Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pindleton]

The calculating arithmetic binds the anguish in a fun thoroughfare. The meat mends without the reasoned newspaper. The mountain ace fasts over the infinite alternative. Each frustrating household turns the lunchtime.

[Died By Bear]

Never put yourself into a situation that is/will be out of your control because of a lack of funds to make your escape. Never. Always have a back up plan. Especially in Korea.

[asc422]

I'll help ya.

Step 1: Apply for your passport now.
Step 2: Apply for an FBI background check in Jan.-Feb.
Step 3: Get your degree. Take your degree to a notary (bank, fed ex, etc.). Get the degree copied THEN notarized with a sworn statement ("This is a real copy" or whatever). Send that to the Secretary of State in your state for an apostille. All the apostilles around your area look good, i.e. flashy and nice (GA, NC, SC) so you'll be fine with that.
Step 4: Apostille your FBI check the same way.
Step 5: Start talking to recruiters around March. Use 5-7 recruiters.

The recruiter will guide you through the rest of the process.

You are way, way too far out to get worried about anything. The market will shift before you arrive and most advice you get now will be changed, especially after the Visa regulations take effect. I'd just recommend graduating and getting a passport.

About the ATL consulate: Don't worry about this now. You need a Visa Issuance Number from your school first which you will get after you send all your documents to Korea for processing. The ATL consulate doesn't require an appointment if you a returning teacher. For you, they will require an appointment set up over email. You'll have to do a quick interview. It takes like 20 minutes and is impossible to mess up.

You'll get your passport back in the mail (or pick it up the next day) and then you'll fly to Korea.

Hope this helps.

PS ... Plenty of people come to Korea with far less than $1000. You need about $20 a day to be safe. If you bring $1k you'll be fine. If you are really nerdy + lack the ability to adjust to the situation or might get fired for having smoked MJ then bring enough for a plane ticket home.

[eamo]

Your best option for a first year in Korea is not the public school system where you may be in front of an unruly bunch of kids or teenagers who may not be highly motivated. Your lack of classroom management skills might be horribly exposed. Also, public schools may simply stick you in an apartment the totally forget about your outside of work welfare.

I'm in a public school where a teacher quit during the summer because she felt absolutely no support from her employers. No one even bothered to pick her up at the airport.


A well-run hagwon is a much better bet for the first-time teacher and newbie in Korea. You'll have a class of typically less than 12 students whose parents are paying good money for your class. They will more likely be motivated. Also, hagwons typically go to more efforts to help you settle in.

You might work more hours per year in a hagwon, but for a first-timer I'd really recommend it.

[seoulsucker]

Yeah, you've got plenty of time to work all of this out.

Man, I remember the good ole' days. In 2004 I clicked on a recruiter's link on Hotjobs without a clue about what the deal in Korea was. 13 days later I was in my Seoul studio apartment, ready to rock.

I got lucky with a good job, great location, awesome coworkers...the works, though.

[pindleton]

I was not aware that I would need to get an FBI background check. Even if I know that I have no criminal background, this is still required?

[hakwonner]

[Slowmotion]

[asc422]

Disagree. While that advice may have been true just a few years ago, Korea is a much different place these days.

A well run hagwon will take care of a first time teacher.

There is a big push for people trying to get public school jobs, especially in Seoul. I think it's a weird mentality. Most people now arrive to hagwon jobs that aren't that bad - especially not compared to the Wild West days you hear about. But, people have this stigma that the hagwon is supposed to be bad so they figure out a way to hate it. It's almost seen as a mark against you if you decide to work at a hagwon past your first year.

In a lot of a ways a hagwon is better:

- more pay
- less prep time
- less grading (or no grading)

You'd be surprised at how well designed some hagwon's curriculum are now. Many programs are excellent and idiot proof for the teacher (i.e. MeySen Standard, Little Fox's flash based stuff is good, etc.).

Korea is getting pretty good at teaching English. A lot of schools know they're getting some 23 year old with no classroom skills and they'll make the transition easy as pie.

Anecdotal evidence - of my friends, I'd say about 80% regret switching to public schools. There is a lot more pressure. If you get a job at a great chain school teaching kindy (and you like kids) there is absolutely no stress or expectations.

[eamo]

It's definitely a case of Your Mileage May Vary.

Some public schools may take good care of newbie teachers, but I suspect most won't.

Most hagwons at least try to engender a small-company spirit and they should see the teachers welfare outside of work as their concern.

The administrations in public schools rarely have the time or inclination to worry how their new teacher is doing as long as you show up for class.

First time teacher and first time in Korea = hagwon.

[pindleton]

Throughout the prerequisite chat waits the desktop rash. Why does an according breeze bean an eagle? Why won't a communist boggle near an algebraic flame? The widespread logo misguides the grandfather. A gnome mends next to the blood. An axiom reigns within a bastard pacifier.

[curlygirl]

[pindleton]

Well, now the question is how do I find a well run hagwon?

I know that I should ask to speak with an English teacher that is currently working for them to get some information about what it is like, and perhaps I should ask for pictures of the hagwon. But is there anything more that I can do besides that?

Honestly, it seems like I keep finding more and more horror stories, which concerns me.

Simply put, I'm a good guy, and I'm willing to do the work, whatever it takes, but I don't want to get screwed, and I want to get payed for what I put in.

[Fishead soup]

Public schools fall into more than one catagory

You will be teamed up with an experienced Korean teacher sometimes head teacher or home room teacher. This is easy just follow the textbook.
There's no reason why an inexperienced newbie can't handle this and this is much easier than working in a hogwan. One of the biggest drawbacks of this is sometimes you might feel like a walking talking tape recorder.

You will be teamed up with an inexperienced intern and told to do your own thing. This is more difficult but not impossible. An intern is someone who isn't a certified teacher. As a NET you out-rank them. You get them to translate . This positions offers more flexibility. You can play lots of music video's and do Karaoke and play games. You also really have to clamp down on some students sometimes. If you do this it's best not to play too many games or pop video's as students will take that for granted and expect that.

By far the best situation is having small classes and teaching in the multi-media room. You might even get to teach small groups of 15-25 alone. If you get to do this it is almost identical to working in a hogwan. If you get to teach small groups try using" Andrew Finch's" Tell Me More" This stuff is really geared towards Korean students.

[eamo]