Where to Teach ESL: South Korea

Teach ESL in South Korea

For my thoughts on other ESL teaching destinations besides Korea, check out:

Malaysia as an ESL Teaching Destination and Teaching ESL in Vietnam

Today, it's all about Korea and of course I've talked about job conditions and the like on this blog for years, but here's a quick summary for newbies considering Korea as a place to teach English. It's an excerpt from my book, The Wealthy English Teacher: Teach, Travel, and Secure Your Financial Future.

Ten years ago, South Korea was one of the best places in the world to teach English due to the high salary, extremely favourable exchange rate with the USA and Canada, free housing and airfare along with minimal qualifications and low expectations for teachers. These days, cost of living has risen significantly while salaries have stagnated and qualifications and expectations for teachers have risen so that it is not the prime location it once was. 

However, there is definitely money to be made and saved, especially if you are willing to live frugally. Most teachers can put away around $1,000 per month with little effort and live quite well. For others, with some effort and frugal living, they can save up to $1,500 per month (and more if they are doing overtime or have permission from their visa sponsor to teach at other companies or schools). 

Another way to live well in Korea is by working your way up the job ladder into a university (for tips, check out: How to Get a University Job in South Korea: The English Teaching Job of Your Dreams, which has a very low number of working hours and lots of vacation. If you do some overtime work during those down times, you can increase your savings potential significantly, up to $4,000-5,000 per month.

Where to Teach ESL: Vietnam

Where to Teach ESL Besides Korea: A New Series

Today, I'm going to start a series on places to teach ESL besides Korea if you're making an escape plan or are still in your home country and doing a bit of research. This series will be excerpts from my book The Wealthy English Teacher: Teach, Travel, and Secure Your Financial Future, so the emphasis will be on each place as it relates to money savings potential. I've ranked places as "good," "okay," or "bad," which indicates nothing about the culture or people. I'm talking about money! The first place I'll talk about is Vietnam since I've just returned from a fabulous vacation there; I've put it into the "good"category.

ESL Teaching Destination #1: Vietnam

"Vietnam is an up and coming English teaching destination and where many of the teachers from Japan and Korea are ending up as they look for greener pastures. The economy is booming and they offer a good combination of decent salaries (around $20 per hour), low cost of living, relaxed culture (especially after somewhere like the Middle East or Korea), and amazing food and travel opportunities. 

They have all the big companies like International House and the British Council, which if you can get a job at, is a good step towards advancing your career into management or teacher-training and they also have a massive number of international schools, which are an excellent choice if you are a certified teacher. If I were to continue in my career as a teacher after Korea, Vietnam would be my number one choice. The biggest downside is the tax rate of around 15-20%, which is higher than most other places popular with English teachers."

Here are some good websites with additional information;

Teach Away- Yes, they are a recruiting company but their information is solid and gives a nice introduction to teaching English in Vietnam.

Everything You Need to Know about Teaching English in Vietnam- Lots of "insider" tips here and plenty of links to all the major schools where you might look for work.

Apollo English Vietnam- They are one of the biggest schools in Vietnam that hire foreign English teachers, so check out their information at the very least. They will certainly know the most up-to-date regulations regarding things like health care and taxes.