Korean Job Discussion Forums

[littleemperor]

HI

i'm thinking of coming to korea to teach children, i'm an ESL teacher and have thought in china for two years at the moment i'm teaching autistic kids in ireland. korea looks good from the all the jobs postings but i have heard some rather negative reports from friends. is it as bad as they say?, am i mad to teach children? any advice would be very welcome

thanks

little emperor

[buddy bradley]

Ireland? Don't go to Helios, it's mad over there! MAD!!!

[Derrek]

It all comes down to the school. I'm at a really nice school now. But before this one, I had two bad experiences sandwiched between this school and another. It's totally "hit and miss".

The bad thing about Korea is that you are sort of stuck if you have problems with your school. The way visas work here, it's not easy to go to another place if there are problems. You need to get a release letter from your current school before you can be hired elsewhere legally. And many employers, if you have problems with them, are often reluctant to provide the release letter.

You can have a positive experience here, but my advice is to have some cash in reserve if problems arise.

[captain kirk]

A newbie question. Nobody wants to answer froshy questions but I was asking the same on the China board so I'll answer. It's annoying when no-one answers. The best thing is to read the whole board; go back, back, back.
The thing I find most annoying is the one year contract and the difficulty in getting out of it. The boss knows you are bound for a year and capitalizes on this, squeezing you. You can't go anywhere or do anything but comply. It's extremely annoying. Coupled with this is the hierarchical nature of society where the boss is to be honoured and butt-kissed. However, he's just in it for the money. However, teaching is done with the heart; you are the fun babysitter and teacher for little kids. To do a good job you have to go all out and entertain, come up with new ideas, go out of your way. But it's not usual for the boss to compliment you on a job well done. In my experience, the only 'feedback' is negative; 'you messed up, shame on you'. The culture is concerned about 'face', so the boss floats around trying to make himself look good. If anything you do interferes with that (if you act like a westerner and not a korean) you, being at the bottom of the hierarchy, will get blasted 'out of the blue'. It is perfectly appropriate here for a boss to berate the underlings. Koreans put down their head and stand passively 'taking it'. It's amazing. But a westerner is already stressed from being out of their element, as well as receiving unspoken (or spoken) criticism simply for being non-korean and therefore 'bad'. So when the boss takes advantage of his right to loudly talk down to employees as if it is 'the father' berating a naughty child, you have had just about enough. But if you talk back, the boss leaps back and the public opinion around the office will be you are 'public enemy number one'. What kind of employee would talk back to/discredit the boss, cause him to 'lose face'. It's akin to being an ungrateful child; monstrous! However, the boss doesn't want to lose you and will cover up and regain face. As well, the boss serves you by explaining what you do in class in a way that soothes parents. However, he gets so 'close to you' by constantly standing up for you and explaining your 'differentness' to mothers that he is a little annnoyed; why can't you be Korean and normal?
This can build up some impatience and resentment towards you. The most important thing is how you get along with the boss. In Korea you put your own interests aside and please the boss, at least give that appearance.
It's a long haul. And the boss can be fickle, trying to please the customers (mothers) and 'back-stabbing'/not listening to you.
I don't know what it's like working in China so as to compare Korea to China. Besides, this is just my own opinion.

[canuckistan]

James T, that sounds about right.

[Clutch Cargo]

Beam me up - Spock out

[jajdude]

Captain Kirk has some good points, but if you are lucky you might get a boss who understands western culture. Maybe he's been there, maybe he speaks English well. If so then that is certainly in your favor. Then he might not treat you as a Korean! Plus he wants to keep you, as there is usually some trouble and expense required to get you. And if he has any empathy or common (not so common?) sense he will realize you are a foreigner in a strange country. Or if he dealt with many foreign teachers and not screwed them over, that's good too. Talk to the other teachers. If some are in a second year or more at the same place, that could be great news.