Korean Job Discussion Forums

[belzoond]

I'm considering teaching for a year in Korea- just to make a little money and get some experience teaching EFL, but I have some misgivings.

This will be my first experience in the field. I have a BA in English and a TESOL certificate from my alma mater.

From what I've been able to find out, it's ridiculously easy to get hired in Korea, and a lot of the work seems to consist of simple conversation classes for children. Some of my concerns are:

-Is my year of experience there going to mean anything on my resume, when I go try to get work somewhere a little more competitive, like Prague (where I might have to teach something other than conversation classes)?
-Is this going to do anything for my teaching skills? How much am I going to get out of this, as a new teacher, aside from free rent?
-Has anyone here (or anyone you know) done this and actually gone on to teach EFL somewhere outside of east Asia, without a master's?
-Also, would it be hard for me to find a job in Korea teaching reading/writing instead?

If you have any feedback, thanks.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[pest2]

[Okibum]

My friend is teaching EFL legally in Spain without an EU passport. She also only makes 650 Euros a month.

[belzoond]

Yeah, it looks like if I ever tried Europe it would really just only be for the privilege of being there, not for the money. But can you even do Western Europe as an American at all, anymore? I was under the impression that schools in France/Spain/Germany only hire EU passport holders. I was considering Prague because it seems to be different there.
Buenos Aires, also, I'm considering... again, not for the money...

I'm just hoping that having a year's experience in Seoul will mean that I'm not regarded as a complete beginner, and give me a little edge over those who are..

(Korea isn't that bad though, right? If there are enough mountains, beaches, natural places to escape to, that'll make it a little better, for me...)

[Okibum]

She's working legally as an American. Her job is to teach American culture and English with an American accent. It's hard to find people from the UK to teach American culture.

[oskinny1]

[megraham]

hey, your year of experience is pretty valuable in Prague. I taught there for a year, and you can be hired no problem without any experience, there are so many language schools there that its really easy to get an esl job. but if you are looking to make some money, then unless you work really hard and spend very little in prague, you wont save very much. So if you dont mind just making enough to live a comfortable life in Prague, then I would say just head there, of course, they will not pay for your flight or your housing, and the very best thing is to just take a leap of faith and move there, then look for a job, which will take about two weeks at most if you really hit the pavement.
There are adult conversation teaching jobs in Korea, that would be the most valuable experience to have in Prague, but something is better than nothing. i was there for a year and have just accepted a job and am about to move to korea, prague was a great experience, send me a message if anyone has any follow-up questions and if you are looking for a similar site as this that is useful for prague theres a great one here: www.expats.cz
good luck

[the1andonly]

-Is my year of experience there going to mean anything on my resume, when I go try to get work somewhere a little more competitive, like Prague (where I might have to teach something other than conversation classes)? Like you said, any bonehead can get a job in Korea and everybody knows that. Its a melting pot for the useless and undereducated. Save a year of your life and go to China or Japan instead. Sure the money is not as good, but the experience would be better.

-Is this going to do anything for my teaching skills? How much am I going to get out of this, as a new teacher, aside from free rent?
No. You will learn how to waste time, play hangman with a group of 15 rather than 2, work 8 hours a day and your brain capacity actually decreases, live in shiit, eat shiit, smell shiiit everywhere. As a teacher you will learn nothing except for the fact that being a hagwon jockey is like being a glorified babysitter. Besides rent? Maybe free p*ssy and 800 dollars a month savings. THat's about it.

-Also, would it be hard for me to find a job in Korea teaching reading/writing instead?
This wil most likely be a small part of the shiity job.

[mnhnhyouh]

[jellobean]

Unless you graduated with no debt (and even if you did), a year in Korea would make living in Europe a bit easier... It's good to have money in the bank if you want to take a job paying less than you need to live on comfortably....

If you take a public school position or an adult hagwon (I'm guessing all you'll find as a newbie is split shift for adults) you could get some useful experience.... Kiddy hagwon and there won't be much useful experience beyond classroom management...

[belzoond]

[mnhnhyouh]

[mnhnhyouh]

Bugger, double post...

h

[belzoond]