Korean Job Discussion Forums

[catman]

How does the level of respect for ESL teachers in Korea compare with other countries like Japan, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Poland.....etc

[Draz]

I'm sure that everywhere you go, your level of respect is based on your qualifications and the quality of the job you can get.

[itaewonguy]

[steveinincheon]

Uhhh,
maybe your title alone won't get you respect in Korea, but if not then job title + appearance probably will. I don't know so much about China and Japan, but ESL teachers in SEA generally have a bad rep (worse than Korea even) from all the drug addled backpackers that use it as a source of income.

[Junior]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

I was treated with somewhat more respect in Mexico than in Korea. We were a non-issue in the Mexican media, although admittedly there isn't so big an ESL industry there as here. And this is in an industry where degrees were not required. It is a culture which respects teachers and didn't seem to differentiate between Mexican and foreign instructors.

I don't know if this is relevant, but it struck me as odd in the US and Canadian universities I attended that the ESL departments and their staff were not well-respected by others. In Las Vegas the ESL people were stuck in a trailer and the English departments had little to do with them.

[Junior]

[mc_jc]

I think alot of it has to come from the fact that ESL originates from the backpacker days when people would stick around in a certain location for so long before heading off to their next big adventure.
One thing that got me out of ESL was what a coworker once told me. He was in the ESL department USC before he took a uni job here. He said that ESL wasn't looked upon as a real career field, stating "Show me a young blonde woman in her 20's, flower dress and sandals and chances are she is an ESL teacher..."

I believe no matter how much experts attempt to professionalize TESOL, it will be looked down upon as not a real job- but the irony in that is- if you get paid, isn't it a job?

[edwardcatflap]

show me a guy with greasy hair and thick glasses and chances are he's a compter programmer, show me a guy in a grey suit and a boring haircut and chances are he's an accountant etc,,, etc...

what a crap reason to change your profession!

[Moldy Rutabaga]

>I believe no matter how much experts attempt to professionalize TESOL, it will be looked down upon as not a real job- but the irony in that is- if you get paid, isn't it a job?

I think that this varies from country to country. The Saudi Arabian ESL jobs that I'm aware of usually have higher requirements but pay well. Mexico was fun to teach in but I did work with people who had high school diplomas and wore the sandals and flower dresses, etc. They worked; they got paid. What they did still had value.

I may be talking through my hat here, but I have a friend from long back who did a brief program in chiropracty and now calls himself a doctor. Some optometrists may do the same. I wonder if someone who struggled through med school to be a specialist likes this. The fact that there are low-level teachers in ESL doesn't take away from those who are professionals with high-level training.

[Draz]

[Miles Long]

Maybe not so much ESL teachers, but EAP teachers are certainly respected in Canada. I have a friend that works at Acadia University and from what I understand, it's an excellent gig.

[catman]

[djsmnc]

I've had some pretty good offers with my ESL experience, including with the DoD and other organizations. I don't plan to stick with ESL, though. Anyway, it's all in the way you sell yourself and make use of your experience. If you have on your resume that you worked at Wing Wong Kids Academy in Chou Maur, you would probably have to try a lot harder to make an impression, though.

[oldtactics]

It's much, much better in Taiwan. Likely get even better now that foreigners are allowed to buy property/open businesses.