Korean Job Discussion Forums

Hails · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Location: Thailand

Hi all. I have taught English in Thailand and my 9yo daughter attended the school I taught at, was an English programme and not wonderful but adequate for the time we were there. I am looking at returning to Thailand and working at an international school which has a wonderful British curriculum. However, obv the money is better in SK so I was just wondering, would you put your own child into a school there? Are they the same as in Thailand, normal schools, or is everything taught in Korean except for English studies? Total newbie when it comes to Korea, any advice would be welcomed.

Cheers

H

SuperFly · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Location: In the doghouse

jaganath69 · Joined: 17 Jul 2003

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

One of my former co-teachers had an 8 year old son who she enrolled in a Korean public school. From her report, the school tried to accomodate him by having his teacher spend a lot of time outside class working with him, teaching him Korean.

This was in a smaller city, under 200,000. When asked about the issue of being a foreigner in school, she said her kid was treated like a rock star by the other students. This is a common phenomenon here among us adults.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

jade · Joined: 01 May 2005 Location: seoul

You could try to get a job in one of the International Schools such as the Seoul Foreign School which have both British and American curriculum and thus recive free tuition to the tune of US $ 25 000. Not sure how hard this is but I know there are alot of teachers that work there and have their children attend the school.

OneWayTraffic · Joined: 14 Mar 2005

I knew a woman with 5 kids who was working here. She sent one of her daughters to a regular Korean school and she learnt Korean in half a year. For the younger kids I think that it's ok. If they are under 6 (7 as the Koreans count it) you can send them to a Kindergarten. Older ones can go to elementary school and it doesn't really start getting to be a problem (school work wise) until they are older.

As for dealing with the other kids, so much depends on your child, the other kids and unfortunately what he looks like (white is an advantage.)

My daughter is 3 and she's half Korean. I don't mind sending her to a Korean school until she's about 8 or 9. After that it's correspondence or home to NZ.

oldfatfarang · Joined: 19 May 2005 Location: On the road to somewhere.

Ask yourself, do you really want your child to be educated in an public school environment that teaches kids: to respond unquestionably to orders? To witness (or worse, experience), physical abuse of students by teachers? To be trained not to think creatively or independently?

kat2 · Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Location: Busan, South Korea

Only do it if you can get a job at one of the international schools. The International School of Busan was advertising on koreabridge.com/classifieds a few days ago. There are two in Busan, International School of Busan and Busan Foreign School. There are several in Seoul. And a few boarding schools aroudn the country too.
Are you stuck on being in Asia? I mean, there are international schools in practically every country, so if you are qualified, your options are wide open.

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

Those replying negatively: how many of you have kids with Korean blood?

I can see if your kid has no Korean blood why you might be opposed. However, if your wife/husband is Korean...two points to examine. One, Korean education obviously worked for them, you married them. Two, elementary school will give your kid(s) a bit of Korean culture and get them speaking Korean...which will be valuable because once you do take them abroad, those Korean skills will quickly go to the sidelines of English.

If you have kids that aren't Korean blood - let me ask this:

Is Korea really the right place for you to work, live and support a family with the job of teaching ESL? At most maybe you can make 4mil a month legit, but that would be going to extremes. If you have to take care of a kid, more than likely, you are making 2.5mil max...what about your spouse? If you are a single parent, that is craziness. You'd be better off upgrading and teaching at an international school as someone said.

Homer · Guest

I would say it depends.

If your kids have no Korean heritage/background...an International School is the choice to make. There would be no point to put them into the Korean education system (could you even do that as a foreign worker?).

There are plenty of excellent international schools but they are somewhat expensive. If you work for one then its another story as you can usually send your kids there for a reduced rate or for free.

As for putting your half-korean child in a local school here. It is certainly not as negative as some of you want to point out. I know quote a few mixed couples with kids in schools here. Their kids for the most part are very happy have experienced little or no problems (nothing out of the ordinary issues kids have in all elementary schools or high schools!).

We intend to put our son in a local elementary school here. When he reachers middle school or high school we will re-evaluate.