Korean Job Discussion Forums

[missty]

Yeah, your recruiter sounds terrible. I've never really had that problem at all. No one has ever told me that my accent sounds bad or that they can't understand me. Admittedly my British accent is very neutral, and after years and years abroad I have slowed it down a lot.

Find another recruiter and don't think about it too much. I always think that if someone tells me that then I kind of wouldn't want to work for them anyway. It helps you weed out the schools.

In fact, my previous school were thrilled that I was British because I could teach the students both American and British English. It can get you down when you read job ads that only want Canadians/Americans, but after a while its just like water off a duck's back.

[luckylady]

[luckylady]

[byrddogs]

It's too bad that my school requires in-person interviews and demo lessons to be considered. We have 3 Brits on staff. One from the north (not sure of the town-she had spent a good deal of time in Scotland as well), one from the midlands (near Birmingham), and one from Oxford. They all have considerably different accents. Each of them is a great person and seems to be good at teaching English as well. Btw, I'm one of only 2 from the States, so our school has no discrimination in that regard. I guess things are different at my type of school. It is in China, but it is a K-12 Korean school. So, there you go.

Yes, tell recruiters like that dude to F off. It's too bad that recruiters are necessary sometimes. Keep plugging away and don't get too discouraged. Good luck!

[edwardcatflap]

[zombiedog]

There shouldn't be, but in some places in Korea there is blatant discrimination against any accent that's not American. But there's also a TON of people teaching here who don't have North American English accents.

Lucky for me, I'm from the States...At least there are some perks for being part of the Empire!

[Martin_Brez]

Thanks for the encouraging responses everyone!

It's certainly given me a lot to think about.

Although I am from Nottingham, I certainly do not pronounce words that end in "ie", "y" or "ey" with "eh". For example,

Mon-eh (Money)

Destin-eh (Destiny)

Meh (Me)

Thanks,

Brez

[Malislamusrex]

3 private classes I teach with some big hitters specifically want a English speaking accent.

[luckylady]

[edwardcatflap]

[luckylady]

[The Sultan of Seoul]

Might have already been said, but I am English and never had a problem landing good jobs in Korea because of it. It was an issue back in the early 2000's, Americans were definately first choice back then and companies would try and pay Brits less using the accent as an excuse (really), but not these days. I am a southerner though with a very neutral accent, but still met scots, Irish etc whom had good teaching jobs. I think being friendly and easy to get along with goes much further than accents these days. A bubbly, easy going personality is the big draw these days and will go a long, long way.

[Martin_Brez]

Hi,

Just to let everyone know that I have been offered a job in Korea. I had an interview last week and almost immediately I was informed that I was successful. Going to post my docs off tomorrow!

The school is ILS, Bucheon and they want me to start in August.

Thanks for all your kind words everyone.

Brez

[leicsmac]

Well done Brez - as a fellow Englishman it's not too bad out here.

Not a Forest fan are you?

[sojusucks]