Korea - i should log off

The number one question I got when I told people I was going to teach English in Korea was this:

“Why Korea?”

Fair question. If you’d told me five years ago that I’d spend two years teaching in rural Korea, I’d have laughed at the suggestion. I knew nothing about Korea, and even less about teaching. But it happened, and here’s why.

Visas

I’m American, and my fiancé is Australian. At the time, we’d been dating for 2 years and we were running out of options – we wanted to live and work in the same country but we weren’t ready to get married and go through the visa rigmarole. I’d already worked in Australia for 1 year and it was near-impossible for him to come to the US. Korea was an appealing choice, because we were both eligible.

Couples' shirts in Korea — I promise that in Korea, matching t-shirts are okay. Our co-teachers gave us these ‘couples’ shirts’ as leaving gifts.

Eligibility

Most working holiday visas are limited to applicants between the ages of 18 – 30, but there is no such age restriction for teaching in Korea. All you need is a bachelor’s degree and a passport that shows you’re from one of seven English-speaking countries: the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, or Ireland. As a college graduate from the US who was pushing 30, this was perfect for me.

Pay

Let’s not sugarcoat it: I needed the money. If I’d just wanted to break even on the cost of living, I’d have gone to Thailand or Central America. But I had a student loan to pay off, and I wanted to have some new experiences while I did it. South Korea has one of the highest pay rates for English teachers, starting at 1.8 million won per month. I had a TEFL certificate and a master’s in travel writing, which meant that my starting pay was 2.3 million won per month – about $2,100 USD.

Classroom in Korea — Something I didn’t plan for – the students, who were the best part of the job.

Benefits

My employer reimbursed me for my flights at a flat rate of 1.3 million won each way, as well as giving me a 300,000 won settlement allowance. For the first year, I got paid 2.3 million won on the 25^th of each month, plus an extra 100,000 a month as a ‘rural bonus.’ When I renewed for a second year, I got about 2.3 million won for severance pay and a 2 million won renewal bonus, plus I was bumped up to the next level on the payscale. Not to mention the five weeks’ vacation (which became seven weeks in the second year), the free housing, health care, and pension refund.

I’m fully aware that I will never have it that good again.

Ignorance

As I said, I knew nothing about Korea, and that was appealing. Yes, I knew that it was close to North Korea, but that didn’t deter me because here’s the thing: it’s not North Korea. It’s a small country full of scenery, culture, and generous people, and it’s really coming into its own as a tourist destination. Korea seemed just as random as Japan or China, so why not go to Korea? In the end, I couldn’t have made a better choice.

Andong, Korea — Another reason to choose Korea – excellent totem poles hidden in the forests.

Now for the disclaimer: I taught for EPIK (English Program In Korea) in Gangwon Province. Pay and benefits can vary widely depending on where you teach and what program you teach for. There are a huge variety of available teaching positions, from public schools to privately owned academies, and the application process can be very confusing. The eligibility criteria can change without warning, so do your research to make sure you know what to expect.

I was talking to a friend on Skype the other day, and she asked me what it looked like where I lived.

“Here,” I said. “I’ll show you.”

I switched cameras on my iPad and held it up to the window. My backyard filled the screen – misty mountains, the weird silver dome of the local sports park, and the high-rise apartment buildings of my complex.

Yeongwol, Gangwon-do, South Korea — Just another magical day in rural Korea.

“Oh,” she said, sounding slightly disappointed. “I thought it would be…different, somehow. I sort of pictured little grey-haired women and funny old markets. Not 15-story apartment buildings.”

“It is like that,” I insisted. “We’ve got a regular market that sells fish heads and down there, in that field, a wrinkly old man tends his crops every day.”

But I understood what she meant. Sometimes you’ve got a fixed idea of a place in your mind, and it turns out you were way off base.

Teaching English in Korea was like that for me.

I’m embarrassed to admit that before I started researching South Korea, I knew absolutely nothing about the country, other than that it shared a border with North Korea.

I pictured a rudimentary classroom with mismatched desks, blackboards, and kids straining as they waved their hands in the air, eager to answer my questions. They’d be eager because without fail, every one of my classes would be SO FUN and I’d be that teacher that changed their lives.

I know. Like I said, I’m embarrassed.

Yeongwol Elementary School, South Korea — The 6th grade English classroom, where I inspire young minds. Stop laughing. I do.

First of all, South Korean classrooms are flash. We’re talking flat screen TVs in every classroom, touch-screen whiteboards, and ergonomic chairs. This country has grown so fast, it sort of has more money than it knows what to do with. Last year, my school spent 400,000 dollars on a new 5th-grade English room. All of the window shades are covered in English text, the posters at the back are in English, and there are English games stashed in the cupboards.

This year, they turned it into a homeroom, essentially an English-free zone.

Second, the kids aren’t studying English because they like it. They’re studying because it’s a required subject from 3rd grade onwards. And just like that time your mom forced you to take violin lessons, only the students with a natural aptitude are even marginally interested.

This is how most of my classes start:

Me: Good morning! How are you today?

Tae-seop (or any loud, obnoxious student): Teacher, GAME. GAAAAAMMMME.

Me: Later, Tae-seop.

Tae-seop: GAAAAMMME. (Slumps in his seat and howls like a dying sea lion.)

After nearly two years, it’s all I can do not to punch some of these kids in the face. My latest coping mechanism is to utter obscenities under my breath. I’ve started doing it louder because I realized that if I speak quickly enough and smile while I do it, the kid won’t understand what I’m saying.

5-day market, Yeongwol, South Korea — The lady on the right reminds me of my students. Same bored expression.

That leads to my third thwarted expectation – I’m not inspiring these kids to become English-speaking maniacs. Apparently, I’m just not that kind of teacher. Instead of meticulously planning lessons, the way I did for the first six months, I download PowerPoints from the internet and spend my free time blogging or researching flights online. Every once in a while I pull off a great lesson, but those moments are getting rarer as the end of my contract approaches.

Actually, the last time I had a really successful lesson was when I brought in some red velvet cake for my after-school class. So I guess that wasn’t a good lesson…it was bribery.

But one really good thing came out of having inaccurate expectations about Korea.

Korea blew those expectations out of the water and it blew me away, too.

Temple in Yeonwgol, Gangwon-do, South Korea — Love the colors on this local temple/daycare center.

My favorite thing about travel is learning that the world is so much bigger than you realize – not in terms of size, but in ways of life. Korea showed me that what’s normal for me is unheard of elsewhere, and things that are normal in Korea are things I couldn’t have invented in my wildest dreams.

Living here has been shocking, weird, surprising, and frustrating, but it has been nothing like I expected.

And that’s what has made it worthwhile.

Why Teach English in Korea?

“Why Korea?”

Teaching English in Korea: Expectations vs. Reality

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