Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Homer]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

There were times in the early 90s when I was desperate for work, and after being jobless for months I would find something making french fries or pumping gas, and I worked. I stayed until I went back to university. I wonder how much someone wants a job if they treat one given to them on a platter with such a grudge.

Most people's reaction to my teaching in Korea is.. isn't that nice.... so how 'bout them Oilers. Some people find it interesting, and a few have a story of their nephew teaching and marrying a Korean girl (happens enough) or their neighbor frittering around Asia for beer money (happens enough too). But most simply can't fit it into their life concept of working and having a wife and car and house, and so they say nothing.

I wouldn't worry much about what the CBC says. Letters and commentary reflect what some small PC elite wants. Who really watches the CBC if there's no election or hockey anyway?

Ken:>

[Hanson]

[the_beaver]

[anae]

Not all school boards recognize teaching overseas. Mine does not recognize my experience teaching in Korea even with letters of reference from other acredited teachers. However, I have found that principals do value it, particularly those at schools with high ESL student enrollment. Too bad for me, it doesn't translate into higher pay.

[tommynomad]

Homer's right (and anae, to a degree).

It's about knowing how to present yourself and your experience. Come home with reference letters, detailed job descriptions, and a well-written resume. Prove you're a professional, and people will respect you as one. It may not mean more money, but someone--a school board, grad school admissions committee, or principal--will recognise your experience.

As for poorly written letters to the editor: trust me, they are no measure of ability. My father was a journalist and is a professor. His English, like many western-European immigrants, is impeccable. He has taken to appending a note to his letters to the editor telling them _not_ to edit them, as the English is already 100% correct. Why? Because on two occasions the editorial staff took his correct English and 'corrected' it to contain errors.

[jajdude]

I'm afraid in Canada I may have to convince a potential employer
I wasn't in prison!

[Pyongshin Sangja]

DDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAA

DDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLTTTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAA

DDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAA

[jajdude]

Pyongshin,

What in the name of god does that mean?

[ThePoet]

Mr. Simon Truelove does not explain what his credentials or background are but I always find it interesting when some self-proclaimed expert on everything feels they can comment on things they don't really know anything about -- or at least, cannot back up his/her comments with first-hand knowledge.

Is Simon Truelove speaking from years of experience as an ESL teacher in international schools and JET/ETIK programs or has he researched what these programs involve? I doubt it.

Speaking as a public school teacher in Alberta I can say that teaching in a classroom here is not too different from teaching in a classroom in Alberta. Records must be kept, curriculum must be adhered to, lesson planning must be shown, and classroom management must be practiced. The subject may be a little different, and the approach to it may vary a lot, but experience here is every bit as relevant to a teaching experience in Canada.

I would balk, perhaps, at comparing a hakwan experience to a public school experience simply because, at the hakwan I worked at, although we did fill out report cards and we followed a book, we did not assign marks nor did we have to justify lesson planning or objectives. Other hakwans may be different, and I'd have to experience them to comment. However, even if other hakwans did the same things as public programs, the teaching of those would be adjunct to a public learning experience -- but not directly involved with it.

In any case, if I was a personnel manager at a school board, and somebody came to me with x number of verifiable teaching years in a public system from another country, my policy would be to accept it, contingent on one condition -- that the teacher's verifiable teaching years included at least one in the country/province/state that my school board was in. I would want that because I feel that experience with local policies would be important.

Therefore, if someone went immediately from their university to Korea, with a B.Ed. (including certification) and spent 5 years here as a public school teacher, I would start them at 4 + 0 on the salary grid, but after their first year, they would jump to 4 + 6. However, if a teacher taught for a year or more in their local jurisdiction, then moved here for 5 years before returning back, I would immediately start them on the grid at 4 + 6.

Poet

[mindmetoo]

It's like saying an immigrant to Canada should have his years spent practicing medicine in Cambodia as equivalent to a recognized North American medical education and clinical hours. If anyone thinks teaching in a hagwon in Korea prepares him/her for handling a Canadian grade school curriculum (which is pretty broad at the grade school level and goes way beyond teaching English conversation), that person is deluded. It prepares me for open mic night at a comedy club back in Canada, surely, and maybe a job as a technical trainer in a software company but, errr, teaching? A teaching degree, at least in Ontario, is roughly the equivalent of an MA. You need to do an undergrad degree and then do two years of teachers college.

It's a non-issue. If you want your time in a foreign country teaching to be transferable to Canada and applicable, then go teach in a nation where experience is recognized and transferable. Great. She didn't do her research. Even more mounting evidence why she should be taken seriously.

[Eunoia]

[Eunoia]

And on the topic, this time:


I've had all kinds of reactions, from the indifferent to the genuinely interested, from friends, family, neighbours, people close to me and people I've just met. Some people ask intelligent questions, others are dismissive. Most people are actually somewhat envious. I've never had any kind of hositile or overly negative reactions, though. Sure, my friends and family would like me to be closer to home (as would I), but nobody has ever suggested - to my face, at least - that I'm "wasting my best years", or that I should "come home and get a real job".











Sometimes, though, I wonder myself...

[Homer]

[Hanson]

Mindmetoo wrote: