Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rapsin4]

Hi,

So I've been doing a lot of lurking around these forums, trying to get an idea for how to go about getting a job teaching in Korea. Anyways, I've applied to a few recruiters looking for work in Spring 2013, and I've been told by both of the ones I've heard back from that I need a TESL/TESOL certificate. One of these recruiters was Alistair from Korean Horizons, who I've heard nothing but good things about. So it's not that I think I'm being fed wrong information here, but I've just never heard of this until now. In fact, one of the draws of Korea for many seems to be that you DON'T need certification to get work. I'm happy to do it if it's a necessity, but I just want to make sure.

Is this right? Has anyone else heard of this?

Now, assuming I DO need the certification to find a job here, I'm curious as to which ones are universally accepted. Alistair recommened Oxford Seminars. Seeing as how big of a commitment it is ($1000 CAD), I'd like to make the most of it, and make sure I get something that will open as many doors as possible for me. I'd like to have the flexibility to look for work in places other than Korea - Eastern Europe especially, but anywhere really. Does a 100 hour (60 in class, 40 online) TESL certificate from Oxford Seminars (or anywhere else for that mater) make me employable elsewhere?

Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

[Who's Your Daddy?]

You don't need one.

[xihtug]

You definitely do not need one for hagwons

As for public schools, it probably depends on your credentials. If you have a degree in education or english, you definitely do not need one.

[rapsin4]

To clarify, I'm looking for a public school job rather than a hagwon, and my degree is from an unrelated field. What I was told from Korean Horizons was that this was a new rule coming into effect at the start of next year.

[Guajiro]

[edwardcatflap]

If you want to work in Europe you should get the CELTA or Trinity and nothing else. Otherwise you may be severely limiting your options in the future

[thebektionary]

If this is a one time deal for you and you're not interested in working in ESL in the future, just get a cheap online TEFL/TESOL. My friend just got one for 75 dollars that he found on groupon. I can ask him what it was if you'd like. In the meantime, just search on groupon. I know that there's also one for $200 at www.language1st.com.

If you're planning on doing more with ESL, just take the plunge and get a real certification. An online one will suffice for public school, but will be pretty much worthless for everything else besides maybe teaching in countries that have even lower qualifications than Korea (like in SE Asia or something).

[Guajiro]

[CentralCali]

[Who's Your Daddy?]

^^You don't need one:) You could probably get a better job if you had one though.

[CentralCali]

Thanks. I got shafted one year on pay because of confusion at the city level regarding my Linguistics degree. As it turns out, the "shaft" was negligible and I wasn't all that concerned about it at the time.

I'm in China now and intend to return to Korea next Fall. I'll be applying for hagweon jobs and also for public schools, but not public schools in Busan (this year's BMCOE administration completely destroyed the trust that organization had built up with me in the previous six years). I'm hoping that my public school employment history negates the requirement to have the certification if I go to another province/metro. city's public schools, but we are talking about Korea and things change often and rapidly.

[Ranman]