Korea is one of the best places in Asia to teach English as a Second Language, especially for first-time teachers. If you’re thinking about working there, you may be wondering about what no one tells you about teaching English in the country. So here are 18 things no one tells you about teaching English in South Korea.
Table of Contents
1. Your English will change
Although you’ll be speaking English a lot at work you can’t really talk to your students and co-workers in the same type of English you use back home, particularly with your family and friends. So you’ll get used to speaking in a different way from your natural accent, and over time this accent may stick. You’ll also likely forget certain English words and may adopt some Konglish.
I remember being interviewed by a Mancunian for an ESL position in Ansan and I didn’t know she was British until the end of the interview. I didn’t think much about why her accent was so different, but it hit me when I went back home for Christmas as my family commented on how my accent had changed. I then scoured the internet to see if this had happened to any other ESL teachers in Korea and found out it was a common occurrence.
2. A lot of people you know will come and go
During your time in Korea, you’ll meet people who have lived in the country for 5, 10 or even 20 years. However, you’ll encounter many more people who see teaching English in the country as temporary, so they’ll just stay a year or two and then bounce. Others may stay a little longer, but will eventually leave as there’s not much room for advancement as an ESL teacher in Korea.
This sometimes makes making and keeping friends a little difficult if you’re planning on staying in Korea for a long time, but there are ways to combat this. For instance, you can try making friends with Koreans or with other non-Koreans who have made a home in Korea.
3. The Korean Education System isn’t that great
South Korea’s education system is praised all over the world, but once you teach there you start to see that it’s not that all cracked up to be.
First of all, students spend tons of hours at school and then at hagwons, which is stressful. A lot of their schoolwork is also based on memorisation, which is a great skill to have, but you can only get so far in a subject (like English) by relying on this.
In addition, some Korean teachers have a low level of English, and it doesn’t make sense that they’re teaching a language they still don’t know well. I remember that there were a lot of students who had better English than some of my colleagues, and these colleagues would teach students incorrect expressions, which you couldn’t point out most of the time. If you do, some Korean teachers may tell you you’re wrong or may take offence, for reasons I’ll explain below.
4. Saving face is really common
Face is an abstract concept which exists in east Asian countries like Korea, Japan and China, involving dignity, social standing, honour, reputation, and influence, among other things. “Saving face” builds these attributes or maintains them whereas losing face, of course, means losing them.
Pointing out something embarrassing about someone would cause them to lose face. Even correcting your employer or co-workers could be seen as doing this. So, it’s best to not to do that, unless your Korean co-workers or employer specifically asks you something language-related in a setting they’re comfortable in.
5. You’ll play lots of games in class
Playing games is a great way for students to learn English, especially beginners. As a public school teacher, you’ll be in charge of helping students get better at speaking, so games will help you a lot in this regard.
As a hagwon teacher, you’ll help students develop their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, where games will also be invaluable. They’ll also help to give your students a break from their busy schedule.
However, I feel that a bit too much emphasis is placed on playing games. I think a good class is both entertaining and educational, but in Korea, sometimes the educational aspect doesn’t matter. Of course, this highly depends on the school you work at but it’s still something worth knowing.
6. You can let your students watch TV shows on Netflix
When I started my first job at a hagwon, I was so shocked when the teacher I was replacing said that you can use Netflix shows in your classes especially for the middle school classes later in the day because I didn’t think you were allowed to do that. I had used cartoon and TV clips in class before but I had found those on YouTube.
If you do plan on using Netflix in your classes then make sure you create an account just for your ESL classes, so that students don’t see what you personally watch.
7. Middle school students will lack motivation
I haven’t taught at a public middle school but I taught middle school students at a hagwon and they had the least motivation out of all my classes. One way to motivate them is to do the same fun activities you do with elementary school students. Although they’re older, they still like to do fun things like younger students do.
Unfortunately, it’s sometimes impossible to motivate some middle school students for various reasons. For instance, students’ English exams become much more focused on grammar and memorisation during middle school in Korea, so they may think your classes are useless. Furthermore, some of them may just simply be tired because of their extremely busy schedule.
8. You won’t always get an awesome co-teacher
I haven’t taught at a public school in Korea, but I’ve heard some negative stories about co-teachers from some teachers. Some could belittle you in front of your class, be always condescending, sit at the back while you do all the teaching, which isn’t supposed to happen but is more common than you think, or be uncooperative when planning classes.
I had a similar experience at the public school I taught at in Spain. Most of the teachers I taught with were nice, but one especially wasn’t and I really hated going to his classes. That’s sort of what made me apply to hagwon positions in Korea.
9. You can work at multiple schools
This mainly pertains to EPIK teachers as they can be placed at multiple schools – I’ve even seen some people say that they taught at 3 schools under the EPIK programme. However, hagwon teachers can work at more than one school, too, even on an E2 visa if they’re not working too many hours and if they get permission from their employer and immigration.
10. There are lots of ways to get a public school position
When I first applied to teach in Korea, I thought that you could only get public school positions by applying to EPIK. However, throughout my first year in the country, I discovered that you can also get a job at a public school through another programme called TaLK and also through recruiters. Some public schools even directly hire candidates.
11. Everything is last minute
I’m a pretty flexible person. I even sometimes like to plan things as late as possible, but this is when I’m making decisions that only affect me. On the contrary, while working as an ESL teacher, you’ll often be told pertinent information at the last minute at your school.
I especially remember being pulled out of a class I was teaching to attend a parents’ evening. As soon I left the class and asked why I had to leave, my co-workers told that I would be meeting some of the students’ parents in 10 minutes and that I needed to think of some questions to ask them for the interactive parents’ evening planned (without my knowledge)….
12. You most likely won’t be teaching high schoolers or adults
Each year, more and more public school positions are slashed, especially from middle schools and high schools. So you’ll most likely be teaching elementary school students when you teach English in Korea. If you’re at a hagwon you may also teach a small group of kindergarten and middle school students.
There are positions to teach adults but they’re harder to come by and involve split shifts, which aren’t fun.
13. Your students and co-workers may ask you personal questions
When I taught in Spain, my students asked me about my hobbies, my friends and family and my hometown, which were great topics to talk about. However, the questions students asked me in Korea were a little bit more personal.
I was so shocked the first time my students asked if I had a boyfriend or whether I liked Korean men but I soon found out that this was relatively normal.
14. You’ll probably be placed in a rural area
Everyone wants to teach in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do so the competition to get a place in these areas can be fierce especially if you’re applying to EPIK or TaLK. That’s why you’ll most likely be placed in a rural area as cities and towns all over the country need English teachers. I’ve even seen EPIK teachers being placed on Jindo Island, which I didn’t even know was possible.
If you’re applying to work at a hagwon then you can try for positions closer to Seoul, which still may be difficult given that other people will be doing the same thing as you. If you need any tips on finding a good hagwon position, this post may help you.
15. You can teach in Korea without a Bachelor’s Degree or a TEFL certificate
I found out that people who have completed at least 2 years of their degree (or those who have an associates degree) can apply for the TaLK programme and teach in Korea. You can also teach at a hagwon without a TEFL certificate, but getting one gives you more options in terms of job opportunities.
16. Getting a visa takes a while
Yes, I knew that getting a visa wouldn’t be easy, but I underestimated the number of documents you needed and the time it takes to get each of those documents took. The main docs you need are:
- Apostilled degree
- Apostilled background check
- Copies of your transcripts (only for public schools and universities)
- Your CV
- Photocopy of your passport
- A completed health form
- Coloured Passport-sized photos for different stages of the process. I’ve heard it’s best to get 6. In the UK, you need to send one to the school for them to apply for your visa, you need to send one to the consulate office in London, and you’ll to bring more with you when you apply for your ARC and get your medical check-up in Korea.
The steps you need to take to even get an apostille on your background check and degree take weeks, so it’s best to start collecting your documents as soon as possible if you know you definitely want to teach in Korea.
17. More people quit their job than you think
When you get a job in Korea, your job is tied to your visa which makes quitting a job a bit difficult as your employer may make it impossible to do so or you’ll have to find a new job within two weeks of quitting your previous job.
Now, I’m not saying that a lot of people quit their jobs in Korea, but knowing this situation, I thought that a lot of people would tough it out and finish their year in Korea or they would simply do a midnight run. This involves quitting your job without telling anyone and leaving Korea so your visa will be cancelled so that you can apply for a new one.
However, in forums about teaching in Korea, I saw many posts where teachers asked about quitting their and on how to get a letter of release. Some of the replies were from people who had successfully gotten a letter of release, which made me realise that teachers aren’t as stuck in the position as I thought they were.
18. You can lose your job before you even get to Korea
Sometimes the school that offered you a teaching position may retract their job offer after you’ve accepted it. This isn’t really common, but can happen to you if you decide to work at a hagwon. The best-case scenario is that they do this before you send over your documents.
However, if they decide to not hire you after you’ve sent your documents to them then this you can just request to have them sent back. Unfortunately, if you found the position with a recruiter and sent your docs to them then it may be a bit more difficult to get them back.
This may even be part of a bait and switch method where the recruiter offers you a great job and then the position becomes unavailable, then they offer you a worse job. Alternatively, the school you were going to work may have just found someone else.
The worst time to lose your job before you come to Korea is after you’ve got your visa. This happened to me during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Korea, which sucked because I had spent hundreds of pounds on my documents.
Fortunately, if this happens then you can always try to get another job and then transfer your visa over to your new school. If you fail to do this then you’ll have to restart the visa process all over again if you want to still teach English in Korea.
Conclusion
There will always be little surprises when working in a foreign country. Hopefully, this post has helped inform you about things no one tells you about teaching English in South Korea.
