Korean Job Discussion Forums

[adzee1]

SO I posted a few messages here about a problem I had with EPIK not wanting to accept my spanish TEFL certificate and thought I was not going to be accepted.

Then this morning they decided that they will accept it but have not offered me any of the places I wanted to go and have instead offered me Gyeongbuk, Gangwon or Chungbuk... or I will need to apply for the next intake in Spring. Their indecesion basically cost me a bit of time and now I am worried that they are trying to send me to the places perhaps no one else wants to go.

Does anyone have experience of living in Gyeongbuk, Gangwon or Chungbuk ?? and can tell me what its like ? Obviously I have read about the places online but wanted to find out any first hand experiences of these places before i decide which one to go for, or whether to forget EPIK altogether and start my documents being processed again to go to a PS in Seoul. Any help / advice is appreciated

[imGosu]

I see that your asking questions that nobody is answering. I suggest you go on facebook and join this group. Its specific to Fall'11 EPIK applicants

https://www.facebook.com/groups/207766062575421?ap=1

[adzee1]

Yes i have basically answered my own question through hours of researching myself as the responses on here were somewhat lacking. I have decided to go to Gangwon as there looks like quite a few good things to do there in comparison with the other 2 provinces.
Now I just have to hope that I dont end up in some reclusive village with about 50 people in it

[fungrel]

I live in Chunbuk. It's so central to every part of the country (Daejeon is a transport hub for trains and busses) so getting away for a weekend in daegu seoul or busan is never an issue. but each to their own i guess, depends on how much exploring you want to do and where.

[Squire]

[young_clinton]

[adzee1]

Class sizes are not so important to me really especially as I have just had classes in Mexico with 35 / 40 kids in them. The more important things in my choice are restaraunts, bars, cultural activities and general things to do..
I love the countryside but I just dont know about how I would like living there as I have always spent my life in cities.

[Modernist]

I'll try to offer something:

My school is very rural but small classes? Just about never. I don't think I ever have fewer than 20 except my 'small-group' conversation classes with about a dozen each. So I wouldn't count on that regardless of province.

Prepare yourself for students who know almost nothing, despite [likely] years and years of 'English classes.' Most of 'em won't even be able to speak 1 complete sentence, their pronunciation will be lousy, and they WILL expect you to speak conversational Korean--I've been amazed at how innocently Korean kids seem to imagine that their rather insignificant language somehow has a global scope that would result in the average Englishman or Canadian or American being able to speak it reasonably well.

As for your main ?, about the provinces: you have to recognize that all the bigger cities in Korea are separately governed from their provinces. So your best bet would have been Chungbuk, because it has 2 quite large cities [Cheongju and Chungju], plus the separate big regional center [Daejeon] PLUS it is fairly small for Korean province, so the travel times even if you were stuck in some little myeong, would be modest.

Gangwon is pretty huge geographically, and there are no particularly large cities there. It's basically seen as the resort/getaway/vacation area for metro Seoul. Lots of mountains and parks and very sparsely populated areas. If you were placed in Wonju [because of the fairly quick train to Seoul] or maybe Chuncheon it wouldn't be bad at all, but other than that I think it could be quite isolating and rather dull.

If you are likely going there, I would read the blog View from Gangwondo [Google it] which is clear about the reality there and exceedingly well-written.

[adzee1]

Yes I thought that about Chungbuk having those cities but from what i read online and in books it seeemed to give the impression that they were kind of dull cities with not a great deal going on.

So i was kind of hoping that I would end up being placed in Chuncheon or Gangneung which I will be fine for the first year. At the EPIK orientation I understand they give you some kind of meeting / interview as to where you would like to go, is this correct ?

If it is I hoping that my pleas to be placed in a city are met, although of course I am not holding my breath !

[Modernist]