Quote:
Originally Posted by Warszawa
I've applied to tons of jobs lately, from things like Bank Teller and Customer Service, to McDonalds and Burger King, but even the most basic sorts of places are not calling back. I'm pretty desperate. I don't want to be one of the college grads who spend years looking for jobs. I don't ask for much, it's just crazy that absolutely no one is hiring. I have a clear history, good academic record, a Bachelor's Degree soon, extracurriculars, f*** me, how much do they ****ing want to flip a burger? That said, for whatever reason the English-teaching companies abroad always call back and accept me into their programs (I have to wait until I graduate to work for them). Programs in Japan and South Korea seem too good to be true, with like $2000+ monthly salaries. I've heard good experiences from friends about teaching in South Korea, so that's where I'm leaning towards. My question is, what is the catch to being an English teacher abroad? $2000 a month for teaching sounds too good to be true
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It's not terrible but it's not exactly a ton of money.
I made $2,200/month but also did an extra nine hours a week teaching three, three-hour crash courses a week. Without that it would have been $1,500.
Housing was paid for but not utilities, maybe another $500/month where I was, Busan. I was really lucky in terms of housing. Usually it's shared with 2-3 people in, by Western standards, crappy housing. Mine was a relatively palatial 350 foot square foot private studio in a great location in a high-end complex.
Considering the actual number of hours it was only about $12/hr, which isn't exactly "too great to be true." It's an experience but if you're doing it for the money, the money ain't there.
Prior to Korea I was in Prague for six months. I was contracted for 18 hour a week, two hours M-S plus 30 minutes for every hour, doing business English, at $30/hour. $50/hour for contract review working with translators and in-house counsel but that was sporadic. I might get 10-15 hours one week but not at all many weeks. But I had experience in dealing with contracts as I worked as a purchasing agent/cost accountant prior to that. It's not something you can just walk into. I made the same amount on average, just worked half the hours. It's harder to get your foot in in Prague though as there's tons of competition.
Overall, I'd say do it but they throw you off the deep end. The standard is a four-week TEFL/CELTA type crash course, but yeah. A teaching credential isn't a four week course. You basically don't know what you're doing and sink or swim on your own. Nowadays five-day courses are getting more popular but unless you have actual teaching experience I wouldn't recommend that. For the most prestigious jobs they really do want a master's (MA/ESL) so if you're going to do it as a career you really need that. When I was considering staying, for example, I wanted to go to the university level but need the master's.
Culturally Korea is challenging. While they're almost all respectful, you're very much a second-class visitor. You're sort of a freak oddity and not an equal. It's a weird dynamic. In class your students will all be very respectful but outside of it it's very hard to develop meaningful interpersonal relationships. Partly that's cultural differences. Korean culture is much more hierarchical than American culture and outside your position as a teacher you're just at the bottom as a foreigner. Partly it's the churn. People stay a few years and move on. There's a huge amount of workplace camaraderie in Korea and you won't be part of it with Korean teachers you're working with. That can be tough. You may get lucky and work with other foreign ESL teachers than can bridge for you but you may not. I didn't so it was far more isolating than my time in Prague. Czech culture is notoriously standoffish but once you break through that normal aloofness it's a lot easier to make friends.
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