Reader Question...which city to live in (besides Seoul)

These ones from Kristy:

1. Are you still in Korea?
2. Also, I'm trying to decide which city to live in (not Seoul).

1. Yes, I am still living in Korea, despite always saying that this will be my last year :)  When you've been here 6 years, and have a car and a cat, and friends, and a life, and an excellent job with good salary, it's hard to make the break.  

2. As for which city to live in, the choices are plenty.  There are  a few basic options:

A. The big cities like Seoul, Daegu, Daejeon and Busan.  These places will have everything foreign available and plenty of expat clubs and cultural experiences to partake in.  While Busan is a bit of an exception, since it's at the ocean, the others are concrete jungles for the most part so if you like your "green" then they might not be for  you.

B. A satellite city of Seoul like Bundang, Incheon or Suwon.  They are similar to "A" in terms of opportunities and concrete jungle-ness.

C. Jeju Island.  This can be a very isolating place but it's perfect for the outdoor lover who likes scuba diving, hiking, biking, surfing, etc.  I would move to Jeju in a heartbeat, if I could find a comparable job to what I have now (it doesn't exist: I've looked!)  But think about it: anytime you want to leave Jeju, you'll need to take a short plane ride, or a long-ish boat ride.

D. A smaller city, such as Cheonan (where I live), Chungju, Sokcho, Changwon etc.  They have between 200 000- 1 000 000 people.  There are enough expats to get your fill of all things foreign, and will even have a few foreign restaurants but the pace of life will be much slower and it will be easier to escape the concrete.  I find that I spend outrageous amounts of money in the big cities because I'm tempted by foreign food and bookstores, but in Cheonan not much is happening so it's easier to save.  And I also spend a lot of time at home, playing board games with friends and drinking my homebrew, or having a BBQ with coworkers.  So, it's just different than Seoul.

E. The countryside.  This can be a nightmare if you're a newbie to Korea.  Think about how life will look in a small town with only 3 foreigners (who you maybe loathe) and no Koreans who speak English well enough to hold a decent conversation.  It will be a long, long year unless you come with a partner and you can help keep each other sane.  I would personally never do it. 

Is Korea Worth it? You be the Judge, Part 2

An update to my previous post about the new visa regulations and the hassle it was.

Is Korea Worth it? You be the Judge, Part 1

About 6 months after starting the whole process to get my diploma certified (I'm Canadian so no Apostille, instead my process is different) and my Criminal Background Check certified, I received the package yesterday from my mother. 

And the EXTREME annoyance that I felt at the start of the process has greatly dissapated and the moderate annoyance I felt part-way through when I wrote that last blog entry has fizzled out into a buzzing mosquito amount of annoyance.

So it's probably time to re-visit the question of whether Korea is worth it or not.  My answer is that it depends.  The paperwork is a huge hassle, but much less so if you're actually in your home country doing it.  Like say you've finished uni and have your degree and transcripts and want to go to Korea 4 months later.  It would definitely not be too annoying and I would say to go for it. 

However, if you're in another country besides your home one and are looking for the basic level ESL Job at a hagwon, then no, it would not be worth it in my eyes.  Hagwon jobs are notoriously bad and salaries have been stagnant for the past few years while the cost of living keeps increasing.  And does anyone know whether interviews at the consulate in your home country are still happening these days?  If yes, I wouldn't fly back home just for that rigamarole. 

If you have your eye on the prize though (a Korean Uni Job), then jump through all the hoops and get it done, because once you get one of these jobs, life is pretty good here in the ROK in terms of salary, teaching conditions, vacation, and OT opportunities.  However, it's hard to find one of these jobs without a Masters and experience, so don't get your hopes up, newbies to the ESL Teaching world with only a BA!

I'm been blathering on.  To sum it up, is Korea worth it?  Yes, in some situations.  In others, probably not and look at some other countries first (Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Middle East).

Efficiency

As the years go by, I'm learning more and more about how to do things efficiently.  For example, thanks to the genius of Google Documents and having done the work already, (refer to this previous post I did about it: Lesson Planning in the Cloud) I'm able to do 4 weeks worth of lesson prep in about 1 hour.  With all the holidays at the beginning of semester, it basically brings me up to midterm exam review.

And the online homework thing for the main book I use: Top Notch.  Here is an old post about Top Notch Online Homework  The question that nobody could answer last semester (the first time my uni used this book/online program) was if you could assign the homework once and get it to filter down to all of our 8 or 9 sections, or whether we had to assign the same homework 8 or 9 times.  I ended up assigning the same homework 8 or 9 times, as did almost all of my coworkers.  However, this year we all learned the secret to assigning it only once.  As a result, time spent assigning homework dropped to about 2 hours (for the entire semester).  I'll just have to check the final grade at the end.

I feel good about start of the semester efficiency and wanted to share my happiness with you.

10 Tips for Getting ( and Keeping ) a Teaching Job Overseas

I see that I'm featured in this article on Footprints Recruiting.  It's actually written by someone who used to live in Cheonan and she asked some people for help for an assignment she had to do for her journalism course.  Anyway, it's good stuff so check it out.

It's Amazing...the stuff my coworkers do!

When the new semester starts, I always ask the students who their previous teacher was.  And I write it down on my attendance sheet.  As the semester goes on, I hear more and more little tidbits about what the previous teacher did, or didn't do.  Like they never spoke English in class, or did some crazy thing for the test.

Something that I'm finding out immediately on the first day is whether the previous teacher did the mandatory online homework thing.  We were supposed to do online homework that corresponded to our textbook and make it worth 20% (or more) of the student's final grade.  Pearson Longman has a whole system set up to use with "Top Notch" or "North Star" that is quite easy to use. 

As I pull up the website to remind students to sign-up, I ask, "Did you do this last year?"  "No!"  is the response I keep getting.  Which I find shocking.  My uni made it mandatory and some teachers just didn't do it.

My general rule about life at my uni (and perhaps why I'm still here 5 years later) is to follow the rules.  As with any job, if you follow the rules, you can probably keep your job.  If you don't, well, not so much.  The secret to success in working at a Korean uni!

First Day of Class

And so it begins...another semester, my 9th at this same university.  After 8 semesters, I'm still nervous for the first day of class.  Anyway, here is my plan for today:

1. Teacher Introduction.  I basically give my name, and how they can contact me. 

2. Attendance, and I pass around an information sheet so I can get their names, phone numbers and email addresses. 

3. Textbook stuff.

4. Rules and attendance policy. 

5. Grades and assignments this semester.

6. Online Homework: I will show a short video and do a demo for how they can sign up.

7. Homework for next week: sign up for online homework thing and buy book.

Then I let them go early.  I'm all business on the first day and for the first couple weeks.  Then, once I get to know the students better and they know me and we have a kind of respect thing going, I loosen up and have more fun with them. 

More reader questions....contacting unis

These ones from Matt:

"Should I contact universities by phone, email, snail mail? What do they prefer over there?

Are there many non-English degree professors teaching English in the universities?"

1. I always think a snail mail package is much more impressive, but more expensive and time-consuming on your end.  You'll have a hard time getting through to the person who actually hires on the phone.  And email is an easy way to contact a huge numbers of unis.

Your best bet is to look at job ads (www.eslcafe.com) and follow the directions PRECISELY.  Many people don't and the applications just get thrown out. 

2. Yes, most people don't have English degrees.  A master's degree in anything is good enough, especially for the lower-level unis out in the countryside.  It might be a challenge to get a job in Seoul with something not related to English, education or TESL. 

Reader Question...uni job with a partially completed Master's Degree

More reader questions:

"I've been in Korea over two years teaching English at the elementary level. I've noticed most (or maybe all) of the job postings require minimum of a master's degree. Do you believe it's possible to get a position with a partially finished masters in education?"

My short answer: YES!

My uni has hired plenty of people in your position over the years.  And yours being in education gives you a leg up on a lot of people who have a masters degree in basket weaving, or something of the sort.   Just be sure to have proof that you have actually started (such as a transcript of completed courses so far) and include this in your application package.

I have a feeling that you wouldn't get a job at a top tier uni in a big city, but the ones in the countryside would likely be happy to have you.

Reader Question...only a 2 year associates degree

These ones from Jenniffer:

" I was intested in joining JET/ EPIK but was concerned it might be a problem as I am still in college and only have my two year associates degree currently. I was more interested in the public schools or universities rather than the hagwans and what have you's
I'm also still trying to decide between countries, I thought China would be a big no no for me seeing how our countries have a delicate relationship right now."

To answer your questions in two parts:

1. You will have an extremely hard time finding a job in Korea with only a 2 year "degree" (I would hesitate to even use that name for it).  I have heard of some people working for peanuts out in the countryside in some sort of special program or something, but perhaps the best option is to just get a 4-year degree if you're serious about teaching ESL. 

As for a uni job?  Impossible, even with a 4-year degree.  You have no experience or connections.  Public school jobs?  They are very competitive, and even with a 4-year degree not that easy to procure these days. 

2. China.  The average person on the street won't care that you're an American.   Just don't sport your flag proudly on your t-shirts or whatever and try to blend in and act chilled out (a good rule for any time you travel abroad).  And, this is the one country in Asia where you might actually have a slim glimmer of hope for getting a job with a 2-year thing.

Back to work!

Hello my readers...I hope you're still lingering around, after my extended absence.  Jeju got quite busy with diving, and friends, and going away dinners and other good stuff like that. 

It was back to reality yesterday with the orientation meeting my uni has every year before the semester starts.  It's essentially the only mandatory meeting we have, and it's only twice a year, so it's another reason why I appreciate my uni.

Anyway, the meetings usually feature the top 3 teachers (based on student's evaluations) out of the 26 of us doing a short presentation.  And yes, for the first time, I was in the top 3.  I presented on my reward/motivation system.  It was essentially what I did for my previous Kotesol presentation and what I will do for the Kotesol International Conference 2011 in Seoul Oct. 15/16.

Now, time to get that syllabus in order and organize my online homework thing, and print off attendance sheets and perhaps do a lesson plan or two, or three, or five.  It's my style to plan at least a few weeks ahead to avoid the mid-semester crunch.