Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JDLT]

When you first decided to teach English overseas how did you begin your research?

Search engine, Daveseslcafe, Waygook.org , other


And where did you first hear about teaching ESL as an option?



For me, I first began to think about teaching English after talking to my cousin, who was teaching overseas at the time during a trip back home for Christmas.

Most of my early research was spent on Daveseslcafe. To be honest, at first it was quite overwhelming and I spent hundreds of hours doing research before deciding to ultimately come over.

[schwa]

1998. One dreary sunday morning I was nursing a hangover & puttering around on my old XT computer (dos command-driven, green monochrome screen) & god only knows why it sprang to mind but on a random impulse I typed "teaching english abroad" into its search engine.

A world of possibilities suddenly opened. Up till then, I'd been in a dead-end career in Canada struggling to make ends meets for 25 years. My youngest kid was about to fly the nest. Nothing holding me back.

Daves was a prominent site even then. It had a single forum format for all countries & Korea dominated the chatter. It also had a section called "Journals" that were kind of proto-blogs that I read & reread. I was hooked. Why not me too?

Lots of negativity back then too, whats new? I dithered for almost a year.

I knew I wasnt a big city guy & from the scant information online at the time I decided I wanted Sokcho & kept searching. Finally a Sokcho job ad appeared on some other now long-defunct site, & I applied & got it.

Yikes, what had I gotten myself into? So many second thoughts. My daughter, actually, pushed me to go. Take a chance, dad, whats to lose?

Korea has provided a marvelous long chapter to my life ever since, but I'm close to turning the page.

[Hokie21]

I was a drug rep for a major pharma company. Growing up I moved around a lot....we had moved over 18 times before I finished HS (no we weren't military) and I had already lived on 3 different continents. Traveling was kind of in my blood so to say and I began to lose interest in my job. Layoffs happened and as I was the young buck, 3 years out of college so I was let go. I was "lucky" enough to be offered my same position but in a different part of the country but I declined and accepted a very generous severance package.

I used some of that money to travel around the world...it was initially supposed to be a 3 month trip but it turned out to be closer to 9. I spent a decent amount of time in Asia and loved it. I returned home and decided I wanted to live abroad and I realized teaching ESL overseas was a way for me to do that. That was about 3 years ago. Sure I'm making a lot less than I did in pharma but I'm a happier person.....I just miss my family and friends a lot at times. Other than that. No regrets.

[isitts]

[MedellinHeel]

ESL is not really a career OP.

More like something people do a few years before moving back to their home country. For the people that do stay, it is usually due to marrying a Korean girl or having a kid abroad.

If you want to make ESL a career id suggest getting a MA TESOL or being state licensed to teach ESL at the International School level.

[thrylos]

I'll echo MedHeel's post, and might add that it isn't terribly daunting, either.

OK, Korea might be a bit more daunting than other places b/c of all the paperwork now required, but if you look at China, Indonesia, or just about any other destination (not in the ME and SK), it is hardly 'daunting'. Just pick a place, have a half-a$$ed interview with Skype/over the phone, send some paperwork, and you're off!!, usually within a month or so. (Like I did w/Korea a LONG time ago!)

PS-- I still don't consider it a 'career'-- A good, easy, mostly stress-free job that pays decently and gives me opportunity to do my thing with ease in a foreign country. Why not? Who needs a career? Not me!

[Chaparrastique]

[Stan Rogers]

I called a friend who was working in Korea for about a year. He told me things were a lot better for him there. He suggested I go to Korea because he knew my circumstances.

A guy I knew gave me a phone number for a recruiter. I called it and got a job.

I did zero research too. I say go try it. If you like it stay. If you don't like it go home. It's pretty simple really.

[The Cosmic Hum]

[Lucas]