Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jiffy]

teaching clothes?

am sure i read somewhere that u needed be smarter for teaching in korea than in taiwan.. as a casual dresser this concerns me - just how smart are we talking here? clean and not too scruffy? full on suit?!!

am sure theres other threads on this if anyone has any tips or can point me in the right direction..

cheers!

[Hank Scorpio]

[OiGirl]

Are you a guy or a girl?

A good middle-of-the-road pick is chinos or dress slacks and a tailored shirt/blouse. You'll want to dress up for work from time to time when you need to kiss up to someone (even if you think now that you'd NEVER do that!) and you may find that there are casual days when jeans and a nice, not ratty, t-shirt will do.

[Mr. Pink]

Depends on your job imo.

Teaching kindy for example, i refused to wear a tie, I wore t-shirts a lot of the time, and casual or dress pants. Never jeans. Reason was they would touch my shirt with their dirty hands, and I didn't like wasting money on dry cleaning so much.

Teaching reg kids, dress shirt/dress pants...rarely if ever did I wear a tie.

Teaching highschool...dress shirt/dress pants...I have never worn a tie in almost 4yrs working there.

Ties and full jacket thing aren't really for me. It all depends on your school though. I would have probably left my school the first year if I had to wear a tie...it is one thing I seriously can't stomach wearing on a daily basis.

[kangnamdragon]

I think a lot of the teachers in Korea are smarter because we chose to live in Korea and Korea is a great place!!

[lush72]

[just because]

One day the boss pissed me off so i came to work in boxers a T-shirt and sandles. He didn't say anything to me about that but I wouldn't recommed it.
The reason is because he wouldn't buy me an air-con so I came as dressed down as possible until he did. My room is nice and cool now, well it was until the tight ass turned them off a couple months ago because winter is coming. I won't need it today though

[Derrek]

I teach kindy, and usually wear slacks or Dockers. Sometimes i wear jeans. Often I wear a nice button-down shirt.

I didn't wear jeans for quite a while until I saw the other teachers doing it.

[Homer]

Your best bet: go to the Teachers Clothes store.

They will measure you, polish, steam and press you and then off you go to teach with your Teaching clothes on....

[princess]

On my first job in Seoul, I was accused of dressing up too much. Apparently, they thought anything velvet was evening wear. My next school fired a Korean teacher for wearing cut-off denim shorts to work after a warning first. I was told I was too fashionable for Ansan. hahaha!!!

[buddy bradley]

Taiwan = shorts, t-shirt and sandals because it's so damn hot.

Korea = smart pants, shirt and tie because you can and you should.

[jiffy]

thanks guys - sounds like i might just get away with what i've got - which mainly does consist of jeans /cords etc with a couple of smarter items.

good job too, i couldn't cope with looking smart everyday plus those little tykes will probably ruin my clobber anyway!

am a girl by the way - just in case there are horrendous sexist clothing 'rules' and what is ok for guys isnt for gals!!

cheers again!

[maxxx_power]

I teach kindy and elementary kids. I wear jeans and non t-shirt shirts with no problems. Some of the people I work with dress like dead heads so I really have no problem with my clothing.

Slacks and a collared shirt sound way too formal to me unless you are teaching adults or in a more formal setting.

Ties are waaaay overboard, some kid is going to rip that shit right off your kneck.

[Hank Scorpio]

[IconsFanatic]

Do people seriously wear ties when teaching in a hagwon?

Hahah!