Tefl in South Korea

m83 · 26-10-2012 9:05pm

Guys, if I send documents to Korea with An Post's international courier service will they give me a tracking number for the DHL website? I was asked (pretty much told) to use DHL or Fedex only as they had a problem with other couriers in the past.

I really want to go with An Post (who use DHL) because they're cheaper but I don't want to go against my recruiters wishes (read: demands) either.

Thanks.

Andy!! · 27-10-2012 6:17am

Yeah you will get a tracking number of course. And yeah stick with DHL, much much cheaper.

m83 · 27-10-2012 12:11pm

Thanks for getting back to me Andy. What I wanted to know is if that number can be used on the DHL site or do I have to go through An Post?

Andy!! · 27-10-2012 12:44pm

m83 wrote: »

Thanks for getting back to me Andy. What I wanted to know is if that number can be used on the DHL site or do I have to go through An Post?

The number they give you is for use on the DHL website methinks.

m83 · 27-10-2012 2:16pm

Cheers Andy. I'll give them a ring when they're open again anyway to be sure to be sure

Mr. Loverman · 29-10-2012 11:48am

Is it possible to teach English in Korea using a business visa?

For example, in China, many people pay an agent for a business visa and then teach English. They do this for many reasons, e.g. won't pass the medical test a normal visa requires, don't have a degree, couldn't be bothered with all the paper work, etc.

The reason I ask is I would consider doing this for a few months until I got all my paperwork sorted.

cloneslad · 29-10-2012 6:41pm

To teach English in a private academy or public school you need an E2 visa. To obtain a business visa (to start your own business in invest in one)would involve investing $50,000 all of which must have been earned outside of korea.

Those were the business visa rules a couple of years ago. I'm too lazy to check again.

Essentially the answer to your questioning no....not if you are working legally

m83 · 30-10-2012 12:19pm

Sent my documents today via An Post's service with DHL. A f*cking shocking experience involving 55 minutes at the counter, a phone call to customer service to dublin (that I had to make) and three parts of the recipient's details being incorrectly printed on the label (after I spelling it out letter-by-letter) before I requested they redo it.

Would not recommend.

Andy!! · 30-10-2012 12:42pm

m83 wrote: »

Sent my documents today via An Post's service with DHL. A f*cking shocking experience involving 55 minutes at the counter, a phone call to customer service to dublin (that I had to make) and three parts of the recipient's details being incorrectly printed on the label (after I spelling it out letter-by-letter) before I requested they redo it.

Would not recommend.

Thats very surprising. Was it done at the gpo? Sounds like you were unlucky and got some bellend working behind the counter. I was in and out in 10 minutes and the guy knew the whole procedure.

m83 · 30-10-2012 1:05pm

Yup, at the gpo. It was a bad omen when I asked to send them with DHL and the employee just stared blankly at me for 5 seconds.

Well as long as they get there in the next few days I'll be grand. Still annoying though, you know how important these documents are so losing them is not an option.

leo86 · 30-10-2012 3:16pm

Hi everyone,

Just looking for some information on any recruitment agencies which you guys would recommended for teaching in South Korea.

My friend and I are hoping to go and teach there as quick as possible, we have all documents ready and just need to start applying for positions now.

How soon do you think we could be working over there?

m83 · 30-10-2012 3:50pm

I can only speak for myself as I'm in the same situation as yourself but a bit further down the line.

Do you want to work in a public school or a hagwon (private school)? If you'e looking to go as soon as possible you'll find it easier to get into a hagwon. It's outside the main hiring season for public schools so you'll have more difficulty going that way.

If you do go the public school route you'll probably want to find a good recruiter and go through them. I've seen a lot of people mention Footprints recruiting but there are many others too, search within this thread and you'll find them.

An alternative method is to spam the various jobs boards online if you are looking for private school work (public school jobs get listed too but not as many). Dave's ESL Cafe is the biggest of those sites in terms of traffic however competition will be more fierce there. Do your homework on the schools and locations listed as not all positions will be desirable.

Another site like that is PusanWeb which I have found to be much better than Dave's. I applied for 70 or 80 jobs on Dave's and got 4 offers, none of which were really to my liking. I got much more feedback applying on PusanWeb and managed to land a job in Ulsan after enquiring about a dozen or so openings.

For the record, my background is a degree in engineering, I've never worked as a teacher and don't have any TEFL certification. Once I started applying for jobs it took me 9 days to secure a position. You may run into difficulty if you are trying to teach in the same location as your friend but there are plenty of jobs out there so stick with it and something should turn up.

Anyusername · 30-10-2012 3:56pm

Hi,
Great thread. Anyone have any experience or heard anything about the Talk Korea program? Thanks.

Anyusername · 30-10-2012 3:57pm

Hi, great thread. Anyone have any experience of the Talk Korea program?
Thanks

leo86 · 30-10-2012 4:03pm

thanks for the info M83

Ya probably have to try private schools as we want to go as soon as possible.
We have degrees in teaching but not in English and are not interested in doing TEFL courses.

Anyway i will look into the advice you have given and hopefully we will find something that will suit us.

thanks again

Andy!! · 31-10-2012 5:50am

m83 wrote: »

Yup, at the gpo. It was a bad omen when I asked to send them with DHL and the employee just stared blankly at me for 5 seconds.

Well as long as they get there in the next few days I'll be grand. Still annoying though, you know how important these documents are so losing them is not an option.

Did you do it in the main section of the gpo or the little parcel room to the right? That could be why, its supposed to be done in the parcel room.

squeakyduck · 31-10-2012 11:32am

I sent mine through SDS down on the way to Ringsend. The guy was super helpful. It cost 60e and that was with a student discount. (always handy to keep the student card after graduating!)

My docs got there in 5 days and I could track anytime I wanted.

Orizio · 31-10-2012 2:17pm

Have my EPIK interview in a couple of days, any advice guys?

squeakyduck · 01-11-2012 7:09am

Orizio wrote: »

Have my EPIK interview in a couple of days, any advice guys?

Speak slowly and clearly.

Take your time when answering questions.

Make sure you dress nice for skype if it is a webcam interview. (I wore a blouse with my pj bottoms underneath!)

P_1 · 01-11-2012 11:40am

A course just popped up on Groupon if anyone out there needs to start one

http://www.groupon.ie/deals/national-deals/Global-Language-Training/12489938?nlp=&CID=IE_CRM_1_0_0_306&a=1676

m83 · 01-11-2012 8:51pm

Andy!! wrote: »

Did you do it in the main section of the gpo or the little parcel room to the right? That could be why, its supposed to be done in the parcel room.

It was my local GPO not the Dublin GPO and they actually are supposed to be able to do it in the majority of post offices in the land.

Anyway they got delivered today anyway, that's the main thing

Andy!! · 02-11-2012 1:16am

m83 wrote: »

It was my local GPO not the Dublin GPO and they actually are supposed to be able to do it in the majority of post offices in the land.

Anyway they got delivered today anyway, that's the main thing

Good to hear. That was also my experience. They are superfast; two days for 19 euro cannot argue with that!

Yeah if you're from the boonies I can imagine whoever is working behind the counter isnt as up to speed as those up in 'the big smoke' :P

Galwayj · 05-11-2012 3:37am

Ok , so I got told on Friday that the boss is terminating my contract . In the contract it states I must get a written notice of problems but I never did . Here is what all the things that happened in the school . It really feel like a money thing to be honest as the school is not doing well . Any advice would come in handy .

I don't find this justified at all . A lot of things don't add up . I
will start from the beginning when I came to the school . When I first
arrived at the school , I was never given any introduction , training
or told how I should teach the books for example certain you have to
cover 2 pages ,other you cover a short story. So after a few weeks I
got complaints that I am not covering the books right so I had to ask
the director for thirty minutes to explain what she wanted me to do.
After maybe two weeks of
being there , a lot of students left and we kept on hearing the
school is doing bad. A Korean teacher was fired who was at the school
for a year from what I was told , the other teachers were shocked as I
was told she was a very good teacher,also I was told about a lot of
teachers that were fired also , the other foreign teacher stated it
was a common that she fired people. After that the other foreign
teacher in the school was asked if he would like to have an extra day
off a week. And we kept on hearing that school isn't doing well , even
till now she has been saying that she does not have enough students
and she was saying she is thinking about closing the school as a
"joke".She would also complain to us that getting students in this
area to come to this school is different than in the old area where
she worked in a hagwon as a director.
I've come into work earlier than stated in the
contract to prepare for lessons . Recently there was complaints from a
class that consists of young children , The complaint was about them
not getting homework . There was complaints about both foreign
teacher's classes. When I give the students homework , i made sure
they know what they have to do . And with the younger students i wrote
their homework on their homework sheets . If the child did not do
their homework, I would write it down on the daily report but the
director who I had to give it to at the end of the day would never pay
attention to it . So certain students would get into the habit of not
doing their homework.
After a month and a
half of being here , I got into a horrible accident where I hit my
head very hard and i had to spend a million won on hospital bills. The
first two days after it , I a was mentally unable to function . And
regrettably even though both days I did turn up for work I could not
work . After that , one of the Korean teachers stopped talking to me
and would ignore me . Unfortunately this had an effect on certain
classes as we needed to co-operate on those classes. Also the director
would bring me student's books , and complain to me that certain
exercises were wrong even though I didn't teach the class that covered
those pages.
I was given the only
kindergarten class , it did consist of around 6 children. 4 girls, 2
boys , The girls left when the Korean teacher was fired as she mainly
covered that class. So I was left with the two boy , one was prefect
to teach , the other impossible . The other foreign teachers and
myself would complain that he was impossible as he would always cry ,
try fight with other child or would never want do anything other than
draw . Recently the director came into the class , and complained that
I'm not doing my job , but she could barely control him also.
Also I have had classes were people
would come to the school and say that they wanted to try out a class
so they can decide to join or not . The times this has happened , the
people joined the class . And the director told me that she was told I
taught a good class.
On Friday , I got a text message in the
morning saying that I owed 240,000 because of the two days I had to
take off because of the accident as she didn't take it out of my wage
though I got paid this wage two weeks prior. This was kind of strange
but fair enough I gave the money to her . When she told me that she
was terminating the contract , she told me I was bad teacher but she
said that she would try get me a job in a different school . This
doesn't make sense . It really feel like this is more about money than
anything . I have worked as an English teacher before and didn't get
any complaints .

I would like to know what i should do next ?Should I ask her for a letter of release or talk to immigration? I am also worried that she might try to deduct the flight from the next wage I am due before the contract is terminated.I have there since July

Andy!! · 05-11-2012 4:01am

Problem is mate, contracts dont mean **** in Korea. At our level anyway, and above. Obviously at business level they do. Its the unfortunate truth. Get yourself a new job and move on.

Galwayj · 05-11-2012 4:10am

Ok , the main thing that is worrying is the visa .I'm going to ring the immigration hotline now and ask them about the letter release or what can I do. The recruiter sent me an email on Friday , explaining that I had one month notice and that I should ring him today and do I want to stay in Korea. Just tried ringing him there ,I was told to give the person the number and he will ring me back. Any advice on Visa issues , or the best way to get a job would be highly appreciated . I'm shocked that I am in this position

Andy!! · 05-11-2012 6:56am

I know mate. Hang in there. It doesnt say anything about your performance or ability. Some people are just fickle arses.

ARGINITE · 05-11-2012 9:57am

Galwayj wrote: »

Ok , the main thing that is worrying is the visa .I'm going to ring the immigration hotline now and ask them about the letter release or what can I do. The recruiter sent me an email on Friday , explaining that I had one month notice and that I should ring him today and do I want to stay in Korea. Just tried ringing him there ,I was told to give the person the number and he will ring me back. Any advice on Visa issues , or the best way to get a job would be highly appreciated . I'm shocked that I am in this position

Star looking for another job ASAP and try a few different recruiters. When I was over there this sort of thing seemed common enough with Hagwons, so as Andy said hang in there and don't let it get to you.

I wouldn't worry too much about the visa, in the year that I was over there I had one Canadian friend who got tossed out of a number of different Hagwons but always seemed to walk into another job without release letters or other visa issues.

roosh · 05-11-2012 12:24pm

Galwayj wrote: »

Ok , the main thing that is worrying is the visa .I'm going to ring the immigration hotline now and ask them about the letter release or what can I do. The recruiter sent me an email on Friday , explaining that I had one month notice and that I should ring him today and do I want to stay in Korea. Just tried ringing him there ,I was told to give the person the number and he will ring me back. Any advice on Visa issues , or the best way to get a job would be highly appreciated . I'm shocked that I am in this position

I'm not sure about the visa situation, but I've heard one or two things about it; I think you can get a visa that enables you to stay in the country while you are looking for a job; I'm not sure what it is called, but if you ask around you might find out.

squeakyduck · 05-11-2012 1:07pm

God Galwayj I feel for you! Where are you based in Korea?

I hope you are better after your accident. If the school does close down. They will give you a letter of release. Take that and look for another job. Looks like the director is quite cruel. It's a pity some hagwons close down as you loose some lovely kids but money is everything

I wish I took my letter of release and looked elsewhere but I didn't know I could look for my own job at the time!

Galwayj · 05-11-2012 2:52pm

Cheers for advice and info . Squeakyduck , I live in Unseo which is beside Incheon airport . I have started contacting other recruiters. Hopefully I will have interviews set up by next week .

Orizio · 06-11-2012 9:41pm

Had my EPIK interview last Friday, went badly and wasn't given the interviewer's e-mail so I assume I haven't gotten in (which apparently is impossible but anyway :pac: ).

Anyway, do they bother to send out e-mails telling you haven't gotten in or do they just cut contact with you...? I assume it is the later - ****ty way of dealing with people.

Going to apply for GEPIK next anyway.

cloneslad · 07-11-2012 2:04pm

Galwayj wrote: »

Ok , so I got told on Friday that the boss is terminating my contract . In the contract it states I must get a written notice of problems but I never did . Here is what all the things that happened in the school . It really feel like a money thing to be honest as the school is not doing well . Any advice would come in handy .

I don't find this justified at all . A lot of things don't add up . I
will start from the beginning when I came to the school . When I first
arrived at the school , I was never given any introduction , training
or told how I should teach the books for example certain you have to
cover 2 pages ,other you cover a short story. So after a few weeks I
got complaints that I am not covering the books right so I had to ask
the director for thirty minutes to explain what she wanted me to do.
After maybe two weeks of
being there , a lot of students left and we kept on hearing the
school is doing bad. A Korean teacher was fired who was at the school
for a year from what I was told , the other teachers were shocked as I
was told she was a very good teacher,also I was told about a lot of
teachers that were fired also , the other foreign teacher stated it
was a common that she fired people. After that the other foreign
teacher in the school was asked if he would like to have an extra day
off a week. And we kept on hearing that school isn't doing well , even
till now she has been saying that she does not have enough students
and she was saying she is thinking about closing the school as a
"joke".She would also complain to us that getting students in this
area to come to this school is different than in the old area where
she worked in a hagwon as a director.
I've come into work earlier than stated in the
contract to prepare for lessons . Recently there was complaints from a
class that consists of young children , The complaint was about them
not getting homework . There was complaints about both foreign
teacher's classes. When I give the students homework , i made sure
they know what they have to do . And with the younger students i wrote
their homework on their homework sheets . If the child did not do
their homework, I would write it down on the daily report but the
director who I had to give it to at the end of the day would never pay
attention to it . So certain students would get into the habit of not
doing their homework.
After a month and a
half of being here , I got into a horrible accident where I hit my
head very hard and i had to spend a million won on hospital bills. The
first two days after it , I a was mentally unable to function . And
regrettably even though both days I did turn up for work I could not
work . After that , one of the Korean teachers stopped talking to me
and would ignore me . Unfortunately this had an effect on certain
classes as we needed to co-operate on those classes. Also the director
would bring me student's books , and complain to me that certain
exercises were wrong even though I didn't teach the class that covered
those pages.
I was given the only
kindergarten class , it did consist of around 6 children. 4 girls, 2
boys , The girls left when the Korean teacher was fired as she mainly
covered that class. So I was left with the two boy , one was prefect
to teach , the other impossible . The other foreign teachers and
myself would complain that he was impossible as he would always cry ,
try fight with other child or would never want do anything other than
draw . Recently the director came into the class , and complained that
I'm not doing my job , but she could barely control him also.
Also I have had classes were people
would come to the school and say that they wanted to try out a class
so they can decide to join or not . The times this has happened , the
people joined the class . And the director told me that she was told I
taught a good class.
On Friday , I got a text message in the
morning saying that I owed 240,000 because of the two days I had to
take off because of the accident as she didn't take it out of my wage
though I got paid this wage two weeks prior. This was kind of strange
but fair enough I gave the money to her . When she told me that she
was terminating the contract , she told me I was bad teacher but she
said that she would try get me a job in a different school . This
doesn't make sense . It really feel like this is more about money than
anything . I have worked as an English teacher before and didn't get
any complaints .

I would like to know what i should do next ?Should I ask her for a letter of release or talk to immigration? I am also worried that she might try to deduct the flight from the next wage I am due before the contract is terminated.I have there since July

If your contract states you get one months notice then that's what you get. Contracts mean nothing to the bosses, but they are still legally binding and must be adhered to.

Keep going in to work, get everything in writing from your boss. Koreans love saving face, as I'm sure you know, so she is probably helping you get a job while telling you that you're a bad teacher because she can't afford to keep you and still wants to keep a sense of respect about the situation. She prob don't want to seem like she failed.....though she could just be a c**t.

Should she terminate your employment and your visa then you can switch to a D10 visa. This visa allows you to,search for employment while in korea. Information on the visa is sketchy, with regulations saying you have to have graduated from a top 200 uni to get one....my mate has been using one on and off for the past 6 months and he just graduated from a local college in New Zealand so it it possible to get one.

Good luck with whatever happens anyway.

Galwayj · 08-11-2012 2:55am

Cheers for the Info.

I have been applying for a lot of job . Got off the phone with a recruiter there . It seems like I would get the job but they are asking for a letter of release which as this moment I doubt the boss will give to me. She was saying I would need all the documents in order again to do a visa run if I had to. Is this true ?
The worst thing is that recruiter asked me what happened in the school , I told him thinking this would help or would be confidential and it got back so she does not want to help at all from what I'm seeing . Im going to check this D10 visa . This is really coming off as a horrible messy situation ugh hahaha....

squeakyduck · 08-11-2012 5:27am

Galwayj there is a guy on daves ESL cafe called

Ttompatz

He works with some sort of labor board in Gyeongju or somewhere south.
Send him a PM on esl cafe he should be able to give you information. He is up to date with all that kind of stuff. I sent him an email when I was considering leaving my ****ty job and he gave me a short and informative email of what I would have to do.

Good for a bit of information!

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 08-11-2012 9:14pm

Where is the best place to find a good value online TEFL course?

m83 · 08-11-2012 10:28pm

This was just posted the other day. Don't know how good it is though.

pithater1 wrote: »

A course just popped up on Groupon if anyone out there needs to start one

http://www.groupon.ie/deals/national-deals/Global-Language-Training/12489938?nlp=&CID=IE_CRM_1_0_0_306&a=1676

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 10-11-2012 6:00pm

Its proving difficult to find much info on it.. I'm really not sure if its a reputable course.

Andy!! · 10-11-2012 6:43pm

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Its proving difficult to find much info on it.. I'm really not sure if its a reputable course.

Aint such a thing as a reputable TEFL course. They arent that great, you just better do one to better your chances. If its 140 hours, its fine.

Marie212 · 12-11-2012 7:48pm

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Its proving difficult to find much info on it.. I'm really not sure if its a reputable course.

Hey, did you buy the course? I was thinking of it but can't find any reviews on it either.

m83 · 13-11-2012 10:58am

Hi guys, just to get clarification on the following before I head up to the embassy. I did a 3 year Diploma then 2 more years at a university to get my degree. What should I put on the form below? They only seem to be looking for info from one institute but I don't exactly want it to seem like I've only done two years of college either.

Thanks.

Andy!! · 13-11-2012 12:01pm

So far as I remember I flat out lied or was very vague in this section as Im in the same situation meself. I put the start date of my diploma as start date of the degree.

m83 · 13-11-2012 7:08pm

Andy!! wrote: »

So far as I remember I flat out lied or was very vague in this section as Im in the same situation meself. I put the start date of my diploma as start date of the degree.

Hmmm.. that's so crazy that it just might work

cloneslad · 13-11-2012 8:50pm

My old school are looking for a teacher to start in march and asked me if I knew anyone. If anyone is interested please let me know.

I am in America at the minute but will be home on thursday.

You can pm me for more info.

I'm not getting paid to get the teacher, I was asked if any of my friends would be interested and I just thought I'd help someone out here.

kraggy · 15-11-2012 2:29pm

cloneslad wrote: »

To teach English in a private academy or public school you need an E2 visa. To obtain a business visa (to start your own business in invest in one)would involve investing $50,000 all of which must have been earned outside of korea.

Those were the business visa rules a couple of years ago. I'm too lazy to check again.

Essentially the answer to your questioning no....not if you are working legally

You actually need $100,000 to start a business now.

Regardless Mr Loverman, you can't get a full time proper teaching job on a business visa. It's not like China. You need an E2 to get a proper job.

You need an E2 visa

kraggy · 15-11-2012 2:30pm

Why are people asking about Tefls? Do you need one now to apply for jobs in Korea for the first time?

m83 · 15-11-2012 3:00pm

kraggy wrote: »

Why are people asking about Tefls? Do you need one now to apply for jobs in Korea for the first time?

You don't need one. They will make you slightly more employable though as some recruiters won't consider applicants who don't have them.

Andy!! · 15-11-2012 3:38pm

kraggy wrote: »

Why are people asking about Tefls? Do you need one now to apply for jobs in Korea for the first time?

Everyone has them now cause they've gone so cheap.
Youre putting yourself at a distinct disadvantage not having one unless you already have a fair bit of teaching experience.

Andy!! · 19-11-2012 7:29am

JJayoo wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb1l9ZlZUgc

This process seems very easy. Does it still require that exorbetant transfer fee?

red_bairn · 19-11-2012 1:48pm

Andy!! wrote: »

This process seems very easy. Does it still require that exorbetant transfer fee?

One of my mates was paying about 5euro for the transfer fee...but I can't remember the bank name.

A P · 19-11-2012 5:30pm

Hi. Thanks for all the informative posts on this thread - I've read through about half of it today. What an epic thread! I've a few questions if anyone is free to answer them:

1: Is it easy to get around, communicate, order food etc when you arrive off the plane if you don't know any Korean? Are you advised to learn some basic Korean phrases before you get there?

2: Are the apartments generally of a decent enough standard? I gather from some posts that they tend to be fairly small studio-type places.

3: Is facial hair frowned upon over there - would someone with a beard be less likely to get a good job?

Thanks!

Tefl in South Korea

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