Korean Job Discussion Forums

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Part-time tutors are being offered 60,000-100,000 won per hour, making those jobs very appealing. Last summer vacation alone, Jung tutored students for one month and made 15 million won.
Kim (22), an Ivy League student, teamed up with three of his fellow colleagues and rented a 60-pyong officetel in Gangnam in order to tutor 10 students everyday for 14 hours. He made approximately 100 million won in two months.

Noh (24) is tutoring three prospective students willing to study abroad at Yuksam Dong, Gangnam. He says, "I wish to earn as much as possible during my summer vacation to pay part of my approximately 50 million won annual tuition and miscellaneous expenses in order to lighten the financial burden bestowed upon my parents."
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=040000&biid=2004080497078

How much do you make each hour? Just think about it: You are a native English speaker with a degree and cannot earn as much as a tutor. Is it so easy and convenient for you to travel to and work in Korea?

Well, here may be an answer for you.
Foreigners Experience Difficulties in Living in Korea
Overall living conditions, including education, housing, medical care, transportation, immigration, and access to the Internet are pointed to as inconveniences. Not only inconveniences caused by different systems and customs in Korea, but also special discriminating practices, such as the practice of submitting two years of monthly rent in advance like a deposit, which is required of foreigners just because they are foreigners, are ubiquitous. "Even though Korea has achieved some degree of globalization in going abroad, it has still a long way to go for globalization in embracing foreigners inward," said foreigners residing in Korea. An official in the International Cooperation Division of Seoul City admitted, "The same complaints regarding visas, transportation, education, and environment are raised every year without being solved, due to the lack of cooperation from government agencies involved and their passive attitudes."
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004070522448

prosodic · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Location: ��

We can get those rates too if we have the connections. I haven't done any private tutoring for several years. The last time I did it was because the group of students paid me 500,000 won/month for 2 hours /week. That comes to 62,500 won/hour. This was back in 1998.

I know that if I chose to, I could make enquiries with my network of friends, associates, and former students to find a large number of students willing to pay 70-90,000 won her hour. 100,000 won would probably be doable, but I wouldn't feel good about charging that much unless I knew the family was really stinking rich.

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

And, you can receive a one-way pass out of Korea (Ah, deportation is a perk for foreigners.). You can also be asked to contribute to the government's "Prevent Illegal Work Campaign" (aka, fine for illegal teaching).

prosodic · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Location: ��

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Do Koreans fear deportation from Korea? Are Koreans more ignorant of the system than foreigners?

prosodic · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Location: ��

The article says that most of these Korean tutors are currently attending school in the United States. Would a conviction for violating Korean law endanger their U.S. student visas? I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to bet it would. Can somebody with more freetime research this please?

If it would mean risking revocation of their U.S. student visas, then they're running similar risks.

inkoreaforgood · Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Location: Inchon

Derrek · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

One of my students has a Korean Math tutor who went to Yonsei and graduated with a Math Degree. He is currently making about 7 million won a month of off his privates, based on what she pays him, and how many other students he says he has.

He makes like 80,000 to 100,000 an hour.

prosodic · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Location: ��

ladyandthetramp · Joined: 21 Nov 2003

inkoreaforgood · Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Location: Inchon

prosodic · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Location: ��

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

If Koreans want to learn English from people that bought their degrees in America, so be it.

Arthur Fonzerelli · Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Location: Suwon

Aren't those tutors bilingual? Most ESL Teachers from the west aren't bilingual.

Also, aren't these tutors in some of the best universities in the US? Getting admitted into a top US schools shows you are smart enough or wise enough on how to score highly on the college entrance exams. Most ESL teachers here aren't Ivy Leaguers..

jajdude · Joined: 18 Jan 2003

Damn,

Please refrain from these envy evoking posts!

So and so makes so much and lives in a castle whereas blow and blow lives in a dumpster and has to steal to live.

I think anyone making over 5 m a month is working hard and may be well qualified too. Hell over 3 m a month is pretty good.