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  1. Home
  2. Before you apply
  3. Is ESL for me?
  4. Visa Documents
  5. Public School v Private Schools
  6. How to get the right job
  7. Writing a CV for Korea
  8. Apply
  9. Recruiters
  10. Interview tips
  11. Negotiate your contract
  12. Life in Korea
  13. Food
  14. Shopping
  15. Cost of living 
  16. Blog 
  17. About this site

Is ESL for me?

You're already on this site so you definitely have at least a passing interest in ESL in Korea. It is however important to consider if teaching ESL is right for you. After all you will be giving a minimum a year of your life over to it as well as countless hours in preparation and pouring all the passion into it. 

Recruiters like to make it as simple as "do you have a degree? Do you have a clean criminal record? and do you have opposable thumbs?". I'm sorry but it's not that simple. You can, however, become an effective ESL teacher relatively easily but you must ask yourself some serious questions first. Lets look at the positive and negative aspects and ask ourselves some questions to see if its right for you.

The Good

  • Relatively easy to find a position without experience or a teaching qualification
  • High levels of pay
  • Included accommodation and flights
  • Low living expenses in a modern first world country
  • Exploring a new culture
  • Meet like minded people from around the world
  • Teaching children that are eager to learn
  • Chance to have an adventure
  • Its a very safe country

The Bad

  • Long hours; teachers in the UK typically teach 22-26 hours per week. This is 30 in most Korean private schools (Hagwons). Lesson preparation is all outside this
  • Disorganised and unregulated Hagwons that treat staff like dirt and close down without warning
  • Pushy recruiters that don't care about you only their bottom line
  • The visa process is complicated and can cost you £200 or more
  • Cultural misunderstandings can be frustrating
  • It's a long way from home and it's a massive cultural and lifestyle adjustment

Examine your motivations and personal qualities

To understand if we will make a good ESL teacher we must look at ourselves, you can learn to be an amazing teacher but you must have al least some inclination of the following qualities:
  • A passion for enriching people's lives through education
  • Patience and confidence
  • Empathy - the ability to understand someone elses position
  • Enjoy working with people
  • Ability to be self reflective and to use criticism in a positive way to improve and learn
It's ok if you don't feel fully mastered in all or any of these, many successful teachers are still learning them. You will learn them and develop these qualities, you must, however be open to learning.

Will you enjoy teaching?

Do some research on what teaching involves, our case studies are a great start. If like people and helping people you're off to a good start. You can do a couple of days volunteering or shadowing to get an idea of a teaching environment. Just bear in mind that if you don't like it it's a long way home or a long year of your life.

Do you want to know more?

Anyone with any experience of ESL in Korea will tell you that daveseslcafe forums are the best place to get a wide range views and opinions. As with any forums it can be tough to get the information you're looking for quickly and there will be a lot of conflicting opinions as well as some very biased ones. Having said this it is still an invaluable resource. 

Paul's Personal Experience

"It's so important that you're interested in ESL for the right reasons. It's easy to hear about what you can earn teaching ESL in Korea and think "Yeah I speak English, how hard can it be to teach it?", I honestly thought the same thing when I first heard of it. As process of investigation I went to speak to a director of a local English school who said to me "If you care about doing a good job and the education of your students you will get an ESL qualification first". Now I was pretty hard up at the time and it represented a big financial investment for me at that point in my life but I've never regretted doing it. Ultimately it fuelled my passion for teaching as I know I do a good job and it means I don't worry about the bad things as they don't matter because it's about the students."
  1. Home
  2. Before you apply
  3. Is ESL for me?
  4. Visa Documents
  5. Public School v Private Schools
  6. How to get the right job
  7. Writing a CV for Korea
  8. Apply
  9. Recruiters
  10. Interview tips
  11. Negotiate you contract
  12. Life in Korea
  13. Food
  14. Shopping
  15. Cost of living 
  16. How to save money
  17. Getting a Cell Phone
  18. Pension Korea
  19. Blog 
  20. About
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Honest, Independent, Experienced Advice

Site updated 10/06/2013
paul@teachinkorea.org