haedder Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 So I'm a Canadian teaching English in South Korea and loving it. Interesting culture, great food and not too much of a culture shock when you're living in a big city. I also get to travel a lot around South East Asia. It makes playing neopets a bit interesting (When it's midnight NST, it's 4pm here, the FUTURE!). I think the scariest thing is this is just a step in my life and I don't really have a plan for after. I just started this topic to share my little current life story and hope to hear from others who might be in transition as well. It would be cool if there were other ESL teachers on here too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimphal Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Ooooh, I love teaching English! Not as exciting as what you are doing, but I am a Voluntary Teaching Assistant at a local school here in Wales in the ESL department. Kind of proud since English isn't my first language, but I get to teach it. There is something magical about it. That snippet of your life sounds awesome, thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haedder Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 That really cool that you have skill to teach a language that is not your first! My Korean reading is okay but my speaking is so terrible. I feel bad since I have lived here over a year. I take lessons but even my teachers tell me I'm really bad haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimphal Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 Honestly, learning English as a second language is much easier than learning pretty much any other. And speaking is probably the hardest part, because of pronunciation. I still speak with an accent, that accent isn't going to go anywhere any time soon :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanalways Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 That's really cool that you are doing ESL in Korea! My VERY KOREAN MOTHER (cough) wants me to do that program, but I don't know if I'm down for that at all. Lol. I've been to Korea several times though, being half Korean, and it's always really cool to see someone else that speaks English as a first language as my Korean is a little lack luster living in the States. Tell me about your experience though! Where are you staying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haedder Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 Hi there. You would be the best ESL teacher if your Korean is even a little okay. I'm always having to use a dictionary for the low levels and wondering if the middle schoolers are talking about how much they hate me on essay day haha. It's my second year here. I live in Suwon teaching middle school and elementary at a hagwon. I am lucky enough to have a large great group of friends both Western and Korean (including a Korean family that kind of adopted me and have me over for dinner sometimes). Some people feel a little isloted in Seoul I hear and don't enjoy the experience as much. There are some things that drive me a bit crazy but I find the best attitude to have is not constantly compare Korea to home and accept what is different. The food is SOOO good as well. My spicy tolerance has gone up due to my love of kimchi. Work life is so different from home, most people find you need to ask questions a lot as information sometimes gets lost being passed down (the foreignors hear it all last, if at all). Being sick is something you need to prove and a lot of places think working a lot is best. Also working in the hagwon (after school academy) can be rough as the kids are overworked and tired. Some love learning and many are forced to go. It's worth it though if you can develop a fun teaching style and get everyone interested. Younger kids are especially enthousiastic but you can bond with the older students about a lot. My biggest advice, if you ever did consider coming. Do a crazy amount of research. There are thousands of jobs and they are not all good. Email a ton of recruiters and don't accept any jobs unless you have gotten enough info on the school (like asking for the email of a current teacher or googling the school). I'm very happy with my school and employers but my last school was difficult about my payment and we worked 9 hour days full of classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Girl Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 That is so cool! :) I'm an English major :) I'd love to teach ESL/EFL too but I'm not really a native speaker. I wonder where else can I teach... Here in my country (specifically my university), teaching Japanese people English online has become a thing but I haven't tried it... I would when I get a more relaxed schedule ^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1_little_sweet_girl Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 That's really cool!!!I was an education major with a minor is TESOL, teaching English would have been so fun! I spent a lot of time in Brazil and I speak fluent portuguese.But then I changed my major to nursing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daenerys Targaryen Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 I have, not one, not two, but several friends and acquaintances who are ESL teachers. :laughingsmiley: It sounds really awesome and it's something I've considered as I love to travel around. I don't think it's weird that this is just a step in your life and you don't have plans for later yet, I'm pretty sure most of our generation in that situation of taking one step at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderwisp Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I've wanted to teach ESL in a foreign country for a long time! I was thinking of going to Thailand or Cambodia, probably with the Peace Corps, but Disney also has a good Teaching Abroad program in China, so who really knows? How did you get into this opportunity, if you don't mind me asking? and how did you go about finding a living place and communicating with locals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lia Seeya Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 That's awesome! :) South Korea's such a cool place to be. I'm not an ESL teacher, but I have friends who are. They mostly use Skype to talk to their students though, so they haven't told me any cool stories about going to different places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novelista Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I've thought about something like ESL, but I don't speak any language fluently enough to help people with the transition. (My Spanish would probably need to improve in great leaps and bounds for me to be at all useful.) I don't know if I'd have the patience to do something like Teach for America and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable where I ended up, either. O.o As for teaching in general, I'd like to be a professor, but you have to have a masters degree and programs aren't easy. I was going to teach between my masters and my doctorate when I started into grad school last fall, but I ran into some super-complicated math and fled. :( :laughingsmiley: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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