101 Frugal Living in Korea tips

Live in South Korea? Like to save money? Check out this post!



101 Frugal Living in Korea tips

Like Free Stuff? Enter for a chance to Win 1 of 3 Profs Abroad Memberships

Enter for your chance to win some awesome. The contest ends in 5 days, so bali-bali!

Speaking of even more awesome, did you know that this blog has moved?

Go to the new and improved My Life! Teaching in a Korean University.

Like Free Stuff? Get Some Now!

I'm holding a contest where I'm giving away three of my Ebooks for free. The contest ends in 8 days, so get those entries in now. The best part about it is that if you use your custom link and someone enters the contest because of you, you'll get three more entries!

You'll have your choice of one of the following books:

The Wealthy English Teacher (personal finance for English teachers abroad)

How to Get a University Job in South Korea

How to Thrive in South Korea: 97 Tips for Expats

ESL Speaking Activities for Kids

ESL Speaking Activities for Teenagers and Adults.

Use this link to register now

39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities: For Kids (7+)

A new book on mine is available on Amazon: 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities: For Kids (7+)

This is the book that every elementary school ESL teacher needs to have in their libraries. There are 39 no-prep or low-prep, interesting, engaging and fun activities. I give you my personal guarantee that they'll make your classes awesome and lesson planning easy. Only electronic version for now, but the print version will be available shortly.

My Life! Teaching in a Korean University has Moved

This blog is slowly migrating over to a new site: http://teachinginkoreanuniversity.com at a rate of a few post a day, but there's already a lot of content up there now. I think you'll find the new site far easier to navigate than this one.

Here's just a sample of what's going on over there:

Syllabus for Teaching in a Korean University

How to Begin a Conversation Class

Top 10 Tips for Newbies to Teaching in a Korean University

How to Get High Student Evaluations

Academic Integrity in Korean Universities

New book is out! How to Thrive in South Korea: 97 Tips from Expats

Stop answering all those newbie questions! Just send 'em to this book.

How to Thrive in South Korea: 97 Tips from Expats

My Life! Teaching in a Korean University is Moving

This site will no longer be updated (although the content will remain). I've started the very (slow!) process of moving the best posts from this site over to a new one. Put it into your feed to stay updated.

http://teachinginkoreanuniversity.com/

Working in Korean Universities- Good for the Long-Term?

An interesting topic came up during my recent Kotesol presentation on How to Get a University Job in South Korea . Someone asked whether they should get a PhD or teacher's certificate in order to improve their employment prospects at Korean universities.

My answer was that they should get a teacher's certificate which opens up the possibility of international schools, which are actually better jobs than Korean unis for a host of reasons but the way the conversation turned was whether or not Korean unis are good jobs for the long-term.

While it is amazing to have 5 months paid vacation, work 10-15 hours a week and still be able to save $2000 US/month, there are some serious downsides. Here are the 4 biggest ones:

No Room for Advancement 

Once you have a job like I do (full vacation, 3 days/week, high pay, teaching only English majors), there is quite literally nowhere to go but sideways or down. I could be promoted to the "head teacher" but this almost always involves way more work for no extra money--it's usually a total headache and I wouldn't really wish this position on my worst enemy. 

Serious teachers aren't rewarded

Korean universities generally pay all teachers equally--like someone can have 10 years experience, a CELTA/DELTA, do presentations at professional conference (me!) and get the same pay as someone who gets the job with one year of experience at a hagwon. Great teachers often get more work heaped on them such as proof-reading, organizing camps, or recruiting new teachers but often don't get any extra pay for this.

No Professional Development

I would love to work at a place that was serious about helping teachers improve their skills. Like in almost 10 years, I haven't been observed in a class, ever. It's my guess that 99% of the universities in Korea don't care about this and it's up to the individual teacher to put the work in, if they care about it. Many don't.

The Jobs are Getting Worse

It's basically an employer's market right now because of the large numbers of very qualified teachers floating around Korea. It's only going to get worse due to demographics because there will be fewer and fewer college age students in Korea. Job conditions will not be going up in the next 5-10 and I personally find it quite demoralizing to work at a job year after year and not see an increase in my salary.

To Sum it Up!

Working at a Korean university is a sweet job--for a few years. You can start a side business, travel the world, write a book, etc.  But, unless you're married to Korean, I don't recommend making this your long-term plan. It's a big world and there are certainly better jobs out there, especially if you're a "real" teacher.

New Book: 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities

My new book is up on Amazon: 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities- For Teenagers and Adults. If you teach middle school, high school or university, I think you'll find it useful. The activities really are low or no prep so you can pull something together in the last few minutes before your class.

I take a student-centered approach, unlike many of the other books out there because after all, your students should be working hard, not you. You're already really good at speaking English!

Knowing Korean: an advantage when applying for university jobs in Korea?

Another great question from an audience member at my recent presentation at the Kotesol national conference on the topic of How to Get a University Job in South Korea.

They were wondering whether or not knowing Korean would give them an advantage when applying for university jobs. My short answer is that it's basically a neutral. While it may give you a slight advantage in some cases, the university is hiring your for your English ability, not your Korean one and the reality is that you can function very well in this job without even being able to read Hangeul, much less speak it. 

Here's a short video I made about the topic: