Tefl in South Korea

livinginkorea

governor wrote: »

This is a really informative thread, so thanks to everyone for contributing to it.

Does anyone here have any knowledge or experience of the TaLK programme in S. Korea?

http://www.talk.go.kr/newtalk4/main.jsp?idx=010101


I understand that it doesn't pay as well as a lot of TEFL jobs, but as a complete beginner the fact that it is (a) run by the Korean Government, (b) offers six-month contracts and (c) pays airfare up front, makes it really appeal to me.

Isn't the TALK program for undergraduates? At least you have to have two years of study done I think. There are certain places that do it, mostly in the countryside it seems. Definitely not Seoul and Gyeonggi-do.

It would be worth thinking about if you are going to take a break from your studies. The money isn't bad for not having a degree yet. If you have graduated then I wouldn't even consider it because the money is low.

monosharp

livinginkorea wrote: »

If you have graduated then I wouldn't even consider it because the money is low.

And the location will likely be the countryside where you will have maybe 3 other people to talk to for the next year. :pac:

cloneslad

If you have graduated why would you even think about doing the talk program?

You can get lots of other government jobs with much better pay than the talk program. They also pay your flight and your accomodation.

If you decided you didn't want to stay after six months then you could just hand in your notice and pay for your own flight home, your much bigger monthly salary will cover the cost of your flight home anyway.

It's much better to do the 12 months as you will still get your flight paid for, you will also get a bigger wage and your final pay cheque will be doubled (you get a months bonus for every 12 months you do).

The talk program only hires at certain times of the year whereas public schools have their main hiring for march and september, they still hire throughout the year too.

Private schools (hagwons) are continuously hiring, it's just up to you to do your research on them to find out if they are dodgy or not.

governor

Thanks for the responses.

I suppose the main thing for me was the six-month contract. The next intake is Feb-Jul and as I'm starting a job in September, the dates work perfectly.

Yeah, I am a graduate (and will have Masters by December).

I have been doing a bit of research and can't tfind anywhere with 6-month contracts, and I don't want to commit to twleve knowing full well I won't honour that contract.

As far as being out in the countryside that doesn't really bother me. It's only 15 hours a week and weekends off so that leaves plenty of time for travel.

Have any of you guys heard of places offering six-month contracts?

Thanks again for the responses.

cloneslad

I'm not sure about the talk program but you might want to check you don't have 15 'teaching hours per week' and not just 15 'hours per week'.

If it is the former then you will probably still be required to be in school from 8:30-4:30 or so anyway.

I know how you feel about not wanting to commit to a 12month contract but why don't you come out in December? then you could do 9 months and give 1 month's notice at the end. You will save the school a good chunk of money as they would have been made fork out for your flights home as well as your bonus months salary (severance pay). Giving them one months notice will provide them plenty of time to find a replacement.

Of course if the school is crap then you could say nothing and just pull a runner the day after you get paid in september and say nothing to them about it.

I wouldn't advocate the 2nd option though (unless you know the school will screw you over by not paying your wages in full).

As for 6 month contracts, there aren't many at all. It's a bit of a hassle to get the visa work done so most schools want you for 12 plus that's the standard length of an E2 visa (the type required to teach here)

governor

Cheers for the reply cloneslad - really helpful.

Unfortunately I can't head over until mid-Jan at the earliest as I have some commitments here until the end of October, and then a close family wedding early in the new year. It's not ideal.

Thanks for the tip on '15 teaching hours' v '15 hours' alright. I'll check it out.

I'm going to keep looking for other TEFL jobs, but as you can see the TaLK option seems to fit my circumstances the best: the shorter contract and the fact that I'm not too concerned about saving a lot of money. It's more of a break/some life experience (and getting off the dole) I'm after before I start my full-time job.

The 4 week orientation at the beginning of the programme is also something that appeals to me as someone who has never taught before. And of course getting to meet people in the same boat as me.

LimerickJoe

Hi guy's ,

I have been in great spirits since last Monday when I got offered a contract for a job in jeju-do island through this agency .
http://www.jobinkorea.co.kr/

The woman I was dealing with from the agency was very helpful and I found the job on http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/ .

I had an hour long skype chat with the Hagwon boss and I was very happy to take the job, when I was offered a contract by the school 3 days later through the Agency. The Hagwon owner also sent me an email saying how she was really looking forward to working with me.

I sent my visa documents to South Korea and the school received them. However I just got an email from the school saying

"We received your documents yesterday. Thank you.

Let`s get to the point

Normally we find an agency to fill up foreign teacher`s position at school and pay certain fee to the agency when we finally choose a teacher. And the reason why we need an agency to look for a foreign teacher is because in case the teacher changes his or her mind and end up not coming or even if they come but soon just leave breaking all the conditions that was already made beforehand. then some one should be responsible and that is the agency.

what happened to us yesterday is as soon as we received your documents, the agency asked for money (the fee) and we replied that we will only pay the half of the fee after getting your visa here first and the rest of the fee is when we finished picking you up-this is what most of the agencies go for so we followed the procedure but the agency is saying that we need to pay the fee for getting your documents already.

In this regard, we no longer can trust the agency. And also we found out that this agency wasn`t even registered to the business association in korea.



We know that you have been looking for a job in korea and we were happy to invite you here so that we could share the pleasure to work with you. However, we cannot trust the agency and cannot just pay for the fee and wait for luck like no matter what happens you just come anyway and happily work for us.

So I decide to write to you and explain the situation here.

Our school is not a big one but we have no problem financially and we -me and the director- have no intention to mess up any situation or play with anyone illegally or emotionally.



Please understand our situation and should there be any comments that you`d like to make please do contact us asap.

If the whole deal is going down to the toilet, we will resend your documents straight away back to you and find a new agency and look for a new teacher.

I am truly very sorry that this whole thing happened, hopefully things get dealt reasonably and quickly.

Yours,

K Moon

I don't understand what the school is saying here. It sound's like a right mess though. I hope they will actually send me back my visa documents or else I'll have to go through the whole process of gathering all that stuff again and trying to find another job! Anyone ever experience this kinda of thing, where the school and agency are having a row with each other. who is right? What should I do?

Cheers

cloneslad

Sounds like your school don't want to pay the recruiter their fee. I don't know why they even bothered telling you this as it has nothing to do with you.

What is the name of the school? I know of some people teaching in Jeju, I might be able to find out some information about them.


My school refused to pay a recruiter who was got them an interview with one of the guys currently teaching in our school. This was because the recruiter did nothing, never helped with visa documents, didn't tell the guy the correct starting date and lied about having previously booked a plane ticket over for him. The school had to sort the whole mess out themselves.

My school are great and pay everyone plus they gave us bonuses for chuseok and they give us bonuses at other times of the year too. There is no financial trouble in our school, as the may not be in the school in Jeju.

It could be just that the school do not want to work with the recruiter anymore due to trust issues or ethical reasons. They seem to still want to hire you and the guy who e-mailed you seems to have enough english to sort you out to get over to korea.

It could also be that the school are lying and that they don't have enough finances.

Either way, I suggest you telling the school that you can't afford to pay for your own flight and that you would need them to buy your ticket for you. This stops you from getting screwed over by paying for your own flight.

Jeju is a nice place. Good weather most of the year and some nice beaches too. The only problem is that it is a great distance from the mainland. I live on an island but I can drive to the mainland via a bridge, you will have to take a flight or ferry to get anywhere.

LimerickJoe

You made some good points. I don't know should I trust either party now. I just want to get my visa document's returned to me ASAP so I can start looking for another job.

The name of the school in Jeju-do is

'EE Academy’
2nd floor 4631-6 beonji Hwabuk 1 dong Jeju-si, Jeju-do, South Korea

They seemed very genuine to me, I'm very disappointed. The flights were to be pre-paid. The agency were on to me about all that, booking the plane tickets for me for the end of october. I was supposed to start on 29th of october, replacing the current foreign teacher.

So it's either the agency's fault or else as you say they are lying about their financial situation. Is it odd that they wouldn't pay the agency the fee for hiring me or is it normal practice that they should pay them only half now and the other half when I arrive?

As you say I shouldn't be told about this mess. If you could ask your friend's in Jeju for any feedback that would be great.

I'm gutted to hear about this situation.

cheers mate

cloneslad

I think it's more standard not to pay anything at all until you have arrived.


Would you give someone money before they had provided you with their service or goods unless there was a way of guaranteeing you can get a refund should something go wrong?


I will get in touch with them now and see if I can get any info from them.

LimerickJoe

Thanks Cloneslad,

That would be great. It will be interesting to see how this situation develops but my confidence is a bit shook.
Look forward to hearing from you soon!

Thanks again

Joe

Jamie Starr

Hey, I'd like to get some views on this if I could! I'm a second year English student and I've been offered a chance to go to South Korea to teach English in the writing centre of Kyungpook National University. It comes with about $800 a month for 30 hours a week, on-campus accomodation, a round-trip air fare etc.

Has anyone had experience with this university? I'm extremely interested, but it is a long way away and isn't something I was prepared for. Any advice for a conflicted wannabe ex-pat?

Choccie Lover

Hi everyone

I just got my Police Certificate back today and will get my apostille stamp as soon as possible. The cert lists all my previous addresses and states that I've not been convicted of a criminal offence while living in Ireland. However, when I was younger I did an Erasmus year in France. This is listed under the previous addresses I provided and is listed on the police cert. Now, I'm in a panic that I'll need to get clearance for those nine/ten months I lived in France and knowing how horrific French red tape can be, I'm filled with dread. Does anyone knowif I'll need to get it? I should have anticipated this, so am kicking myself. As mentioned earlier,I have done an E2 visa before (obviously after my year in France) but didn't need a Police Cert to obtain a visa at that time.

By the way, sorry to hear what happened with your contract Limerick Joe. That's awful for you. Hopefully it all pans out well for you in the end:)

LimerickJoe

Oh thanks very much for your good wishes CL .
I will find out tomorrow what the story is. I wasn't anticipating any complications like this, but I suppose you live and learn from these thing's.
Hopefully I will get it resolved or at least get my visa documents sent back to me ASAP so I can start the job hunt again ASAP. Didn't think it would be so hard to get a job in South Korea but it is, I've been looking for a 8 -9 weeks now after I realised Tiger English were offering me no jobs!

I wouldn't worry about living in France for a year, I lived in Australia for a year and that didn't come into the equation at all. As long as you have your Criminal Background check with Apostille stamp from Ireland. Everything is fine.

Kind regards

Joe

Choccie Lover

Thanks for the reply Joe. Can I ask if your time in Australia was listed on the cert itself? I can call the embassy tomorrow I suppose and ask what the story is, but in the meantime I'll be fretting

Just think, in a couple of weeks/ months you'll be all set up in Korea eating fabulous food (drinking not so great but perfectly palatable beer) and teaching amazing students......and all this stress will be far behind you:) But, I appreciate it must be stressful at the moment.

LimerickJoe

I just put down my home address on my criminal background check .I didn't bother putting down college addresses or my year away.

I hope it won't be a problem for you, I can't see them being that strict, as long as you have a criminal background check from Ireland you should be fine.

Yes the thought of being over there teaching in a couple of months time sounds great. Can't wait to get sorted out with a good job. Best of luck with your visa application.

Talk soon.

livinginkorea

monosharp wrote: »

And the location will likely be the countryside where you will have maybe 3 other people to talk to for the next year. :pac:

Been there, bought the t-shirt! :P

livinginkorea

LimerickJoe wrote: »

Hi guy's ,

I have been in great spirits since last Monday when I got offered a contract for a job in jeju-do island through this agency .
http://www.jobinkorea.co.kr/

The woman I was dealing with from the agency was very helpful and I found the job on http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/ .

I had an hour long skype chat with the Hagwon boss and I was very happy to take the job, when I was offered a contract by the school 3 days later through the Agency. The Hagwon owner also sent me an email saying how she was really looking forward to working with me.

I sent my visa documents to South Korea and the school received them. However I just got an email from the school saying

"We received your documents yesterday. Thank you.

Let`s get to the point

Normally we find an agency to fill up foreign teacher`s position at school and pay certain fee to the agency when we finally choose a teacher. And the reason why we need an agency to look for a foreign teacher is because in case the teacher changes his or her mind and end up not coming or even if they come but soon just leave breaking all the conditions that was already made beforehand. then some one should be responsible and that is the agency.

what happened to us yesterday is as soon as we received your documents, the agency asked for money (the fee) and we replied that we will only pay the half of the fee after getting your visa here first and the rest of the fee is when we finished picking you up-this is what most of the agencies go for so we followed the procedure but the agency is saying that we need to pay the fee for getting your documents already.

In this regard, we no longer can trust the agency. And also we found out that this agency wasn`t even registered to the business association in korea.



We know that you have been looking for a job in korea and we were happy to invite you here so that we could share the pleasure to work with you. However, we cannot trust the agency and cannot just pay for the fee and wait for luck like no matter what happens you just come anyway and happily work for us.

So I decide to write to you and explain the situation here.

Our school is not a big one but we have no problem financially and we -me and the director- have no intention to mess up any situation or play with anyone illegally or emotionally.



Please understand our situation and should there be any comments that you`d like to make please do contact us asap.

If the whole deal is going down to the toilet, we will resend your documents straight away back to you and find a new agency and look for a new teacher.

I am truly very sorry that this whole thing happened, hopefully things get dealt reasonably and quickly.

Yours,

K Moon

I don't understand what the school is saying here. It sound's like a right mess though. I hope they will actually send me back my visa documents or else I'll have to go through the whole process of gathering all that stuff again and trying to find another job! Anyone ever experience this kinda of thing, where the school and agency are having a row with each other. who is right? What should I do?

Cheers

I'll give my take on it. Agencies make a good deal of money from getting teachers and bringing them to Korea. It's highly possible that the agency is giving some kind of 'deluxe' deal which means lots of expenses for your school and your school has said no.

A similar situation happened to me before a few years back but I was already working for the school when the director mentioned cutting ties with the agency. At the time, I was working part-time, one day a week teaching at a institute. The school was very small (had two Korean teachers and the classrooms were tiny) so there is no way they would be able to hire an E-2 teacher to work for them. I found the job on worknplay, a one woman agency basically and after the interview with the director I started working there. Anyway, I was getting paid 30,000 an hour for five straight hours and the agency was getting paid for every hour I was teaching (probably 5~10,000 won). After a month of this the director was trying to see if I was willing to work without the agency and just with her. She said she would paid 5,000 extra an hour and just say to the agency that they didn't want a native speaker any more. I am sure that she saved some money on the deal, no other reason why she would have mentioned it. Did that and worked there part-time for another 5 months and then full time for six months after that.

My point is that schools want native speakers but they will stab agencies in the back a lot faster than you can think and vice versa. If you email that director saying let's do this without the agency then they would be delighted, I'm sure. It's mostly about the bottom dollar for them - agencies want to milk schools for as much as they can, naturally schools don't want to play ball. It seems that this is what is happening in your case. I do not think the agency would give half of the money back to the school if you suddendly decided not to go to Korea this morning after they paid the agency.

If the school itself has your documents then you have nothing much to worry about. I would suggest writing to them saying that you would work for them (you might as well now since nearly everything is done and the person is being honest with you, instead of lying to you and you can finally get to Korea ) without the agency if they want that but they will have fill their end of the contract (perhaps ask them to email you the contract to be sure of what you are getting in to). If they agree to that then you will be fine. Whatever happens between them and the agency has nothing much to do with you.

I would say go ahead and see what happens. Even if you go to Korea and it all goes pair-shaped at least you are in the country at the time and it will be a lot easier to land a job.

livinginkorea

governor wrote: »

Thanks for the responses.

I suppose the main thing for me was the six-month contract. The next intake is Feb-Jul and as I'm starting a job in September, the dates work perfectly.

Yeah, I am a graduate (and will have Masters by December).

I have been doing a bit of research and can't tfind anywhere with 6-month contracts, and I don't want to commit to twleve knowing full well I won't honour that contract.

As far as being out in the countryside that doesn't really bother me. It's only 15 hours a week and weekends off so that leaves plenty of time for travel.

Have any of you guys heard of places offering six-month contracts?

Thanks again for the responses.

To be honest, 12 months is not as long as you think. With a MA you should be getting a decent wage and with the time of year you are available you should consider a public school position which start in March (hiring process beings soon enough and runs until end of Feb).

15 hours a week in the countryside is a killer. To be honest, I am a city person so can't imagine working so little in the sticks and having so much free time off. After the first month there will be nothing much to do unless you want to travel to Seoul or a big city every week. That will be costly.

If you are not coming over to honor your contact from the start then maybe it's best not to come over. If your heart or intention is not in it from the start then I would consider another country, perhaps China or Taiwan. You could just fly over and try to get a job part-time or make some deal with your boss.

livinginkorea

LimerickJoe wrote: »

...

As you say I shouldn't be told about this mess. ...

Ah now I realise why the school emailed you directly. I just told my wife your situation and she spotted it right away. The school is afraid that the agency will contact you and say that the school is bad, going bust, etc and therefore they will lose you. They obviously want to have you as a teacher.

Have the agency contacted you yet? They could say anything and you would believe them more than the school in nearly all cases. Of course there are two sides to every story but it seems that the school really does want you. That is something to consider.

I say work with the school and forget the agency for now. If the school has your documents then that's all you need to care about.

cloneslad

livinginkorea wrote: »

Ah now I realise why the school emailed you directly. I just told my wife your situation and she spotted it right away. The school is afraid that the agency will contact you and say that the school is bad, going bust, etc and therefore they will lose you. They obviously want to have you as a teacher.

Have the agency contacted you yet? They could say anything and you would believe them more than the school in nearly all cases. Of course there are two sides to every story but it seems that the school really does want you. That is something to consider.

I say work with the school and forget the agency for now. If the school has your documents then that's all you need to care about.

+1

and get in touch with the other foreign teacher working there. They should be able to let you know everything you need.

I asked a lad working in Jeju but he had never heard of the school as he lives on the other side of the island.

Get in touch with the teacher working there as soon as possible.

LimerickJoe

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice " LivinginKorea" and your help "Cloneslad".
I wasn't contacted at all today by either the school or the agency which I thought was very odd and worrying on the back of that big long email from the school yesterday.

I took your advice and emailed the school and said if the contract is the same. That they will still pay for my flight over and if i could contact the current foreign teacher, I'd be willing to work for them directly.

Haven't heard from either party though. Bad form.
I wonder will they even post me back my documents.

I'm after applying for about 20 jobs there now. I don't mind where I go as long as it's not too rural. I just want a school I can trust.

Thanks again guys. I'll keep ye posted.

livinginkorea

LimerickJoe wrote: »

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice " LivinginKorea" and your help "Cloneslad".
I wasn't contacted at all today by either the school or the agency which I thought was very odd and worrying on the back of that big long email from the school yesterday.

I took your advice and emailed the school and said if the contract is the same. That they will still pay for my flight over and if i could contact the current foreign teacher, I'd be willing to work for them directly.

Haven't heard from either party though. Bad form.
I wonder will they even post me back my documents.

I'm after applying for about 20 jobs there now. I don't mind where I go as long as it's not too rural. I just want a school I can trust.

Thanks again guys. I'll keep ye posted.

They'll get back to you I'm sure. I would be very surprised if they didn't. Perhaps they are trying to smooth things over with the agency first.

ARGINITE

I found the school I worked for a little slow to get back to me. I would give it a day or two.

cloneslad

yeah, i'd give it a bit of time.

Chances are it's not the person's primary e-mail adress, but one they use exclusively for work so they wouldn't check it as often as you check yours.

They also have a business to run and may not have had the chance to check their e-mails today. I would give them until the end of the week before I'd start getting worried.

Remember, they want and need to hire a teacher. They already have some ground work done with you, as well as a long interview so it makes sense for them to hire you rather than going through the entire process again (especially when they can get you without having to pay for a recruiter)

kraggy

SpatialPlanning wrote: »

It's public school I'm going for so I will be booking my own flights.

I take it you'll get reimbursed for them?

Public schools pay for flights as well, don't they?


Also, how do Public School and Private School holidays compare? How many days/weeks off in each?

cloneslad

I take it you'll get reimbursed for them?

Yes, they reimburse you

Public schools pay for flights as well, don't they?

They pay for your flight out and back home. 1.3 million is the exit allowance they give you upon departure as far as I know. They will also give you 200-300k settling allowance upon arrival.


Also, how do Public School and Private School holidays compare? How many days/weeks off in each?

Public schools usually give 2 weeks in summer and a week or possible 2 in winter. Private schools are all different. Generally giving 10-16 days off per year.

LimerickJoe

I finally got an email from the Agency on the matter.

Hi Joseph,

Sorry for the late reply. EE Academy said they will return your documents because they decided to hire someone else.

I’m so sorry about this.. Do you want to find a job only in Jeju? If you’re interested in other coastal cities, I can offer you a position in Ulsan.

Please let me know what you think. Thank you

I hope the school does get in touch with me soon because I am applying for other jobs now is well.

Anyone know anything about these locations Daegu City or Ansan?
Possibility of interviews.

What is Ulsan like anyway? Even though I don't know would I trust that agency again. They are responsible for messing up the job with the other school and not much explanation from them.

Thanks a million for all the advice.

Cheers guys

Joe

ARGINITE

Even though I don't know would I trust that agency again. They are responsible for messing up the job with the other school and not much explanation from them.

If you are unsure about the agency then move on, there are plenty of other agencies to pick from.

LimerickJoe

Ya I know, Do you have any recommendations of good reliable agencies by any chance?
I am finding it quite difficult to get interviews. I have got plenty of job offers but they don't seem to materialise into interviews because I keep getting told they only want North Americans.

I am very flexible regarding location as long as I'm not in too rural an area. I just want to be in a place where it is easy to make friends and has a bit of life to it.

Thanks Arginite