Korean Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

~ good teachers are thin on the round in Korea. If you are a hot teacher (and lts face it, its not brain surgery) this place is a GOLDMINE![/quote]

First of all, shouldn't it be "let's face it"? Are you a native speaker? The problem is not so much that there is a shortage of good teachers as it is a shortage of "decent" places to work. I mean, "let's face it, if good teachers could make that much money here, they would be flocking to Korea". The truth is they aren't. So who is coming here.? The underqualified and the unqualified. (I include myself in this list) People with a BFA and no real marketable skills, who (like me) have heard that Korea is a place to make some easy cash. (I don't mean everybody, but the vast majority.)

What they find is that yes they can work, earn some money and save a good chunk of it. But they are not making nearly as much as those exaggerated claims. Some may turn out to be "good teachers", who knows? But a lot of them do this for a year or two and then move on to what they are really interested in.

The people who really do well in Korea are not necessarily good teachers, but good salesmen. They can sell themselves, they can throw a sales pitch in every class. The students buy it because they want the easy way, they don't want to do any work. It never ceases to amaze me that whenever students encounter a foreign teacher who expects them to do any real work, they innevitably complain about that teacher. (usually until he or she gets the axe)

They want a teacher with style, pizzaz or whatever adjective you want to put on him, but they don't want too much in the way of substance.

The only reason people are lining up to take TOIEC or TOEFL classes is because they have to in order to get a job. They don't really want to learn English, they just want to know enough to pass the test and then move on to being among the next generation of yuppie Koreans.

The few students who really want to learn English, we can easily tell who they are. They are students who work on their own, who can motivate themselves and are ususally not so worried about TOIEC or TOEFL, but more concerned about understanding English.

Just some more mindless babble from a wanna be teacher.
Cheers

[mack the knife]

i just met a woman this weekend who said that speech therapists command $220 an hour here in korea.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[chomsky]

most I ever witnessed for this was 9-10 milion. however, these days may be numbered if (a very biiiig ' if' ) korea starts to follow international education trends in the not too distant future.

TOEIC is old hat. it should be dumped and is starting to fall by the wayside in some places already. It fails miserably to gauge language proficiency. big texts with titles like 'Ear of the TOEIC' sell like hotcakes but promote dependency on translation, which partially explains why koreans have some of the lowest english skills in asia. koreans at intermediate level and above will take these toeic classes over immersion classes because it's easier, and most korean esl teachers refuse to conduct an immersion class anyway. many because they lack confidence in their ability, rightly or wrongly.

hopefully this will change and you'll start getting your rightful share of the esl pie some day but i won't hold my breath. both instructors and students here are convinced that the almighty toeic is their ticket to riches.