What teaching in Korea is really like | South Korean University Jobs, Hagwon Jobs in the ROK & More

Okay, so you want to be an English teacher in Korea? Here are all the details you need to know about what teaching English in South Korea is really like, including how to get that much-coveted university gig. Keep watching this ultimate guide for everything you’ve ever wanted to know and more, including all the details you need to know about teaching in a Korean public school or hagwon (cram school)! ------- More information about teaching in South Korea: • Teaching in Korea: How Much Money You Actually Make: https://youtu.be/h79wRmIyhMY • How I became a teacher in South Korea by @Adrienne Hill: https://youtu.be/8Am1OWuH74g ------ Do you want to know more about teaching in South Korea? Then check out my blog about teaching English in a Korean university here: https://teachinginkoreanuniversity.com/ https://www.facebook.com/eslspeaking https://www.pinterest.ca/eslspeaking/ https://www.instagram.com/jackie.bolen/ https://www.tiktok.com/@englishwithjackie #esl #teachinginkorea #teachingenglishwithjackie ------------------------------------------------------- Timestamp: 0:00 Intro 0:37 Serious teacher? 2:05 It's mostly kids 2:46 Salaries are stagnant 4:15 Bali bali! 5:33 It's a real job 6:22 It's easy to make friends 7:03 Conclusion Transcript for Teaching English in Korea: Hey everybody, this is Jackie from eslactivity.org. So a lot of people ask me questions about what teaching in Korea is really like. They want the inside information if they're deciding if they want to go to Korea or maybe go to some other country. I taught English in South Korea for 10 years. I worked at hogwans for a couple of years and then I taught in South Korean universities for about another eight or nine years so I think I have a pretty good idea about what it's really like. This is kind of my behind-the-scenes tour of what it's like. First of all, teaching ESL in Korea. If you're a serious teacher, I would say maybe South Korea is not really the place for you. Most people get their start teaching in hogwans, which is kind of like the version of the Japanese cram schools that you might have heard of already. A hagwon is basically just like a private school for people who want to learn English. It's mostly kids and it's a big business so it's run by a business person usually, not an educator. Their sole mission is to keep the parents happy. My second thing for teaching ESL in South Korea. It's mostly kids so if you like teaching kids, Korea might be the place for you. However, adult jobs are few and far between. I mean there are university jobs, and there are some adult hagwons but probably I want to say that maybe 95% of the teaching jobs in Korea are for children. In some cases, very young children so preschool kids, even like three or four years old. If you don't love kids, Korea might not be the place for you. My third one. So let's talk salary. you're not gonna get rich teaching in Korea. When I went to Korea for the first time...when did I go? Like 2002, 20 years ago. That seems like a long time ago I don't really want to think too deeply about that. But in 2002, my starting salary was 2.2 million and kind of by the time I left Korea, about five years ago my salary was up to like over three million won a month, which wasn't bad. I mean, I could save money and I did some overtime at my university. I did a bit of private teaching so I was able to save a good amount of money. However, starting salaries today are still 2, 2.1, 2.2 million. The starting salaries are the same today for hagwon teachers or public school teachers than they were 20 years ago. Number four. Korea they have this phrase in Korean, bali bali which means quickly quickly. And it really is like that. Everything is last minute, everything happens super quickly, and everything is rushed. I mean, I personally loved it. So if I moved into a new place and I wanted internet, I just make a phone call and someone's at my house five minutes later, hooking up the internet. Or I'm hungry and I want some fried chicken and have some beers with my friends, 10 minutes later someone's at my house with fried chicken. I mean certain things were good. So teaching in Korea is a real job and I mean I made this mistake when I went through my first year teaching at a hagwan. I thought it would be like this kind of glorious vacation in some other exotic country. However the reality is I only got two weeks of vacation so I was actually at school for eight hours a day, 40 hours a week for 50 out of the 52 weeks of the year. and there's kind of no way around that. Alright and finally if you're an expat in korea, it's super easy to make friends. So everybody's new, everybody's kind of coming and going, everyone's open to making new friends so it will be a great experience for you. And there are lots of different expat clubs and that kind of thing so it kind of was the