Korean Job Discussion Forums

[aka_ericclipperton]

Hi - long time lurker, first time poster. I'm considering moving to Korea in the next few months. A lot of the info I'm looking for I'm sure I can gather from old posts and around the internet, but I thought I'd ask y'all if you have any recommendations as far as where, in terms of both cities and schools, I might look for the best ESL job for me.

Me:

28 year old American male
B.A. in Nothing Useful (actually, double-majored in two doses of Nothing Useful)
5 years or so of professional/semiprofessional employment in the US, none of it Edu-related (nonprofit/gov't sector office jobs, mainly)
TESOL Certification from SIT
15 months teaching at AUA Chiang Mai in Thailand, from summer 2006 until about a year ago
a few months of volunteer teaching with Burmese migrants both in Thailand and the US.
Would prefer to
1. Teach university or adult students, or at least high school. Not a fan of small children, really, and no experience teaching them.
2. Live somewhere large enough to not get bored, but small enough to be able to get around/get out of town/see nature out my window. Ex: in Thailand I easily chose CM over BKK, and here in the states I'd take Portland or Asheville over NY or LA. That kind of thing.
3. Be able to save a bit of money.
4. Enjoy teaching.

Oh - any ideas on the best time w/in the next 6 months to start in Korea?

Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated, and nice to meet you all.

[withnail]

Hey there and welcome to Dave's.

If you really want to teach adults then you should go for a good hagwon and look no further than the posts further down the list on the first page on the Wall Street Institute.

With no ma/experience and unless you have connections it's going to be difficult to get a uni job but not impossible I suppose. I wouldn't rate your chances but there's no harm in applying for the positions which don't insist on an MA. They will start in March and are advertising now. Do check out carefully the locations.

Teaching kids is not as bad as you think and also they are much more forgiving of a rank newbie than adults would be. If you can find a job in a good kids hagwon like Yale or Moonkhang for example you'll get the right input from colleagues/DoS to develop as a teacher.

I don't recommend a public school position for a rank newbie as very large classes can be daunting and you tend to be on your own with no support. I think new teachers are better off not isolated in their first job.

As for location, I think in your first year you could do worse than Daegu where I live and I think it is an ideal introduction to life in Korea before moving on elsewhere. There would also be Pusan (the number 2 city) and of course most will tell you that Seoul is best.

[aka_ericclipperton]

Thanks for the input, withnail, and nice avatar!
I taught classes of around 20 students in Thailand, without co-teachers but with a nice community of other foreign teachers. So yeah, I'd prefer to be somewhere not completely isolated, or with giant classes.
Not to be presumptuous, but the scuttlebutt amongst the English teachers in Thailand was that with ESL certification and a year+ of experience at a well-established school, I could afford to be choosy as far as job-hunting in Korea. Does that seem off base?

[withnail]

oops it seems i didn't read your post well enough. with those credentials you should start applying right away for the 2nd/3rd tier universities of which there are plenty now on the job board...

[aka_ericclipperton]

Heh, no prob. Thanks again for the info.

[The_Source]

Go with either a public high school or an adult hagwon such as Wall Street or Pagoda.

Korean universities should be avoided at all costs.

[PRagic]

First year? Go for a job in Seoul. You'd probably have a better time teaching at WallStreet than at a public school.

And, yes, avoid Korean universities if you are under qualified for the jobs.