Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bharville]

South Korea will be the first country I will have taught in. As a matter of fact, South Korea will be the first time I have traveled outside of the United States besides of hopping through some Mexican border towns. My travel through the continental US has been quite extensive though, but that pales in comparison to becoming a global citizen.

I would like to do some teaching in the Middle East just as an experience.
I definitely would like to teach in India for a while. I have a deep love for Indian culture. Most of their jobs or volunteer only, so I need to pay off some bills before I go that route.

[youtuber]

I have taught in Canada. It was terrible, but the pay was great.

I would love to teach in lots of other places. Why not?

The pay is ok in Korea, but not great. Especially if you compare it to many other professions back home.

A couple of years in Korea is fine. More than that is basically a waste of time. Go to as many countries as you can - even the middle east.

Come and stay in Korea for the experience and not the money.

You'll hear lots of stories about how people are getting RICH in Korea teaching English, but they are lying. There is nothing economically rare about an English Teacher in Korea that justifies large economic rewards. It's just way too commonplace.

And by the way, if you die penniless, you have timed it perfectly.

[vDroop]

[climber159]

[sarahsiobhan]

I've taught in Canada, and it was great. Then I taught in England and it was Hell on Earth, hence why I came to Korea for what is essentially a working holiday. My next country will be the UAE.

[Sergio Stefanuto]

UK and Saudi

[Globutron]

Is the UAE full of students that will literally sweep the floor in front of you before getting their books out and asking politely to begin the lesson?

[redaxe]

I taught ESL part-time in China while I was studying abroad there in college. It was a small "middle school" (actually high school to Americans, my students were 15-16 years old) in northern Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

I got paid 100 RMB per hour. It was back in 2004, when it was 8 RMB = 1 USD so at that time it was about $12.50 an hour, which is not much internationally but goes very far in China. I was 19 years old and had no training at all. Working 7 hour days, I only had to do TWO days of work to pay my monthly apartment rent!

The school was very mediocre and most of the kids were probably not goign to college. They would fight in class and throw things at each other all the time. I even saw some of the boys smoking cigarettes in the classroom between classes. But the kids were really friendly to me and a few of them were very genuinely interested in learning English. They would take me out for noodles at lunch and stuff. It was not bad at all. Kind of fun actually.

[madoka]

I have phone tutored students in England, France, Germany, Canada, the Caribbean, Taiwan, Beijing, Japan, Hong Kong, Italy, South Africa, Morocco, India, Indonesia, etc. (Yet sadly none from Korea!) Unfortunately, all the tutoring was done from my home in the U.S.

[AustSaint]

Japan for 4 years and a bit before my current stint in Korea.

[chellovek]

I taught on the Moon for a while. Good job, small class sizes. Not much to do though.

[JMO]

[NYC_Gal]

I Skype tutored EFL with kids in Taiwan, India, Poland, and Japan before moving to Korea.

I also taught English one-on-one or in small groups of up to 7 or 8 in NYC, but not as a second or third language.

[le-paul]

switzerland - got paid twice what i get here for 12 hours a week teaching + bonuses.
and England - key stage maths and English - pay was pretty good and the job was easy.