| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
realworldexperience
Joined: 02 Dec 2010
|
 Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:24 pm Post subject: Going Back to Korea After 12+ Years... (Born in Korea) |
 |
|
I came to the states when i was 6 years old with my family and i am currently 18 years old. I would be 19 - almost 20 in Korean age.
I have many questions on teaching english in korea but what i am most curious about is if i qualify to teach to kindergartens or somewhere in that age limit because of my age as well.
What i wanted to ask was if my age is okay, good, perfect to teach english to kids in kindergarten or do they prefer more older people around mid 20's?
Also the problem is I just finished high school around 6 months ago and didn't apply to any colleges so i wouldn't have any degrees yet. I wanted to ask if getting a TESOL/TEFL certificate would even benefit me in the slightest on finding a teaching job? I'm sure getting one would be better than not having anything except a high school diploma but the thing is i have to get the certificate online only and i know that getting it online is pretty much not worth even half the prestige of getting it in-class...
But i'm going to attend college in Korea so i needed some way to make money and figured this beats working at a restaurant or some other job (but i know this job can be very demanding as well)
Sorry for the block of text but ill summarize it very clearly...
*Being 19~20, is the age okay to teach in Korea?
*Not having a degree, is it in my best interest to get a TEFL/TESOL degree even though it has to be from online and not in-class?
*Would i have an easier time finding jobs (because my english is fluent since i've been living here for 12+ years speaking english as my primary language) and because i was born in Korea and am a Korea Citizen and that i can speak both languages very fluently as well? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:18 pm Post subject: Re: Going Back to Korea After 12+ Years... (Born in Korea) |
|
|
| realworldexperience wrote: |
I came to the states when i was 6 years old with my family and i am currently 18 years old. I would be 19 - almost 20 in Korean age.
I have many questions on teaching english in korea but what i am most curious about is if i qualify to teach to kindergartens or somewhere in that age limit because of my age as well.
What i wanted to ask was if my age is okay, good, perfect to teach english to kids in kindergarten or do they prefer more older people around mid 20's?
Also the problem is I just finished high school around 6 months ago and didn't apply to any colleges so i wouldn't have any degrees yet. I wanted to ask if getting a TESOL/TEFL certificate would even benefit me in the slightest on finding a teaching job? I'm sure getting one would be better than not having anything except a high school diploma but the thing is i have to get the certificate online only and i know that getting it online is pretty much not worth even half the prestige of getting it in-class...
But i'm going to attend college in Korea so i needed some way to make money and figured this beats working at a restaurant or some other job (but i know this job can be very demanding as well)
Sorry for the block of text but ill summarize it very clearly...
*Being 19~20, is the age okay to teach in Korea?
*Not having a degree, is it in my best interest to get a TEFL/TESOL degree even though it has to be from online and not in-class?
*Would i have an easier time finding jobs (because my english is fluent since i've been living here for 12+ years speaking english as my primary language) and because i was born in Korea and am a Korea Citizen and that i can speak both languages very fluently as well? |
If you are a Korean male citizen then you are at the age where people qualify for MILITARY SERVICE. Mandatory military service is the norm for male Korean citizens and yes they will likely make you serve. This has happened before and the U.S embassy can not help you in this case if you are a Korean citizen.
So just a heads-up...if you are female then this does not apply to you.
And if you do not have a degree then you can not legally teach in a school here. Even the TALK program requires you to have two years of uni/college experience which you don't have.
So to put it bluntly the answers to your questions are no, no, and no.
You MAY be allowed to privately tutor...but very few people are able to make a go of that as their SOLE source of income. And most people prefer someone who is distinctly foreign as there is a perception here that foreigners (from English-speaking countries) are better English teachers. Your age, inexperience and ethnicity would all work against you in this particular case which means pretty much only low-paying work, unless you get lucky. And you would still have to report that to the Korean taxman.
This is a bad, bad idea. Believe me I understand the whole thing of getting back to your roots...but apart from maybe tutoring (which is not guaranteed) you wouldn't be legally allowed to teach here and you are virtually guaranteed to face military conscription and service if you are male. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kalliope
Joined: 20 Mar 2010
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 7:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
I think TheUrbanMyth summarized it pretty well.
I don't think that getting a TEFL/TESOL certification is going to help you. Having a college degree is one of the minimum requirements to find a job teaching English.
With that said...
In your case, I don't think that being bilingual is going to make it easier for you to find a job. Many places do look specifically for gyopos (again, ones that have college degrees), but in your case, because you are still a Korean citizen, you may not be offered the same benefits as a gyopo with foreign citizenship.
I have a coworker (Korean, not a gyopo) who worked at hagwons part-time while she was in college, but she mostly did grunt work (making copies, running errands) and wasn't actually teaching. I also think that she was making like 4,000 won/hour. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
realworldexperience
Joined: 02 Dec 2010
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 11:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks for your answers guys sorry i took long to reply but maybe u guys are right and i should start college right away and finish it and get my degree before i move to Korea...
Would it matter what University i attend dramatically?
I would have to start a community college for 2 years and transfer...
Would any university in California region be perfect? Would even CSU's be okay? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| realworldexperience wrote: |
Thanks for your answers guys sorry i took long to reply but maybe u guys are right and i should start college right away and finish it and get my degree before i move to Korea...
Would it matter what University i attend dramatically?
I would have to start a community college for 2 years and transfer...
Would any university in California region be perfect? Would even CSU's be okay? |
If your program offers a 4 year degree (3 years for Brits) you should be fine. There are people here with degrees from universities all over North America...so it wouldn't seem to matter that much. As long as it is an accredited university...then you're good to go. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Adios_Corea
Joined: 17 Dec 2010
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 3:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I find it VERY hard to believe that someone on an F-4 (or Korean passport, depending on what the OP did with regards to citizenship), who speaks fluent English, would not be able to find some sort of hagwon job. Half of the Korean teachers at hagwons can BARELY speak English, and they're still making 1-1.5 million per month.
If you pound the pavement and really look for a job, then you will easily find one. It may not be as good of a job as those that require more qualifications, but if you're just looking for a job to work through college you'll find one. The standard hagwon could care less if you have a degree or not, the only reason hagwons require degrees at all is that teachers need degrees for their visa....if you don't need a visa, then they won't require a degree. Your age and ethnicity will be greater obstacles to finding a job than the lack of degree....but I can't help but think that if you're willing to teach kindies that you'll find a job. If I were you, that's where I would start.....the English Kindergartens...then again, your hours might conflict with your school schedule.
Also....FYI, "regular" part-time jobs in Korea are horrendously underpaid...working at a restaurant or something similar will barely make you a little pocket money, it's not like in the West where a student job can actually pay your rent, bills, food, insurance, car payment, and gas....student jobs in Korea are basically for students to have a little more money than what their parents already give to them. You can't work your way through school in Korea. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 3:58 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Adios_Corea wrote: |
I find it VERY hard to believe that someone on an F-4 (or Korean passport, depending on what the OP did with regards to citizenship), who speaks fluent English, would not be able to find some sort of hagwon job. Half of the Korean teachers at hagwons can BARELY speak English, and they're still making 1-1.5 million per month.
If you pound the pavement and really look for a job, then you will easily find one. It may not be as good of a job as those that require more qualifications, but if you're just looking for a job to work through college you'll find one. The standard hagwon could care less if you have a degree or not, the only reason hagwons require degrees at all is that teachers need degrees for their visa....if you don't need a visa, then they won't require a degree. . |
Untrue. The degree is not simply a Immigration requirement it is a MOE requirement as well. LEGALLY you need a degree. Granted for many hakwons this is a kind of wink-nudge-nod deal but if caught working illegally you can be fined and so can the school. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
realworldexperience
Joined: 02 Dec 2010
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 11:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
How does one get caught anyway? Do the people in the hagwons report them or just random visits and random background checks? o_O not that i condone it but just curious
and thanks Adios_Corea... now i definitely don't want to work regular jobs... but you're post did make a lot of sense to me and gave me some new insight  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 2:42 am Post subject: |
|
|
| realworldexperience wrote: |
How does one get caught anyway? Do the people in the hagwons report them or just random visits and random background checks? o_O not that i condone it but just curious
and thanks Adios_Corea... now i definitely don't want to work regular jobs... but you're post did make a lot of sense to me and gave me some new insight |
You are Korean born (and would have been in the family register) and unless you have taken out foreign citizenship AND formally renounced your Korean birthright you will be drafted for anywhere between 22 and 38 months (depending on the branch of the armed services you go to).
Finding a job is the least of your worries.
As far as where to go for your degree - it matters not.
A community college and transfer to a state university will be just fine as long as at the end of it the degree says, "Bachelor of _______" and the university was accredited.
. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Adios_Corea
Joined: 17 Dec 2010
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Untrue. The degree is not simply a Immigration requirement it is a MOE requirement as well. LEGALLY you need a degree. Granted for many hakwons this is a kind of wink-nudge-nod deal but if caught working illegally you can be fined and so can the school. |
Statistically...what percentage of Korean hagwon workers in Korea have degrees? Especially at kindie academies?
Please...the OP could find a job teaching English if they are legally allowed to work in Korea without needing their employer to sponsor them.
Furthermore....while they may not be able to charge the full waygook-whitey price. They could still easily get 15,000-20,000/hr doing private lessons, and be able to advertise these classes legally. Many of my university students whose English is intermediate at best make 10,000/hr teaching English to children...a fluent speaker would be able to charge 20, maybe 25 if they did a couple kids at a time for a family. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Countrygirl
Joined: 19 Nov 2007
Location: in the classroom
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 6:42 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Adios_Corea wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Untrue. The degree is not simply a Immigration requirement it is a MOE requirement as well. LEGALLY you need a degree. Granted for many hakwons this is a kind of wink-nudge-nod deal but if caught working illegally you can be fined and so can the school. |
Statistically...what percentage of Korean hagwon workers in Korea have degrees? Especially at kindie academies?
Please...the OP could find a job teaching English if they are legally allowed to work in Korea without needing their employer to sponsor them.
Furthermore....while they may not be able to charge the full waygook-whitey price. They could still easily get 15,000-20,000/hr doing private lessons, and be able to advertise these classes legally. Many of my university students whose English is intermediate at best make 10,000/hr teaching English to children...a fluent speaker would be able to charge 20, maybe 25 if they did a couple kids at a time for a family. |
When it comes to gypos, Korean mothers want to know that you speak fluent English and a degree from a University/College shows that. Hogwan owners have to prove to their mothers that they have hired the right people for the job so they have to be careful about who they hire because their reputation and business depends on it. Having some young kid come in, who is clearly too young to have finished college, will not cut it. The only person who will hire a gypo without any sort of degree will cheat that same person in the end.
Koreans don't trust other Korean business owners (and rightly so) and some have a hard time believing that gypos speak perfect English. It's not unusual for gypos to pretend that they don't speak Korean to "prove" that they are fluent in English.
I know this from personal experience as my husband is a Canadian citizen and he had a hard time finding a decent hogwan job in Korea and he was not paid as well as me and had to work much harder. He has a 2 year college degree, but that was viewed by most Koreans as not having any schooling at all. Some of the universities in Korea are a joke, so it makes sense that Koreans, who only know about Korea, don't value a 2 year Canadian College education.
Basically, it's better to be blond (or young, or female) than fluent in English and Korean when it comes to getting English teaching jobs in Korea. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Adios_Corea wrote: |
| Statistically...what percentage of Korean hagwon workers in Korea have degrees? Especially at kindie academies? |
Everyone at my school does, and considering it's quite illegal, you're probably better off not working for a school that's employing people without degrees. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Adios_Corea
Joined: 17 Dec 2010
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| northway wrote: |
| Adios_Corea wrote: |
| Statistically...what percentage of Korean hagwon workers in Korea have degrees? Especially at kindie academies? |
Everyone at my school does, and considering it's quite illegal, you're probably better off not working for a school that's employing people without degrees. |
At the last hagwon I worked at about 1/2 of the Korean teachers had degrees, and easily 1/2 of the English teachers couldn't hold even a basic conversation in English. This was a major chain hagwon and not a fly-by-night mom-and-pop under the radar gig.
You're dreaming if you think that all hagwon teachers across this country have college degrees....absolutely dreaming.
The OPs age and the fact that he/she is Korean WILL be obstacles when looking for a job, but he/she would be able to find a job teaching English for sure, especially if they are willing to work at a Kindergarten.
The idea of what's legal and illegal is certainly a much looser concept in this country. 80%+ of all hagwons don't register their workers with pension and health insurance.....oh wait....this can't be true because it's ILLEGAL!! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
