Tefl in South Korea

teflteacher · 12-07-2009 1:08pm

Would anyone recommend working in Busan?
Everyone seems to recommend Seoul, Seoul or Busan?

랴연 · 12-07-2009 2:15pm

teflteacher wrote: »

Would anyone recommend working in Busan?
Everyone seems to recommend Seoul, Seoul or Busan?

Pusan is grand, cleaner air, relatively small.

The problem is this. In Seoul you can find crap to do and people to do it with. You can find a few paddies if you want.

Go to Pusan or somewhere small and you'll be stuck with much fewer options. e.g > Spending 12 months with the same 20-30 foreigners who might all be yanks. Not my idea of a good year but whatever your into.

Of course if you intend to try and just spend your time with locals then theres no problem. Go anywhere.

teflteacher · 12-07-2009 7:32pm

do you know if transcripts and your actual degree scroll are needed?
maybe it depends on the school?

Also, is it necessary to have every years results, would the final year result not be enough?

Thanks:)

ARGINITE · 13-07-2009 12:32am

teflteacher wrote:

Do you know if transcripts and your actual degree scroll are needed?
maybe it depends on the school?

Also, is it necessary to have every years results, would the final year result not be enough?

You need your transcripts and at least a copy of your degree scroll. You will also need every years results. There are no short cuts here, it has nothing to do with what the school want you need all that to get the E2 visa.

timmy89 · 14-07-2009 4:13pm

ARGINITE wrote: »

You need your transcripts and at least a copy of your degree scroll. You will also need every years results. There are no short cuts here, it has nothing to do with what the school want you need all that to get the E2 visa.

I went through the IT route to my degree, so I did two years in scotland to finish off my degree. Do I need to contact my GMIT and Athlone IT to get my cert and diploma exam results too, or is it just for the degree course? Seems like a lot of work, as its going back a few years now.

Thanks in advance for your help!

ARGINITE · 14-07-2009 4:30pm

Short answer: yes.

You will need your results stamped and signed by someone in the college and also the college stamp across the seal of the envelop that the results are placed in. You will need this for every year you were in college and in your case all the colleges.

teflteacher · 23-07-2009 12:38am

It looks like Busan is sorted for teachers, or so I've been told by some recruiters.
Anyone know what the cities near Busan are like? I've been told I'll have a better chance of getting a job in one of these....
Thanks:)

랴연 · 24-07-2009 3:32am

ARGINITE wrote: »

Short answer: yes.

You will need your results stamped and signed by someone in the college and also the college stamp across the seal of the envelop that the results are placed in. You will need this for every year you were in college and in your case all the colleges.

Since when ? Unless the rules have drastically changed in 2 years then no you certainly don't need to do this. You need the transcripts from your final year degree and thats that.

랴연 · 24-07-2009 3:34am

teflteacher wrote: »

It looks like Busan is sorted for teachers, or so I've been told by some recruiters.
Anyone know what the cities near Busan are like? I've been told I'll have a better chance of getting a job in one of these....
Thanks:)

You'll be bored/lonely mate anywhere but Seoul in my opinion but whatever you want.

Yeosu is meant to be beautiful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeosu

Check here http://www.worknplay.co.kr/ for jobs related to public schools/Universities/Hagwons. Try searching for working in the countryside* and contact the recruiter. They'll probably blow their load if you tell them you want to go to a quiet city.

livinginkorea · 24-07-2009 5:08am

랴연 wrote: »

You'll be bored/lonely mate anywhere but Seoul in my opinion but whatever you want.

Definitely you need to be in a big city unless you fancy being a hermit!

cavanmaniac · 24-07-2009 12:07pm

I've been hunting about and found what I think to be an excellent recruiter/resource site for anyone thinking of teaching in Korea.

For anyone who has been over there already, maybe you can have a look and verify that the info is good, but I for one am impressed with the honesty and directness of the site, markedly different from other recruiters who tend to give it the "amazing cultural experience/well paid adventure in wonderful idyllic country" and all that type of old shlock:

http://www.asia-pacific-connections.com.

Just throwing it out there to other people looking at Korea, I found it very helpful anyway I must say.

ARGINITE · 24-07-2009 1:42pm

랴연 wrote: »

Since when ? Unless the rules have drastically changed in 2 years then no you certainly don't need to do this. You need the transcripts from your final year degree and thats that.

It is what I was told by the recruiter, I am just referring to what I was told.

Whitnailni · 26-07-2009 8:18pm

I'm thinking about going to Korea in October, talking to i-to-i at the moment and they said they deal with a recruiter based in and around Seoul. Anyone any experience of i-to-i recruitment?

ARGINITE · 27-07-2009 10:26am

i-to-i are very expensive, why pay for something you can get done for free or do yourself for free.

Their are a number of free recruiters out their already and as has ben pointed out you can also do it yourself.

marvin2k · 27-07-2009 2:49pm

Id reckon first choice should be in or around seoul and second should be Pusan . Pusan has a beach which is very nice and also it has a ferry to Japan for your holidays .The rest of the place is like Ireland in the fifties and you will be stared at like you have two heads .You will get paid more to work in these places as its harder to find teachers willing to work there . Koreans outside Seoul dont speak very good English and lots will just want to be your friend because you are a foreigner and they want to practice english or convert you to new Christian faiths and not because you actually have anything in common so maybe think twice about going somewhere with a very low expat population . Dont teach in Ulsan . Its very **** in my opinion.Dont go with I to I , try tigerjobs.ie or some other group and save yourself a lot of money . I to I actually get paid by the school to find you and then you pay them so they get double.

Neuro · 27-07-2009 4:12pm

Can anyone recommend some good recruiters for jobs in South Korea?

livinginkorea · 28-07-2009 11:10am

Neuro wrote: »

Can anyone recommend some good recruiters for jobs in South Korea?

Worknplay or Dave's ESL cafe are the best places to check out for jobs. It depends on where you want to go or who you want to teach. Some recruiters are only focused in one area or only with kids/business/adults/unis etc so it's best to check out the job market first if you don't have any idea where exactly you would like to go or who to teach.

Contacting agencies can always be hit or miss so let them do the donkey work for you and send you emails about the jobs. At least you can get offered many different kinds of jobs if you don't know what you would prefer yet.

teflteacher · 28-07-2009 5:10pm

I'm in the process of applying to work in Korea at mo.
I have my degree, transcripts and CBC.
Just wondering about recruiting companies-as far as i'm aware, you send your docs to the recruiting company?
so does this mean you're limited to this company then??

livinginkorea · 29-07-2009 9:14am

teflteacher wrote: »

Just wondering about recruiting companies-as far as i'm aware, you send your docs to the recruiting company?
so does this mean you're limited to this company then??

Well how would other companies get your documents if you only send them to one company? Anyway by that time (sending the documents by post) you should have signed a contract before hand. If you are just emailing documents (resume, scanned degree scroll, etc) then you can use as many companies as you want. Once you physically send the documents then you should be sure that's the company you want to work for.

Sabastien · 30-07-2009 2:11pm

Just wondering; I was going to do one of those weekend TEFL courses but have heard from a lot of people that there really isn't much point doing one as the schools really don't care whether you have one or not as long as you have a degree.

I still don't fancy being landed in front of a load of Korean children without any teaching experience whatsoever.

I was just wondering does anyone have any advice so Im not a total fish out of water when I get there.

Maybe any books out there to help with grammer or designed for people like myself heading out there.

Cheers.

teflteacher · 31-07-2009 10:15pm

Most tefl teachers have 'english grammar in use' by raymond murphy.
think it covers everything.

Sabastien · 01-08-2009 1:25pm

So, do you think if I had this book and went through it that would be sufficient without any teaching experience or should I still pursue a weekend TEFL course?

teflteacher · 01-08-2009 6:09pm

the school might give you some training if you tell them you don't have a cert.
it's grand once you get the hang of it.
i don't know how good weekend courses are. i done a 4 week acels course.
where ru thinking of applying for work?

honk05 · 01-08-2009 6:19pm

Myself and my girlfiend are heading over to South Korea teacing in public schools at the end of the month.

We have our visa interviews with the korean embassy on tuesday coming- was wondering what the story is with these interviews? I know they're very short but is there a dress code for them or anything? Would jeans and a hoody be ok or whats the craic? What kind of questions do they ask ya? and is there anything we should definitley not say? bar the obvious Im a terrorist, etc....

Also can anyone who is teaching out there at the moment tell me whats the normal dresscode for teachers in public school for both guys and girls- for guys is it kinda slacks and a shirt or shirt and tie or is it more casual? and for girls is it dress suits or pants and a blouse or can ya get away with dresses or long skirts r what?

Any help would be great! Thanks!

Sabastien · 01-08-2009 7:44pm

I've got a friend in Sanbon so probably somewhere around there hopefully.

DamienH · 06-08-2009 6:08pm

I'm just wondering what kind of a degree you'd need to have i.e. must it be a BA? I've got a BSc in Music and Audio Electronic Systems (Elec. engineering with an audio emphasis) and I'd really like to try South korea for a year, just wondering if I'd be able. Thanks, Damien

livinginkorea · 07-08-2009 1:28am

DamienH wrote: »

I'm just wondering what kind of a degree you'd need to have i.e. must it be a BA? I've got a BSc in Music and Audio Electronic Systems (Elec. engineering with an audio emphasis) and I'd really like to try South korea for a year, just wondering if I'd be able. Thanks, Damien

Hi, as far as I know any degree is accepted. Just start applying for jobs and if there is any problem than the agency will let you know. I am sure it's fine.

livinginkorea · 07-08-2009 1:32am

Sabastien wrote: »

So, do you think if I had this book and went through it that would be sufficient without any teaching experience or should I still pursue a weekend TEFL course?

Anything on language teaching methodology would be helpful for you. Scrivener or Harner or Brown or Nunan or Richards are good authors to look up. I taught Scrivener before and students liked it a lot. It's definitely worth buying to get more of an idea about teaching.

A weekend TEFL course is useful as an introduction to language teaching but to be honest there is a lot of information thrown at you that you should do some background reading first so that you have some idea of the basic concepts.

Best of luck!

livinginkorea · 07-08-2009 1:37am

honk05 wrote: »

...

Also can anyone who is teaching out there at the moment tell me whats the normal dresscode for teachers in public school for both guys and girls- for guys is it kinda slacks and a shirt or shirt and tie or is it more casual? and for girls is it dress suits or pants and a blouse or can ya get away with dresses or long skirts r what?

Any help would be great! Thanks!

To be honest if you are working in a public school then your contract will say 'formal' or 'semi formal' meaning nice slacks and shirt but no tie needed but that depends on the headmaster and remember that you might be the first foreigner that students see. Women can get away with a lot more but skirts and blouses are the safest way to go.

ARGINITE · 07-08-2009 1:52am

honk05 wrote: »

Myself and my girlfiend are heading over to South Korea teacing in public schools at the end of the month.

We have our visa interviews with the korean embassy on tuesday coming- was wondering what the story is with these interviews? I know they're very short but is there a dress code for them or anything? Would jeans and a hoody be ok or whats the craic? What kind of questions do they ask ya? and is there anything we should definitley not say? bar the obvious Im a terrorist, etc....

Have a search through this thread and you will find your answer. But nothing to really worry about, I think I wore a hoddy and jeans to it to

Tefl in South Korea

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