Tefl in South Korea

cloneslad · 19-05-2010 4:29am

DamienH wrote: »

Anyone got any info on going to a temple for buddah's birthday? Would it bea good day to go?

depending on which ones you intend to visit it could be very busy. The temples will usually be done up really nicely throughout the year anyway but on Buddha's birthday they will have colourful lanterns on display that people have paid to have their names placed on.

On this day, most temples will also provide people with some food or green tea / rice tea (some sort of tea, I don't like hot water so I don't drink it).

It would be a good time to go and visit it, just make sure it's not one of the most popular ones or else you could find yourself surrounded by waaay too many other people.

DamienH · 19-05-2010 11:15am

Thanks for that, I've been thinking about going to one just outside of Busan. I've seen photos and it looks incredible. I think I'll go anyway, no doubt it's going to be packed though!

minners · 08-06-2010 4:49pm

Hi guys... DamienH great to hear your having a ball over there!! Im currently trying to get things moving to do the same myself. Was just wondering how you went about the whole process... I wa on the Tiger English site earlier having a look but im always a bit wary of the middle man, are these a good crowd to work with or does anyone have experience with them?

Also, are there specific other sites and organisations you would recommend? Its a relatively new venture for me at the moment but like I mentioned, I am really eager to go. Any info at all would help!

Thanks a million

red_bairn · 08-06-2010 8:23pm

minners wrote: »

...im always a bit wary of the middle man, are these a good crowd to work with or does anyone have experience with them?

Sure, c'mon over! They are recruiting foreigners as soldiers (if no teaching jobs) against the North.

...jk.

Yeah. I don't know about Tiger but i-to-i got me over here in one piece (don't listen to the bad mouth boardsies, i-to-i is ok)...:)

DamienH · 09-06-2010 7:17am

From what i've heard anyway i-to-i is grand but tigerenglish is better. I didn't have to pay them a penny and they organised the whole lot for me. I only used tigerenglish and they got me an amazing job over here. They treated me very well, in short a perfect experience.

red_bairn · 09-06-2010 11:49am

DamienH wrote: »

From what i've heard anyway i-to-i is grand but tigerenglish is better. I didn't have to pay them a penny and they organised the whole lot for me. I only used tigerenglish and they got me an amazing job over here. They treated me very well, in short a perfect experience.

Did you pay for a course with them? Or did you just get a job through them for free.

DamienH · 09-06-2010 12:36pm

I did a tefl course alright but it wasn't through them. I wouldn't bother with it though unless it's the 100hr one.

I got the job off them for nothing at all, my school paid them for finding me. That's why I think it's better than i-to-i.

red_bairn · 09-06-2010 12:49pm

yeah i-to-i can be pretty expensive If you don't have the money or fas is to scabby to help you out with the fee.

I reckon that a nice chunk of the monies goes towards the middle man in the foreign country. Though you don't pay anything extra for getting the job. The job placement is included in the 100hr/120hr package. I don't know about the lesser ones.

Esse85 · 28-07-2010 3:26pm

DamienH is it still all good over there?

Im going onto Tiger English now to see if they can find me something.

cloneslad · 29-07-2010 1:09pm

Tomorrow sees the start of my summer vacation.........................so in short, it's frickin awesome!!

Esse85 · 29-07-2010 2:19pm

How long were people waiting to hear back from Tiger English?

Esse85 · 04-08-2010 8:42pm

Bump

cloneslad · 05-08-2010 11:01am

it's vacation time over here. A lot of the teachers are probably in Japan, China, Thailand etc etc.

I'm in the Philippines and have my netbook with me but you can't be sure we all have access to the internet.

In relation to your question, I've never used then. DamianH has so you will have to wait until he is back online to ask him.

Why don't you get in touch with them and show them you want to go soon? Have you got all your documents ready to send over? When you have these you'll find you won't be long getting a job sorted as they know it will be easy to get their commission from getting you a job.

From what I remember, Damian went from having no job and nothing set up to being in Korea in the space of about 3-4 weeks. Although he had all his documents ready to go so it was easier for him.

For example: If you have all your stuff ready, photos, background check, apostilles, notarised copy of degree, medical form etc then all you need is your contract.say you got qa job offer tomorrow (6th) and you thought about it and accepted on sunday. You could have all these sent on a monday(9th), get to korea on a tuesday(10th), have a visa number the thurs/fri of the following week (19th), arrange an interview and go to the embassy buy a ticket and be in korea before the following fri/sat(27th).

It really is that quick and easy to get sorted, you just must show them that you have everything you need to get to korea as soon as possible.

Now this is all showing you how quick it can be done, but don't forget to search up on the area you have been offered, talk to some current teachers, find out as much as you need about a school before accepting it. Don't just rush out and sign for the school beacuase you have had no offers yet. If you have your documents you'll get a school....one that you like, not one that you chose out of haste.

DamienH · 07-08-2010 3:50am

Cloneslad has said it all above, follow that advice and it's all going to go well.

I managed to get 4 days vacation and with the weekend that made 6. I ended up going to Seoul and had a good time. Itaewon is a strange place considering I've seen the same group of waygooks for 4 months.

Sort out your documents and just sit tight. You will get an offer, just hold on. Make sure you talk to some teachers at the hogwon and research the area a bit.

rivalius13 · 11-08-2010 12:13am

DamienH wrote: »

I did a tefl course alright but it wasn't through them. I wouldn't bother with it though unless it's the 100hr one.

I got the job off them for nothing at all, my school paid them for finding me. That's why I think it's better than i-to-i.

What TEFL course did you take? Can you link me up?

Also, I'm looking at Tiger English and signing up, all was well until it started to get into specifics, what age groups are best to teach? Also, salary expectations, my most hated question.....what are mine? Photo I take it is a passport photo. And standard Irish CV?

Cheers for your help, reading this thread has made me excited for the possibility of going over there and really, really hungry.

Actually, just thought of something, what's the deal with Christmas?

cloneslad · 11-08-2010 4:59am

rivalius13 wrote: »

What TEFL course did you take? Can you link me up?

Also, I'm looking at Tiger English and signing up, all was well until it started to get into specifics, what age groups are best to teach? Also, salary expectations, my most hated question.....what are mine? Photo I take it is a passport photo. And standard Irish CV?

Cheers for your help, reading this thread has made me excited for the possibility of going over there and really, really hungry.

Actually, just thought of something, what's the deal with Christmas?

My advice would be to not waste your money on a cheap TEFL course, you will get hired without one anyway. If you are worried about not knowing some grammar then just buy a book, get one in the library or read up on the internet...don't hand over your money for a 60/80/100 hour online course that will have no benefits to you at all.

If you are considering a CELTA or something similar then that would be okay as you would get some teaching help too.

as for salary, just put in omething along the lines of 'competitive' or even say 2.1 /2.2million won or above (it's a good enough salary for a first timer here).

As for christmas, it will all depend where you work.

I gave up one of my days off at new year to allow me to have an entire week off at chuseok (september). Originally I had sat/sun/mon/tue/wed/thurs off for chuseok but we spoke to our principal and she gave us the friday off too, in return we lost a wednesday off over new year so our new year hol is thurs/fri/sat/sun for the last week in december.

We get no days off for christmas in our school as christmas is on a saturday this year and it's not really celebrated like back home. (we would have gotten christmas day off if it was a weekday)

you will get more time off over february for 설날 (lunar new year)

DamienH · 11-08-2010 6:37am

Cloneslad's advice is pretty much what I would of told you. He knows his stuff!

Cloneslad, would you know of any good travel agents that I could use to book some holidays for chuseok? I want to get to Cambodia and I'd like it if I could find the cheapest flights possible. I've sent a message off to kangsan and xandu, do you know anymore?

DamienH · 11-08-2010 12:02pm

You really don't need a TEFL as cloneslad has said, just get out here! A CELTA is the only one worth having but you'd want to make sure that you like teaching before you dive into that.

<quoted post from spammer removed>

rivalius13 · 11-08-2010 12:42pm

Oh, another question, I've a masters, from reading through the internets that gives me a better chance of getting in at universities, which seem like the holy grail of jobs. Can you go over first time and get in a university or is it something you have to work up to? I'm pretty sure I've about a hundred more questions to ask you guys...

cloneslad · 11-08-2010 2:11pm

I reported that post above...I bloody hate advertisers when they come on boards and just start trying to sell you their site on their first post!!

As for the masters degree, yes it will help you get a job in a university, but most will only hire people already in the country. You should cut your teeth with public schools / private schools first.

Also is your masters in TESOL / TEFL etc? If it's not and you haven't taught English as a second / foregin language before I think it's a bit naiive to think you should start out teaching in a uni. You may have the ability to do it, but it would be better to get rid of the nerves, or any shortcomings you have by working in a school of some sort then when you have improved your ability you could start looking for uni jobs.

the poster 'livinginkorea' has a uni job in Korea and is one of the Lecturers for the masters in TESOL which is run in Korea by the university of Birmingham. It is possible that if you find you like teaching over here that you could start the masters and gaain a good qualification to help get a job in a good uni.

if you have any questions, post them up. It's better to get answers than to assume and be let down when it goes wrong.

cloneslad · 11-08-2010 2:17pm

DamienH wrote: »

Cloneslad, would you know of any good travel agents that I could use to book some holidays for chuseok? I want to get to Cambodia and I'd like it if I could find the cheapest flights possible. I've sent a message off to kangsan and xandu, do you know anymore?

I was actually looking at going to cambodia myself....well it was second choice behind vietnam.

Can you read korean yet? if you can you can check out interpark.com or if you can't you could let me know the details of when you are travelling for and where etc etc nd I could have a look.

i'd imagine you wanna fly into siem reap or phnom penh, but which one is the problem.

The flights for chuseok are all horribly overpriced and you really need to have booked them a few months ago to have gotten anything at a decent price. How much are you looking to spend on the flights?

you could also try expedia.com (use the u.s site not the irish one, it's cheaper) but from what I've seen of these flights they are all up around the 800k mark!!

by the way, cambodia for a week could be a bit much, I think 3-4 days would really allow you to see everything you need to, but there is no way i would like to travel the whole way there and only stay for 3-4 days.

other places to try are:
Soho travel
072.com (you'll need to be able to read korean or at least have google translater for this)
top travel again you will need korean, they do have an english section but it's more expensive....if you click the link i put in I have it set so it takes you to the section with cambodia so thats a start for you

if you need a hand just let me know

rivalius13 · 12-08-2010 1:16am

cloneslad wrote: »

I reported that post above...I bloody hate advertisers when they come on boards and just start trying to sell you their site on their first post!!

As for the masters degree, yes it will help you get a job in a university, but most will only hire people already in the country. You should cut your teeth with public schools / private schools first.

Also is your masters in TESOL / TEFL etc? If it's not and you haven't taught English as a second / foregin language before I think it's a bit naiive to think you should start out teaching in a uni. You may have the ability to do it, but it would be better to get rid of the nerves, or any shortcomings you have by working in a school of some sort then when you have improved your ability you could start looking for uni jobs.

the poster 'livinginkorea' has a uni job in Korea and is one of the Lecturers for the masters in TESOL which is run in Korea by the university of Birmingham. It is possible that if you find you like teaching over here that you could start the masters and gaain a good qualification to help get a job in a good uni.

if you have any questions, post them up. It's better to get answers than to assume and be let down when it goes wrong.

Cheers, I kinda thought that the uni job might be a little presumptuous, but figured I'd ask anyway.

Reading Tiger English's site it seems like they don't want a passport photo...do they want the best, soberest facebook photo or something?

And thanks for answering even my stupidest questions. Like that last one.

cloneslad · 12-08-2010 4:06am

rivalius13 wrote: »

Cheers, I kinda thought that the uni job might be a little presumptuous, but figured I'd ask anyway.

Reading Tiger English's site it seems like they don't want a passport photo...do they want the best, soberest facebook photo or something?

And thanks for answering even my stupidest questions. Like that last one.

A nice photo showing you smiling, don't be in a pub, don't have anyone else in the photo with you. If possible be wearing a shirt or something you would wear when meeting a potential employer in Ireland.

This photo will get shown to the bosses in korea and will play a huge role in the hiring process (they don't really have much else to go on as everyone has a degree so looking good will help you out) so make it a good one.

when you actually go to get the visa documents in order to apply for your visa number you will then have to submit a few passport photos.

DamienH · 12-08-2010 12:28pm

I've just sent Soho travel a message so hopefully he can come back with something for me. Fingers crossed anyway. Anything eles I can find is 900K-1MIL. I can't get on a flight to Kuala Lumpur for love nor money either. Air asia are offering return to siem reap from there for 120,000 return. Argh!!!

livinginkorea · 12-08-2010 2:42pm

cloneslad wrote: »

As for the masters degree, yes it will help you get a job in a university, but most will only hire people already in the country. You should cut your teeth with public schools / private schools first.

Also is your masters in TESOL / TEFL etc? If it's not and you haven't taught English as a second / foregin language before I think it's a bit naiive to think you should start out teaching in a uni. You may have the ability to do it, but it would be better to get rid of the nerves, or any shortcomings you have by working in a school of some sort then when you have improved your ability you could start looking for uni jobs.

the poster 'livinginkorea' has a uni job in Korea and is one of the Lecturers for the masters in TESOL which is run in Korea by the university of Birmingham. It is possible that if you find you like teaching over here that you could start the masters and gaain a good qualification to help get a job in a good uni.

Just to clarify, I work for a MA in TESOL program in a Korean university which has nothing to do with the University of Birmingham. I got my postgraduate from the Uni. of Birmingham and work for them as a tutor / marker, so technically I work for two universities. I know it can be confusing.

Everything else that cloneslad says is spot on. Yes the university positions can be seen as the holy grail but you will need to be in Korea and have some level of experience. Universities rarely offer any training where as hagwons and public schools do offer some. So get some experience in the public schools and then transfer to a university if you are interested. If you have an MA in education / TESOL / something similar then you have a very good chance. If not then you have to be a little patient and aim for some of the lower level universities. With quite a few MA holders in Korea some universities can afford to be picky.

Any questions then ask away.

livinginkorea · 12-08-2010 2:45pm

cloneslad wrote: »

A nice photo showing you smiling, don't be in a pub, don't have anyone else in the photo with you. If possible be wearing a shirt or something you would wear when meeting a potential employer in Ireland.

This photo will get shown to the bosses in korea and will play a huge role in the hiring process (they don't really have much else to go on as everyone has a degree so looking good will help you out) so make it a good one.

when you actually go to get the visa documents in order to apply for your visa number you will then have to submit a few passport photos.

I would even go as far to say that having a picture taken with your young cousins can work wonders for institutes or public schools, especially if you are smiling. I generally like to give a couple of formal pictures and one with my students (in your case kids or friends, big smiles naturally). The more the better.

livinginkorea · 12-08-2010 2:48pm

DamienH wrote: »

Cloneslad's advice is pretty much what I would of told you. He knows his stuff!

Cloneslad, would you know of any good travel agents that I could use to book some holidays for chuseok? I want to get to Cambodia and I'd like it if I could find the cheapest flights possible. I've sent a message off to kangsan and xandu, do you know anymore?

We usually go to Seoul because it's quiet then! Everybody and their dog is leaving the country so it's very expensive at that time. Same as our Christmas I suppose.

cloneslad · 12-08-2010 2:54pm

I'm considering renting a car that week and driving up the west coast for something to do.

I went to Seoul one year at seolnal, it was completly dead, it was quite strange to go on the subway and to have no one else around you.....if only it was like that more often when i visited!!

cavanmaniac · 12-08-2010 3:55pm

Lads, what's the deal with electrical appliances and such like in Korea?

I'm planning to bring my laptop when I go over at the end of the month, it has the 'little brick' in the middle of the power cable and it's for 110 to 240V, so am I correct in saying that all I need to use this in Korea is a little plug to so I can use the three-pin plug in a two-pin socket? Is there any restrictions on the type of adapter for this or will any old two-pin one do the job?

I do however, have one or two other things that don't have this voltage range, so what do I need to make them operatonal in Korea? Is there some device I can buy here or will I have to wait until I get over there?

Cheers y'all!

cloneslad · 12-08-2010 4:27pm

we use the same type of plugs you would use for a razor in a bathroom back home. Just the normal rounded two pronged plug.

I don't use a power converter for anything over here, just a normal plug adapter.

Although last time I was here my laptop battery got fried thanks to a bolt of lightening hitting the building while my laptop was plugged in (tbh it scared the crap outta me cos the thunder and lightening cam at the exact same time at about 2 in the morning while I was on skype and I thought there was a bomb).

As a case of 'once bitten..' I went into asda a few days before I came over and bought a couple of extension leads with power surge protectors built into them to help prevent it from happening again.

Phone chargers / nintendo ds and other things like that will be fine with just an adapter (though your phone won't work here).

Actually, now that I think about it more. (my current netbooks charger is an all in one plug) but some chargers such as my g.f's dell laptop comes with a chrger split in two pieces, with a seperate cable running from the power brick into the plug socket. If yours has this then you can easily go into any of the local knick knack stores here and buy the exact same connecting part but with a korean plug on the end of it. this will save you from having to carry an adapter connected to an already big plud, this can also be done with playstations and x-boxes providing they have the power brick.

here's a pic of what I'm talking about, cos I've been blabbering

You would probably be fine with 2-3 adapters. Bring them with you when you come as you might have difficulty finding them for a while.

found that they can fall out of the wall easily or start sizzling as they can come loose. What I did to help this isslightly bend one of the prongs so that it fits tightly into the socket and doesn't move thus stopping the sound of sparks coming from the wall

Tefl in South Korea

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