Tefl in South Korea

R.D. aka MR.D

BigStupidGuy wrote: »

Is daveseslcafe.com the best place to look for jobs in hagwons?

Yes and no.

I left Korea almost a year ago so maybe things have changed.

You can contact recruiters and go through them. I don't have any current links but maybe some one else here could help you out.....

Also, I know that it is a tedious task but you could try reading through this entire thread to get an idea of things that you should be aware of.

Some of the visa information might be out of date but you might get an idea of how hagwons can go.

There are good ones and bad ones and there are some things you can do to avoid picking a bad one.




On the topic of 'real teaching': I did my CELTA before I went to Korea and now I'm in China. I want a long term career in ESL (well maybe, China is sucking the joy out of it for me) and I had heard a lot of 'Asia experience isn't real experience'. I contacted one of my CELTA tutors who is really well respected in the Cambridge system and has been doing it for over 30+ years, to ask him what his opinion was. He told me that of course it is counted as experience when you have already done the CELTA. In fact, i've seen jobs that state that experience must be post qualification.
Olive8585 was your cousin applying for jobs in London with Korea experience pre or post CELTA?

Choccie Lover

R.D. aka MR.D wrote: »

Yes and no.

I left Korea almost a year ago so maybe things have changed.

You can contact recruiters and go through them. I don't have any current links but maybe some one else here could help you out.....

Also, I know that it is a tedious task but you could try reading through this entire thread to get an idea of things that you should be aware of.

Some of the visa information might be out of date but you might get an idea of how hagwons can go.

There are good ones and bad ones and there are some things you can do to avoid picking a bad one.




On the topic of 'real teaching': I did my CELTA before I went to Korea and now I'm in China. I want a long term career in ESL (well maybe, China is sucking the joy out of it for me) and I had heard a lot of 'Asia experience isn't real experience'. I contacted one of my CELTA tutors who is really well respected in the Cambridge system and has been doing it for over 30+ years, to ask him what his opinion was. He told me that of course it is counted as experience when you have already done the CELTA. In fact, i've seen jobs that state that experience must be post qualification.
Olive8585 was your cousin applying for jobs in London with Korea experience pre or post CELTA?

The whole 'real experience' debate is an interesting one, but there definitely can be a certain degree of snobbery toward experience gained in Korea/Asia. Of course, objectively it must be regarded as real experience, but that's not to say some employers don't hold it in low esteem.

Just after doing my CELTA in London, I applied for an array of jobs. A week after applying, I followed up on those applications to say that I had officially received my CELTA results. I was then contacted by a Director for an interview. He started rambling and very rudely said that when he got my application through he didn't really consider it as he didn't really rate my experience gained in Korea (not quite that explicitly, but it was very obvious that was what he was saying) but based on the fact that I got a Pass A in the CELTA, he was happy to invite me to interview. I politely declined. Now, two days later I got another job, so all was okay :-)

I think the experience can be viewed poorly because there is no typical standard across the board. Some people just rock up into class, entertain the kids and leave.......and that is just fine with the Director.......the kids are happy. Other schools take the Education side more seriously. Apparently, the guy I replaced in my last job there was poorly prepared and generally unprofessional (visibly hungover etc amongst other things). My school kept him on way longer than they should have as the kids liked him and they didn't want the hassle of hiring another teacher! My first school would have had him out the door in an instant as would have any school in the UK, Ireland or Europe. It's hard for a potential employer on this side of the world to gauge what sort of school you came from.....or how seriously you took the job.

The pre-CELTA/ post-CELTA thing is a good point to raise to people. Some people are hesitant to do a CELTA because it is so costly and perhaps they don't envisage teaching in the long-term, so they opt for a Mickey Mouse course (........like me).....Then, they start to enjoy the teaching and realise that they may pursue it more longer-term or as a career.....at which point they end up having to do the CELTA......and perhaps have their previous experience discounted. That's why I advise people to do the CELTA if they are intent on doing a TEFL course (.....although some jobs that advertise a post-CELTA requirement do bend the rules sometimes dependent on the experience you have).

Olive8585

R.D. aka MR.D wrote: »

Yes and no.

I left Korea almost a year ago so maybe things have changed.

You can contact recruiters and go through them. I don't have any current links but maybe some one else here could help you out.....

Also, I know that it is a tedious task but you could try reading through this entire thread to get an idea of things that you should be aware of.

Some of the visa information might be out of date but you might get an idea of how hagwons can go.

There are good ones and bad ones and there are some things you can do to avoid picking a bad one.




On the topic of 'real teaching': I did my CELTA before I went to Korea and now I'm in China. I want a long term career in ESL (well maybe, China is sucking the joy out of it for me) and I had heard a lot of 'Asia experience isn't real experience'. I contacted one of my CELTA tutors who is really well respected in the Cambridge system and has been doing it for over 30+ years, to ask him what his opinion was. He told me that of course it is counted as experience when you have already done the CELTA. In fact, i've seen jobs that state that experience must be post qualification.
Olive8585 was your cousin applying for jobs in London with Korea experience pre or post CELTA?

It was post-CELTA, but as most hagwon jobs don't require the CELTA, it's not seen by many back in the UK as CELTA standard teaching. My cousin said it was fair enough because it was a whole different kettle of fish. She had to relearn all the CELTA stuff when she came back. She said her experience of hagwons was turn up, do a few pages of the textbook, play some games and deal with the naughty kids, and she would be conscientious so not looking for an easy way out or anything like that. I think it's fair enough to say that if any graduate with no CELTA and no teaching experience can rock up and do the job, then it's not comparable to teaching in say, Europe, where you need the CELTA to get a job?

R.D. aka MR.D

It's really good to hear from you guys the experiences you've had/heard about, Choccie and Olive. It's something that I am really worried about if I do continue a career as an ESL teacher.

I totally agree that you don't need a CELTA to teach here in Asia. I was so disappointed when I arrived in Korea and found out I wouldn't be doing any of the cool things that I had learned in CELTA.

Before coming to China, I was offered a job in Spain but I think it may have been the fact that I had the Pass A that was attractive about me so at least I have that hope!

I totally understand why employers have less esteem for experience in Korea. It's a little disappointing to hear you guy's stories because as I mentioned, I got advice from my tutor that I should be okay if i do decide to return to Europe to teach.

As I said, China is really sucking the life out of me so I'm going to give teaching one more year(maybe in Japan) and then see where i'm at.

Olive8585

R.D. aka MR.D wrote: »

Yes and no.

I left Korea almost a year ago so maybe things have changed.

You can contact recruiters and go through them. I don't have any current links but maybe some one else here could help you out.....

Also, I know that it is a tedious task but you could try reading through this entire thread to get an idea of things that you should be aware of.

Some of the visa information might be out of date but you might get an idea of how hagwons can go.

There are good ones and bad ones and there are some things you can do to avoid picking a bad one.




On the topic of 'real teaching': I did my CELTA before I went to Korea and now I'm in China. I want a long term career in ESL (well maybe, China is sucking the joy out of it for me) and I had heard a lot of 'Asia experience isn't real experience'. I contacted one of my CELTA tutors who is really well respected in the Cambridge system and has been doing it for over 30+ years, to ask him what his opinion was. He told me that of course it is counted as experience when you have already done the CELTA. In fact, i've seen jobs that state that experience must be post qualification.
Olive8585 was your cousin applying for jobs in London with Korea experience pre or post CELTA?

R.D. aka MR.D wrote: »

It's really good to hear from you guys the experiences you've had/heard about, Choccie and Olive. It's something that I am really worried about if I do continue a career as an ESL teacher.

I totally agree that you don't need a CELTA to teach here in Asia. I was so disappointed when I arrived in Korea and found out I wouldn't be doing any of the cool things that I had learned in CELTA.

Before coming to China, I was offered a job in Spain but I think it may have been the fact that I had the Pass A that was attractive about me so at least I have that hope!

I totally understand why employers have less esteem for experience in Korea. It's a little disappointing to hear you guy's stories because as I mentioned, I got advice from my tutor that I should be okay if i do decide to return to Europe to teach.

As I said, China is really sucking the life out of me so I'm going to give teaching one more year(maybe in Japan) and then see where i'm at.

You should still be fine in Europe. I know people who taught in Spain with just the CELTA and no experience at all. It depends on where you want to teach. My cousin is at a very good school in London (one of the best paid), so they were fussy because they could be - they've got dozens of well-educated, bright, CELTA and DELTA holding native speaking teachers to choose from. If you go to some village in the arse end of nowhere in Spain, there's not the same level of competition and hence expectation from the school owners.

By the by, I wouldn't listen too much to tutors. They tend to be out of touch with reality. They've got their nice cushy job in Ireland - what would they know about the realities of getting a job in Spain or in London at the moment? A lot of people turned to TEFL after the recession and changed career, so the days of backpackers rocking up to teach are generally long gone, except maybe places like Thailand (where my ex-boyfriend taught with no CELTA or anything at all). I know TEFL is not well respected but as far as I know, the level of teaching is quite high these days - in the UK, anyway. Loads of my cousin's colleagues went to Oxford/Cambridge and are very well educated and dedicated.

Choccie Lover

Yeah, don't worry......you'll be grand. There are plenty of jobs in Europe that will hire you based on a CELTA alone......and the fact that you got a Pass A before you even had any experience is impressive and shows an employer that you have a natural aptitude. I have seen some European jobs advertised saying that they would be interested in Pass A/B candidates. I'd lead with that in applications and back it up with your Asian experience (feck the naysayers.....and snooty bosses!!!)

London is a tougher nut to crack as there are tonnes of DELTA graduates getting all the best jobs. As Olive says, employers are very choosy because they can be.

I don't know what your workload is like over in China, but it would be a good idea to work on your professional development if you're not getting a chance to put into practice all you have learned. If you get a year's subscription to www.cambridgeenglishteacher.org for about 30 euro, you get a free online course on their website (one of your choice) and can get subsequent ones at a discount. The courses they offer are varied and useful, can be done in your own time and you can get certification for them. You can also attend Webinars and get certification for them too. Maybe, if your school is open to assist with professional development, you could ask them to pay for the subscription If you don't ask, you don't get!

Anyway, sorry if all that is a bit off topic, just some things to consider to help with your applications further down the line.

angryangel

Hello all,

So starting my 2nd year in Korea and need to renew my visa. I'm changing schools and I've found a immigration office near Jonggak station.

Is this the only one, or are there more in the city?

How long does it take for the visa and ARC to be processed once you get to immigration?

Any advice is much appreciated.

StephenCPA

I'm not happy in my current job and Im thinking about trying the tefl thing.

Spain was my initial choice but money is an issue for me, and I like the idea of the Korean/UAE set-up where you are given your accommodation as part of your package.

I'm planning to do the CELTA course even though I hear it's probably not 100% necessary for South Korea.

Is the standard package your accommodation and €1500 spending money a month? Also after the CELTA course would I have a very good chance of securing employment. I'm 27 and have a degree and masters in business, I have no teaching experience.

Choccie Lover

StephenCPA wrote: »

I'm not happy in my current job and Im thinking about trying the tefl thing.

Spain was my initial choice but money is an issue for me, and I like the idea of the Korean/UAE set-up where you are given your accommodation as part of your package.

I'm planning to do the CELTA course even though I hear it's probably not 100% necessary for South Korea.

Is the standard package your accommodation and €1500 spending money a month? Also after the CELTA course would I have a very good chance of securing employment. I'm 27 and have a degree and masters in business, I have no teaching experience.

Yeah, the standard package is just as you say. Remember, that assuming you complete your contract (one year), you will get your return flights paid and get a month's severance pay as well. You can save a lot of your salary, depending on your lifestyle.

I think doing a CELTA would be a great idea for you seeing as you don't have teaching experience. It will give you great confidence and skills for entering the classroom for the first time. If you have the money to do the course, I would highly recommend you do it (although as you say, you don't necessarily need it for securing a job in Korea).

The Korean market is more competitive than it used to be, but provided you have a degree and no criminal convictions, you will secure a job. The CELTA might add to your salary if you go the public school route. Depending on the private schools you go for (if you go that route), they might not even know what a CELTA is. It would be in your interest to highlight on your cover letter the exact experience you gained on your CELTA just to make it clear to employers (eg I have taught English to students from pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate level. I have delivered grammar, vocabulary, speaking, writing...........etc..............lessons). In other words, the CELTA might help your prospects if you explain what it involved and the experience you gained.

Other things to help you secure employment; Make sure to choose a good photo of yourself to attach to your applications. I presume you are a guy, so no facial hair. Rightly or wrongly, Korean employers seem to invest a lot in how you appear in your photo. Also, when you get to interview stage, be full of smiles and show some personality. Employers like that. Finally, do some preparation on interview questions you may expect. They may ask you about how you would deal with naughty children, different-levels in the same class etc......You don't have any prior experience with these issues, so you should do some research online on how more experienced teachers deal with those things.

Anyway, good luck with it......You should have no probs getting a job if you approach it with the right attitude and a bit of research :-)

camoramo

I couldn't recommend CELTA more. It's an extremely intense course and you'll have no time to do anything else but it's so worth it. You learn so much about teaching methods and grammar. I did an online TEFl before I went to Korea and didn't learn anything to be honest. You won't actually need CELTA if you are teaching in a hagwon as they generally have easy to follow curriculums but it will definitely prepare you.
I did my CELTA when I came home and it's the best thing I ever did, got a job teaching here the week after I finished. The thing is it's only your post CELTA experience that counts as experience in Ireland so I started on the same wage as everyone else despite them having no experience, so if your planning on teaching for a few years it's a great investment!

Showtime!12

Has anyone done a MA in Tesol? I have applied for the course in University of Limerick. If anyone has completed it I would be interested in hearing from them about their experience. I am currently in Korea and hope to spend a year getting the masters and then try to find some university jobs after.

StephenCPA

Thanks very much for the help. I think I'm definitely going to do the whole South Korea thing and try to save money! I read on Dave's ESL that Seoul is the place to go, is it harder to secure a job there? Also do most of you get jobs before you travel over?

Thanks for the help, I'm stoked!

BigStupidGuy

StephenCPA wrote: »

Thanks very much for the help. I think I'm definitely going to do the whole South Korea thing and try to save money! I read on Dave's ESL that Seoul is the place to go, is it harder to secure a job there? Also do most of you get jobs before you travel over?

Thanks for the help, I'm stoked!

Hey man, are you looking to get work for September this year or when?

Whenever I go to ESL cafe it seems like jobs are a dime a dozen, hiring next week etc... what would be a good time to start looking and applying seriously for jobs there do you think?

Choccie Lover

StephenCPA wrote: »

Thanks very much for the help. I think I'm definitely going to do the whole South Korea thing and try to save money! I read on Dave's ESL that Seoul is the place to go, is it harder to secure a job there? Also do most of you get jobs before you travel over?

Thanks for the help, I'm stoked!

Hiya,

I have heard second-hand stories of people having some difficulty getting jobs in Seoul, but that wasn't my experience. Perhaps, that is because I went the private school route. Perhaps other people on this forum will have some input on how difficult it is to get placed in Seoul with public schools!?!?

Also, keep in mind that you could apply for positions that are in satellite cities around Seoul like Suwon, Ansan, Bundang, Bucheon etc. These cities are on the subway line for Seoul with ease of access to the centre (so you can easily spend your weekends in Seoul or even go in mid-week if you want). My first contract was in a satellite city around Seoul. There also tends to be tight-knit foreigner groups in these cities which makes it easier to make friends . My second contract was smack bang in the middle of Seoul which was great and offered me a good variety of things to do in my free time, but I relied more on the likes of meet-up.com for my social life and making new friends. Both options had their advantages.

Personally, I would opt for Seoul or a satellite city of it if I were you. But that's just my opinion. Other people on here might advocate smaller cities (or even more rural options). Lots of people seem to love the likes of Busan, Daegu etc but I actually found them a bit small for my liking (although you would probably have smaller, tight-knit communities of western teachers there). For me though, Seoul offers a greater variety of stuff to do, a wonderful transport system and a larger pool of people in which to seek out good friends and like-minded people. I have met a large number incredibly odd, socially-stunted Western teachers in Korea and am glad I had a big city in which to find friends (might seem like a strange comment to make, but there is a startling amount of oddballs over there :-)

As to whether you should secure a job before going over, I would say 'yes'. It really will make settling in over there a lot easier. I'm sure anyone who has been over there will tell you that when you arrive over there, it is quite the culture shock and it's great to have people (the school staff) to help you get settled in and deal with everything. Just make sure you do research on your potential school and talk to current western staff there before signing your contract.

Choccie Lover

BigStupidGuy wrote: »

Hey man, are you looking to get work for September this year or when?

Whenever I go to ESL cafe it seems like jobs are a dime a dozen, hiring next week etc... what would be a good time to start looking and applying seriously for jobs there do you think?

Private schools hire year-round. There can be a particular surge in March which is the start of the school year. I started at both my hagwons in March (with a preparation/observation week at the end of February).

Public schools seem to hire primarily for Feb/March and August/September starts, but you can always come across ones that hire during the year (perhaps a teacher having to return home suddently/ someone getting the sack...etc)

If you want to be in time for the next surge of hiring for public schools, you really should have all your documents ready around now or at least very soon.

Make sure to check other sites other than eslcafe such as waygook.org and worknplay.co.kr. Also, if you have a particular destination in mind, it might be a good idea to look at Facebook communities in that destination. There seems to be a lot of open groups on Facebook where teachers mention upcoming vacancies in their schools (also a good way to get a chance to talk to the horse's mouth in terms of the current western teachers in schools).

Choccie Lover

Also, I meant to say that recruitment agencies may try to pawn you off with a more rural location quoting the 'It is difficult to get jobs in Seoul' line. Actually, the first time I went with a recruitment agency and was offered a couple of interviews for rural locations despite saying I would only really consider Seoul (or its environs). I seem to remember them quoting that line to me, but I held out a couple of weeks until I got the interview offer near Seoul. Now, that was quite a long time ago and it may be a bit trickier now, but I would still imagine you could get jobs in Seoul or thereabouts.

BigStupidGuy

Thanks for the help! I'll check out those other sites you mentioned for private schools. I recently applied for the EPIK programme, so I do have a lot of documents ready to go, is there anything in particular you're referring to in that regard?

Choccie Lover

BigStupidGuy wrote: »

Thanks for the help! I'll check out those other sites you mentioned for private schools. I recently applied for the EPIK programme, so I do have a lot of documents ready to go, is there anything in particular you're referring to in that regard?

Nah, I just meant all the usual things such as;
Copy of Degree (notarised and apostilled)
Police cert (apostilled and no more than six months old....or three months old according to some advertisements......It's impossible to get a straight answer sometimes)
Two sets of sealed transcripts (apparently not needed anymore, but some employers seem to still request them, so handy to have just in case)

....At least those were the most important things back in 2010/11 when I last applied for the E2 visa. Things can often change, could be worth contacting the Korean embassy in Dublin to get confirmation on exactly what is needed now in case there have been any recent changes. The embassy have misinformed me on stuff in the past though, so I would get a second opinion too from other recruitment agencies or people who have recently gone through the visa process (maybe put up a post on waygook.org or eslcafe.com)

brianw1

Hasn't EPIK stopped taking applications for the Autumn intake? Think I remember seeing that somewhere.

Anyway I have just moved to Busan in the last two weeks and everything is going fine. I got my job here with OK Recruiting, they were awesome actually. BigStupidGuy, if you have your documents in order, then I'd suggest applying for a hagwon with them. Honestly there is no need for anything like a celta to work in a hagwon. This is my first time teaching (I'm 21) and yeah the first few days were tough, but now it's pretty straight forward.

That being said though, I was offered so many crappy jobs in crappy locations, just keep going until you get what you want.

If you have any questions then fire away

BigStupidGuy

Yeah I didn't pass the interview for EPIK. I don't know why really, it's hard to know what type of person they really want to teach English. I mean I come across as friendly and have experience teaching, so I'll just try harder next time I guess.

Thanks again. I'm off to look for a year long September placement outside Seoul probably.

Choccie Lover

BigStupidGuy wrote: »

Yeah I didn't pass the interview for EPIK. I don't know why really, it's hard to know what type of person they really want to teach English. I mean I come across as friendly and have experience teaching, so I'll just try harder next time I guess.

Thanks again. I'm off to look for a year long September placement outside Seoul probably.

Good luck with the job hunting!

Interview rejection is always a bloody pain.........maybe it was just a competitive year........or maybe you made some small mistakes that you didn't even realise.

Maybe ask yourself the following questions:

*Could you have made some cultural faux pas in the way you answered some question? For example, they may have given you a question of how to deal with a difficult student or colleague and perhaps your answer was a cultural no-no.
*Did you show them that you have a good understanding of Korean culture?
*Did the answers to the questions show a lack of research? ie those questions related to teaching, classroom management etc
*Did you speak clearly enough? My former Korean colleagues said they have encountered loads of teachers who they just didn't understand.....thick accents, speaking too quickly etc...........Koreans have a habit of nodding away and saying 'yes' in response to what you say when, in fact, they might not have the foggiest idea what you are talking about.

Anyway, once you have analysed your former interviews, just forget about them.....Onwards and upwards :-)

BigStupidGuy

Thank you very much for the reply! That's great advice, I'll be ready next time

BigStupidGuy

Hey everyone,

In regards to needing a police cert, do you need one for visa purposes? Or vetting?

I was just in touch with the garda in Leixlip and they said they only do ones for visa reasons, is that the one I need? Or should I go through the garda vetting office?

Thanks

R.D. aka MR.D

BigStupidGuy wrote: »

Hey everyone,

In regards to needing a police cert, do you need one for visa purposes? Or vetting?

I was just in touch with the garda in Leixlip and they said they only do ones for visa reasons, is that the one I need? Or should I go through the garda vetting office?

Thanks

It's the one for visa reasons. Your local Garda station can do it if you provide your previous addresses.

BigStupidGuy

Cheers thank you.

RingTheAlarm!

I posted here a few months back and right now I'm looking to get out to South Korea ASAP. 3 years teaching experience, I have a masters as well. I'd like to go to Seoul and start in Sept if possible (I know I'm leaving this very late). Does anyone know any good recruiters or have any tips? Have most of my documents together.

R.D. aka MR.D

RingTheAlarm! wrote: »

Have most of my documents together.

Get them all together as quick as you can.

I don't know any recruiters any more as it's been over a year since I left. Checks Daves ESL Korea job board. You have over a month and you will find something.

Just be wary of ASAP jobs. Usually, if the foreigner left in a hurry, there is a reason why.

brianw1

I got my job here in Busan with OK Recruiting, they were very good with communication etc. I recommend you try them. 'Bonnie' is the name of the lady I dealt with, just tell her what you want and she'll find you something.

oinclark

Hey I just had my interview with Korvia. I think it went well, although I feel that if that was my EPIK interview I wouldn't have been accepted. I'll definitely prepare more for the EPIK interview.

I told my recruiter that my first preference for placement would be Seoul and she said that we will go ahead a try for Seoul. I'm just wondering what other people's experiences have been in getting their preferred placement.
I definitely want to be in a city so would I be better off stating a different city like Daejeon or Daegu and have a good chance of getting it, rather than take a chance at Seoul, not get it and being placed in the countryside somewhere.

What do ye think? Is Seoul as hard to get into as they say?

RingTheAlarm!

Thanks a million everyone. I have some interviews with recruiters set up for tomorrow. What should I be asking for? Also, what wage should I be looking at? Like I said, I have 3 years teaching experience and I'm registered with the Teaching Council. Will this have any pull?