Korean Job Discussion Forums

[adventureman]

And Mody I'm glad to hear that you have effective collected references from your different overseas teaching jobs. I was a little worried taking this job would be like
"wiping the slate clean" for a year when it came time to wanting to apply for a different job outside of Korea or TESOL, what with EPIK's joke reputation and all...

After all I'm sure your well aware that teaching english overseas is not the easist thing in the world to make a 30-year career from!

[Mody Ba]

One should always have at least one non-TESOL option in mind.TESOL is not really the kind of job most people want to spend thirty(or even ten )years at,although I am sure there are at least a few people out there who would disagree with me.
Anyway,cover yourself.Sure,it is great to travel some,see a new(or a few) new country(ies).
After awhile however,the attractiveness of the travel begins to fade and the essential unstable nature of the business comes into focus even more.One of the big factors contributing to the unstability is the fact most jobs are on a yearly contract basis...and you are not alwys certain if you will be in the same place next year...or have to pull up stakes and head for some other place.Sure,that is exciting at first for many people,but after awhile...it begins to grow....stale.

[Thomas]

I worked for two different Offices of Education in Korea (EPIK). When I left each one, I very politely asked for a letter of recommendation from each of the heads of the office. I explained briefly to my co-teacher why I wanted them (US tradition, gives an idea of what you are like, etc.).

I then gave my co-teacher a very well written letter of recomendation extolling my virtues in a realistic sense... like about my sense of humor, punctuality, books and programs I created, schools I worked at, Speech teams coached and etc. I asked my co-teacher to explain what it said and ask for the signature from the boss. It was no problem... and I had two excellent (and fairly truthful) letters.

When I returned to the US, I had them put into my education file at the school I did my education degree at. Then, when I applied for jobs, schools asked for the file from the university... and got my letters of recommedation... and they were guaranteed to generate some questions at the interviews (I even had some schools call me BECAUSE of those letters).

Granted, I have other things in my file, including other letters of recommendation... all of which help give potential employters an idea of who I am and ideas what to ask during interviews.

To tap into the old debate of whether EPIK experience is worthless... within a month of returning to the states, I was hired to teach Spanish... why? Because I speak some Spanish and because I had 4 years of foreign language teaching experience. Shortly afterwards, a position opened up in my own field and I am in a tenure track position now. EPIK helped as did my letters of recommendation and the things I learned while there. (And, before you knock it, remember that it really didn't take much time or effort on my part to get those letters... and on the off chance that someone contacted those guys about the letter, they had been informed of it.)

Good luck

[Mody Ba]

And there you have it.It takes relatively little time and effort to get those letters,and they might help you in the future.

[Mosley]

I've heard that bit about the "secret report" supposedly submitted over your head w/o your knowledge. I asked my main co-teacher about it point blank a few months back. She seemed genuinely clueless about the whole thing. Again, this is what makes me raise the question:why does that kind of BS happen in some provinces & not others? ALL EPIKs should oppose that kind of nonsense. I think you're fairly accurate about the level of responibility in the 3 programmes: NETs have the greatest burden, then EPIKs and lastly JETs.
Letters of reference? By all means get them but DON'T count on them for some magic key to a super job back home. Thomas says an EPIK reference helped him but he also states he had many other references to help him. Me? I returned home w/ fine reference letters from my JET school AND the largest eikaiwa chain in Japan. They got me... a $9/hr. security guard job! So CYA in as many ways as possible....
And Anda...I'll be lookin' for that soju from the workers' paradise(I wonder if Dear Leader will start an EPIK type programme soon..."Comrades! Repeat after me! Down w/ Yankee imperialist dogs! Long live glorious socialist Korean Workers' Party!" ) Hell, I'm gonna update my resume right now....

[Thomas]

[Mody Ba]

Thomas was that EPIK rarity,a real teacher.A lot of them have no clue as to why they are over here."Hey,I needed a job,I heard Korea is GROOVY and here I am".I doubt if many of them will go to the lengths advised by Thomas(planning,etc.) I agree with most of his statements,although...a bit lengthy.Oh,well.His advice is good anyway.

Moseley brought up a good point.TESOL experience does not mean too much sometimes when you are applying for a "regular" job back home."Oh,you taught in Korea(Japan,or fill in the blank)?'Well,that is nice....but.." Of course,as Thomas indicates sometimes it helps in getting a teaching position.But usually,if you want to go into something else besides teaching......problems.Most people outside this field do not even know what a "TESOL" is....

[Thomas]

[adventureman]

Thomas:

I personally found all of your posts to be very helpful and 110% informative. Please do not let people like Mosely influence how you should be posting your advice (length, spelling, details, etc.)

[Mody Ba]

"Way down in the briny ocean,
"Way down 'neath the seas
That's where Anda longs to be'
"'Cause his major is "fishies"
But.As EPIK teachers go,Anda has managed to last,anyway.And he does give good advice(sometimes,anyway).And what the hell,none of us are perfect.Although there are certainly some people on this board(no,no calm, down,not necessarily on this thread) who THINK they are perfect. No,I can state unequivocally,I am not one of those.
It is unfortunate, but EPIK seems(yes,it is my opinion,that is all),but EPIK seems to take in three kinds of individuals(broadly speaking):
1.A few genuine teachers,maybe some of whom make the mistake thinking it is a real professional program.
2.A contingent of basically decent people,who nevertheless are not really qualified to teach,and are basically confused as to why they came into EPIK in the first place ,although they may say something like "I wanted to see Korea"(So why don't they just take a vacation in Korea?)For at least some of these people,it is their first job after university,and they have no iway of determining if EPIK is a good or bad program.because they may have learned some funky culural relativism in some third rate anthro or sociology course at their university,they think they have everything scoped out....after only two weeks here.
3.The usual,unfortunate contingent of backpacker trash who show up in almost any program,in any venue of TESOL.People who have nothing better to do than fart around and pretend they are "teachers".

Everybody has their failings of course,including me.What I really want to see is that certain EPIK recruit(the one slated for Chungnam) bake pies at EPIK orientation.
Have a good week,guys.Take your teaching seriously....but not too seriously.

[schwa]

Modyba, I think your summation is about right, with of course individual personality quirks mixed in.

In some ways trained teachers often have the toughest go of it because they might well have an agenda that is out of synch with the way things are done here. Can lead to frustration on both sides. But those teachers are what the system has biggest need of. The trick for these people is to introduce productive innovation in a nonthreatening way -- they can really make a difference.

The fresh-out-of-school set, well, some will sink & some will swim. I think a lot of them choose epik because they equate 'govt' with security & efficiency, & expect their hands to be held while someone patiently explains what theyre supposed to do & how to do it. Heh. But a surprising number wake up quickly, put their native smarts to use, & do okay.

I think a higher than usual percentage of recruits this year have previous experience in Korea -- thats a good thing for the program.

Speaking of good things -- epik's hiring policy deserves credit for being free of the discrimination rampant in the private educational field here. Color, age, & looks dont figure into it (& gyopos have equal opportunity too) -- bravo. Some of these people may face attitudes at the community level but I think its great that some students will get to know non-mainstream speakers of english.

[Thomas]

[rudyflyer]

OK after much discussion and considering that the bulk of the information is pretty good for EPIKers here and after a cleanup of the recent insults, I have decided to reopen this thread for discussion.

HOWEVER, Let this be a warning to everybody here that if there are ANY more insults and or complaining here the following actions will be taken:

1) sanctions against posters who flame or insult other posters here. We will sanction both instigators and retaliators.

AND
2) This thread will not only be locked it will disappear

You have been warned

[Mody Ba]

I believe it is "disappear".Only kidding,only kidding! Really!
I do not think we really need to flame each other.We should all turn our attention to EPIK and what is happening or not happening there.What?You say you are SICK of EPIK?....well,h'mmmm.It gets more interesting every day.The EPIK plot thickens.....

[rudyflyer]