Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Sung]

Hi, I'm new at this whole thing. I have been wanting to go over to Korea for a long time and now that I have my mind made up, I'm ready. I want to teach art in Korea, because that's what I majored in, but it's a hard teaching job to find. Anybody got a good lead on this?

I will be leaving a very successful senior graphic designer job to come to Korea to teach at 1/3 of my current salary so I'm thinking maybe if I could find a job that teaches English and art at the same time, I would be compensated more than just teaching English.

Any input would help me out.

Little background about me:

- BFA from RISD
- Raised in USA
- Fluent in both Korean and English
- US Citizen
- 30 years old (am I too old?)

Thanks.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

The only ways in which you might be able to swing it would be teaching very young children. Some possibilities I could see:

- Working at a kindergarten where you set up 'English' art classes in addition to regular classes.

- Working at a hagwon where you're allowed to incorporate art into your lessons to a large extent.

- Working at a public school where you're able to do a few art CA classes in addition to your regular teaching load.

- Working a teaching job with low hours and getting a job at an art academy on the side (illegal but probably easier to swing if you get an F-visa before coming here).

[prideofidaho]

It's possible, but along the lines of what the above person said.

I taught immersion, so it was art in English. It was fun, but challenging in it's own way.

It was really hard to communicate instructions, and with kids...it's all about telling them what to do, otherwise little minsu starts eating tape (true story). It might be easy if you can figure out a way to relay instructions non-verbally.

There are art hagwons...not sure if they're in English, but a recruiter might know more about that.

Good luck!

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Oh wait - I forgot: English Village in Paju. I believe that they have full-time foreign art teachers.

[Whirlwind]

So, in this economy, you're going to give up a good job back home(I assume with the potential for advancement), come over at 1/3 of your salary to a country renowned for unstable schools, corrupt directors and the possibility that you won't get paid plus having to deal with Korean brats in large numbers....yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Come on over.

[Becka]

It's doable, but as others have said here, it'd probably have to be introduced sort of sideways, under the overall focus of English teaching. I'm a film/media art person, so in public school after-school classes I used to teach animation in English. We'd watch short animated films and then do some of our own stop motion stuff. It was so fun and the kids were into it, and it wasn't hard to organize it around specific English vocabulary and expressions. The trick is to have bosses who trust you and support what you're doing. Which may be easier for you than for most foreign teachers, since you're fluent in Korean.

And no, you're not too old.

Good luck!

[Sung]

Thanks everyone.