Korean Job Discussion Forums

[galbi]

Hi. I'm currently a 19 year old Korean-American college student. I am in my second year of community college and will be transferring to one of the UC(University of California) schools next year.

I want to teach in Korea inbetween transferring from my community college to a UC. I have been doing a lot of research about teaching in Korea and have learned its pretty limited without a 4 year degree. I know my best option at the moment is TaLK (Teach and Learn in Korea) which is the public program designed for current college students from native English speaking countries.

But this brings me to the question: Is TaLK my only option?

TaLK seems great, but there are two things I am hesitant about:
1. TaLK is for teaching children in early primary school; I'd rather teach older students (junior high?).
2. According to the TaLK website, the program is mainly designated in rural areas. I would prefer to teach in a metropolitan area such as Seoul. (though metropolitan cities such as Incheon and Daegu are listed as cities for the TaLK program; anyone know anything about this?)

Here are some of my informal and formal "credentials":
.Fluent in Korean
.Will have an Associate's degree after my second year at community college
.Majoring in History
.Scored in the 90th percentile for English/Writing on the SAT's as well as a 4/5 on the Languge and Composition AP exam(yeah, I doubt these will help, but throwing it in here just in case.)

Furthermore, would getting an online TEFL certificate help my situation at all?

Thanks in advance!

[PRagic]

Coming over on the F4 ('Gyopo') visa might be an option, but you'd have to check around and get input from other Gyopo. Imagine that you'd be able to get a job teaching older kids, or maybe even test-prep. While your scores were decent, they still prefer to tout a big-name, 4-year degree holding teacher to the parents, though. In the end, if you'll work cheaper, you'll get the work.

How long do you expect to teach 'between degrees'? That could be a factor as employers would naturally want someone who could teach for a year or so. IMHO, it'd be better to just knock out the BA and then come over.

Good luck with it all...

[Slowmotion]

How do you score that high and end up at a community college???

[Louis VI]

Lots of gyopos without degrees are teaching here these days. You'll fit right in.

[engrishprease]

[galbi]

[northway]

If you're Kyopo it makes things a bit easier. My school has hired a couple Kyopo temporarily and paid them quite well. Finding a permanent job would be a bit harder.

[PRagic]

Even if you have great grades and score in the top 1% on the SAT, unless a 4-year school is forking over serious scholarship money, why not go to a community college? You get a degree in the process, knock out your pre-requisites and a lot of the fluff courses, and might even figure out what you want to do. For many who don't do will in high school, whether because of aptitude or lack of effort (see the OP's previous post), a 2-year school can be a confidence booster, too. You can always transfer, and your final 4-year diploma will read just the same as someone who paid that extra 10K-50K+ for theirs.

As for scholarships and aid, in the end they are impacted by the income of your family regardless of whether or not they will be paying anything toward your tuition.

Having said all this, my 2 cents is that the OP should just knock out the BA as soon as possible. I took a break from my BA studies, and all it showed me was that I really needed to finish the degree. Now I know why everyone told me then what I'm suggesting to the OP now - don't put it off because a) it's nice to make money and be 'free' of college for now, but one can get sucked in by having a bit of spread money and/or accumulate responsibilities in the process, and b) by the time you may be presented with opportunities, not having the degree may shut the door for you.

Again, just my 2 cents. Nobody could tell me different then, so I don't imagine this will turn out any differently.

[PRagic]

Oh, and as for how to get jobs, you can look in the ads on Dave's. Also, I think there is a thread for private teaching.

[pkjh]

[galbi]