Exactly a year ago, an old friend told me about the opportunity to go live overseas, travel often, and make money at the same time. 🌍 I asked, “How long will you be gone? What do you do if you don’t like it there? What will you do with your car?”
After a hundred more questions, tons of research, financial planning, organizing the right qualifications, and knowing myself enough to know if I was truly ready for this experience, here I am.
Here are some of the most common teaching English in South Korea questions that I had and most people may have.
If you have any questions about EPIK program or life in Korea, feel free to comment or message me.
1. What would be your list of pros and cons?
Cons would be the language barrier and culture work environment is different compared to the US. Preparing to return back home sounds difficult so make sure you continue working on your future career so you don't have a gap on your resume.
2. Tips for the application process?
For the application process, use the Internet and search for possible lesson plans and read others’ experiences of teaching and living abroad. I wasn’t originally a teacher, but I often reflect and remember some of my influential teachers, then apply that to my style of teaching.
3. Tips for the interview process?
For the interview process, since it will most likely be a video chat interview through Skype, remember that the video chat might be a few seconds of the audio delay, so try not to cut off the interviewer’s talking. You should dress nicely and smile a lot since you’ll be seen as a role model and working with children. Keep your answers to one or two full sentences. Talk confidently. Again, do some research online for example questions and answers.
4. Do I have to take the TEFL if I’m going to major in early childhood education with a concentration in English as a second language? (Very important question)
To teach in Korea, you have to be a native English speaker. To teach early childhood education in Korea, you must have a TEFL certificate and you are supposed to have a real education degree.
5. How can you send money back home for cheap? Is the transfer costs very expensive?
Depending on your home country, for example, if your home country is the US, you could send money back home through an American Citi Bank account for a small transaction fee. Your home country bank might charge extra fees. My personal American bank, USAA, charged me $70 when it received $1,000 home.
6. What are each of your teaching schedules like? (I know they differ) Do you have free time?
I teach 22 hours or classes per week, I talk more about this in my "What is my job in Korea?" YouTube video. I have to be at work 8:30-4:30 M-F. Besides those 22 hours, I'm sitting at my desk preparing for future classes or whatever I want to do.
Since I teach about 550 students in my middle school, I only visit the 1st and 2nd graders every-other-week and then I teach the 3rd graders every week.
7. Where was/are you placed? Do you like it there?
Through EPIK Program, I was placed in an Innocity in Naju in Jeollanam province in the south. I love it. Great food and good location.
8. What are your classes like? Elementary, Middle, High? Big? Small?
I teach middle school in a new city. I have about 550 students in total and about 15 to 25 students in each class.
I also teach an after-school club class, where we video chat Australian students about Korean culture, landmarks, etc.
9. What is your EPIK apartment like? Is it as small as I’ve seen online? (Not that is matters much about size!) And is your bills pretty cheap?
Before coming to Korea, I was expecting to be placed in an older apartment, possibly with mold or cockroaches.
Through EPIK, I was thankfully placed in the new Innocity in Naju county in Jeollanam province. I love it here because there are tons of fitness centers, tons of cafes, restaurants, a library, Lake Park, and it's a new city with lots of transportation and modern buildings.
My EPIK apartment is a studio office-tel style, so it's in a massive building where I pay $50 a month for the building utilities and then about $20 for my utilities.
10. How long have you been living in Korea?
I've been living in Korea since June 2018 and I was in the August 2018 EPIK intake.
11. If you can speak Korean, will more employers want to hire you?
answer
12. Do any of you have a permanent residency visa? If so, what’s it like? Is it less stressful?
I don’t. I’m on the yearly F2 visa.
After watching Megan Bowen and World of Dave on YouTube, who have been in South Korea for nearly 10 years now, it seems that sometimes people or Koreans still think they're a foreigner.
13. How many vacation days do you get? Are they flexible or not very flexible?
Vacation days are only allowed around the winter and summer camp schedules, Your contract will say you have 25 paid-leave days total (contracts are slightly different depending on the province you're in) in the contract year.
14. What advice would you give to anyone moving to Korea for the first time?
For anyone moving to Korea for the first time, do lots of research online, come with an open mind, don't forget you're representing your country, and remember why you're coming here. You're not coming here to party, coming here to teach and grow.
15. What are your co-teachers like? Are they helpful?
I have 7 co-teachers since I teach at a bigger sized school. They are so kind and helpful. I’m a fairly independent person and haven’t had many issues, so I don’t often “bug” them, but I know they would help me if needed. At work, they don't ask to see my lesson plans or games. After classes, we often talk for a moment as a way to quickly review how the lesson or class reacted to the lesson. We work together when a speaking test is coming up.
16. Do you make enough to live comfortably? And to save?
I live very comfortably. I barely go shopping for clothing or home decorations, since I’m a very minimal person. I just have the essentials. Also, I don't have to stress about repairing my apartment or my car maintenance.
17. Do you make your own lesson plans or do you have to teach by a book?
My middle school has a textbook where I teach the Listen and Speak sections with my own extra "real life" examples and then we play a review game.
18. Do you teach at more than 1 school? If so how many? And is it really stressful?
I only teach at one school.
19. Can you remember all your students' names? What are some fun ways to memorize all their names?
Since I have many students, my first semester was about memorizing their faces, behaviors, and levels of English in class. By the second semester, I asked for a student-list and tried to take attendance before each class. Since I see most of the students every-other-week, it has taken me almost two semesters to learn their names.
If I ever see them outside of the school in my neighborhood, I ask them “How are you, what’s your name again?” as a good way to practice their English too.
Some students have English names, perhaps from their English hagwon academies. If they don’t have an English name, at the beginning of the semester, I offer them a list of popular English names from their 2006-8 birth years.
I remember their names by remembering somethings similar in English. 유빈 Yoo-bin sounds like "You Bin"
20. Is your commute to work long?
I bought a bicycle from an online Facebook flea market group and then I every day I ride my bike for about 10-15 minutes. I could walk for 30 minutes, or I could take a bus but that'll cost me about 2,000 won every day.
21. What is the most rewarding part of teaching in Korea?
I really like the comfortable life here.
22. What are some culture do’s and don’ts that are important to know?
Culture do's would be to remember it's not your country. Make friends with almost everyone, but remember your boundaries.
23. How do you deal with homesickness and stress?
For homesickness or stress, I often go for a walk or bike ride in nature, which reminds me of my hometown or eat pizza or a hamburger. And catch up with family and old friends via Facebook.
24. How have you changed since living in Korea?
Living completely alone can be difficult and different for some people. I have so much free time here. I think my sense of fashion style has changed too.
25. Do you have a Korean phone plan? How much is it a month?
I pay $70 a month for my 100GB phone data plan for my iPhone bc I often travel around Korea so data is important to me.
You can get the Korean phone plan after you get your ARC number, almost a month after living here. You can easily get a SIM card from the convenience stores or from the airport.
26. Last but not least, what are some encouraging words you would give to those who want to teach in Korea!?
Only teach if you actually like kids and are a patient person. If you don't get accepted through EPIK, or JLP, or TaLK, don't forget to apply through hagwons!
