Tefl in South Korea

cloneslad

LimerickJoe wrote: »

I just got offered a job by Tiger English in a place called Inje, Gangwondo.
Anyone ever hear of it? or know anyone who's taught there.

Salary: 2.2-2.5 Million Won
Starting date: As soon as visa is processed
Type of students: kindergarten / elementary / middle school students
Maximum teaching hours per week: 22
Class hours: 8:30am - 5:30 pm
Working days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Overtime payment: 20,000 won
Holidays: 14 days of paid vacation in addition to public holidays
Housing: Single studio apartment
Number of current foreign teachers: 5
Benefits: Medical Insurance, Prepaid air ticket (1.3 M won entrance allowance upon arrival, and exit allowance at the end of contract), Contract Completion bonus, pension

It sounds like a good contract but I'm guessing the location is crap. Well my first job offer anyway, gonna start applying to all the websites talked about in the above posts now, thanks guys!

for the highlighted reason alone, say no.

who cares what the area is like or what the foreigner situation or nightlife is like...you won't get to experience it when you have to work sat and sun.


it's actually right by sereoaksan which is supposed to be an awesomely awesome area with a massive parkland. I'm probably going to be driving up there over chuseok.

cloneslad

by the way, it's strange the salary is only 2.2-2.5 considering the ad that school placed not long ago looking for a teacher.

link

Location: Inje, Gangwondo
Salary: 2.5-2.8 Million Won
Starting date: Any time in June
Type of students: kindergarten-elementary school students
Maximum teaching hours per week: 22
Class hours: 8:30 am-5:30 pm
Working days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Overtime payment: 20,000 won
Holidays: 10 days of paid vacation in addition to public holidays
Housing: single studio OR housing allowance
Benefits: Medical Insurance, air ticket(entrance allowance upon arrival, and exit allowance at the end of contract), Completion bonus, pension

Qualification
1 A citizen of USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand
2 A Bachelor's degree from a university in those countries.

Rachel Cho
ESL4Korea Recruiting
Tel:82-2-364-0595
Fax:82-2-364-0592
Mobile:82-10-7777-1543

랴연

LimerickJoe wrote: »

I just got offered a job by Tiger English in a place called Inje, Gangwondo.
Anyone ever hear of it? or know anyone who's taught there.

I've traveled there, haven't worked there.

Honestly, Gangwondo is very beautiful but very rural. If you want to spend a year with a handful of the same foreigners or try your luck making only Korean mates and you don't mind living in the countryside and you like a quiet life then it's good.

Salary: 2.2-2.5 Million Won
Starting date: As soon as visa is processed
Type of students: kindergarten / elementary / middle school students
Maximum teaching hours per week: 22
Class hours: 8:30am - 5:30 pm
Working days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Sat and Sun ? wtf ? I've never seen that before as part of a hagwon job and I've been here for years.

Overtime payment: 20,000 won

Hahaha I love the way they put this on the adverts. Trust me when I say this, you will almost certainly never see a penny of overtime pay working in any job in Korea.

It sounds like a good contract but I'm guessing the location is crap.

Depends what you mean by crap. Its rural.

livinginkorea

랴연 wrote: »

Sat and Sun ? wtf ? I've never seen that before as part of a hagwon job and I've been here for years.

QUOTE]

I used to work Sat and Sun at a hagwon about two years ago training teachers; eats away at your free time. When you want to go out on Sun or Mon nobody is really interested so indirectly you can save a lot!

To be honest I wouldn't mind the working days so much, it's the hours I would look at more closely. 8.30 to 5.30 is a long working day, although granted you would not be teaching for all that time but would the school expect you to stay there even though you have no class scheduled? Most hagwons are 2 to 8 or something like that but since you are going to teach everybody from 3/4 to 14/15 years of age then it would be a long day.

LimerickJoe, I would still aim for a more populated area. It's your first time in Korea so it might be easier for you in a big town / city compared to the countryside.

livinginkorea

cloneslad wrote: »

by the way, it's strange the salary is only 2.2-2.5 considering the ad that school placed not long ago looking for a teacher.

link

I noticed that the holidays have changed too. One mentions 10 days while there's 14 in another.

At the end of the day, only what's on the contract matters.

livinginkorea

monosharp wrote: »

They simply don't cover a lot of jobs.

Go here, click on jobs that look suitable and apply.

http://www.worknplay.co.kr/

Heres a good one looking for a teacher from England. (They usually don't differentiate between Ireland and England accent-wise): http://www.worknplay.co.kr/view_JOB.php?sect=2&id=testjob&sele=&p=1&keyfield=&keyword=&no=191899&cateCode=&slist=1&keyword_top=&gally=3&job_sel=&type_sel=&loca1_sel=&loca2_sel=&loca3_sel=

I totally agree. When I am looking for a job I spend hours and hours emailing resumes and calling schools telling them I am available. Once the word is out with a few agencies then you never have to wait long. Even teachers in Korea are complaining about how hard it is but when you ask them they spend most of their time complaining instead of getting out there and trying. One guy I worked with before stayed at this terrible hagwon because he couldn't be bothered to update and send out his resume. Amazing.

Moral of the story - Do not limit yourself to one agency.

kraggy

What's it actually like to live there?

Food
People
Weather
Standard of living
Nightlife
etc.

Thanks,

K.

monosharp

kraggy wrote: »

What's it actually like to live there?

Food

I love it if that's any help. Korean food is fantastic. Here's a couple of typical dishes in restaurants.



Spicy Chicken stew. Can't get enough of it.



Korean BBQ Pork/Beef

Check out this wiki page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_cuisine

One thing I will say is that getting food like sausages, bread etc like at home is very difficult.

The bread is american style AFAIK. Think of a loaf at home if you added a bag of sugar to it. Sausages (British/Irish style) are nearly non-existent. Sauce for cooking like jars of Sweet n Sour are usually not available in the smaller (korean) stores.

People

Hard (long) working, hard drinking, mostly friendly.

You may find some aspects of the culture to be uncomfortable, for one example expect to be asked your age, blood type and other personal questions when meeting people for the first time.

Another part of the culture is the respect your expected to show to older people or people in higher positions. Obviously your not expected to be the same as a Korean but it's always good to try to be Roman in Rome isn't it ?

Weather

I despise most of the Summer. It's hot and humid and I sweat like a fat man on a beach in Thailand after 10 cans of dutch gold every time I go outside. But I'm not good in heat anywhere. Spain is also fairly uncomfortable for me.

Winter is really cold, Spring is fresh, Summers hot, humid, rainy.

Standard of living

High. I don't really know what to say here, Korea's a very developed country. The standard of living is the same as at home in my opinion in everything except the work culture. Koreans work very long hours with very few holidays. Sick-days are practically non-existent.

A typical Koreans Summer holidays are about 3-4 days.

Nightlife

Korean Bars: Koreans don't socialise with strangers. Really. So Korean bars are where you go with people to sit at a table with your own group and eat/drink togeather.

Foreign bars: Same as home except for cheap beer, smoking is allowed and more americans/canadians/australians etc.

Nightclubs: Again, similar to home except for prettier girls in shorter skirts, ****tier music and more Americans.

livinginkorea

kraggy wrote: »

What's it actually like to live there?

Food
People
Weather
Standard of living
Nightlife
etc.

Thanks,

K.

Food --- A bit spicy but there is lots of non-spicy food. They like their meat and their fish and usually have rice with every meal. Overall, very healthy.

People --- Generally very kind and friendly. Kids will say hi to you often on the street (although it happens less and less these days). People will invite you out to dinner or to their house for a meal.

Weather --- We just had a typhoon which wasn't so bad. In the summer there are a few but nothing much happens except hard rain and wind. Generally there is some snow and cold in the winter time and the summers are around 30+ degrees.

Standard of living --- Pretty decent I have to say for transporation, western food is expensive, brand names for clothes etc too are expensive. Eating Korean style will save you a lot of money.

Nightlife --- it's been a while but it was decent enough when I last went out (more than 3 years ago!) with the lads. There are always some hangouts for expats which I am sure you will find very soon when you get here.

etc. --- been here over 6 years now, recon that speaks volumes. Wouldn't stay if I didn't enjoy it.

Funny you mention everything except work! :P

LimerickJoe

LimerickJoe wrote: »

I just got offered a job by Tiger English in a place called Inje, Gangwondo.
Anyone ever hear of it? or know anyone who's taught there.

Salary: 2.2-2.5 Million Won
Starting date: As soon as visa is processed
Type of students: kindergarten / elementary / middle school students
Maximum teaching hours per week: 22
Class hours: 8:30am - 5:30 pm
Working days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Overtime payment: 20,000 won
Holidays: 14 days of paid vacation in addition to public holidays
Housing: Single studio apartment
Number of current foreign teachers: 5
Benefits: Medical Insurance, Prepaid air ticket (1.3 M won entrance allowance upon arrival, and exit allowance at the end of contract), Contract Completion bonus, pension

It sounds like a good contract but I'm guessing the location is crap. Well my first job offer anyway, gonna start applying to all the websites talked about in the above posts now, thanks guys!

Hi Guys,
I had my interview this morning for this job. It was my first interview, it wasn't too bad, just a few questions about why your interested in coming to Korea, talk about any teaching experience you may have and ask them a few questions about the school. \
The one good thing about it is that the contract is different from above , it's 10 - 6 Monday - Friday.
However the Korean interviewer said it was a very quiet area with not many bars etc. So I might be bored.

Tiger English tell me I'd be crazy not to take the job or I could be waiting a long time to get to Korea with the current market situation!
It's a bit too rural for my liking even if I do have weekends off, I'm sure it would cost a load to take trips to Seoul for weekends. I applied for a few jobs on http://www.eslcafe.com/ and http://www.worknplay.co.kr/ .

If anyone knows any other recruitment agencies where I don't have to pay them to find me a job please let me know. The job hunt continues I'd say, that was my first interview anyway. How is everyone else getting on with the job hunt?

monosharp

LimerickJoe wrote: »

Tiger English tell me I'd be crazy not to take the job or I could be waiting a long time to get to Korea with the current market situation!

You mean you'd be crazy not to take the job because they want to get paid for you to fill a position in a location no one wants to go to ? :pac:

Don't believe them.

cloneslad

monosharp wrote: »

You mean you'd be crazy not to take the job because they want to get paid for you to fill a position in a location no one wants to go to ? :pac:

Don't believe them.

Exactly.

Don't worry if you don't want to work there. Tiger English will come back to you with more offers because it makes financial sense for them to find you a position rather than another recruiter finding you one.

DamienH

monosharp wrote: »

Seriously I can't understand why people aren't getting offers, there's mountains worth of jobs here.

I don't know what recruiters your using but either A) They're doing a particularly bad job or They simply don't cover a lot of jobs.

Go here, click on jobs that look suitable and apply.

http://www.worknplay.co.kr/

Heres a good one looking for a teacher from England. (They usually don't differentiate between Ireland and England accent-wise): http://www.worknplay.co.kr/view_JOB.php?sect=2&id=testjob&sele=&p=1&keyfield=&keyword=&no=191899&cateCode=&slist=1&keyword_top=&gally=3&job_sel=&type_sel=&loca1_sel=&loca2_sel=&loca3_sel=

That looks like a handy little job.

livinginkorea

monosharp wrote: »

You mean you'd be crazy not to take the job because they want to get paid for you to fill a position in a location no one wants to go to ? :pac:

Don't believe them.

+1 At least ask for a contract so you can see the contract hours just so everything is okay. Decent of the guy to tell you the place is a little quiet. To be honest you make your own fun. Join the local Taekwondo place, hike, take Korean classes etc if you are interested in that sort of thing. Naturally you can do that in the city too but would have more English speakers.

Tell them that you are really interested in the job, ask for a contract and that will buy you some time to hear back from other places. Most agencies work on Saturday too. Start spamming jobs on worknplay and Dave's ESL Cafe and you never know what you will hear back.

cavanmaniac

monosharp wrote: »

You mean you'd be crazy not to take the job because they want to get paid for you to fill a position in a location no one wants to go to ? :pac:

Don't believe them.

+2

Tiger English seem like decent people and they are in the main, but when all's said and done they're a business and the quicker you accept a school and get them their money, the quicker they can move on to their next client and get their money through from them.

The reason so many recruiters are in business in the first place is because of the number of jobs available and most importantly because of the huge disconnection between Korean school bosses and English teachers looking to come over. Korean bosses entrust their hiring into the hands of 'expert' recruiters who effectively control the situation by offering and withholding positions to certain clients, usually based on how easy they are to sell to a school - i.e. they'll pawn off the American females quickest and get the money for them quickest, therefore American females get the job offers more.

All I know is that my new boss has told me he was struggling a few times in the last year to find a suitable teacher and was forced to take a few people on he would ideally rather not have. In other words don't mind recruiter crap about 'the market' - yes it's not as busy as it was but it's still pretty vibrant. Again, go after the direct hire jobs and cut out the middlemen recruiters who seem to be pulling too many strings for my liking (painting a worse picture than reality to get you into the jobs they can't fill with Americans who naturally command the better ones). Stick to your guns - I turned down 5/6 offers from Tiger and got a job on my own about 7 weeks later, so it's very doable. If you do stick with the recruiters, don't be railroaded into accepting what they offer because "you won't get another offer and you'd better take this before you're left high and dry.":rolleyes:

LimerickJoe

Hi guys,
Thanks a million for all the responses today.
I don't think I will take that job that Tiger English are pushing me to take, I applied for a load of jobs today and yesterday on work and play and Daves Esl cafe but I haven't heard anything back yet. I registered with footprints is well. Anybody have any other suggestions? Should I just be patient and keep an eye on the job boards everyday. I really hope I get a few decent job offers soon. I thought Tiger English would be able to get me a good job but I've only had one job offer from them all summer and in an extremely rural area!
Have many people been successful with Tiger English or other recruitment agency's and how long did it take before ye got job offers ye were happy with?

Cheers guys.

cloneslad

don't forget the 8hour time difference, when you are applying for jobs at 12pm-1pm it's already 8pm-9pm here so most places won't be able to e-mail you back straight away.

If it's possible I would try e-mailing at 2-4am back home or else 6-8am at home, that way the people you are e-mailing will be in their office and will see you e-mail straight away and may be inclined to respond immediately.

If they come into work at 9am and see loads of e-mails sitting there from the night before from 10-20 teachers then you will be doing well to get noticed.


I've never used this tactic as I've never had to, but it's worth a shot.

LimerickJoe

Nice one Cloneslad,

I'll try that tactic , got a few replys today, need to look at them more closely, one is in a provincial town 40 mins from Busan. At least ,my application is with a good few agencies now but i'm gonna keep emailing everyonee loads until I get an offer im happy with.

Cheers lad

LimerickJoe

What do ye think of this job and location? Thanks in advance.

http://kgcesl.com/job/list.htm?bmain=view&page=1&total_page=23&num=437&search=&key=&mode=


The hagwon is located in
Changwon city where is around 40~50min away from Busan. You will teach
elementary and middle school students ( age from 8~16 years old )

monosharp

LimerickJoe wrote: »

What do ye think of this job and location? Thanks in advance.

It's a town of 1,000,000 which is pretty small over here.

Busan is a great place though especially during the Summer.

cloneslad

LimerickJoe wrote: »

What do ye think of this job and location? Thanks in advance.

http://kgcesl.com/job/list.htm?bmain=view&page=1&total_page=23&num=437&search=&key=&mode=


The hagwon is located in
Changwon city where is around 40~50min away from Busan. You will teach
elementary and middle school students ( age from 8~16 years old )

Changwon is a great little city. it's less than an hour from me. My mate taught there last year and he loved it. His school was crap though.

There are great parks there too and an excellent ex-pat community.

Buses run to busan every 10-20 mins and only takes about 45 mins to get there, less with no traffic. If you didn't want to spend money on hotels in Busan You could easily go for a sat night out, stay in the pubs till close, grab some food and take a bus back home again.

Talk to the school, ask some questions, ask to speak to the current teachers there too.

working hours are a bit late (10:00or 10:40) especially doing them 5 nights a week but they aren't the worst in the world. I'm kinda lucky in my hagwon to be doing 5 on a monday/wed/fri and 3 1/2 on tues/thurs. Of course uni gigs are much shorter hours.

If you want to let me know the name of the school I can ask him to find out more information on it.

cavanmaniac

For the job hunters: http://seoul.craigslist.co.kr/edu/

If that link doesn't work just go to craigslist.org, then asia, then korea, then jobs, then education. There's lots of jobs advertised in there and lots more direct hire ones as well, as smaller schools, who want to save money on ads and recruiters, use this site.

accaguest

(I posted this in the main TEFL thread already, sorry for the double post)

Hi,

I am studying accountancy, through the ACCA body, and they have a Bsc programme whereby when you pass a certain amount of exams you can apply to complete a Bsc (by submitting a research project) from Oxford Brookes University.

Does anyone know if this type of degree can be used to gain entry to Korea/Japan/China? I'm not sure I'll technically have any 'university transcripts', just the results from the ACCA exams I sat.

It is a fully recognised degree, but achieved in a different way. Does anyone have any experience of applying without a standard university-attending degree?

Choccie Lover

Hey first time poster here. Looking for a bit of advice.

Toying with the idea of teaching over in Korea, possibly in November, if I decide to go ahead with it. I think I will go over on my own to look for work. I have actually taught in Korea before, but went over with a recruitment agency that time so everything was pretty much done for me. It was a good few years ago, so forget most of the preparatory details.

Anyway just wondering how would it work if I go over myself. What documents will I need to have with me before leaving Ireland? What do I need to do about getting a visa over there (seeing as it’s my second time around)? Is there anything I should get onto doing straight away from this end? The CRB check wasn’t necessary the last time. Does it take long to get sorted?

If anyone has any advice re going over solo, I’d really appreciate it.


Thanks.

cloneslad

it's prob for the best that you forget everything because it's all changes. more new changes came in to play last week.

You won't need an interview as you have already been here.

you don't need transcripts of results anymore

Original degree scrolls are not being accepted.

You will need:

• A copy of your original degree - stamped / signed by a commissioner of oath. Further stamped by office of the supreme court in the four courts and finally stamped again by the dept of foreign affairs in st stephens green. I think it may also have to be stamped by the korean embassy.
• criminal background check - you can get this though a local garda station. It should only take a week. It's pretty much just a letter from the superintendent. this will also have to be taken to the dept of foering affairs. It does not have to be the check from thurles to say you can work with kids.
• 2-4 passport photos.
• A signed medical certificate - signed by you, not a doctor. just saying you are free from AIDS, Hep A/B ect. this form. You will have to take a medical and drug test when you arrive.
• photo copy of your passport - the back two pages.
• Your CV
• some full length pictures of you looking respectable
• signed contract

Think thats about all you will need to get a job and your visa number issuance sorted. Once you have the job, you will have to fedex your documents over to korea to get your school / recruiter to process the visa for you.

Once you have been issued with a visa number. You get in contact with the embassy, either through e-mail or phone. Tell them your details and your visa number. Allow them time to confirm if you do or don't need an interview. Once it has been confirmed either way, you make your way to the embassy (do interview) and apply for the visa. It will take about 4-5 days to get the visa back from them.


costs
commissioner of oaths - €10 /€20 depending you signs it
dept of foreign affairs - €20 per stamp. so €40 total (1 for degree and 1 for background check)
embassy charge for degree certification ???
visa charge in embassy - €40 (they don't have change so you will have to wait until you get your visa to get your change back)
Fedex - approx €60-€70

Background check - free
supreme court - free


Hope this helps you out

LimerickJoe

Hi guys,
Just to be clear on the visa documents. Tiger English sent me the fooloeing a few weeks ago, have things changed again since? What is the story with your original degree vs letter from the university???

The visa documents we require if planning on starting work after 1st September 2010 are as follows:



Copy of your passport
From September 1st on, Korean Immigration will no longer require or accept Original Degree scrolls/certificates. Instead you must send one of these following options;
University letter verifying your degree with Apostille Stamp (letter of intention to graduate will not be accepted, you must have gradated), or
If you’re a Canadian, you need to submit your University Letter to the Korean embassy for notarization/authentication instead of an Apostille Stamp
4 Colour passport photos
Medical History form
Police Check + Apostille stamp (Please ensure it has an Apostille stamp on it / for Canadians please get it notarized/authenticated by the Korean Embassy)

cloneslad

LimerickJoe wrote: »

Hi guys,
Just to be clear on the visa documents. Tiger English sent me the fooloeing a few weeks ago, have things changed again since? What is the story with your original degree vs letter from the university???

The visa documents we require if planning on starting work after 1st September 2010 are as follows:



Copy of your passport
From September 1st on, Korean Immigration will no longer require or accept Original Degree scrolls/certificates. Instead you must send one of these following options;
University letter verifying your degree with Apostille Stamp (letter of intention to graduate will not be accepted, you must have gradated), or
If you’re a Canadian, you need to submit your University Letter to the Korean embassy for notarization/authentication instead of an Apostille Stamp
4 Colour passport photos
Medical History form
Police Check + Apostille stamp (Please ensure it has an Apostille stamp on it / for Canadians please get it notarized/authenticated by the Korean Embassy)

According to the press release by the korean government. This is what was stated with relation to the degree copy.

.......should hand in a diploma copy or a obtained degree certificate or a graduation certificate, which has gotten a apostille stamp or a verification from the Korean consulate of the foreigner's own country or a verification from the Korean Council for University Education to the immigration office. The document is required once during the foreigner's Korea sojourn period.

judging by that,(which is all I can go on) you will be okay with a copy an apostilled copy of your degree which will then be stamped at the embassy to also validate its authenticity.

I'd imagine it would be safe to bring the original degree and some formal identification with you to the embassy when getting it stamped, just to be sure.

You could also ring the embassy and find out what's needed. I'm guessing you live in Limerick, so popping along to Ballsbridge to visit the embassy in person is not an option.

LimerickJoe

Hey Cloneslad,

Thanks for quick reply. I got my original degree apostillated last year as I was going to go then. But this time around Tiger English told me that that was no longer required and all I needed to do was get a letter sent out to me verifying I had a degree and to bring that letter to the department of foreign affairs to be apostillated along with the criminal background check. I have already been up to Dublin to get these forms stamped. Sorry now, I'm a bit confused, is this not good enough anymore??

Do I have to go back up to Dublin again and get my original degree stamped again, even though I have the letter from the university verifying I have a degree and I also have my original degree stamped from last year by the department of foreign affairs!

Sorry to wreck heads but you reckon its after getting more complicated in the last few weeks is it? So from what you posted above , I gather the original degree now has to be stamped by the Korean embassy first and then by the department of foreign affairs right?

This is so annoying as Tiger English told me very recently that all I needed was a letter from the university verifying my degree to be stamped and that they would no longer accept original degree scroll.

Sorry for the long rant !

Yes I'm from Limerick so this would be a real inconvenience to have to go to Dublin and get all this sorted when I thought my visa documents were ready to go !

cloneslad

step 1. get your original degree.

step 2. put it back in its frame

step 3. stick it back on the wall

It seems you have all that is required. Immigration does not require the original degree at all. It seems they will accept the letter from your college or a photocopied copy of your degree which has been apostilled and stamped by the embassey and foreign affairs (and also by the office of supreme court I would imagine).


Immigration will not take your original degree anymore, it is no longer required or accepted

don't worry about asking questions here. It's better to ask them and get answers than to waste hours and money going to dublin or sending your stuff to Korea only to find out you were wrong.

If tigerenglish say that's all that is required then I would trust them, they want the money and the only way to get it is by placing you quickly.

cloneslad

Hi Neville

Just wondering if you wrote that to actually be helpful or if it was just to put the plug for your site in at the bottom of the post?

I usually report people who advertise their sites on their first post but I'm not going to do it to yours as I hope you can contribute to other threads too, especially the TEFL/ CELTA thread without feeling the need to advertise your site in each post.

It would be nice to get the opinion of those offering courses for those looking to do them. I'm sure you have information on all sorts of ESL qualifications and I'd hope you would share them too, even if it meant you were giving advice to people to do certain courses in Ireland that you were not involved in.