Korean Job Discussion Forums

skimilk · Joined: 18 Mar 2005

have a couple questions about privates. i'm a female, korean citizen, currently a student at an ivy league university. i spent most of my life in the u.s and am fluent in english and korean. have some experience in teaching english (i'm a "writing fellow" at my university.) i'm looking to do a couple privates while i'm in korea (will be there for three months) and i have no idea how to find them or whether i will be able to find them at all. i read that being a kyopo is a disadvantage, so i imagine i may not be paid as well as a white person would. but i haven't been to korea in many years and i really have no idea how things are back there now. so any and every words of advice would be greatly appreciated.
p.s edited to write that my korean isn't good enough to explain grammar or how to write essays, etc. would that also be a disadvantage?

thorin · Joined: 14 Apr 2003

any and all

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

As I understand the rules, you would be able to tutor legally.

If you are going to be staying with relatives, you could ask one of them to put up some posters in apartment buildings in the neighborhood where you will be living.

Derrek · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

skimilk · Joined: 18 Mar 2005

i know enough korean to get by, but it's that i don't know words like, say, past participle or run-on sentence or whatever in korean. i guess i could do it though, if i had books.

thanks for the tips!

paperbag princess · Joined: 07 Mar 2004 Location: veggie hell

check out work n play.co.kr there are lots of listings there. you may be able to get some summer camp positions. as far as being legal, i don't know. you'll have to check with immigration.

skimilk · Joined: 18 Mar 2005

thanks for the link, will take a look.

i'm pretty sure it's legal for me to do privates (korean citizen and university student) so that's not much of my concern.

Intrepid · Joined: 13 May 2004 Location: Yongin

As for being a kyopo, it is a disadvantage--one which is much more than made up for by your Ivy League matriculation. If it happens to be Harvard, especially.
Contact some overseas education centers--you might just call or e-mail them. Give them your background and the time you'll be in Korea. They're the ones trying to get kids into the Ivy League, and being able to recommend a tutor who has already got in would be valuable for them.

wwidgirl · Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Location: Seoul

It may APPEAR that you have a disadvantage by being a kyopo but that's actually not the case.

only reputable schools and intelligent students who have an established base of ENglish know whether a "foreign teacher" is speaking English perfectly and with a north american accent. You'll find it's the schools that cater to a different kind of student that don't take gyopos because their students don't know whether you're speaking perfect english so they assume that since you're white you speak well.

So if you work at a school you are limited to reputable schools such as Poly, pagoda, CDI (I definitely recommend CDI).

My friend went to Korea for a summer and worked at CDI. They definitely like Ivy League students and you'll get paid really well.

If you do privates you'll make loads of money (check out work n play).

Good luck.

skimilk · Joined: 18 Mar 2005

wow, thanks for the encouraging post. i'll definitely check them out.

yeah, one of my concerns is that i don't go to harvard or yale, and those seem to be only two universities that most korean people know of... haha.