Tefl in South Korea

kraggy · 08-09-2011 12:52AM

red_bairn wrote: »

Anybody going to Global Gathering?

More than likely.

Tickets are only 88,000 if you buy them before 16th September. 110,000 after that I think.

Not sure what the line-up is yet though.

red_bairn · 08-09-2011 01:08AM

Andy!! wrote: »

Hi guys.

I am currently finishing up a 140 hour online TEFL course with i-to-i. I intend to work in Busan, as my girlfriend is from there. I just wanted to ask the ESL teachers over in Busan/Korea, how unlikely is it that I will be able to find work with only the online i-to-i course under my belt. I cannot afford to do one of the more expensive CELT style courses, however I have been reading some very worrying posts on this site that suggest the course I am doing is worth diddly-squat and will not get me a job. Yet I know of one or two people who are over there teaching, and only have a degree; no TEFL 'experience'. So what is the current reality over in S.Korea/Busan?

I haven't done anything regarding acquiring a visa yet, or getting a criminal background check, so I think that better be my next port of call; I've had to do it before for a JET interview; and waiting on the police to supply you with a single piece of paper is... yeah. More time consuming that it should be.

What kind of a visa should I be applying for? I'm 27, and a college graduate.

That will do. I'm in a hagwon job but I'm sure people have got into public schools with the same qualification. Tbh, just a degree would be diddly-squat imo. Dude, i-to-i can set you up with a job there. Ask them for a placement in the Busan area.

Don't worry too much about those forms until you've been asked to process them by the middleman. Well, unless you want to sort out the Garda check...but I was pretty much doing all that a few weeks before leaving for Korea.

kraggy wrote: »

More than likely.

Tickets are only 88,000 if you buy them before 16th September. 110,000 after that I think.

Not sure what the line-up is yet though.

http://globalgatheringkorea.co.kr/

[Line up at the top there.]

SpatialPlanning · 08-09-2011 05:21AM

Andy!! wrote: »

Hi guys.

I am currently finishing up a 140 hour online TEFL course with i-to-i. I intend to work in Busan, as my girlfriend is from there. I just wanted to ask the ESL teachers over in Busan/Korea, how unlikely is it that I will be able to find work with only the online i-to-i course under my belt. I cannot afford to do one of the more expensive CELT style courses, however I have been reading some very worrying posts on this site that suggest the course I am doing is worth diddly-squat and will not get me a job. Yet I know of one or two people who are over there teaching, and only have a degree; no TEFL 'experience'. So what is the current reality over in S.Korea/Busan?

I haven't done anything regarding acquiring a visa yet, or getting a criminal background check, so I think that better be my next port of call; I've had to do it before for a JET interview; and waiting on the police to supply you with a single piece of paper is... yeah. More time consuming that it should be.

What kind of a visa should I be applying for? I'm 27, and a college graduate.

A CELT course is way above and beyond what you need to teach here and if you have one you will still have no advantage over a teacher with a TEFL.

A TEFL course is unnecessary but will bump you up 1 pay grade in the public school system. It also 'might' be of use to you if you have never taught before. When people say that a TEFL is worth 'diddly-squat', they just mean that they found it of little use in the classroom.

So, the reality is that a TEFL/CELT will give you little leverage, if any, with a potential employer.

Gathering your documents wont take long. You will need;

College Transcripts (In a signed and sealed envelope - usually takes between 2-5 days. Cost - 10 euro for me)
Police check with apostille (Takes 3-5 days - you only need the police certificate of character, NOT the full background check from Thurles. Free but apostille from DFA is 20euro)
Notarised and apostilled copy of your degree (Notarise it at a commissioner of oaths/solicitor 10euro, apostille from the Dept. of Foreign Affairs 20 euro)

So you COULD have all your docs together in a week or 10 days...

The visa you will need is an E2 visa. Your recruiter will sort all of that out for you. If you want to be placed in Busan quickly then just sign up with loads of recruiters, tell them what you want and that you have your documents ready, and wait!

red_bairn · 08-09-2011 07:39AM

SpatialPlanning wrote: »

Your recruiter will sort all of that out for you. If you want to be placed in Busan quickly then just sign up with loads of recruiters, tell them what you want and that you have your documents ready, and wait!

That or the OP can go through i-to-i for the 'free service', but yeah, try yourself to look for something first maybe.

Andy!! · 08-09-2011 11:28AM

Thanks guys, you've put my mind at rest

Maybe I'll see you over there for a pint in the next few months

Choccie Lover · 08-09-2011 12:16PM

Hey, so is the meet-up at the Wolfhound happening on Saturday? I keep meaning to go to one of these things, but haven't made it so far.

What time are people planning on meeting up?

Cheers :-)

FCUM · 08-09-2011 12:18PM

What have peoples experiences been with EPIK? Me and my girlfriend are planning on going next September and would like to work in public schools. Is it very competiitive? Also obviously we dont expect to be placed in the same school but could we end up being placed very far apart? I know that Seoul is quite big so this could be a problem. Any advice on this, or any other general advice.

Thanks

red_bairn · 08-09-2011 12:56PM

Choccie Lover wrote: »

Hey, so is the meet-up at the Wolfhound happening on Saturday? I keep meaning to go to one of these things, but haven't made it so far.

What time are people planning on meeting up?

Cheers :-)

I'm up for it. 8pm @ Wolfhound.

If anybody else is, please post up that you'll come y0.

I'll be in Seoul on Sat anyway so I shall be in the area.:)

FCUM wrote: »

What have peoples experiences been with EPIK? Me and my girlfriend are planning on going next September and would like to work in public schools. Is it very competiitive? Also obviously we dont expect to be placed in the same school but could we end up being placed very far apart? I know that Seoul is quite big so this could be a problem. Any advice on this, or any other general advice.

Thanks

A mate of mine, who lived in my city, had to travel 1.5hrs to Gwangju to meet his girlfriend.

FCUM · 08-09-2011 01:08PM

red_bairn wrote: »

I'm up for it. 8pm @ Wolfhound.

If anybody else is, please post up that you'll come y0.

I'll be in Seoul on Sat anyway so I shall be in the area.:)

A mate of mine, who lived in my city, had to travel 1.5hrs to Gwangju to meet his girlfriend.

did he joint apply mate? or do you know anyone who did?

red_bairn · 08-09-2011 01:13PM

FCUM wrote: »

did he joint apply mate? or do you know anyone who did?

He did. I don't know of any other people who have.

kraggy · 08-09-2011 01:17PM

red_bairn wrote: »

That will do. I'm in a hagwon job but I'm sure people have got into public schools with the same qualification. Tbh, just a degree would be diddly-squat imo. Dude, i-to-i can set you up with a job there. Ask them for a placement in the Busan area.

Don't worry too much about those forms until you've been asked to process them by the middleman. Well, unless you want to sort out the Garda check...but I was pretty much doing all that a few weeks before leaving for Korea.

http://globalgatheringkorea.co.kr/

[Line up at the top there.]

Hey, thanks. Must have been just put up in the last few days. I checked last Friday and it wasn't up yet.

It's a fairly tame line-up compared to other years. Looking forward to Digitalism though. What are Groove Armada like live? Think I heard that they're good.

FCUM wrote: »

What have peoples experiences been with EPIK? Me and my girlfriend are planning on going next September and would like to work in public schools. Is it very competiitive? Also obviously we dont expect to be placed in the same school but could we end up being placed very far apart? I know that Seoul is quite big so this could be a problem. Any advice on this, or any other general advice.

Thanks

Your best bet would be:

a. to apply to somewhere like Busan, which is a city as opposed to a whole province. That way, I reckon your maximum travel time to each other would be 1.5 hours, but lads living in Busan could confirm/deny that for you. I'm not sure.

b. Apply outside of the block recruitment time. i.e Start applying to agencies now for public jobs. There were loads of jobs in small cities (some of which were on the Seoul subway system) when my girlfriend and I applied last April. There are loads of jobs in the public system outside of the block recruiting times. This is because there are some no-shows or people arrive and have to go back home again for whatever reason.

Like I said, there were plenty of jobs in the same town, some of which were in the same school, when we applied last April. That was in the GEPIK area, which is the area that surrounds Seoul. But, as said previously, many of these places are on the Seoul subway system. e.g. 60 mins to the main drinking places.

Do not apply for Epik in general. You do not want to end up 2 hours, or even 3 hours, away from each other. You will have to go home again out of misery. Do not risk it.

How about going for a hagwon job? There's a lot to be said for it. Usually slightly more pay, jobs available all the time and most important of all, the kids generally are eager to learn. I'm teaching in a school in Seoul that is know to be a lunatic asylum. Windows broken regularly, students telling teachers to **** off etc. I'm a qualified teacher with experience and even I find it tough at times.

Finally, if you go for a public job, I'd select elementary over middle or high for your first preference. From what I've learned from talking to people here, most elementary positions require feck all planning, and the teaching time is split between the Native English Teacher and the Korean teacher. I'm in Middle School, and I know loads of others also in Middle School and we have to do all the planning and all the teaching and all the compilation of speaking tests and related rubrics etc.

I can't imagine what it would have been like coming here with no teaching experience or a teaching qualification. I wouldn't have lasted 2 weeks (I must add that this is mostly to do with the nature of my school, not teaching jobs here in general).

So I'd definitely recommend elementary.

Edit: Just reread your post and saw that you are leaning towards Seoul. My girlfriend and I are one hour apart, and we got lucky. It could have been way worse. Go for other cities, such as Busan, Daegu. Or like I said, GEPIk, however that branch of the ministry of Education are broke. They may not be taking on teachers again. There was a big story about it a few weeks ago.

Busan and Daegu are still much bigger than say Dublin. Busan has a decent beach, cleaner air and plenty to do. Has 4 million people, so you could be far apart down there too.

FCUM · 08-09-2011 01:19PM

red_bairn wrote: »

He did. I don't know of any other people who have.

hmm ****, not much i can do about it i suppose, only cross my fingers.

net86 · 08-09-2011 01:33PM

col89 wrote: »

I'm still pinching myself that this is finally happening! I'm so excited but very nervous, too, because I've never traveled alone. I know that it'll probably be a very lonely experience at first, for anyone who has traveled out alone, but I'm sure the times do get better after a while when you go out and make new friends, gain some good experiences, etc.

I think you will love Geoje - im here just over a month now and feel like ive been here forever!! The first week is really hard - I had never lived or travelled on my own before this but I met people that first week and havnt looked back since. You'll have to come on over to Gohyeon for a night out when you get here

FCUM · 08-09-2011 01:50PM

kraggy wrote: »

Hey, thanks. Must have been just put up in the last few days. I checked last Friday and it wasn't up yet.

It's a fairly tame line-up compared to other years. Looking forward to Digitalism though. What are Groove Armada like live? Think I heard that they're good.

Your best bet would be:

a. to apply to somewhere like Busan, which is a city as opposed to a whole province. That way, I reckon your maximum travel time to each other would be 1.5 hours, but lads living in Busan could confirm/deny that for you. I'm not sure.

b. Apply outside of the block recruitment time. i.e Start applying to agencies now for public jobs. There were loads of jobs in small cities (some of which were on the Seoul subway system) when my girlfriend and I applied last April. There are loads of jobs in the public system outside of the block recruiting times. This is because there are some no-shows or people arrive and have to go back home again for whatever reason.

Like I said, there were plenty of jobs in the same town, some of which were in the same school, when we applied last April. That was in the GEPIK area, which is the area that surrounds Seoul. But, as said previously, many of these places are on the Seoul subway system. e.g. 60 mins to the main drinking places.

Do not apply for Epik in general. You do not want to end up 2 hours, or even 3 hours, away from each other. You will have to go home again out of misery. Do not risk it.

How about going for a hagwon job? There's a lot to be said for it. Usually slightly more pay, jobs available all the time and most important of all, the kids generally are eager to learn. I'm teaching in a school in Seoul that is know to be a lunatic asylum. Windows broken regularly, students telling teachers to **** off etc. I'm a qualified teacher with experience and even I find it tough at times.

Finally, if you go for a public job, I'd select elementary over middle or high for your first preference. From what I've learned from talking to people here, most elementary positions require feck all planning, and the teaching time is split between the Native English Teacher and the Korean teacher. I'm in Middle School, and I know loads of others also in Middle School and we have to do all the planning and all the teaching and all the compilation of speaking tests and related rubrics etc.

I can't imagine what it would have been like coming here with no teaching experience or a teaching qualification. I wouldn't have lasted 2 weeks (I must add that this is mostly to do with the nature of my school, not teaching jobs here in general).

So I'd definitely recommend elementary.

Edit: Just reread your post and saw that you are leaning towards Seoul. My girlfriend and I are one hour apart, and we got lucky. It could have been way worse. Go for other cities, such as Busan, Daegu. Or like I said, GEPIk, however that branch of the ministry of Education are broke. They may not be taking on teachers again. There was a big story about it a few weeks ago.

Busan and Daegu are still much bigger than say Dublin. Busan has a decent beach, cleaner air and plenty to do. Has 4 million people, so you could be far apart down there too.

Thanks for your reply mate. Just to clarify i'm not leaning towards Seoul, the main priority is to be close to each other so the city is secondary to this.

Also we had agreed that we'd both prefer public but after reading your post im not so sure now. I actually thought if you wanted to do public you had to apply through EPIK. Is this not the case? Also are you saying not to bother with EPIK at all? And if so who to? If we joint apply we have no guarantee of being close to each other?

This is starting to look more complicated than I previously thought

red_bairn · 08-09-2011 03:46PM

kraggy wrote: »

Hey, thanks. Must have been just put up in the last few days. I checked last Friday and it wasn't up yet.

It's a fairly tame line-up compared to other years. Looking forward to Digitalism though. What are Groove Armada like live? Think I heard that they're good.

Haven't heard them live but here's to hoping...:D

red_bairn · 08-09-2011 04:06PM

Once again, if anybody is interested on this thread, in coming for drinks on Saturday night in the Wolfhound in Itaewon, please pm me and I can try help you out with directions to the destination.

squeakyduck · 08-09-2011 04:31PM

Two forums meets in one day for me.

I'm gonna see if the other guys from the other internet forum will be willing to meet up too.....more people and potentially more expat friends!

kraggy · 09-09-2011 12:23AM

FCUM wrote: »

Thanks for your reply mate. Just to clarify i'm not leaning towards Seoul, the main priority is to be close to each other so the city is secondary to this.

Also we had agreed that we'd both prefer public but after reading your post im not so sure now. I actually thought if you wanted to do public you had to apply through EPIK. Is this not the case? Also are you saying not to bother with EPIK at all? And if so who to? If we joint apply we have no guarantee of being close to each other?

This is starting to look more complicated than I previously thought

Don't panic.

If you apply through Epik, you have no say whatsoever over where you and your girlfriend will located. It's a total risk. Too big a risk if you want my opinion.

You can go through a recruiter also. However, again you will have no say over where you will be both located.

But, you can also apply to a recruiter for public jobs just after the bllock recruiting period. That way, you email your cv's to a few recruiters explaining that you want jobs in the same city, or in separate cities that are not too far from each other. There's a good chance that this will happen. We got offered a good few situations like that. But we were adamant that we wanted to go to Seoul itself so didn't take them up on their offers.

The block recruiting periods are for teachers starting at the end of February and the end of August. So, a good few jobs will come up in the weeks just after that as some people who had signed up don't end up coming over or get sick and have to go back home or didn't like it here and do a runner etc.

But jobs come up all the time mid-semester so you can apply at any time really.

I'm not going recommend a particular recruiter as some are good for some folk and bad for others. The best thing to do is put this in the search field of google:

"eslcafe.com forums korea recruiters"

Then read through the posts of people's recommendations there and make up your own mind.

As I said earlier, another option would be to go for a hagwon (grind school). More attentive students, slightly higher pay (usually) and most important of all, you would be working with lots of foreigners so making friends would be easier. I'm the only foreigner in my school so making friends is harder. Especially in Seoul as it's so big.

Finally, 2 more important pluses about hagwons. Once you have your documents ready, the time between you sending your cvs to a recruiter to the time you hop on a plane to move to Korea could be as little as 4 weeks. Hagwon jobs are always available.

One important thing to take note of though is that there are some hagwons that have screwed people over. Not paying them on time, treating them like crap etc.

But, the good news is that this can be prevented by one simple manoeuvre: Ask to speak with at least 2 of the foreign teachers that are in the school at that moment in time (after they say that you've got the job if you want it. Ask them about hours, what the kids are like, do they get paid on time, are they treated ok. That should be a protection mechanism for ye. Ye could even work in the same hagwon if ye wanted. Plenty of couple's positions on offer regularly.

Good luck.

kraggy · 09-09-2011 12:24AM

I might be in the Wolfhound on Saturday night. How many have agreed to go so far?

squeakyduck · 09-09-2011 12:28AM

kraggy wrote: »

I might be in the Wolfhound on Saturday night. How many have agreed to go so far?

I dunno if many will go. Interest in the meet with the other forum seems to be drifting. They haven't even set a venue yet. I'm gonna be around Seoul during the day. I want to wander....have a look in the shops and find some landmarks!

kraggy · 09-09-2011 12:48AM

There should be some Seoul Gaels in the Wolfhound on Saturday night anyway. We've training tomorrow and most usually go for drinks after.

squeakyduck · 09-09-2011 12:52AM

kraggy wrote: »

There should be some Seoul Gaels in the Wolfhound on Saturday night anyway. We've training tomorrow and most usually go for drinks after.

Ah cool. If I manage to find it....I'll keep an eye out!

red_bairn · 09-09-2011 01:19AM

squeakyduck wrote: »

Ah cool. If I manage to find it....I'll keep an eye out!

When you get to Itaewon, just ask somebody where the Wolfhound is (pretty much most of the foreigners in that area should know).

FCUM · 09-09-2011 08:48AM

kraggy wrote: »

Don't panic.

If you apply through Epik, you have no say whatsoever over where you and your girlfriend will located. It's a total risk. Too big a risk if you want my opinion.

You can go through a recruiter also. However, again you will have no say over where you will be both located.

But, you can also apply to a recruiter for public jobs just after the bllock recruiting period. That way, you email your cv's to a few recruiters explaining that you want jobs in the same city, or in separate cities that are not too far from each other. There's a good chance that this will happen. We got offered a good few situations like that. But we were adamant that we wanted to go to Seoul itself so didn't take them up on their offers.

The block recruiting periods are for teachers starting at the end of February and the end of August. So, a good few jobs will come up in the weeks just after that as some people who had signed up don't end up coming over or get sick and have to go back home or didn't like it here and do a runner etc.

But jobs come up all the time mid-semester so you can apply at any time really.

I'm not going recommend a particular recruiter as some are good for some folk and bad for others. The best thing to do is put this in the search field of google:

"eslcafe.com forums korea recruiters"

Then read through the posts of people's recommendations there and make up your own mind.

As I said earlier, another option would be to go for a hagwon (grind school). More attentive students, slightly higher pay (usually) and most important of all, you would be working with lots of foreigners so making friends would be easier. I'm the only foreigner in my school so making friends is harder. Especially in Seoul as it's so big.

Finally, 2 more important pluses about hagwons. Once you have your documents ready, the time between you sending your cvs to a recruiter to the time you hop on a plane to move to Korea could be as little as 4 weeks. Hagwon jobs are always available.

One important thing to take note of though is that there are some hagwons that have screwed people over. Not paying them on time, treating them like crap etc.

But, the good news is that this can be prevented by one simple manoeuvre: Ask to speak with at least 2 of the foreign teachers that are in the school at that moment in time (after they say that you've got the job if you want it. Ask them about hours, what the kids are like, do they get paid on time, are they treated ok. That should be a protection mechanism for ye. Ye could even work in the same hagwon if ye wanted. Plenty of couple's positions on offer regularly.

Good luck.

Appreciate you taking the time to write that mate. Starting to lean towards Hagwon now. I assumed that if you joint applied with EPIK they would try their best to get you close but obviously not.

Luckily its quite a while off yet so plenty of time to do some research. Ta for the help, i might be pestering you again soon, if you dont mind.

squeakyduck · 09-09-2011 08:50AM

FCUM wrote: »

Appreciate you taking the time to write that mate. Starting to lean towards Hagwon now. I assumed that if you joint applied with EPIK they would try their best to get you close but obviously not.

Luckily its quite a while off yet so plenty of time to do some research. Ta for the help, i might be pestering you again soon, if you dont mind.

I was rejected by EPIK. I have the best hagwon job now. I'm treated like royalty, they spoil me rotten and I'm having loads of fun! If you are looking into hagwons do your homework. Talk to a foreign teacher at the school and google that school to hell and back!

FCUM · 09-09-2011 09:13AM

squeakyduck wrote: »

I was rejected by EPIK. I have the best hagwon job now. I'm treated like royalty, they spoil me rotten and I'm having loads of fun! If you are looking into hagwons do your homework. Talk to a foreign teacher at the school and google that school to hell and back!

sounds good mate

hopefully we will be as lucky, and it definitely seems like good advice to talk to some current foreign teachers. anxious to get this year of uni out of the way and get cracking with this.

Choccie Lover · 09-09-2011 09:33AM

Is anyone going to be in there earlier than 8? I'm planning on hiking on Sunday morning (weather permitting), so wouldn't be hanging around too late as I'm a total lightweight :-)

red_bairn · 09-09-2011 09:50AM

Choccie Lover wrote: »

Is anyone going to be in there earlier than 8? I'm planning on hiking on Sunday morning (weather permitting), so wouldn't be hanging around too late as I'm a total lightweight :-)

Have you got a phone on you?

livinginkorea · 09-09-2011 10:56AM

Here's the end of the Ambassador message that I get by email. If you haven't registered yet (or know other Irish people who haven't) then contact them as soon as you can. Not only is it good for security reasons (in case anything happens they can contact you or your family back in Ireland) but any social events are relayed to us, such as the Asian Gaelic Games in October in Suwon (where I live!). Spread the word to other Irish to be up to date with their details with the embassy.

....For more information on the story of the Irish here, check out our brief survey at the Embassy website under the heading ‘Relations between Ireland and South Korea’ (www.embassyofireland.or.kr ).
Finally, the number of Irish registered here is now 900, up from the 580 when I arrived two years ago. If you know of any new arrivals, please encourage them to register with the Embassy via our website.
Happy Chuseok,

Eamonn

Eamonn McKee
Ambassador

livinginkorea · 09-09-2011 11:02AM

squeakyduck wrote: »

I was rejected by EPIK. I have the best hagwon job now. I'm treated like royalty, they spoil me rotten and I'm having loads of fun! If you are looking into hagwons do your homework. Talk to a foreign teacher at the school and google that school to hell and back!

To be honest, I think the number of teachers teaching in the public schools will start to fall because they are running out of money now. Hagwons will be the way forward but you have to be careful before committing yourself. I have worked for about a dozen hagwons and most of them have been very good, some have been amazing but a couple were awful and went through teachers like no tomorrow. Do your homework as ducky says and it will give you a better chance went to get to Korea.

Tefl in South Korea

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