Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gnwilliams]

My college life is nearing it's end and I have been thinking about teaching English to children in South Korea. I am a linguistics major and my main goal would be to learn Korean and experience the culture of Korea. I will have a BA but no teaching experience and at the moment, no Certification (tesl, trinity...ect). Are there any small cities/villages that you can recommend? I am not looking for cities with nightlife, a bar or even a big Expat community. I am looking for a place where I can learn the language rapidly and interact with the people. A place where foreign presence is more of a rarity.

Any Idea's or suggestions would be great.

**** I have never been to Korea or to Asia for that matter. I have done basic research so if i'm thinking its something its not, let me know.

[Skyblue]

Why would the presence of nightlife, bars, or expats hinder your language learning? You could find millions of monolingual Koreans in Seoul, as well as Korean food and culture. Since the country has thousands of villages, I doubt there's any one that is the "best" for culture/language.

[gnwilliams]

Sorry if you read the post wrong. I never said that it would "hinder" my language learning. What i'm saying is, I don't need those things in a city. Some people can't live without them, I'm saying I can. Also, i'm looking for someone who has experienced a city that they might recommend. Once again I mentioned that I had not been to Korea, so really any cities that fit the genre would work. I am sorry Skyblue but Seoul really isn't what i'm looking for, I know that for a fact.

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

The smaller cities will have the language thing moreso than the bigger ones, but they'll still have English/expats.

If you want the extreme (you're the only foreigner) then you might have a hard time finding a place in which there's anything to do... and the smaller villages tend to be pretty poor-- a mix of dilapidated stone shacks, cheap homes and the occasional egg carton, not exactly traditional hanoks in the countryside... and there's not going to be a lot of culture of any kind there except drinking, smoking and maybe a noraebang or two. The people might be friendlier, though.

I'd recommend the smaller cities-- anything with under a million people-- Gyeongju or Jeonju are both great. Or I guess you could try for a smaller town (not too small-- that's a bad idea) just outside of those places. Cities always have more going on culturally... but to be honest, the best place for traditional culture in all of Korea is probably still going to be Seoul.

But right now my top recommendation would be Gyeongju... but there are actually a lot of foreigners there compared to other places.

[tomato]

You are in the minority of the job seekers, because most job seekers are metropolitan night owls.
That means that there is less competition for the English schools in the smaller towns.
However, I have never been able to get an English school job in a town with a population smaller than five digits.
Children living in whistle stop communities go to English school too, but they ride the bus to the nearest larger town.

Also, the smaller the town, the less you can afford to be choosy about which age group you work with.
If a population is too small to support very many English schools, those few English schools may have to take students of all ages in order to stay in business.
I'm lucky in the place where I work now, though.
It's in a five-digit community, but the director takes only elementary school students.
He has been disappointed that his business hasn't been growing faster, though, so he cut me down to part-time.
I told him that's okay, I'd rather have the time than the money.
I spend much of that time doing guess what: studying Korean!


If you're interested in a public school position for next year,
be sure to file an application with EPIK and GEPIK.
You might get a job travelling to different rural public schools on the bus.
In each school, you will be assigned an English-proficient quote co-teacher unquote who will try to make things easy for you.
But you will also work with classroom teachers who can't speak a word of English.
Some of the classroom teachers will treat you according to stereotype and steer all their messages through the co-teacher, but some of them will appreciate your interest and speak to you in Korean.

My last job was in three rural elementary schools.
For the last six months, I lived in Myosan, which was one of those three communities.
I lived across the street from a chicken yard and a block away from city hall.
My apartment had a picture window from which I could see 180 degrees of mountains.
The town was so small that I saw some of my own students every time I walked out the door.
It was delightful.

When I first saw one of the other schools, I thought I was in Heaven.
You could see a lake and a mountain from the front door of the school.

However, I lost that job because of politicking.
They probably got rid of me to make way for a younger teacher.
You seem to be a younger teacher, so you might have an easier time.
However, I've heard stories of malicious co-teachers from younger teachers, too.

I don't know of any place in Korea where you are absolutely safe from English-speaking Good Samaritans.
When I lived in Myosan, there was an English teachers living there who worked in another school district.
He tried to help me by speaking to me in English.

Good luck.

Here are some earlier threads which you might be interested in:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=196618&highlight=
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=180753&highlight=
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=180899&highlight=
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=142387&highlight=
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=174974&highlight=

[oldfatfarang]

Op. Forget about villages. Korean villages are really rural - and most kids bus to the nearest town/city for PS or hagwons (after school private institutes).

I teach at a public middle and high school in a large village. It's the end of the world, really (a dead end: socially, linquistically, and professionally). The kids are lovely, but it can be frustrating trying to help kids who have such very levels of English (and academic achievement in other subjects, including Korean).

Most Korean parents will send their kid to a school in a larger centre (even if they can't afford it), so scholastic ability (and attitude) in rural schools can be very trying.

Also, something I didn't know when I arrived way out here - is that bus loads of 'bad' students are bussed out to rural high schools . These students live in the city, but have been rejected from even the lowest city technical and vocational high schools (because of behavior, attitude, psychological, violence, and poor grade problems).

Believe me, you don't want to be teaching these students. There's so many Korean teachers wanting to leave my high school that transfers are limited to 8 teachers a year.

Further, my second grade middle school girls tell me that they won't go to the local village high school because of 'bad' students.

And, the real kicker, because accommodation is really tight in smaller towns/villages - you may be forced to commute long distances every day. I have a 2.30 hour a day commute to my public schools (walking, 2 buses/waiting/ walking & sometimes a school bus). And, surprisingly, my school does not take into account my long commute, and won't let me leave school early when there's no classes (so I have a 10.30 hour day). This type of rural teaching is expensive (commute), and tiring (it ultimately drains your teaching motivation).

However, I do teach some of the nicest kids in my middle school, and it is a delightful rural setting in which I take my lunch time walks.

Generally, when comparing Korean cities/towns to the West - anything smaller than 500,000 people in Korea isn't going to be much fun to live in for 99% of westerners. There's a general rule in Korea, to compare it to a Western city/town, you drop an '0' from the city's population.

For example:
- a Korean city of 500,000 people = same as a 50,000 person in West.
- 50,000 Korean town = 5,000 in West.

My advice, (after spending the longest year imaginable in rural Korea), is stick to a 'city' with a minimum of 500,000 people. Even then, you'll be spending a lot of time on trains/buses to the nearest large city.

While some posters may think they want to esperience rural Korea - believe me - it's best experienced by busing out there in your weekends off.

Be warned, and good luck.

[interestedinhanguk]

[Skyblue]

[furtakk]

the other thing about a really small town is, there won't be many people in your age group to make friends with. the really small towns are populated by old people and their children.

you also won't have any opportunities to take classes in smaller cities. formal classes really help. i don't know anyone who speaks korean to a proficient ability that got to that level solely by self-study and interacting with the locals.

a mid-sized city would be your best bet. somewhere with a university would be a bonus. as someone else said, there will be plenty of monolingual koreans everywhere in the country.

if you really want to learn korean, you will. it doesn't matter if you live in the middle of itaewon or a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. if you want to live in a tiny town for the sake of living in a tiny town, that's fine. but if you're doing so with the belief that it will help you learn korean, i don't how much it would help.

[furtakk]

my suggestion would be to find an afternoon job with lighter hours. something from 3-9/10ish.

enroll in an intensive university class (they are usually held in the morning from 9-1) and you will be speaking at an intermediate level within a year.

[dyc]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

[Smee]

I lived and taught in rural Jeollanam-do, and unlike most posters I can say from experience that it's not as rural or backwaterish as people would have you believe. There are grocery stores, restaurants, high speed internet, appliances, and Family Marts. The roads were (mostly) paved, and the schools had nicer equipment than what I had growing up in the US.

It's a great experience to live in small town Korea, but furtakk came to the same conclusion I did after living there. There actually are less opportunities to learn the language in a Korean-only small town than in a bigger city. There are no young people, there is no one your age, and there are few people interested in talking with you and helping you learn. In a city, by contrast, you can take Korean language classes, you can find people your age to do a language exchange, and you can find other expats also interested in Korean (and probably at the same level as you). Hell, most Koreans don't even want to live in these small towns, so you'll find that most of your coworkers live in the nearest bigger city.

Suncheon was a good mix for me, and there are dozens of cities like it. It had a big city feel in places, but was also rural enough to escape from the noise, the speed, and the expat drinking culture that can become a bit much.

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

[chellovek]