Korean Job Discussion Forums

[GinnyKelley]

I'm currently at University studying Arabic, Russian, and Sanskrit and have an opportunity to enter an interdisciplinary BA in Second Language Studies. I'm planning on teaching in South Korea for at least two years after graduation... Will the degree increase income or job opportunities? Are there schools that require advanced teaching degrees?

Thanks

[jennzy]

ba=ba

the only way you have a ba and get a pay up from the bottom of the ba totem pole is if ur ba is in english. or b.ed

i have a ba in music education, and a minor in eng lit and i'm at the bottom of the totem pole

[Chambertin]

Be an interpreter.
If you can really speak multiple languages skip Korea and get in where there are jobs.

Then again college did little for me in speaking a second language.

[toadhjo]

[CentralCali]

[frankly speaking]

I had a colleague who had an MA in Linguistics and her thesis was on Star Wars Languages. Tell me how does that help someone teach English as a foreign language.

If your degree focused on English as a second or foreign language. Learned about native language interference specifically emphasising on Korean students, then how does knowing sancrit help you teach English?

I don't disregard anyone's degree. There is nothing as a useless degree, but you need to show how your experiences and knowledge applies to the jobs that you want. Until you have taught English as a foreign language and have had good academic directors showing you how to develop curriculum and create effective testing strategies, what can you do that anyone else cannot do?

I will never understand people that have no practical applicable experience think that they deserve more money or opportunity because of their degree.

My advice is to get some classroom teaching experience before coming over. Even some part time substitute jobs will help you with classroom management and other things that you will face. It may not help with the specific areas of teaching English as a foreign language but it will help a little.

A degree without experience offers very little. Don't expect too much or you might get dissapointed. If you get a higher salary, you are usually required to do a lot more. Most new teachers cannot handle doing everything that is required for the positions that pay more.

[CentralCali]

[frankly speaking]

I also studied linguistics in my first undergraduate degree. I focused on classical languages. I wasn't stating that it is a useless degree. However, since there isn't usually a component to teaching, it doesn't provide actual practical application to the foreign language classroom.

Without practical classroom experience in teaching EFL, no matter what degree one has it will be difficult for a school to know that the candidate can handle the room.

A good math teacher from Canada does not necessarily make a good EFL teacher in Korea. Without having some experience in the actual field, I wouldn't pay more for a teacher just because of degree.

I will never understand why people always talk about a degree in basket weaving when reffering to useless education. I have never met anyone with that degree and doubt that it even exists. Perhaps a BA in art with a focus on fiber arts. Even if it were a real degree, why would it be useless? Any degree especially grad and post graduate degrees offer one important element; the ability to research and find information. Anyone that has completed a legitimate degree from a university should have the ability to independantly research any topic and thus could gather information about second language acquisition, phoenemes, syntax, grammar structures, etc.

[Ukon]

[GinnyKelley]

[Chambertin]

GinnyKelly

The answer was given in the first response made by jenzy.
It doesn�t matter what worth you, or your school, or any other system places in the degree or portions of it. The system in Korea only cares if it is BA-English or B-ED.

Teaching is a part of many disciplines, but unless you have experience teaching or a specific education degree it doesn�t give you much of a leg up in a teaching job.
A degree in Linguistics may be very useful, but it is not a specific language or teaching discipline. I believe what most people are trying to say is that, objectively:
Linguistics is not the learning of languages.
It is the learning of the general process of language.
Linguistics is not learning the process of teaching languages.
It is the learning of how language is used / acquired.

While it may seem unfair or odd, objectively it is just another degree in learning. They want English or English teaching for these jobs. I respect linguistics, but it doesn�t offer much unless it is combined with a specific teaching or language discipline.

Try a path tailored to your specialty in languages and you will most likely find much better pay and respect by applying your degree.