Tefl in South Korea

inverted_world wrote: »

I didn't get mine translated and there were no problems.

Aw really? Was yours from an NUI aswell? I wonder does it make a difference depending on the school, or is it simply for visa purposes?

babyfratelli_x wrote: »

Aw really? Was yours from an NUI aswell? I wonder does it make a difference depending on the school, or is it simply for visa purposes?

Yeah, it's from UCD. I was never asked for a translation from any of the recruiters I dealt with, and my school is a public school.

The only thing you MIGHT need your birth cert for is the police cert. One garda said I needed a copy of it, but another said I didn't as a copy of my passport was enough.
But I suppose having copies of it wouldn't be any harm.

You should clarify with your recruiter about transcripts. I needed a complete set, but I think that's only a requirement for public schools now. I suppose it's better to have everything you could possibly need to avoid a last minute scramble once you accept a job.




Just wondering; is anyone going on the GEPIK orientation next week?

an-nyung-haseyo

I thought id write a little post about my experience so far! I'm no expert, but i have just recently been through the EPIK system and i might be able to offer some information,assistance etc!

Im located in Pohang, its a nice size city on the South East coast. I'm about 1hour bus from Deagu and 1 hour 20mins bus from Busan. My location has about 80-100 foreign teachers, including a mixture of public and Hagwon teachers. All the teachers hang out together, socialise, offer help, plan trips etc together! I feel completely safe here and have no negative feedback to offer so far. The only downside of Pohang is there is only 5other Irish people and one is soon heading home. Therefore we are a minority by a long shot, there is loads of South Africans,Americans and Canadians.
So i came with the most recent EPIK intake there at the end of Febuary.
Orientation is great fun and a brilliant way to meet new people, at least 20 people from my orientation came to Pohang with me

If I could offer any advice it would be to get all your documents in order asap! It doesnt take too long once you begin to get the ball rolling! I have no experience with applying through a recruiter as i applied directly to EPIK in October. They were amazing as I had one lady (co-ordinator)who i dealt with at al times, she constantly sent us emails with updates, information and anything i may have not known about etc. This lady was also the person who interviewed me via skype at 6am-nothing to worry about with the interview, basically just asking why you chose to be a teacher in korea, what do you know about it, and then she offers a situation in the classroom and asks you to say how would you deal with this if it happened to you.

I booked my flights myself and just forwarded on the information to my co-ordinator. I flew with Etihad airways for 600euro, this allowed me one large suitcase- 22kg, hand luggage 7kg-yet mine was over 10kg!, handbag and laptop could be carried on seperate also! At the check in desk i signed up as a new flyer and was atuomatically allowed an extra 5kg..happy days, as i had another bag packed to ask could i bring it on! The flight was so long and not too nice but there is no way around this as it is 18hours of flying!
On arrival in Pohang, i thought omg i live in a city..it's huge!!!coming from a small town girl in Ireland! but after a week/two it is not really that big, there is a great bus service and taxi's are so cheap and constantly flying by on the road. The most you would spend gettin around is about 10,000won(7-8euro) and that is going in a cab for 20mins!

Im in an all girl's middle school which i love! i'm on my 9th week of teaching and the girls are great. They are quite disciplined and want to learn!
Now onto co-teachers!..before leaving i read many posts here about howyou will have one co-teacher they deal with everything and help you with whatever you need. Also i had the impression it was normal to bring over a SMALL PRESENT from home for your principle, vice principle and co-teacher..which i did! It ends up my vice principle is a lady (i bought for a man) and i have 7 co-teachers! you can just imagine how i felt when i realisd all of this, then i asked a few foreign teachers here who have been here for awhile and they laughed at me! Basically it is NOT necessary to bring over presents, the normal thing is AFTER your FIRST paycheck, the new teacher usually brings in something small for all teachers e.g. loads of fruit (strawberrys and oranges are really appreciated) and leave them into the teachers room for everyone..or else buy some doghnuts or something like that. It isnt a big thing where you must buy presents and spend loads of money..i went to my local market and spent about 20,000-30,000won (20-25euro) on fruit and they were in awe when i arrived in on the Monday with all this fruit, they were extremely appreciative Needless to say i did give the small gift from Ireland to the principle, vice principle and my main co-teacher who is the lady who collected me, brought me to my appartment and is the one i go to for help, even though i share an office with 2other co-teachers who always offer me help.

So over 2months here and i love Korea! already thinking of staying a second year

I heard that the EPIK system is changing rapidly and you can no longer apply jointly with a friend or specify what area you would like to be place...I only got to choposer the province i go to and did not find out where i was going until the LAST day of orientation! It's grand though because everyone else is in the same boat..We all departed orientation on buses and no1 knew where they were going...kinda scary but with internet, facebook, etc you will soon find out where your new friends are!

Also your mobile phone will NOT work over here! Your co-teacher will help you get a phone you want, more than likely you will be on contract and have a monthly bill of about 50,000 won..depends on if you want a smart phone etc..!

Well i hope this was insightful and offers some people a little help. Feel free to ask me any questions and i can try to help, also there is many Hagwon people in my area and i know a little about their experiences
Also want to thanks everyone on this thread for all their valuable information as i was constantly reading posts getting information befre i departed! woop keep up the good work every1

Cheers

Andy!! wrote: »

Great post seamie

Sigh... had a discouraging day today. Spoke to a notary who was extremely unhelpful, wish I hadn't left the house in this ungodly rain. Do we really need our documents notarised? Notarising seems to do the same job as getting it apostilled. They guy quoted me €30 per document, after I've just spent €20 on each document. Emigration tax I guess. Will try another few tomorrow.

Aww thats no fun. It really is worth ringing around first, I rang a load in Cork yesterday, and the prices varied from a tenner per document, to 80 :eek: (although she kinda confused me I think she said they would notarize and send them of to be apostilled for me, but ehh nope, still riduculosuly pricey) Everywhere else quoted 20, so that seems to be the norm, wouldnt pay any more than that tbh, unless maybe ones in Dublin get away with chargin more?

Anyway I think you just need the degree notarized, not the CRC. But again Im no expert, just being going on advice from people in this thread!