Teaching English Abroad

[Shalyn]

Hey there BG!

I have been seriously considering my options as of late; the job market here is so ridiculous that you have people with Masters degrees applying for minimum-wage office jobs with no benefits. Personally, I can't take being jobless anymore, so I have been thinking about teaching English as a second language somewhere overseas, and I am wondering if anyone here has done this and your experiences/advice.

I am looking more into South Korea at the moment, but I'd consider Taiwan as well. Japan's cost of living is too high. I'd actually prefer a European country but there aren't very many jobs advertised for Europe as there are for Asia.

The main objective for me is to save money. So what can you tell me about recruiters, finding jobs, going through Visa motions, how much money you were able to save, and, most randomly, if the city you worked in was close to reliable veterinarians

Anything else you'd like to share is most welcome.

Thanks!

As payment, here is your Wilfed Brimley:
http://www.gotpetsonline.com/picture...oldex-0003.jpg

[Dezzimal]

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/69403...-job-like.html
http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/64621...ea-taiwan.html

[Shalyn]

Bah.. I did do a search before I posted but neither of those came up.
Mods, feel free to delete this post if deemed too redundant, although I am hoping to get more personal experience talk in this than help deciding on the country.

[Beckwin]

I'm doing this in S. Korea right now.

best advice I can give: don't work for a private academy/hagwon. shop around, because there is a huge demand for teachers. get a job with good vacation time and without ridiculous classes/week requirements. a recruiter will be helpful in setting you up with applications/interviews, but don't be shy about asking for more options if the ones they give you aren't so hot.

I'm able to save over 1 million won/month easily, which is... about 800-900 canadian right now?

I'm assuming there are reliable vets around here. Ajummas like their little toy breed dogs.

if you have any more questions, feel free to ask or shoot me a pm.

[0ni0n]

Dont' you need to know the local language in order to teach there? Like you will have to know Chinese to qualify for a teaching position in Taiwan no?

[Shalyn]

Dont' you need to know the local language in order to teach there? Like you will have to know Chinese to qualify for a teaching position in Taiwan no?

Nah you don't. You only need to know conversational English and have a BA usually, and you don't need teaching experience for a lot of the jobs either.
Thanks Beckwin, I might just take you up on that offer ^_^

[Bwelch]

Is there usually a translator for the students?

[Maguspk]

I'm doing this in S. Korea right now.

best advice I can give: don't work for a private academy/hagwon. shop around, because there is a huge demand for teachers. get a job with good vacation time and without ridiculous classes/week requirements. a recruiter will be helpful in setting you up with applications/interviews, but don't be shy about asking for more options if the ones they give you aren't so hot.

I'm able to save over 1 million won/month easily, which is... about 800-900 canadian right now?

I'm assuming there are reliable vets around here. Ajummas like their little toy breed dogs.

if you have any more questions, feel free to ask or shoot me a pm.

Wowa, had no idea you went through with this, is there a thread with your experiences or something? I'd love to hear how it is from a direct perspective.

[0ni0n]

Is there usually a translator for the students?

Isn't that like defeating the point? might as well have the translator teach the class instead? How can you teach someone English if you can't explain it in his or her native language?

[Shalyn]

A lot of the students already know a decent amount of English, and the schools usually have their own curriculum created for the teacher. Besides, I think you mostly teach conversational English in these classes, which is why they want native speakers.

[Beckwin]

you generally teach with a co-teacher, or instruction is split between Native English Teachers and Korean/Chinese/Japanese "bilingual" teachers.

I knew next to no Korean before getting on the plane. I'd suggest learning what you can before going, but don't sweat it, especially if you end up in a metropolitan area (all the road signs and subway maps have english on them, etc).

magus, check ur pms.

[aduidarnenye]

I don't recommend going to South Korea unless you do a lot of vetting of the school you are going to. I had a hellish first year in South Korea because the school I was in was awful. They didn't honour their contract at all. I had to fight with my boss every month for my full pay cheque and I never got the benefits I was supposed to get. Plus, I didn't have any vacation time at all. My second year wasn't that bad, but I don't think I'd ever go back again. I found Koreans to be very racist against anyone not Korean (white, black, Chinese, Phillipino, anyone) and really hard to deal with. One of my managers threw a temper tantrum during an office meeting and was throwing items around the teacher's room and no one thought that was unusual. My fiance and I are talking about going to Japan next year, but the money isn't as good as it is in Korea. Korean schools will pay for your flight and your apartment as well. My cousin works in Hong Kong and that's supposed to be a really good place to work. She's been there for 6-7 years now.

[0ni0n]

I don't recommend going to South Korea unless you do a lot of vetting of the school you are going to. I had a hellish first year in South Korea because the school I was in was awful. They didn't honour their contract at all. I had to fight with my boss every month for my full pay cheque and I never got the benefits I was supposed to get. Plus, I didn't have any vacation time at all. My second year wasn't that bad, but I don't think I'd ever go back again. My fiance and I are talking about going to Japan, but the money isn't as good as it is in Korea. Korean schools will pay for your flight and your apartment as well. My cousin works in Hong Kong and that's supposed to be a really good place to work. She's been there for 6-7 years now.

I don't know anything about teaching english in hongkong, but it is an amazing place to live in general. Good food, cheap but genuine brand name merchandise, countless variety of electronics, friendly and hospitable people, open-minded culture, world class universities. It has literally everything a man can ask for. I stayed there for 6months during an exchange program in college. Would love to do it again.

[Beckwin]

^basically why I recommend going with a public school if you're gonna do Korea. you work so much less and the gov't is a safe bet for getting paid on time and in full. I'm get envious as hell hearing friends talk about their public school/after-school program gigs.

You can definitely bring home some bank in Korea if you want to put in the time for private lessons (illegal but extremely widespread; just don't talk about doing them near a cop or immigration officer lol). I haven't felt the motivation to do it yet but friends pull in an extra million won a month from privates, in some cases.

[0ni0n]

^basically why I recommend going with a public school if you're gonna do Korea. you work so much less and the gov't is a safe bet for getting paid on time and in full. I'm get envious as hell hearing friends talk about their public school/after-school program gigs.

You can definitely bring home some bank in Korea if you want to put in the time for private lessons (illegal but extremely widespread; just don't talk about doing them near a cop or immigration officer lol). I haven't felt the motivation to do it yet but friends pull in an extra million won a month from privates, in some cases.

One thing I know about korea is their tutoring industry, which is traditionally booming since korean parents, or asian parents in general have a very stringent emphasis on education. I am sure you can make millions (won) tutoring enligsh.

[yayaok]

what the fuck, beckwin you teach at korea? lol where you at
why are there so much ppl who be at korea on bg

[MaachaQ]

what the fuck, beckwin you teach at korea? lol where you at
why are there so much ppl who be at korea on bg

There's ppl from all over the world here, that's what makes it a good and diverse forum ^^

I can't legally work here yet, but even so I've been offered numerous teaching jobs by people who see me on the street with my kids. My blonde hair really makes me stand out ^^; My husband said I could easily make more than he does at his full-time computer programming job if I did some English teaching part time, but I don't want to get a job until my kids are older (4 years and 7 years old right now).

Koreans are very obsessive about teaching their kids, and English is the biggest business in the after-school teaching industry. Literally every block in Seoul you'll see at least 1 English school where kids take classes after normal school lets out, sometimes until late at night. These schools set up stands next to the school gates every day and give away fliers and candy to kids so that they bring home the advertising to their parents. On TV, the children's channels like "Tooniverse" or "Champ" will show commercials for 2-3 English schools during literally every commercial break.

Good luck anyone wanting to come here to teach English, there are many jobs available, but be prepared for the culture shock. Someone mentioned the racism in Korea is bad, and I definitely agree with that. In the bigger cities like Seoul you might not notice the problem as much, but even here you will have people make jokes about you behind your back if they think you don't understand. Women will have much more of a problem than men as well, since Koreans still largely follow the Confucian tradition of men being dominant. I even had to go back to using my maiden name on official documents, since women here do not change their name when they marry...

[yayaok]

true true

i was offered 25k an hour by an elementary kid's mom and 30k/hr by a middle schooler's mom... roughly $25/30USD. and that was when i was in high school, so fuck yea anyone with good english skills have great opportunities to make cash over here.

it aint that bad over here, but i guess its a bit diff for me since im a korean-american... its hella fun if you got the crew and know the places, and the food kicks ass no doubt.

[fren.]

There was a pretty lengthy topic on it over at somethingawful.com. The experiences some of the teachers had over was pretty awesome to read. I tried searching for it on google, but nada.

[Beckwin]

yayaok, I'm in Suwon-si (20 km from Seoul).