[Englecturers] Teaching in Korea

[Tracy Wood]

I would like to offer some additional advice about working in Korea...

 

Aside from the universities which offer legitimate credit-bearing classes, most of the language institutes here in Korea are businesses, which means that they tend to operate according to profit rather than any kind of educational principle.  

 

To maximize profits, managers often fill classes without any regard to classroom management or the actual level of students, and they often demand that instructors teach a variety of classes without any regard to actual prep time.  There is a myth circulating that a native speaker of English is a natural teacher of English.  Of course, English language instruction is rapidly changing in Korea, especially in Seoul where many instructors (native and non-native) have a master's degree in TESOL, but some of the lesser institutes still operate according to these principles. 

 

To be fair, instructors who work for these language institutes are often young and inexperienced, and they have come to Korea for the sole purpose of making money.  They tend to be less committed, and they often break their contracts for better positions, a decision which may or may not be related to the actual conditions of the school.  Thus, the managers of these institutes are often in a hurry to fill these quickly vacated spaces (which explains why the person in question is demanding that prospective instructors give a quick answer).  Moreover, obtaining visas does take time, and managers must make quick decisions in order to leave enough time to deal with the immigration office in Seoul and the Korean consulate in LA.  

 

If you are thinking about working in Korea, carefully consider the terms of the contract.  Every institute or university must offer a contract in order for the visa to be processed, and this contract must be in writing. (Often, however, the contract is verbal until the prospective instructor has “agreed” to work.)  Contracts for E-2 visas usually include a monthly salary, housing, and airfare reimbursement, and the contracts usually stipulate the teaching hours per week as well as any extra duties.

 

If you want to know more about working in Korea, you might want to visit this website: www.daveseslcafe.com <javascript:ol('http://www.daveseslcafe.com');> .  Then, click on the Korean Job Forum for ongoing discussions about institutes, managers, contracts, etc.  The English language community is still quite small, so word gets around pretty fast.

 

I hope this helps,

 

Tracy Wood

Director 

GNUCR International Education Center

8 Samsung-dong, Gangnam-gu

Seoul, Korea 135-090

(02) 546-3260

twood at ucx.ucr.edu