Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Elle]

Hello everyone,

After sifting through old threads and looking at the FAQs section, I wanted to post a question for all the ESL teachers out there on the hiring process. If my question has already been asked before, I apologize in advance.
Before I take any major steps and waste time, I want to know realistically what my odds are in being hired. I know that the resume/CV/interview/attitude/experience are major factors but there are certain things about myself that may be considered to be pitfalls. I've heard from former applicants and relatives who lived in South Korea that South Korean education institutions have applied racial and gender discriminatory practices when employing English instructors. So with that being said:

1. I am Asian (yeah...this shouldn't even be a problem but apparently it is.). To be specific, I am half Korean and half Japanese, born and raised in the United States.

2. I am a girl. Again, this shouldn't be a problem but hey, I can't help that I'm XX. Go figure.

2. I did not graduate with an English/Humanities major. I am a Business major with specializations in Accounting and Finance.

Bottom line: Assuming ceteris paribus (all other things held equal) would I stand a reasonable chance at being hired if I applied or no?

[young_clinton]

The answer is yes. Right now apply via a recruiter (go from one recruiter to the next, you will get some rejections and no-replies) that recruits directly for public schools in Korea. Don't waste too much time using a recruiter that recruits for EPIK, GEPIK, SMOE, although you might try them.

This is your must have list:

FBI Criminal Background Check with Apostille (takes several months and you have to have it, you have to have these or you won't get a visa period).

Diploma Copy with Apostille (You also have to have this, or no visa period)

2 written and scanned references you can e-mail to the recruiter.

transcripts (get several and scan one set)

To be honest get these done first before applying to any recruiters, because they will ask you for these and if you don't have them will ignore you.

[jlee83]

#2 & 3 won't hurt your chances. More places prefer women over men and the vast majority of the teachers here don't have an English or Education-based major.

Btw, how's your Korean?

[Zyzyfer]

If you're half Korean and do the legwork, I believe you can obtain an F-4 visa. You'd probably need a little paperwork from your Korean parent. It should eliminate the need to get the FBI criminal record check, although that's useful to have anyway just in case.

If you have moderate Korean skills and your English is fine (seems fine) then you should have plenty of opportunities over here, especially on an F-4.

[young_clinton]

[lichtarbeiter]

Would this job possibly appeal to you? http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/index.cgi?read=48266

I work there and can tell you just from the demographics of the foreign teaching staff that race does not seem to be an issue when it comes to hiring.

It looks like they're being kind of picky this time around (TESL, English-major, experience preferred), but many foreign teachers here didn't have any of those before starting, so I guess it could be worth a shot.

[Elle]

A HUGE thank you young_clinton, jlee83, zyzyfer, and lichtarbeiter for your replies! They all were extremely helpful, honest, and informative. I was actually surprised to read them as I had gone into the forums with quite a bit of cynicism. Forgive me, I am new to the forum and don't how to multi-quote, but to answer your questions:

young_clinton: You are a lifesaver. You just gave me a Master List of what I need to get done. Thank you

jlee83, I am moderately fluent in Korean and Japanese. But I am far more capable in English and prefer to express myself in this language rather than my mother-tongues.

To be frank lichtarbeiter, I'm nervous about the prospect of teaching a whole class of students given the fact I don't have any formal teaching experience. I've done case competitions, class presentations, and held tax workshops so I'm comfortable with public-speaking....but I have no freaking clue on how to impart good language skills to non-native speakers.

I know how tough English grammar and vocabulary can be so I feel like I should at least train myself first on how to do that before I apply. I also have to figure out whether I can handle living in South Korea for a while. I've been there a few times but it was difficult to reconcile myself to the lifestyle and cultural attitudes there, even if it was only for a little while.

But, I'm kind of curious, since the advertisement says it's a "camp"? Do you like the area where you teach and do you find it easy to manage your students?

[Modernist]

I would advise thinking hard about one big thing:

What age range of students do you want to teach?

This is a big deal for your day-to-day quality of life over in Korea. These boards don't emphasize this very much IMO, especially compared to the tiresome hagwon v. PS and Seoul v. not-Seoul threads over and over again.

There are 4 levels:

Kindergartens Up to 5 yrs A huge, huge part of all private academy-hagwon jobs are either all or mostly these. IF you have never taught them before, be VERY careful about assuming it is easy to do so. They do learn very quickly but they have nonexistent attention spans and almost all you do is repeat the same songs and chants and videos over and over until you hear them in your dreams.

Elementary 6-12 yrs The hagwons that aren't kinders are 90%+ these. Most of the PS are also, since there are many more ES in every city than MS or HS. Probably 50-60% of all ESL jobs in Korea. Better than kinders but there's a HUGE range at this level. Some students can do a lot and some can hardly say their names. You will usually teach all ages in the range, but the better [rare] hagwons will focus on just one group. Students will swing wildly between being super-shy and very loud and excited. The plus is that these students are most likely to do what you tell them the first or second time.

Middle 13-16 yrs
High 16-18/19 yrs

These are almost all PS. 100% MS or HS hagwons are rare, you will almost always have to teach at least some elementary students. Even at PS, sometimes you will be shared with an ES [as I found out AFTER I got here]

These students are a double-edged sword: they can be more disruptive but they often understand more of the materials. A good MS/HS class is more fun and much more mentally stimulating than any ES class in my experience. A bad class is just a 45 minute grind where you talk and they mostly ignore you. They are far more focused on their grades and tests than ES students, especially in HS with the whole entrance-exam BS for Korean universities.

[b]University/Adult over 19 yrs

These are VERY difficult to get without a MA or PhD, prior teaching experience, or from outside the country. They are in high demand because they often pay well, have good vacations and the students aren't as annoying as the other levels [but they DO have big drawbacks, like everything in Korea]. I wouldn't look too much for these until you've put some time in over here and seen what you think of the ESL life

If you want some more info on what the teaching is really like [I too am not a trained teacher and am picking up a lot as I go] PM me or ask specific questions in this thread and I'll be happy to offer my perspective

[Modernist]

Also FYI I don't think you will discriminated against based on degree or gender. Like has been said, if anything there is a bias towards female teachers at many schools.

It's unlikely any more than 1/3 to 1/4 of all ESL teachers in Korea have English or teaching degrees of any sort. So that won't matter either.

Taking a TEFL course before you apply will often bump up your salary level a bit and can give you confidence about dealing with students and schools. I took an online one before getting here and it did help me put some order to things. But they will only help so much compared to actually being in a classroom with students.

Knowing some Korean will help a HUGE amount though. The students won't know how much you understand, so they will be afraid of you somewhat, which is very very helpful in keeping things running smoothly

[lichtarbeiter]

[young_clinton]

One thing I forgot to mention is your Criminal Background Check has to be from the FBI, they won't except State CRC's. Although it might not be a bad idea to have both FBI and State CRC's, both with apostilles. It's hard to tell what they're going to want.

[Elle]

Thank you once again to all the awesome replies, seriously I am grateful!

Modernist, if I were to do this kind of job, I think I'd prefer working with younger students (Elementary level?) but after reading your post, now I'm not sure. You're right--they do have limited attention spans. Do you and any ESL teachers out there have any tips on how to impress authority on this age group or older divisions?

Thank you lichtarbeiter for the elaboration and no, you don't sound like a salesman lol, although I'm sorry to hear you had to deal with all that stress in the hagwons. I'm glad to hear the current posting is low stress

young_clinton, if you don't mind me asking, how long are the FBI and State CRC background checks valid for? A year? A few months?

[Modernist]

Well, since you speak some Korean that would help you a lot, beyond what most teachers here can do.

Still, in a PS a huge issue is what your co-teacher is like. Some of them don't really do anything and just leave you out there. Some help you quite a bit with Korean instructions for the students and back you up when you try to get the students to pay attention. Most are sort of in the middle.

It's really almost impossible from what I've seen to 'impress authority' on really young kids, kinders and 1st/2nd graders. You can't get mad at them, they don't understand anything more than really basic directions, and everything is just repeating again and again. When they're really learning they just scream really loudly

As for the older ones, you have to remember the gaps in motivation. Some of them just don't care about English, but in Korea it's a mandatory course in all public schools. So the low-level kids have basically said 'screw it' and there's no easy way to pull most of them back from that. Also here, in my school at least, they segregate them by skill level, so you don't even have smart kids to to lean on in those classes. American candy can help for some class motivation as long as it's used sparingly.

But for the worst classes it really just comes down to being OK with being more-or-less ignored. I have 1 really bad class like that and I just grit my teeth and push through it. It is the first one every week and so I think 'after this the rest will be easier.'

For you, you would probably really wish to have older elementary, like 5-6 graders only. They are the easiest and still generally obedient. The problem is that there are really no jobs I know of that only teach that age and no older or younger ones.

If you come here you will have to learn the concept of 'pick your poison.' I personally chose middle school because while the bad classes are really bad the good classes are actually pretty great, even fun. When I teach elementary it's more like an unstimulating slog where I just turn off my brain for the duration. I prefer to work with my brain on, which doesn't help you much with elementary--it's just repeat after me, all day every day. Do yourself a favor and don't delude yourself about what it's really like to teach ESL.

[young_clinton]

[Elle]