shock as alot of the time the Korean family were not even at home so my son
was at home in the holiday time when I arrived from 8 in the morning till 6
in the evening and he was devastated.He would play in the beating sun all
day and cross traffic by himself...he was only 7 years old...something we
would never ever allow our children to do in a western culture and when he
came to my work my boss would verbally abuse him and he would cry his heart
out.

It was so traumatic and then I was working till 11 at night as my timetable
changed after one month and I had to work from 2 till 11 at night and when I
complained that my son ws on his own at night my boss said he would organise
a babysitter at my cost of 300 000 won!!!!

Then he said he would put him into an international school in Pusan at my
cost again of 650 000 won which in total adds up to 900 000 won when I was
only earning 1.5 million won.I still had to buy food and I went to Korea for
the sole purpose of saving but now it was just a rip off.I was then only
going to lose as my son would never see me if he was in school from 9 till 3
and got home at 4 and I was at work from 2 till 11 at night and it was
costing me just on 900 000 won why did I bother going over to teach?

That was not all though.