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robbie_davies
Joined: 16 Jun 2013
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 Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 10:25 am Post subject: |
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| mr_thehorse wrote: |
| robbie_davies wrote: |
Got to love all these Poli-Sci graduates with their useless degrees and lack of transferable skills blaming their Korean wives on why they are not millionaires already!
TEFL is getting stronger by the year and there is a good future in the field - if you have relevant postgraduate qualifications. |
girls that most of us wouldn't be able to get in our respective countries will do that. |
Quoted for truth! |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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| girls that most of us wouldn't be able to get in our respective countries will do that. |
Will do what? I don't get it. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| Korea has gotten expensive, Canada as well but the expenses tend to come from different places. To accurately compare Canada to Korea (or UK to Korea and so on) you need to compare Apples to Apples. That means how could you live, earn, save as a contractual teacher in either place. Other comparisons do not float much longer than a anvil tossed in a lake. |
Sorry, but that's not how I look at it (or ever did). When I was working back home and thinking of coming to Korea, I did NOT consider how much grocery store managers or doormen make in Korea. I looked at my job prospect in Korea (teaching), and the costs associated with it.
Likewise, when looking at living back in Canada, I would NOT be looking for the same jobs I do here - different markets, different countries.
Cost of living is very individualized. My living standards are not the same as the next person's. So when any one of us talks about cost of living, chances are we're talking about it from our own vantage point. |
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jazzmaster
Joined: 30 Sep 2013
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| Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Cost of living is very individualized. My living standards are not the same as the next person's. So when any one of us talks about cost of living, chances are we're talking about it from our own vantage point. |
That's a good point and touches on something that other people have mentioned: the sustainability of teaching English in Korea as a career. That's a worry for me. |
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chungbukdo
Joined: 22 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Im thinking about marriage as well. Whether she is right for me is different than whether ESL in Korea is the right career for me at 55. If I can't build a new skill or figure out something else to do in 30 years then I'm a failure at life and she should divorce me anyway. Doing the same thing for 30 years without moving up to ownership or something is just below the personal standards I have set for myself. |
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No_hite_pls
Joined: 05 Mar 2007
Location: Don't hate me because I'm right
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| Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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| chungbukdo wrote: |
| Im thinking about marriage as well. Whether she is right for me is different than whether ESL in Korea is the right career for me at 55. If I can't build a new skill or figure out something else to do in 30 years then I'm a failure at life and she should divorce me anyway. Doing the same thing for 30 years without moving up to ownership or something is just below the personal standards I have set for myself. |
I like this |
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I'm With You
Joined: 01 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 5:22 am Post subject: |
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| jazzmaster wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Cost of living is very individualized. My living standards are not the same as the next person's. So when any one of us talks about cost of living, chances are we're talking about it from our own vantage point. |
That's a good point and touches on something that other people have mentioned: the sustainability of teaching English in Korea as a career. That's a worry for me. |
EFL teaching at a hogwan was never designed to be a career, but the Canadians just kept coming and coming and then word got out that instead of working 40 hours a week at home and freezing your ass off for 7 months in Newfoundland, you could work 25 hours a week in Korea and holiday in Phuket.
Teaching in EFL Korea was never meant to be a career move. 2 - 3 years tops. And then go back to Saskatchewan.
But Chad from Saskatchewan likes it here and doesn't want to leave. |
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goat
Joined: 23 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 5:35 am Post subject: |
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| chungbukdo wrote: |
| Im thinking about marriage as well. Whether she is right for me is different than whether ESL in Korea is the right career for me at 55. If I can't build a new skill or figure out something else to do in 30 years then I'm a failure at life and she should divorce me anyway. Doing the same thing for 30 years without moving up to ownership or something is just below the personal standards I have set for myself. |
At the age of 25 everyone has high personal standards set for themselves. Everyone has plans of becoming rich and retiring early, becoming the 1%. I believe the divorce ratio is around 51%. You spend much time in casinos? |
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goat
Joined: 23 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 5:41 am Post subject: |
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EFL teaching at a hogwan was never designed to be a career, but the Canadians just kept coming and coming and then word got out that instead of working 40 hours a week at home and freezing your ass off for 7 months in Newfoundland, you could work 25 hours a week in Korea and holiday in Phuket.
Teaching in EFL Korea was never meant to be a career move. 2 - 3 years tops. And then go back to Saskatchewan.
But Chad from Saskatchewan likes it here and doesn't want to leave.[/quote]
And there are like 6 backpack stores on every block. You can buy backpacks really really cheap here. |
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robbie_davies
Joined: 16 Jun 2013
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| Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 5:55 am Post subject: |
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| I am going to do this until I am 65, there is a ton of scope if you are smart and upgrade your personal skill set. TEFL is growing worldwide, not declining. |
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swashbuckler
Joined: 20 Nov 2010
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| Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 8:18 am Post subject: |
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| robbie_davies wrote: |
| TEFL is growing worldwide, not declining. |
It's still by and large a cowboy/transient job all around the world |
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robbie_davies
Joined: 16 Jun 2013
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| Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 8:22 am Post subject: |
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| swashbuckler wrote: |
| robbie_davies wrote: |
| TEFL is growing worldwide, not declining. |
It's still by and large a cowboy/transient job all around the world |
Depends where you go. I am on 60000 USD tax free a year - nothing 'cowboy' about those wages. |
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misher
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 2:23 pm Post subject: |
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I am going to do this until I am 65, there is a ton of scope if you are smart and upgrade your personal skill set. TEFL is growing worldwide, not declining.
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You're obviously well qualified and do your job well to boot. No doubt you're happy where you're at and not many people achieve that in the game of life.
However, living in the Gulf at 48 years old doesn't appeal to me. I don't care if I get 3 months vacation. Working for Saudis/emeratis with no rights is dangerous as an institution can just renew you at a lower salary. Just look at the ME boards here and its obvious that conditions in many places have declined.
The argument is never that esl/efl is going to go away. It's here to stay and will grow further. However as the industry becomes more dollars and cents based, and more people grab MA TESOLs, wages will stagnate if not decline. That has certainly been the trend since the 'good ole days' 20 years ago. Why would this trend reverse itself? |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| The argument is never that esl/efl is going to go away. It's here to stay and will grow further. However as the industry becomes more dollars and cents based, and more people grab MA TESOLs, wages will stagnate if not decline. That has certainly been the trend since the 'good ole days' 20 years ago. Why would this trend reverse itself? |
There seems to be a universal trend for job conditions of people in work to stagnate/slowly decline while the elite gets richer. This might apply to TEFL too. However there are always mini peaks and troughs in an industry, where a country latches onto a trend and everyone wants to get involved - like Korea a few years ago - an emerging country suddenly has cash to splash on a government project or a big rich company suddenly decides it needs a training program. If you're well qualified and prepared to travel, TEFL will continue to provide people with good pay and conditions for a while yet. |
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robbie_davies
Joined: 16 Jun 2013
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| Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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| misher wrote: |
| Quote: |
I am going to do this until I am 65, there is a ton of scope if you are smart and upgrade your personal skill set. TEFL is growing worldwide, not declining.
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You're obviously well qualified and do your job well to boot. No doubt you're happy where you're at and not many people achieve that in the game of life.
However, living in the Gulf at 48 years old doesn't appeal to me. I don't care if I get 3 months vacation. Working for Saudis/emeratis with no rights is dangerous as an institution can just renew you at a lower salary. Just look at the ME boards here and its obvious that conditions in many places have declined.
The argument is never that esl/efl is going to go away. It's here to stay and will grow further. However as the industry becomes more dollars and cents based, and more people grab MA TESOLs, wages will stagnate if not decline. That has certainly been the trend since the 'good ole days' 20 years ago. Why would this trend reverse itself? |
Working in the ME is not for everyone and I don't blame you for not wanting to work there anymore but I have found through it that I can work there once every three years, having bought a place outright in a rather nice Spanish city. Living on Spanish wages is fine if you don't have to pay rent - in fact, it is like a lifestyle in Korea but more enjoyable. I have my NI credits up to date.
I think the thing with TEFL is to find something that works for you, I couldn't hack year after year in the Middle East either to be honest but once every three years, I have the ability to stick 50-80000 dollars in the bank- which isn't a bad way to go around things.
And like the recent government programmes that have opened up in Turkey and Malaysia - opportunities are springing up all the time, because Korea is dwindling, it doesn't mean that TEFL is dying like some posters on here are prediciting. |
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