So you're thinking about teaching English abroad. Maybe you're flirting with the idea of South Korea or maybe you've already signed a contract. Wherever you are in your TEFL journey, here are some things to consider before you settle on teaching in Korea.
Hagwon, Public School, EPIK? What do these all mean? I suggest researching all three in-depth if you want to do a comparison. Right now I want to tell you more about my experience applying to and signing with a Hagwon. First of all, yes, there are Hagwon horror stories. But do your research, ask a ton of questions and there's a very good chance you'll land with a good school. A quick break down of the advantages and disadvantages of working for a Hagwon:
Consider a recruiter. When I started searching for jobs my biggest challenge was finding a school that would be willing to hire my boyfriend and I as a couple. If you are in a similar situation I highly recommend going with a recruiter. You can definitely find jobs on your own and apply directly to schools but if you have any "special circumstances" a good recruiter is incredibly useful. Case in point, our recruiter was probably one of the biggest reasons we decided to sign with SLP Ansan. The biggest selling point that made him stand out from the other recruiters I contacted was the fact that he was very available and always willing to chat with us via Skype. Most of the others responded with very generic, unhelpful emails that rarely answered my questions. After speaking with this recruiter we went through a series of two more interviews, one with the Foreign coordinator and one with the Korean supervisor at the school, before we were ever offered a contract. This does not always seem to be the process with many Hagwons so we took it as a positive sign that the school was making an effort to really vet their candidates. Do you need a TESOL/TEFL certification? For a Hagwon, it's questionable. I went with a middle-of-the-road, online certification through Global English. Overall, I was really pleased with the support they offered and the course covered all of the bases. Would I say it was worth the $600 price tag? In Korea, not necessarily. And for Hagwon work, probably not. It is a strict requirement for EPIK, GEPIK and the like so if you are going in that direction I'd definitely recommend Global English. I went for one that had an extra certification specific to teaching young students in Korea but you can find cheaper options on their site. Again, do your research. Don't spend more than is necessary, save that money for when you arrive instead. Get your paperwork in order ASAP. I would recommend making this a priority before you even begin applying to schools. Trust me, it's a lot of running around to collect the appropriate apostilles and official documents and you don't want to deal with that headache a month out from your departure date...not that I uh...speak from experience or anything. The basic document requirements include:
If you've got the time for it, consider a 2-year stay. The unanimous word around the teaching scene here is that the job opportunities get significantly better once you are in country, as does your earning potential. I've known people who have packed up, moved to Korea sans contract and found work within a month. Personally, this would give me way too much anxiety so if you're the same, find yourself a decent first-year position and then keep your eyes open for that sweet public school job with a shiny salary to match. Stay tuned for an upcoming post on tips for after you sign: what to pack, how much money you should bring, those first few weeks, etc. Exciting stuff! To help you in your research here a few links I found helpful when I was starting the process: School Reviews: Waygook.org Korean Black List Dave's ESL Cafe TEFL Course Reviews: TEFLcoursereview.com Good break down from The Guardian Fun, random info Reddit - Teaching in Korea
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1, Miss - Mexican food. Oh sweet, sweet Mexican food. If you gave me three Chipotle burritos and told me that two of the three most certainly had E.Coli I would still take my chances. That's how much I miss la comida perfecta that is Mexican food. The closest we've found here is a restaurant in Hongdae - a foreigner-heavy area of Seoul - called "Vatos Tacos." Tasty, but not quite at the level of what you find in the good old U.S. of A. 2. Don't Miss - Driving. I'm a big fan of public transportation. It's good excercise walking to and from the station, it's cheap (Hullo $3-4 round trip ticket to Seoul from Ansan...the equivalent NOVA to DC would be almost $20 during peak times yes?) and I'm afraid of driving. Before you judge, I have never had an accident so it's not that i'm bad of it, it just really makes me at anxious. I also think that in another life I was a European princess so I prefer to have someone else drive me around. Life goal: get rich enough to make that happen. 3. Miss - Clean air. I never realized how much I took this for granted until I came here. There will be the occasionally smelly dumpster or stinky street corner in D.C., but there is nothing like the odorous adventure of walking through a Korean city. I think it mainly has to do with bad plumbing. Maybe it's everyone pooping out kimchi and really pungent seafood all the time, but it's a very distinct smell that you can't miss, Danny has coined it "KPS" (Korean Poop Smell). It always catches you off-guard too. You'll be cutting through an ally, breathing pretty much odor-free air when WHAM! KPS hits you straight in the nostrils. It's got that effect of one of your own really stinky farts: it's so bad you want to keep smelling but at the same time you feel like you might throw up if you do. The air-quality in general is definitely different. Korea doesn't have a major smog problem like China but that doesn't mean we aren't affected by our southern neighbor's pollution issues. We noticed it more during the warmer months but there will be those occasional days when you look out the window and there is a gritty yellow haze just hanging out. I can't say I feel any immediate physical effects but I have a feeling that when I make it back to the US the difference will be noticeable. So, moral is, love your clean air people. Not everyone in the world is privileged enough to have it. 4. Don't Miss - English. This one actually surprised me. I think, coming from a western culture, I was really intimidated about learning an Asian language. The sounds are so different than our own. Now, after several months of drilling vocab, I'm finally starting to understand some Korean. I got so excited yesterday when one of my students said to my Korean partner teacher, "Chaegi eobsoyo," and I understood that he was saying, "I don't have my book." It's also super satisfying to wield that power of "you don't know how much I know" over my students who think they can say sassy stuff to my face. I never expected to learn Korean well, but now that I'm giving it a try it's something I think I'll stick with. 5. Miss - Bathtubs. For obvious reasons. Baths are magical. Korean apartments are itty bitty so ha ha, bathtubs? Whut? 6. Don't Miss - Bros. Let me tell you a cringe-worthy story that should make you want to go punch a bro-type in the face right now. We're a little isolated from the areas of Seoul that are inundated with Americans, mainly, army guys. So, at times, it's easy to forget that the more embarrassing American stereotypes still exist on this side of the globe. Lest we forget too soon, a pair of personal trainers brought us back to reality one night at the meet-up group where we hang out with both our Korean and international friends. Let's call them Bro 1 and Bro 2. Both were clearly very proud of their overly-buff bodies and assumed that that would automatically grant them a free pass to any Korean woman and her vagina should she be so lucky to speak to them. But, to prove their superior (albeit, fragile) masculinity, they proceeded to challenge every guy in the bar to arm wrestling matches. Face, meet palm. Repeatedly. Over-hearing our friends grumbling that Bro 1 and Bro 2 were from the U.S., Danny and I were quick to jump in and insist that they did not represent Americans and pleasedonotassumethatunderanycircumstances. But the most jarring and frustrating thing that had us both on edge was the way they talked to our Korean friends. They did that annoying thing where they shout and slow down their voices to the point that anything they said came across as condescending and ridiculous. Case in point, our friend was talking to Bro 2, the younger, blonder and dumber one and she mispronounced a word. Jumping to correct her, Bro 2 elongates the word, pinching his fingers in front of her face as he says it and makes her repeat it like she's a naughty child. Then he asks her for a hug. Our sweet and confused friend gives him a half-hearted squeeze before retreating to the pool table. He was gross, it was weird. They sucked. The end. 7. Miss - Snow days. Definitely not a thing here. Especially if you don't own a car. I was super jealous of the huge snow storm all you east coasters got. Shut up about being bored, you got a week of Netflix and chill. I also just discovered adult coloring pages and bought a beautiful set of 50 colored pencils that I have yet to break out, so yeah, tell me again how bad those days off were. 8. Don't Miss - Salt. Koreans are so afraid to over-do it on the salt. Not always the case, but quite often we find ourselves faced with a bland meal, wishing that salt and pepper could be swapped for the very pickled pickles and cabbage. 9. Miss - Reese's cups. We ran out. Send more please and I'll send you back the weirdest Korean products I can find. 10. Don't Miss - Modesty in public bathing areas. This one probably sounds weird. Considering how conservative Korean society is about exposed skin, it's interesting how nudity is totally acceptable in places like the gym locker rooms and Jimjibangs (spas that you purposefully go to to get naked and sit in hot tubs and saunas). You do all this, of course, surrounded only by those of the same sex. It's definitely made me recognize how modest American women can be in "public" places where it is actually totally ok to be unclothed. I've also realized how embarrassed I can be about my body. I was a little nervous trying out the sauna at my gym the first time, expecting to stand out with my tall, pale, out-of-shape waygook body. But when I walked in, I was greeted by am older Korean lady, sitting cross legged on the floor, all of her lady bits on display, who smiled at me congenially. "Welcome," she said, in English. I smiled back, absorbing the warmth of her welcome and that of the sauna. I uncrossed my arms and relaxed, we were just some naked ladies hanging out together, and there's nothing wrong with naked ladies, right? Do you recognize that quote? I'll give you a hint - it has something to do with Anne Hathaway's break-out role. If you guessed "The Princess Diaries" then you're right. Good job, you know your chick flicks. Let me refresh you on the context of this quote. It's towards the end of the movie. Adorkable Anne Hathaway, playing the recently royal and athletically challenged Mia Thermopolis, is up to bat during a PE class softball game. This is right after Mia's been betrayed by her new cheerleader friends, alienated her real ones, and is generally failing at behaving like a proper 21st century noble. On her first try, Mia barely hits the ball and it rolls through the group of cheerleader frenemies who are conveniently practicing their routines next to the softball field...not you know, attending class during an average day at high school because, well, evil movie cheerleaders are, as everyone knows, always cheer leading. On her second try, Mia hits the ball directly into the barely-protected by gym-shorts junk of her former-crush: the very douchey, popular boy Josh. Yessss, classic movie justice of taking out the jerk with a blow to the balls. If only that could happen more in real life. Mia triumphantly sprints around the bases and makes it safely home, winning back her pride and (finally!) passing gym class. Let's back track for a second. I'm happy for MIa and as a fellow athletically-challenged adolescent I completely identified with her struggle and longed for a reckoning of my own. Sadly, I never got that moment. Instead, I was more like the cheerleaders shrieking and running away from Mia's first hit. Long exposition aside, this is where I come back to that quote, shouted at the scattering cheerleaders by their exasperated coach: "Oh come on, girls. It's a ball not a snake!" As a teacher at a private academy, I teach a range of different ages. My youngest students are 5-years-old and my oldest are 16. It's fascinating and sad to watch my female students go through that transition of the ball turning into a snake for pretty much every athletic activity. I think about my third-grade girls who haven't really realized that running full-speed across a soccer field and charging past one of their boy classmates to score a goal will make them appear aggressive, tom-boyish and unattractive in just a few years. Right now, they give zero you-know-what's about how they look when they're playing soccer. They just want to score because screw that, soccer day only comes once a month and the other team is not going to win. Flash forward a few hours and I'm playing one-on-one in the gym with one of my 14-year-old male students.I box him out and sink my next three shots. This kid can be a pain so this one-on-one game is my chance to remind him who's really got the power. Luckily, I haven't totally lost my basketball skills gained from 6 years of bench-warming, uh, I mean, practice. Meanwhile, the three girls in the class are huddled in the corner, pulling at their too-short uniform skirts that had to have been an unfortunate choice made by a male administrator, ignoring my suggestions that they join in. When I toss the ball to Minseo she swats it away like it's a disgusting bug. When Ji Eun actually attempts to make a shot she gives it barely any strength, misses the rim by a foot, giggles (while covering her mouth, of course) and glances to see if the guys noticed - they didn't. Hyo Sheen's throwing Bon Seok into the Kindy ball pit, for the third time. Ok, time to go shout at them again... What's so infuriating is not this age group. What's infuriating is the groups in-between. I can see the girls starting to doubt themselves and their own strength, holding back, shrinking into their own bodies and valuing those same bodies only on how desirable they are to their male peers. It's not like this is something unique to young Korean women and girls. I was thinking back and trying to pinpoint when I first realized that being "lady-like" was more important than being athletic. I can imagine several different scenarios and I'm sure that it must have been a combination of a few of these that really made the impact. Maybe it started when my older brother got signed up for baseball and I went to ballet. Or maybe in elementary school, during a unit about future jobs, when the teacher encouraged the idea of the boys becoming sports stars but reacted with little enthusiasm to girls who had the same dream. Or perhaps it was in middle school, when the girls who were starting to get attention from boys introduced the idea that behaving (and talking) like their brains were just for show - probably learned from older sisters or that god-awful Laguna Beach - is what would land you a boyfriend. Whatever it was, it was somewhere in that intersection of discovering that very specific behaviors are seen as more attractive to men and realizing that as a member of the female sex, I have little choice of when the ball becomes the snake. |
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