Teaching English abroad is exciting for so many reasons! Whether you are considering a future teaching career and want to gain experience or you just want to travel the world, there are countless reasons to teach abroad. Before you start, however, you need to know some basic information. So, how do you teach English in Korea?
Gain Experience
Teaching jobs in Korea are competitive. The jobs pay well and offer many benefits. Also, Korea is a fun and exciting to place live, with countless activities, a vibrant nightlife and so much more. Accordingly, it is a good idea to gain some teaching or tutoring practice – especially if you have no prior experience. Anything to do with kids is a real benefit (babysitter, summer camp counselor, etc.) Teaching or tutoring of any kind is also helpful, but the best is actual English teaching experience to ESL speakers. You don’t have to move abroad to get this experience. For example, you can teach English to immigrants in your hometown.
Another great way to get some experience if you have none is getting a TEFL certification. This course will teach you how to create lesson plans and prepare for different subjects. It also shows how to manage a classroom full of students, incorporate games and activities into lessons, and so on. Additionally, it is specifically geared to ESL classrooms so it is perfectly suited to the type of teaching you will do in Korea. A TEFL will make you a more attractive applicant and more qualified teacher. Moreover, having a TEFL will make your life less stressful because you’ll know exactly what to do in the classroom!
Understand the Requirements
The next major step is understanding the requirements. The major requirements for teaching in Korea are being a citizen of an English speaking country and having a bachelor’s degree. Additionally, you will need to obtain a criminal background check and be able to pass a medical exam. The medical exam is looking to see if you are taking any illegal drugs or medication for depression or anxiety. If you have anything like that in your system, you won’t be able to teach in Korea.
Do Your Homework
Lastly, you must do your homework before teaching in Korea! If you’ve done any research on teaching abroad, you will most likely have come across some horror stories of teachers being paid late, forced to work overtime, fired for meaningless reasons, and so on. Unfortunately, these things do happen. However, they will not happen to you if you make sure that you are finding a job through a reputable recruiting agency. Reputable recruiting agencies spend years and years building relationships with schools so they know exactly which schools are good for teachers and which are bad. Teachers only end up in bad situations when they go through bad recruiting agencies or if they find a job directly through a school. (That can be a red flag because it might mean that the school has been blacklisted from the good recruiters!).
If you are able to follow these steps, you can answer the question “How do you teach English abroad?”. Also, no matter what – you should always apply! That way, one of our placement officers can clarify the necessary steps and let you know exactly how to teach English abroad in Korea!