Tesol Jobs in South Korea

General Information

One of the powerhouse economies of Asia, often overlooked by travellers in the region. Big, cosmopolitan cities with great restaurants and nightlife, are offset by a plethora of stunning, often mountainous, national parks. Koreans love the great outdoors, and travellers will too; however, watch out for the food. If somebody tells you a dish is ‘spicy’ they really mean ‘SPICY’.

A population of forty-eight millions squeeze into this landmass of thirty-eight thousand miles. Fifty percent of the population profess no religious beliefs. The remaining fifty percent is composed of Christians, Buddhists and Shamanists - those who believe that naturally occurring objects such as trees or springs have a spirit associated with them.

Korean is one of those places where TESOL teachers arrive with the expectation that they will make a good enough salary to save on. Demand is hot due to the fact that the Korean economy is export orientated; hence, it is seen as necessary to learn English. Even Korean university candidates must pass an English proficiency test in order to gain a place at a university. Also competence in English is a social status thing, and it is fashionable to be dexterous in English. Prospective teachers face restrictions though, and very strict red tape, so you want to get all your ducks in a row, as detailed below, before you set out.

Teaching

Korea is a country where education is highly respected; hence, to get a formal job you need to have an undergraduate degree and a TESOL certificate. An MA or MSc makes you a highly desirable prospect. However, unlike Europe, two years’ teaching experience is not a necessity. Indeed, no teaching experience is a necessity.

Koreans have a habit of taking everything from golf to language acquisition pathologically seriously. These days English tuition often starts in kindergarten, and high school students often have considerable dexterity. The expectation of most Koreans is that they will have a highly structured lesson where they really engage in the subject. Hard-core learning takes the place of playing games and conversation practice.

With language institutes, or ‘hogwons’ you can, in the main, expect to find yourself teaching those whose work or social status demands a much higher level of English than they possess. Hence, very early-morning classes are popular, as are very late classes, and it is not uncommon to find your average Korean businessman cramming in three two-hour lessons a week. This ‘needs-driven’ market makes for sharp, well-motivated students. Don’t expect to find people dozing at the back of the class. Commensurately, these people are paying for the privilege, and will expect a respectable, well-turned out, professional teacher. Another thing to be aware of is that many students will have been studying English for a number of years, and may have considerable awareness of grammar, such as tenses. Be on your metal, and prepare well. You don’t want to have your knowledge of tenses tested by your students, who learned them all by heart before they were ten! One often finds a disparity between knowledge and oral and written dexterity. For example, students may be quite unused to hearing English spoken by a native speaker. Conversely, some, from experience in business, speak and comprehend with great dexterity, but perform poorly in writing.

The middle-aged students will struggle compared to their younger counter parts who started learning early. Building conversational confidence amongst the former is a key objective of the teacher. Younger students are aiming for fluency and are exciting to teach. Both sets of pupils are serious, hard-working and expect you to be the same!

Visas and Regulations

It is illegal for an individual to work on a, normally, ninety-day tourist visa. A work permit requires that you have a Korean company sponsor you and that you have a BA or BSc and, if teaching, a TESOL certificate. Whether applying in Korea or before you set out or applying on the spot, you will need notarised copies and or originals of your educational certificates and transcripts, a copy of your CV, a signed contract, two photographs, sponsorship documents - check the current requirement with your local Korean embassy. The Korean embassy will process your visa in about four weeks. If you are in Korea you will need to do a visa run to Japan or Taipei, to get your passport stamped. Then, like the people who did this before setting out, you will be able to enter the country on a work permit and work for a year. As detailed below, getting all this sorted out before you depart is perhaps an easier route since applying for a job remotely is very easy. This said, you don’t get to check out your employer in quite the same way.

Popular Destinations

Seoul, the capital, was also the capital of the Yi dynasty. Three-hundred years of intermittent war have left the old city flattened, but a new, modern marvel has been erected in its place. But the history of Korea is not to be forgotten, and along with the nightlife and restaurants, there are some excellent museums detailing a fascinating history that goes back thousands of years, along with ancient temples, pagodas and pleasure gardens that provide islands of serenity in the hustle and bustle.

Set in a beautiful glacial gorge Tejon, the country’s administrative, capital is a good destination. It’s a big university town, and provides easy access to the wonderful national parks spread throughout the country.

Getting a Job

A modicum of preparation prior to setting out will pay dividends. Think of not one country, but the continent of Asia. You may come to value mobility once you hit this part of the world. Hence, it is a very good idea to contact all of the Asian embassies your country of origin, enquiring about teaching and visas, and see what you get back. You will find that you have a nice big file folder of leads and information, but will vary from country of origin to country of origin, Asian embassy to Asian embassy.

There are avenues that can be utilised to gain a placement prior to setting out. Princeton (pia@princeton.edu) and Stanford (info@viaprograms.org) Universities run volunteer programmes in various countries, a component of which is TESOL teaching. Stanford’s programme, for example, is open to graduates and graduating seniors, and charges a fee of $1,975 for one year, and $975 for two. This covers the cost of flights, training, visas and health insurance.

In addition to that there are many recruiters both in Korea and overseas who are just dying to find a suitably qualified, native English speaker. It’s a sellers market so shop around and ask to be put in touch with somebody who has worked for them so you can get a reference. As ever in the world of TESOL employers there are some shady dealers whom you don’t want to get hooked up with. In general you will be looking for flights, medical insurance, visa sponsorship, accommodation, reasonable hours, holidays, and a good salary. Shop around - the better qualified you are the more you are a highly sought after commodity. Also be aware of contract length. By law if you work fifty-two weeks for a company you are entitled to a month’s severance pay. Some companies try to get around this by providing fifty-week contracts. A good indication of ‘shadiness’ if ever there was one!

Some of the companies you can contact include:

• HBS Consulting (www.hbscompany.com)
• Asia Pacific Connection (www.canconx.com)

For those hitting the ground and wanting to get started the English language papers the Korean Herald and the Korea Times often carry job adds for TESOL teachers. The Chongro area of Soul contains a high concentration of both language schools and yogwons - hostels for foreigners. It’s easy to get into the ex-pat community and find out what is going on.

When you find an employer you will face a visa run, that’s a given. The employer who employs you on a tourist visa can be heavily fined and shut down by the authorities. Also talk to people who have been around for a while. There are plenty of good recruitment agencies that are on the level, but some are not.

On the ground you have to evaluate the agencies concerned in much the same way as detailed above. Also think about class sizes and teaching materials. You don’t want to wind up with big classes and poor teaching materials.

The lure of big money tempts many to substantially boost their income from private students. This is strictly speaking illegal, since your work permit only permits you to work for the employer who sponsored you.