Teach English in Asia?

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Well someone finally seems interested in hiring me and unlike every other employer, is actually impressed by my degrees! Only problem is I have to move to South Korea.....for a year.

It's not that I wouldn't like to travel and spend some time abroad, but a year is a long time. If I get there and don't like it, I'll really be screwed. And when I'm all done...will it be any easier for me to get a permanent job, particularly one in my original field?

From an Asperger's perspective, it could be a good experience to live on my own in a strange place.

You might want to have a word with Kwiksnax, who taught in South Korea -
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postxf50757-0-15.html

Also, my friend taught English - I think it was in Africa? - but she found out when she got there that she was expected to throw in a little religion. Maybe check out the employer.

Thanks for the link, but it looks like the person hasn't been on-line in almost three years

Ooops!

I worked in SK Gangwon-do for two years, and now work in North East China, near Harbin. I've been teaching EFL since I graduated. PM me.

Hey there

I used to live in South Korea for 11 years. Dad was in the US Army. I have family there from mom's side. I'm half Korean. I understand that a lot has changed since I moved. There are Costcos there in South Korea too. The subway system has everything in English. It is very clean. They announce the stops in Korean and in English and it's computerized.

A year is not a long time..so much can happen in a year, and it will flow by before you know it. You have to look at it from the fact that in the U.S you have an extremely competitive job market...having spent one year abroad teaching english, and im guessing you want to be in education, right? than this is the perfect opportunity to gain experience, income, and avoid the U.S employment market right now. I am sure they have plans to normalize you and make sure your not alone..it would be idiotic of them. You should get more details from them on how they would transition you into a foreign country like South Korea. This would help alleviate the stress on your end so you would know what is going to happen. As part of a long term plan, I would do it...it sets you apart from competition that may not have experience teaching a culturally pluralistic group of children.

My bachelors and masters is in political science/government. Stupid thing to major in, I know. Ideally, I would like to teach THAT SUBJECT at a community college or university (as there are universities that will hire someone without a Phd) so in that sense, this could be good experience.

I am thinking of going there after I graduate to help pay back my loans. I love to travel though....but a year does seem long. A girl I went to high school with (not ASD) went there shortly after high school and never came back; she loved it there!

http://www.eatyourkimchi.com/

That's the blog of a Canadian couple who moved to South Korea to teach English at a public school. You'll see a lot of blogs about South Korean food, music and culture in general, but they also post about teaching - check out the 'Teaching in Korea' tab. Hope this helps

I've been teaching EFL in Taiwan for over six years. I know people who've done it in S. Korea and I think they've enjoyed the experience overall. You have to jump through a lot of hoops though to be able to reside and work there. The salary in S. Korea, Japan, and Taiwan are all on a par with each other, the main difference is that the cost of living in Taiwan is much cheaper. Let me know if you want more information.

I taught English in South Korea last year in Daegu (June to October 2010). I was a failure. I was fired after only 3 months into my one year contract. I doubt most aspies would be successful. I was fired because they didn't think I was "entertaining" enough for the children (ages 11-14). They also didn't like the way I talked (too monotone, somehow, even though I tried to sound not monotone). Most of all, though, I had problems disciplining the kids, who were shockingly horribly behaved. I had always heard that Asian kids in Asia would be very well behaved, so I didn't think I'd have to deal with discipline, but I was wrong. I had previously been a substitute teacher (September 2007-December 2008) in mostly high schools and middle schools, but hated it because the kids couldn't behave properly, and I am sensitive to loud noises. Before that I spent 2 years getting certified to teach (2005-2007), hoping to become a high school social studies teacher. In 2005 I got a BA in geography with a minor in history. Now, I realize teaching is not the right career for me. I thought about going back to Korea (but I was told not to mention that I have been there before), but my parents don't want me to go overseas, and I was rather miserable while I was in Korea. The culture shock was much worse than I thought it would be. Also, I had to hide my Asperger's because any kind of mental condition disqualifies you from getting a visa to enter the country. But, at least it was an interesting, slightly adventurous experience, and it allowed me to afford to buy a new computer, so, I'm glad I went.

I'm sorry you had that experience. I too thought that S. Korean kids were well behaved. Maybe it was just that school? I did know that enough schools treat their teachers badly for it to merit a warning in published materials but I thought the children were fine.

In Taiwan, most people I know get on well with their students. The relationship they have with their schools can be varied, although mine are fine and so are my husband's. The real problem with teaching in Taiwan is the law. It's illegal to teach English in kindergartens here and yet everyone I know has taught in one at sometime or another. I just started in mine a few months ago. School inspectors are paid bribes, and I know of a teacher who was actually teaching the child of a school inspector! Needless to say, that school always got warnings when they were on the way. Other teachers have had to take the quick exit out the back door, have been stuffed into a lift and sent to a random destination in a building, or sent into a storeroom to wait out the inspection. Sometimes they've actually been caught and have had to pay a fine. It's all good fun though and taking such jobs isn't necessary to make a living.

As a teacher, my problem is that I always get accused of being too strict. I probably am compared to the other teachers in my school, but I can't help it. I do understand that the parents pay for the English schools and so want it to be a fun environment. At the same time, however, my job is to teach not babysit.

Well, I've actually read stories of people who had much, much worse experiences teaching in Korea (or anywhere else for that matter) than I did. Most of the bad experiences were caused by the schools rather than the students. I think the misbehavior of my students was more a function of their age than of anything else (11-14 year olds are generally badly behaved anywhere, it seems). A lot of people also had better experiences teaching overseas than I did. I taught at a private for-profit after school program known as a hagwan. It's much more difficult to get hired at a public school or a very good hagwan if you have no experience and no certifications, like me. Oh well, at least I had an interesting experience, and I learned even more how ill-suited I am to being a teacher.

I think the oldest students I taught were about twelve or thirteen. They were quite kind to me considering I didn't know them that well - I was that school's ONLY foreign teacher so I taught each class about once a fortnight with a few exceptions. It was a fairly big school and most of the children were younger than that. I spent my first two hours each day teaching the kindergarten classes. My youngest students have probably been about two years old.

The kind of school you describe is the kind that most people, myself included, teach at here. They're called buxibans which translates as cram school and they also run homework classes so that the children have somewhere to be while their parents work. These are the schools that provide ARCs and all the rest.

Buxibans are obviously only open in the afternoons and evenings which means us teachers have time in the mornings for kindergarten. These are private too, I don't actually know if there are any government run kindies for people who can't afford the private ones. There must be somewhere, I suppose, maybe in Taipei. But you're right, private schools can be a pain. Despite the length of time I've been here, I can't get used to the idea that money is more important than education and that good teachers are expendable simply because they might not play enough games.

I don't know if teaching in the public school system is any better. Most people who get those jobs come from South Africa and have a BA in teaching. The conditions are certainly better - they get a good salary, an allowance for rent, and three months paid holiday a year, but I have no idea of how the students behave.

There were several other foreign teachers at the school where I was teaching. I spent the first hour preparing for my classes (which actually only took a few minutes), and then we had an hour for lunch. Then, I taught 2 to 5 classes during the rest of the evening. I probably had more than 150 students altogether. Class size ranged from just 3 students to almost 25 in the tiny classrooms. Each class lasted from 40 to 70 minutes.

The idea that money is more important than education at a school also bothers me very much. However, I was told numerous times that the school was a business and they were there to make money. They accused me of being the reason that at least one or two students quit, and they don't want to lose any students because that means that they lose money. I also got the feeling that the school couldn't have cared less about me personally or my well-being.