Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tiger fancini]

[madoka]

[Draz]

[Gimbap Lover]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

I really don't think that anyone can predict 'the future' of ESL-- just because their current policy is to hire 'young fresh faces' (which you can't really prove, given most people entering the ESL market are post-uni pre-career, so yeah, the majority of teachers are going to be that), it doesn't mean that they're not going to change their minds and start going with experienced professionals in the future. To be honest, I'm pretty sure that the whole 'young fresh faces' thing is more about dodgy recruiters than the actual demands of the schools... I think most schools would rather work with someone competent and worldly, regardless of their age. The problem with a lot of older teachers is overall inability to adapt or move outside of their comfort zone in work and like, and with younger teachers it's usually irresponsibility and problems with authority... as long as you avoid the obvious traps, you'll be fine. I've met older teachers who were confident, outgoing and energetic and they did very well and received very positive feedback... it's when you're utterly helpless or too set in your ways that things become a problem.

The E-2 is temporary, but it is also extremely easy to renew-- last time it took about half an hour. Would you really like to be locked into a visa arrangement with a hagwon owner for more than a year?? The way it's set up, it prevents hagwon owners from losing business and it means that you can get out of it as long as you can put up with a year.

I think that the fact that Korea is no longer third world country and is getting more and more western-friendly means that more people are going to stay here... the biggest obstacle being not too many people are keen on completely abandoning their lives back home. It has nothing to do with 'going nowhere' or 'being kicked out' or what-have-you. If they decide to get rid of English, or somehow become fluent (which is unlikely unless there are major social changes), then yeah, we'll be out of luck... but being replaced by a machine or being rendered obsolete is something of a worry in a lot of other jobs as well-- it's definitely not exclusive to ESL.

[edwardcatflap]

[morrisonhotel]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

[ttompatz]

[morrisonhotel]

[edwardcatflap]

[earthquakez]

Power to Tompatzz, Tiger Fancini and all those who feel the negatives I listed for many of us do not apply to them. I understand there are foreign English teachers who are either satisfied with what they are doing on an E-2 or can move ahead and get better jobs such as in consulting, publishing etc. I am not at all saying this cannot be done.

What I am saying is that various restrictions that apply for E-2ers can certainly make it difficult to get out of the limiting jobs - much as I am at a good hagwon with a decent boss. My problem is that of many other E-2ers who have cvs well beyond entry level jobs - in a different system we could move to an E-1 or whatever that visa is now. To those who have made that move - I respect that and wish you the best. It hasn't happened for more of us and that's why I am moving on.

I did say that I was referring to the negatives in my initial post, not the positives that are in Korean life and our employment. I have had highs and lows in Korea but I can give credit where it's due especially when it comes to the democratisation of technology and transportation that the ROK has done, making it possible to extend information and mobility to the masses cheaply. Richer countries won't or cannot do that.

I also think that the young/younger foreigners show gumption in getting out of the economic downturns at home. As far as why I don't see any future for myself and others like me in Korea, among the reasons are ones that in themselves are not negative.

The Korean Govt will rightfully seek more and more to put those young/younger Korean teachers in schools to replace the foreigners. Korea NEEDS to look after its own, especially as what the young teachers have to do to become qualified and then find a job at a school is from what I've read and heard far more demanding than what some established Korean teachers had to do.

Just about every developed country is now going through a phase of public discussion about its identity and airing out the uncertainty that the predominant culture feels when there are more and more new kinds of temporary workers and immigrants coming in. God, the UK has been through this for decades and decades now. So has Europe. Of course Korea is going through this especially as it has only come into its own as a democratic nation since the late 1990s. And I believe more and more Koreans will ask why their young talent is not being promoted in schools.

I do believe that NETs serve a purpose in being the public face of other countries and cultures. But I also know firsthand that a lot of the newer, young Korean English teachers have travelled and can explain things in ways to their students that are not fixed in some of the old fashioned or incorrect ideas of some older Korean teachers.

[shifty]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]