1986mlob

More and more fresh graduates are heading there to teach English.
Most are from Canada and USA but Brits have started to catch on.
They have a strong preference for N/American English though.
I lived in S.Korea for a year and if anyone wants advice I can give my 2 cents.

bakedbean

The way it works on here.....once a country gets a certain number of topics (you'll have to ask Sue how many) then the country gets it's own board. But....as you will see....very few people talking about S Korea so far on here. But, who knows, maybe it'll change.

nonthaburi

I knew a couple here in Saudi who were working there before coming here and then they went back there because they loved it so much.

What's good about the place ? Never really appealed to me and I've heard it's a really racist country, and I got sick of the whole K-pop thing that was rammed down everyone's throats in Thailand. Sort of put me off the place and I never got why Thais think Korea is cool. Thai women all think the women are beautiful ( read white) too.

Everywhere has its good points so tell us about Korea's.

MCR byrd

I came looking for a South Korean board too and wondered how there couldn't be one ....

I'm interested in teaching and their scheme looks to be the best, and doesn't ask for vast amounts of experience. However, I can imagine it will be a completely different world out there and want to make sure I am not in for too many surprises.

bakedbean

Well, as above, MCR. The OP who posted this topic hasn't posted any more about S Korea. Pity.

MCR byrd

I've been here in South Korea now for around 8 weeks now and I am settling in quite well, still looking out for an expat forum though to communicate with others in a similar position. I'm finding that there are very few British here and I'm in Seoul so likely even fewer in more rural areas.

Bushido

I left Seoul after living there for 12 months...MCR byrd - if you need some help or advice I'm happy to chat to let you know where things are.

nonthaburi

So how was it?

MCR byrd

Hello

It was ok, I guess.... I'm back in the UK at the moment waiting on a visa for China.

South Korea was not for me, overall though, I came dislike my school as they were horrible every dammed day; just in case I should forget how disliked I am : ( I am not what they hoped for (American, blonde, outgoing and beautiful as a model might be) plus I actually wanted to teach, my bimbo co-t was a waste of space, which I could have dealt with had she not vilified me to the rest of the teachers on a daily basis - the only thing they seemed to share was a shared dislike of everything MCR brd related. My co-teacher is very popular with the VP for reasons I will never come to understand as she was a truly sh!t teacher.

I had two other co-teachers and one was a fruitloop of a bully and made my life extremely difficult for the first few months, until I finally realised that there was nothing I could do that would be deemed "right." My hard earned CELTA qualification was truly wasted, a course in contemporary dance would have been put to more use.

I enjoyed meeting a huge range of people although no "friends" as such - people were very transient and dysfunctional, and the sights I saw although I found that I couldn't find it in me to be particularly impressed with anything I saw - Incheon Airport, Departures Lounge was my most favourite place in South Korea. I got to go to the Philippines in Febuary though and I really enjoyed that : )

The experience of working somewhere completely different was the main benefit though, I'll never be that terrified again and if I can cope with what I have this past twelve months, I can manage anything!

bakedbean

You did make me chuckle and, believe me, I need a chuckle at the moment....so Thanks.

taiwan_girl

The vast majority of english speaking foreigners in Korea are there for teaching English. There is a pretty popular website devoted to english teachers in Korea, and I think that is where most people turn to for Korean advice.

As big as Korea is, it is not very popular with expats. For sure, not as a retirement place , and alot of companies will have their north asia bases in places other than Korea.

However, it is an interesting place and worth a visit. I enjoyed my time in Korea, but there are a lot of frustrating things with the country and people.

nonthaburi

So you could say it was character building then.....

in a sh**y job down the line you will be able to look back and say,"well at least I'm not working in Korea."

Hope it works out for you in China.

Tr1boy

I can't add much to this conversation. Interested in it though. My wife is Sth Korean originally (from Gangnam actually) but we met working in Sydney and are both dual Aussie/Brit citizens currently living in the UK. We have a UK born daughter who also dual Brit/Aussie. We've been married 11 years and but went out for a couple of years in Sydney before that. So all in all, I/we have been to Korea an awful lot, both for work and family visits. We were married there, the service was all in Korean (so was my speech). I get on very well there but was ushered straight into the 'inner sanctum' of society, if you like. It can be harder for more transient folks. We've been all over, Busan, Jeju, Kyongdom, DMZ, you name it. Couldn't see us living there for ever but reckon we could do a 2yr secondment if the conditions were right. I find the people very nice in general, especially if you take some time to learn the language (it's not that hard for reading and writing, speaking takes a while). They do have a very nationalistic past but are also proud, they've been invaded 7 ways from Sunday over the years. Food is nice, public transport good, great culture in the city, good live music if you know where to look (NOT karaoke!), countryside is lovely. driving is shite!

DigitalGhost

That's because the visa regulations are a massive pain in the arse. TEFL work is popular there because of the money you can earn (a lot of Americans use it to fund postgrad study or backpacking trips these days I think) but they insist on new police checks with every visa renewal and won't allow any extra teaching or other work to be performed on the side like Japan and China do.

Personally I love it as a country and Seoul is a front runner for my favourite city in the world but I'm not sure if I would ever be able to work there.

martynt82

I've just spent 9 years out here and moving back to the UK this summer. The deal with teaching English there now isn't as sweet as it used to be...