Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Adam J]

Does anyone here have experience with this teacher exchange program? Doesn't look like Korea is a participating country this year, but perhaps it has been in the past?

http://www.fulbrightexchanges.org/

[chronicpride]

I met 3 kyopos this summer who are working here on that program. I don't know about anything new that would suggest any changes to that program, however.

[J.B. Clamence]

I knew a guy my first year here who was on that program. He was also a Kyopo, and from what I gathered, it seemed to me that the majority of the participants were Kyopos, which was surprising since the program is intended to promote cultural understanding, so what sense does it make to send a bunch of people who are already very well versed in Korean culture?

Anyway, it seemed like they had a pretty cool deal. They started out with a six-week orientation program in Korea all together, and at the end, each was sent to a different school in cities and towns all over the country. The guy I knew taught English at a Middle School, so he had a regular job with regular hours. I think he even had a 3-day weekend. But he was staying with a host family, though -- the family of one of the teachers in the school. I'm not sure if that's the standard for the program or not. One or two weekends a month, all the participants would all get together again socially in a designated city. It seemed like they all became pretty close friends with one another during the program.

[bitna]

How is the pay for the fullbright participants? From what I gathered, you would make more $$ by teaching at a hakwon. My professor stated that people also do it for the prestige. I don't know about that one.

[FUBAR]

[J.B. Clamence]

[Che]

When I was working in public high schools we had a couple of Fulbright teachers.They weren't Korean American and were employed to co-teach with a Korean English teacher.Occasionally they would teach alone and indeed sometimes preferred to do so.
They were paid less than regular native speaking teachers but didn't have to prepare for lessons.This could be stressful as when co-teaching they just had to follow the Korean teachers lead and were underutilised in the classroom.
I think they enjoyed the experience of working in Korea but the living arrangements left a lot to be desired i.e. homestaying.Parents of the schools students were used and tended to take advantage of their presence to arrange lessons with their other kids and invited along the neighbours kids as well.Both the people I knew would take a book and sit in a coffe shop or McDonalds to escape the family.While it does give you the opportunity to experience Korean family life it is nigh impossible to enjoy the claustrophobia of living within a Korean family unit.I speak of this having done a homestay myself when I first came to Korea.Lovely people who meant well but absolutely no escape from them when in the home.
Hope this helps.PM me if you have any further questions

[gochubandit]

i applied last year and didn't get the position. but i can break it down for u:

1) mandatory homestay - required to live in with korean family. can be good or bad, depending how much u value ur personal space and how u react to living in a korean familial value system. probably the most difficult part of the program. never know when u might be stuck with an alkie "daddy" or an overbearing "mommie" and annoying "dongsengs." personally, i thought it'd be fun, but i'm a kyopo. i'm used to that stuff. (i even heard the rumor that one dude actually slept with the mother of the household. crazy stuff i tell u)
2) free korean lessions (i think)
3) pay = ~$1000/month. good luck having fun with ur pocket change. cost of living offset by living arrangements and having an ahjumah do ur cooking/cleaning/laundry.
4) teach at public school - no need to worry about getting shafted by sketchy ppl. they have to answer to the embassy if they do.
5) location - u can't choose, only prefer. and u will NOT be in seoul.

it's essentially a trade-off between money and stability/cultural experience. plus working at a fulbright scholarship looks a LOT better than working at a hagwon, based on prestige alone.

[peppermint]

I met a few people in the program a few weeks ago, and they seemed happy enough, though one said her house mom treated her like a fashion accessory( "Time to dress the waygookin!" )

[thorin]

[bitna]

Yeah really, what the hell is so pretigious about it? Couple days ago my professor told me the same thing. When I told him I wanted to teach in Korea, he told me to do it through Fullbright.

[J.B. Clamence]

The prestige comes from the "Fullbright" name. Once upon a time I used to be a grad student at a fairly prestigious university, and whenever students in the department would get a Fullbright scholarship to go and do some research in some far off place in the world for a year (all expenses paid), it was always a huge deal. And there was always talk about who's applying for a Fullbright next year, and who's going to get it. Of course, being accepted to the Fulbright program to teach in Korea for a year is not nearly as prestigious as getting a Fullbright scholarship to go and live in Vienna for a year so you can to study music theory at your liesure, but the Fullbright name goes a long way by itself. And the fact is that in American academics, for better or worse, there are few names which are more prestigious than "Fullbright."

[thorin]

[thorin]

[J.B. Clamence]

Yes, slaving for a year at Mr. Kwak's Super Best English Academy looks just as impressive on a resume as participating in a Fulbright cultural exchage program. Yeah...