Whether you have just graduated with a Bachelor Degree or you are between jobs and looking for a year of new experiences and adventures, South Korea is a great place to go. It is easy to secure a job (assuming you meet the basic qualifications: you speak English, you have a Bachelor Degree & some sort of TESOL certificate, and you have a clean criminal record).
Within a few months of job seeking you can find yourself boarding a plane for Seoul. My husband and I started looking for teaching jobs in South Korea in early January 2012 and we were settled and working on the Asian peninsula by mid-March of the same year.
It is not surprising that people come in droves to South Korea to teach English. The money is good, accommodation and round-trip airfare are provided, and a year experiencing a new and exciting culture is offered. In order to make the most out of this experience and to save a significant amount of stress, I highly recommend taking a quality TESOL course. The Ministry of Education in South Korea has recently changed their qualifications for NETs (Native English teachers -- that's you). Until 2010, all you needed was a Bachelor Degree. Now NETs must have some sort of TESOL certificate.
-
 |
|
***Side Note***
There are many reasons why teaching in the public school system in South Korea is preferable to teaching in a private school(hagwon). Instead of taking up space explaining these reasons - I will share this entertaining video from Eat Your Kimchi that sums it up rather well.
If you want to teach at a public school make sure you get a high quality certificate. Many teachers opt for an online TESOL course. Why? It's easy, cheap, and if you have proof of enrollment you can secure a teaching job and finish the course once you arrive in South Korea. By taking an online TESOL course you will be cheating yourself and your students out of a valuable educational opportunity. Although some online courses may have value, in order to be best prepared for classroom teaching you should have actual classroom teaching experience.
There are many different certificates you can take for English Language Training. I did my homework and found CELTA to be the best course.
In 2010, I took CELTA at LSC Toronto.If you take a course like CELTA you will have the opportunity to teach real students in a real classroom while being observed by your fellow students and your CELTA instructors. This experience will help you to be confident and prepared when you start teaching. Bare in mind, this course will dominate every minute of your life for 4 weeks, set you back 2400 CAD, cause you an incredible amount of stress, leave you with invaluable language teaching knowledge, and, more than likely, some great friends.
One of the great things about this course is that it not only qualifies you to teach in any public school in South Korea, it qualifies you to teach in countries all over the globe. This course gives you a basic knowledge of classroom management and English language instruction. Teaching English as an additional language is very different than teaching anything else and taking a course like CELTA gives you the tools you need to have a successful first year teaching. Teaching English is not easy and merely speaking the language does not qualify someone to teach it.
Working in South Korea can be a great experience and I recommend it as a way to save money, experience a new culture, and meet new people. However, while you are in South Korea, the majority of your time is actually spent teaching. The type of experience you have will be directly related to how much you like or dislike teaching. How much you like or dislike teaching will be directly related to how successfully you teach your classes.
All this being said, it is not impossible for an individual to teach English well without a TESOL course like CELTA. Some people are naturally gifted in teaching, have dynamic speaking skills, and ooze with charisma. And, even if that is not the case, it is possible to develop teaching skills and style over time. Internet resources aimed at NETs, specifically www.waygook.org, can aid a new teacher in this process.
I am not saying that by coming to South Korea without a certificate you are doomed to a year of misery. I'm also not saying that by taking this course you will morph into a star teacher. What I am saying is that your experience will be significantly better the more prepared you are. Taking a quality TESOL course is, at the very least, a step in the right direction if you want to teach well while living here.
I could have come to South Korea and started teaching at a public high school without the stress and cost of CELTA, but I'm glad I didn't.
For further reading, check out this article which I found highly amusing: Don't do the CELTA
