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Korean Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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karmarooster
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:12 pm Post subject: questions: TESL cert, salary, housing, curriculum, etc |
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OK i finally got my account activated by the moderator. i have been reading these forums and coming up more questions than i have found answers. let me start....
1. TESL certificate. It is my understanding that certification falls into two basic categories: an online course of approx 40-60 hrs, as well an in-person certificate from an institute that is 100 hrs and includes observation and student teaching.
obviously the 100 hr course is the better option; my question is, 'How do these certificates affect pay?' Would the online course allow me to command a higher monthly salary, if only 100,000 per month? What about the more 'legit' certificate?
2. salary. I have a BA in Comparative Literature from the University of Virginia. i have traveled abroad (to Italy for 1 semester) and participated in immersion language courses (in Italian). I am a twenty-something, not over-weight, and white; i have no problem playing the 'token American' role for a school. (these things feel horrible to say, but i understand that they are important in Korea). I know the ballpark monthly salary is 2.0 mil for a first-year teacher. Can i reasonably ask for more, considering that my degree is in literature and from a top university?
3. classroom. Is it reasonable for a first year teacher to begin teaching high-school level? I ask this because i am more interested in teaching literature than basic language. To all of the high school teachers out there: what books do you teach? I would love to teach the books that inspired my own interest in literature. I was wondering if these would be too difficult for high-school level Koreans: A Separate Peace, The Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc.
4. housing. Most positions offer a furnished apartment, some offer 300,000 - 500,000 per month housing allowance. I was considering the allowance option, because it would allow me to contribute 200,000 or so from my paycheck and live in a slightly 'upgraded' apartment. The problem, it seems, is this 'key money,' which i understand to be equivalent to a deposit. Does anyone have experience with this? Is it possible for the school to still provide the key money for an apartment of my choice?
5. application. I have created a blog to post my resume, contact information, as well as a description of the job i am seeking. i was planning on contacting 5+ recruiters and giving them the url. However I am unsure how a potential employer from another culture would interpret this. Here is an excerpt:
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My ideal teaching position would include the following qualities:
1. High school level, public or private school
2. The possibility of teaching Literature
3. 22-25 contact teaching hours per week, no more than 10 prep hours per week: 35 hours max
4. The possibility of over time for at least 20,000 KRW per hour
5. +20 days vacation time, plus all National holidays
6. No Saturdays
7. Round-trip airfare
8. Housing provided or reasonable housing allowance
9. 300,000 KRW settlement upon arrival
10. N.I.H.C. Health Plan
11. National pension plan
12. +2.0 million KRW monthly salary
13. References: 5 current and 5 past teachers' email addresses
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I want to be very specific about the exact job i am seeking; i don't want to offend any potential employers. I am concerned that this comes across as demanding. However i am worried after reading many, many horror stories, and i want to clearly define the job i am seeking. did anyone else use a blog as an electronic resume?
Anything else i should consider?
thanks in advance |
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icicle
Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Location: Gyeonggi do Korea
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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If I was you I would not give your full "wish" list to recruiters, but rather use your full list to evaluate the job offers you receive and in deciding which one to go with. I would determine which things would be real "deal breakers" for you. Looking at your list I suspect that High School level and a possibility of teaching literature would be in this category.
I think that some of the things which you have listed will not usually be found in the same job. So would be best not included in a "must have" list. It might limit the sorts of jobs you will be offered ... You would be better off using your list to evaluate what you are offered ...
Some of the things which you have listed are things you would not need to list in detail. As they are likely to be part of any good job. I put airfare, health insurance and pension in that category. I put those in the category of "things I expect to find" which would make me reject a given job but not needing to be spelt out up front.
If you want the airfare to Korea paid up front rather than reimbursed after you arrive (ie you buy the ticket they pay later) then I would include an Airfare paid up front requirement in my initial list.
I would not include a salary of 2.0 million plus on the list because to me that is a given. Most of the job offers will have a salary of more than 2.0 million - maybe not a lot more - but still more than that. It might give you lower pay offers than you otherwise might get. It would be better to wait and see what sort of offers you get. |
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plynx

Joined: 03 Jun 2008
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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no offense, but you do sound a bit demanding for someone who has never taught in korea before. the 20+ vacation days is pretty much a joke for most people out there with no experience, regardless of your BA in comparative lit. from virginia (which won't get you any farther than my BA in art history). the URL for your requests will only throw the recruiters off. tell the recruiters about yourself and the kind of jobs you're looking for in the form of a cover letter.
on another note, i was a literature instructor for my second contract in korea. it has been my favorite position so far, and i got to teach a number of the books you mentioned. if you'd like more information, i could send you specific details. |
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Bibbitybop

Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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OP, your desires sound like almost a perfect match for SMOE. They offer 21 business days of vacation and you don't work Sat. or Sun. However, they may not place you at a high school. Some people are placed there, but the large majority are at middle or elementary schools.
Go to the SMOE ETIS website, read their instructions and apply for SMOE through only ONE recruiter. You can use multiple recruiters for all jobs in Korea, but SMOE says they throw out candidates who apply to SMOE through more than one recruiter (a stupid, stupid rule). |
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karmarooster
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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plynx -
what books did you find 'best suited'? and which books were difficult?
thanks |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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www.korvia.com now recruits specifically for public school jobs, I believe. They don't want to deal with hagwons anymore. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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Bibbitybop wrote: |
You can use multiple recruiters for all jobs in Korea, but SMOE says they throw out candidates who apply to SMOE through more than one recruiter (a stupid, stupid rule). |
I am guessing the reason for this is because they don't want candidates to be able to choose from multiple jobs -- they want to stick them into the holes they want to. As I understand it, each recruiter is allowed only a certain number of public school positions to sell, which they "pre-buy" or something of that nature. Not sure how that works, or if that's totally correct, but I do know not every recruiter is allowed to offer every job.
I read on here that all public school positions are controlled centrally by one person, who is a family member of someone in the gov't, and they get a kickback from each position filled. |
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BS.Dos.

Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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Teaching English Lit in a PHS? Good luck to you although your CTs might have a few things to say about it as will your students who wont have the faintest idea what you're talking about.
Not sure what kind of level you expect to be teaching, but for the vast majority, simply getting them to tell you where they live etc is hard work. You might be able to arrange an after school class with your school or something, but most HS students already have far, far too much studying to do to be worrying about reading the classics.
Good luck with your search. |
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karmarooster
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:04 am Post subject: |
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hmmm so on the one hand...
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on another note, i was a literature instructor for my second contract in korea. it has been my favorite position so far, and i got to teach a number of the books you mentioned. if you'd like more information, i could send you specific details. |
and on the other hand...
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Teaching English Lit in a PHS? Good luck to you although your CTs might have a few things to say about it as will your students who wont have the faintest idea what you're talking about. |
btw, what are CTs?
Is there any consensus regarding high school level abilities? if korean children start learning basic English in kindergarten, what is normal by high school? i gather from reading many posts that the education system in SK is, shall we say, 'lacking.' but surely some progress must be evident after 10+ years, right? maybe the books i mentioend (A seperate peace, lord of the flies, and to kill a mockingbird) are too advanced... after all, i read most of them in junior-high or high school myself! comments?
on this subject, does anyone have anything to say about language abilities among public high-school students versus private high-school students? can one assume that private school students are more advanced? |
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plynx

Joined: 03 Jun 2008
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 3:00 pm Post subject: |
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OP - i didn't teach at a high school. i actually taught for a test prep agency. the hours weren't too bad (except the saturdays), and the pay was MUCH higher than your quest for 2.1 mil. my students were those that attended the international schools (KIS, SIS, etc.) and were close to fluent in English. most of the literature was chosen from the standard classics/prize-winning categories in children's books. students aged 8-14.
the younger students read charlotte's web, tuck everlasting, a christmas carol, charlie and the chocolate factory, etc. they weren't quite as enthusiastic as the older students, who read wuthering heights, lord of the flies, shakespeare, etc. granted, my higher level classes were a bit tougher because of the content, but participation depends on how you teach the subject matter. my students kept enrolling each month and some even invited their friends. if you're really interested in teaching lit., i suggest you go for the test prep agencies, who frequently have summer intensives with reading classes, and sometimes continue to hire for the year. the vacation is crap to non-existent, but it is honestly a great teaching gig in terms of variety. |
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BS.Dos.

Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 3:39 pm Post subject: |
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CTs = Co-Teacher.
I teach at a Private Boys High School and from what I've heard from other FTs who teach at technical and vocational HS, the ability of PHS is indeed significantly higher. Not surprisingly, the better students (I also teach at a girls MS) are the ones who also go to hagwons.
I don't want to sound patronising or condescending, but I think you should put your ambitious plans on hold for the time being until you get here really. Over the last 11-months, my experience has taught me that the CTs would not be that interested in you developing their reading and comprehension skills and will probably insist that you stick with conversational based stuff. We're ultimately trying to get them to converse independently and I'm not sure that memorizing text is the best way to do that. It may help their pronunciation and reading skills but it wont help their fluency.
A lot will depend on your school etc, but I very much doubt that they'll lay out cash for you to buy loads of books etc. I think it could work in small doses though, say, getting them to role play dialogues, but the amount of time it'll take to pre-teach any unfamiliar vocab would mean it'll probably take a year or two to finish the book. A lot of the students will also get very bored reading and practicing a couple of pages per lesson of a book that in all likelihood, they wont be interested in. Also, if you're at a big school, then you may only see your students once a week or, in some cases, once a fortnight and you'll need to ask yourself how long you'll be happy teaching the same couple of pages 20 odd times per week. |
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Easter Clark

Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Location: Hiding from Yie Eun-woong
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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At my high school the Korean English teachers teach reading from a Korean English textbook complete with Konglish expressions and unnatural-sounding English! It's a privately owned/publicly funded vocational high school, and many of the students struggle to answer the question "How are you?" Some can't even read the alphabet.
If it's your first year in Korea then you should probably resign yourself to teaching conversation. If you luck out and get a job at a high school where the level of English is high, you may be able to incorporate some lit into your classes but only in small segments (i.e., give them a passage and link your conversation/speaking aims to that).
Also in my experience it doesn't matter where your degree is from in general, unless you want to look into foreign language high schools but then you'll need to be able to teach SAT prep...in which case you'd better have damn good SAT scores. Otherwise, a degree from Columbia in Astrophysics is the same as a degree from XYZ University in Golf. |
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plynx

Joined: 03 Jun 2008
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:52 am Post subject: |
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Easter Clark wrote: |
Also in my experience it doesn't matter where your degree is from in general, unless you want to look into foreign language high schools but then you'll need to be able to teach SAT prep...in which case you'd better have damn good SAT scores. Otherwise, a degree from Columbia in Astrophysics is the same as a degree from XYZ University in Golf. |
it's all about how you sell yourself. i made almost 3 mil./month the first year i worked in korea...for 30 hours a week (and a B.A. from one of the smallest private schools in the U.S.). then i made about 5.8 mil./month the second year i worked. my SAT scores were SHIT. math is a killer for me. but i can self-promote myself like it's nobody's business. don't settle for anything less than what you think your time is worth. it might be hard to find, but the jobs are out there. ESPECIALLY with a lit. concentration. |
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Bibbitybop

Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:34 am Post subject: |
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bassexpander wrote: |
Bibbitybop wrote: |
You can use multiple recruiters for all jobs in Korea, but SMOE says they throw out candidates who apply to SMOE through more than one recruiter (a stupid, stupid rule). |
I am guessing the reason for this is because they don't want candidates to be able to choose from multiple jobs -- they want to stick them into the holes they want to. As I understand it, each recruiter is allowed only a certain number of public school positions to sell, which they "pre-buy" or something of that nature. Not sure how that works, or if that's totally correct, but I do know not every recruiter is allowed to offer every job.
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I don't think it that's the reason. It's claimed to be a paperwork/organizational reason. They just don't want to deal with the same name more than once, or recruiters fighting over one candidate.
Teachers can still use all the recruiters they want, but they can only apply to SMOE through one recruiter. So a teacher can have 15 recruiters and do all kinds of interviews, but needs to make sure only one recruiter sends their application to SMOE. To be safe, I would recommend applicants apply to SMOE through one recruiter and tell all the others "NO SMOE!" |
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talika
Joined: 30 May 2008
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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If you really want to teach English literature at a high school level in Korea, your best bet might be international schools or private high schools in Korea. But I imagine that you might need B.ED or MA -- I'm not sure on the specifics. But level wise, I think these type of schools are what you are looking for. These schools are basically oriented toward the prospect of sending their students to N. American universities or Ivy league schools. |
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