Korean Job Discussion Forums

dulouz · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: Uranus

I recently finished my 3 week tour of the Philippines and I now have the credential of expertise thats much like the I-have-a-Gay-friend diploma needed to give credibility to opinions concerning social issues about Gay people.

I looked and looked and looked and looked but I saw scant evidence of a plethora of these students in the places I visited. There are some but they seem to be imbedded into a uni system and not at private institutes.

There were some businesses adminstering test prep courses but they seemed to be for Filipinos. I went to Bagio which is a big uni town and saw no evidence, I ask the hotel staff and checked the phonebook. I met two female Korean students that were "exchange students", I read a movie review about a Korean-Filipino romance movie with Korean exchange student and I saw one ad by a luxury resort in Boracay
that offered ESL lessons in a casual learning environment.

Unless you are good at marketing and business start-ups, take off The PI off you escape from Korea plan.

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

What are you saying? The Phillipines aren't worth visiting if there aren't any Koreans there? What an odd notion... something I might expect a Korean forum plant to write.

Gamecock · Joined: 26 Nov 2003

ummm, you may not have noticed after 3 weeks in the Philippines, but nearly everyone speaks English, and due to its poverty its not exactly a hotspot for drawing foreign students for higher education...of course there aren't ESL jobs

fusionbarnone · Joined: 31 May 2004

Korean uni students used to "study" toward a masters degree(one year) in the PI once upon a time, in order to earn a place in a Medical degree related program/s back in Korea.

Once the K-govt caught wind of this, credits for earned degrees from this location were no longer considered eligible for entry into medicine related courses of study.

Besides, philippinos have excellent English(love the way they say,"dollar").

dulouz · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: Uranus

Hmmm, I went too fast. The point of the post was the validation of the rumor that the PI was becoming a popular place study due to its proximity, cost of living, cost of staff and immersion availablity. I found the argument compelling enough for me to daydream about having a school and investigate the matter first hand. I never intended to teach English to Pinoys.

I'm not certain what I found. Its either financially unfeasible or its a ground floor opportunity. Either way, there wasn't much business activity going on.

Summer Wine · Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Location: Next to a River

Well thats not what I learnt when I was there. There is work, its a who you know situation. Avg wage is $1000 US a month, there are a few teachers there, not many. Met the owner of a school there, has a reasonably good system set up and met some students who had just finished and were returning, so chatted to them about it.

Its still a who you know, and they typically want better quals as you are teaching Uni age students. But there is work there. I just would be able to save more money teaching in Korea, but life would be ok for me there, so maybe later.

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

Did you go to Baguio? There is a big Korean community there - even Korean shops now.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Summer Wine · Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Location: Next to a River

Oh, to edit my previous note. The owner was a korean who had been operating his school for 5 yrs (or at least according to him he has been).

dulouz · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: Uranus

I went to Bagio, I did not see a large Korean community. I came in from the north, I left by the south, I went downtown and got lost several times. I looked as much as I could on the back of a motorbike. The place is nuts with congestion. Very little Hangumal and few faces that were not Pinoy.

The Koreans may have been segregated so far away and so completely that I may have missed them but I really saw little sign of them. I have been told they are there but I didn't see them.

I wasn't so much interested in getting a job as having my own school, that was/is my frame of mind.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

I didn't see many Koreans either in Baguio - outside of the internet cafes anyways.

But on the street, or signs in Korea, I don't recall any.

By the way, Baguio was a really big disappointment for me! Many guidebooks seem to describe it as this beautiful mountain city worlds apart from Manila. Instead I just saw a dirty grimy little town without much to offer. Supposedly its a college town as well. Unfortunately it rained everyday I was there, so I wasn't able to take advantage of the surrounding countryside, which is the main reason most people go up there. The town of Baguio itself was a bit disappointing though.

lastat06513 · Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 11:43 pm Post subject:

I don't know much about PI in regards to the Korean community there. But in China (Weihai, Shanghai), most of the Koreans lived in up-scale neighborhoods that DID seem segregated from the of the towns/cities in the surrounding area.

Most of them had the comforts as in Korea (Soju houses, BBQ places, etc.) so the people wouldn't feel out of place.

keninseoul · Joined: 09 Mar 2004 Location: Seoul

PM me. See http://vitea-english.tripod.com/

Yes, there are Koreans studying in RP; some 300,000 according to DTI statistics. 5,000 in Bagiou according to a media report.
I recently had a marketing study commissioned (in RP aimed at Koreans currently studying there) - no problem finding the target market. Like anything else (in a 2nd/3rd world country) you have to know where to look to find something. Since you were looking for less than 2% of a population and apparently a newbie (to RP) I am hardly surprised you did not find them!

But then, the real question is not how many are there, but would attract them to your school concept. And how to get the message to your market. What is your market? And how to set-up/finance a school.

TheUrbanMyth · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired

I have a friend who teaches English to Koreans in Cebu city. According to him there are a lot of Koreans there and quite a few schools. Like SW said the average wage is $1000 US. Not as good as Korea but quite enough to live on as the standard of living is much lower there.

betchay · Joined: 23 Aug 2005 Location: Seoul

where to find Koreans in the Philippines:

Angeles City (where there is a sizable Korean community near the Friendship gate)...

BF Homes in Quezon City (where most Koreans who study English in institutes or are university students live)

Malate in Manila... especially near Robinson's mall

Baguio city (sorry, don't know much info about this place - never liked it)

and check out http://www.philcafe24.com

the chances for a native speaker to teach in institutes run by Koreans in the Philippines... not sure, although one my husband's Canadian friends work there...