Korea is a country near and dear to my heart and it's where I started teaching. Despite a booming ESL industry, some might even say factory, when I was researching prior to accepting a position in Korea, I found it surprisingly hard to find good information on most of the topics I was searching. While there are a lot of blogs that give a brief short hand first-person experience, what I wanted was general information, FYIs and an idea of what I was really getting into, honestly I didn't really know until after I was already in country and at my school. Through the ESL in Korea series I hope to give you a lot of the general information and things I wish I'd known while making my decision on schools. We'll be talking about school types, the major hagwon franchises, contracts, recruiters, legal issues, work culture and much more. Part one of our series goes over the different types schools in Korea.
Hagwons
Hagwons or private language schools (also called academies, and they exist for every subject you can think of) these schools cater to students of various ages and are some of the predominant job opportunities in Korea. Hagwons typically have a curriculum and teaching format that they want teachers to use, which new teachers (and lazy teachers) can find helpful as it allows them to focus more on figuring out and developing their teaching skills without the worry of having to write lesson plans and create material. These schools run year-round, often with set vacation times for teachers 2 times a year: a week in winter and a week in summer. This ensures that the school won't have to worry about covering classes for teachers who are on vacation. Unlike public schools. hagwons aren't required to give all red days (national holidays) off, and while teachers may have the major ones off, you may be working on some as well. During summer and winter when students are on their break from public school, many hagwons offer extra classes to students, this of course means more teaching hours and depending on your school, you may have to design the curriculum and plan the lessons yourself rather than having a pre-planned curriculum. Most hagwons have new teachers arrive at the on the Friday before they start teaching, although some have a week-long orientation and training either at the school or offsite prior to your actual start date. Some hagwons have great support for their foreign teachers, although this is often left to the other foreign teachers (particularly head or senior teachers) who may either be great at it or complete crap, so it's a real toss up. There is usually one Korean staff member who helps foreign teachers with things like setting up bank accounts, trips to immigration, etc., but there are schools where teachers are responsible for doing everything on their own, which can sound quite daunting so make sure to ask about this in your interview. There are a lot of hagwon horror stories and "black lists" floating around on the internet, while I believe that some of them are definitely true, I'd read them with a grain of salt as there are a lot of foreign teachers in Korea who have never worked in a proper work place (and this is a job), thought teaching would be a work-cation (again this is a job), aren't able to adapt to cultural differences, or who have unrealistic expectations that write a lot of these posts. With hagwons it's also important to note that location is important to the experience you have, and one person having a bad experience at one school doesn't mean a bad experience at another with the same name.
Kinder/Elementary
You see job openings for kinder/elementary hagwons the most often, this is both due to the high demand for teachers at this age bracket and from high teacher turn over. These schools operate from 9-5/6/7, so you are working a full day, with kinder in the morning and elementary and after school kinder in the afternoons. This can mean a full day of teaching with time allotted for prep, grading, and breaks. Teachers are generally responsible for supervising students during lunch (while eating your own lunch), so you may not get a true lunch break. Typically teachers have a Korean co-teacher in the classroom to help with any major behavior issues (the kids are super young), depending on your relationship with your co-teacher this can either be helpful or just the bane of your existence. The co-teacher's role varies greatly by school, some are just in the classroom to provide assistance to the teacher when needed and others have them teach separate classes in Korean. The curriculum at these kinds of schools can skate the border of what's legal, teachers on an E2 visa are only supposed to be teaching English, but at kinder hagwons they often teach subjects like math, gym and art in English. I've had friends who worked at kinder hagwons talk about having to hide subject text books if an inspection was being done at the school. A lot of teachers are often surprised that they're not just teaching English as this often gets left out in interviews and most people don't know to ask about it. Because of the work hours, teachers who need to run errands to places like the bank or visit the doctors office often have to request time off from work do to this, or they have to do it during their lunch break.
Elementary/Middle
I taught at a hagwon for elementary/middle school students for 2 years, we had 2 different sets of hours depending on the age group being taught. Elementary students were taught from 1-8 and middle school students from 3-10, similar hagwons will typically have hours from 1/2-9/10 range. There are often less classes taught in a day compared to kinder/elementary hagwons as teachers need more time for prep and grading. Curriculums
are often pre-planned but some do require teachers to create lesson plans and even have input on textbooks for classes, especially if the school decides to add extra classes that aren't typically offered. If you struggle with lesson planning or are only teaching ESL because you think it's a workcation, this can make it seem like a high work load. Some hagwons specialize in particular areas such as writing, TOEFL prep and debate, these classes can be a bit more teaching intense and result in more prep work and grading for teachers. Since teachers typically have mornings free, they do have time to run errands to the bank or doctors appointments during normal business hours instead of having to request time off for these errands. While teachers will get a lunch or dinner break, breaks between classes can be minimal, I'm talking 5 minutes, that's not a lot of time to run to the bathroom, stuff aa snack in your face or turn over students.
Adult
If teaching is not for you, there are hagwons that specialize in teaching English to adults, these schools can cover a variety of areas of English language learning: general English, conversation classes, test prep for TOEIC, and business English. These hagwons may have their own curriculum for teachers to follow, want teachers to create their own lessons, or a combination of the two. Because the students are generally working adults, teachers work morning, evenings, and weekends. This can mean teachers work a split shift (a certain number of hours in the morning and a certain number in the afternoon/evening) and are usually required to work a certain number of Saturdays every month, with monetary incentives being provided to work extra Saturdays. Most adult hagwons offer visa sponsorships and either provide housing or offer a housing stipend.
Unigwons
A hagwon for university students studying English, these are often harder to find but are sought after as you can gain experience teaching university students which is often a requirement to teach at a university in Korea. Unigwons are typically attached to universities who only post job openings to job boards, and they may only be in Korean, so it takes a bit more work if you're looking to work at a unigwon. Hours can vary depending on student needs and split shifts or shifts that cover different times of the day may be available, this may also cause your schedule to change quite often, instability in your schedule can make having a normal routine quite hard. Teachers are generally more responsible for creating lessons based on textbooks and finding or creating their own additional material. Because you are working with university students, a good grasp of academic writing is often a skill that is looked for in applicants. Unigwons may also offer part time hours and may not offer housing or visa sponsorship. Most teachers seeking unigwon employment have been in Korea for a few years and are seeking to move into university teaching, a unigwon provides the much needed work experience and an "in" at a Korean university, which can be helpful.
Public School
The main source of ESL jobs in Korea is in the public school system through programs like GEPIK and EPIK (the program name can vary by region). Teachers in public school typically work school hours, although some schools have after school classes that teachers are expected to teach as well. Unless you are a direct hire with a specific public school, you won't know your actual school placement until the end of orientation, once you are in country. While you can request a specific city or district, it is up to the program where to place you. Big cities like Seoul and Busan are the most popular and it can be very hard to get a placement where you want and have to be prepared to be in a smaller city or even a rural location. Teachers are typically responsible for creating their own lessons and materials based on a course book and syllabus provided by the school, you typically arrive in your city the day before you start teaching so teachers need to be prepared to hit the ground running and have some ideas for activities or a lesson to have on the first day. Native English teachers are paired with a Korean co-teacher, depending on your co-teacher you, you can teach all of the lesson, part of the lesson, or even none of the lesson, depending on how they have the class time divided. While the Korean co-teachers are always suppose to be in the classroom to provide native English teachers with support, they may be completely absent from the classroom, be in the classroom and provide zero support, actively undermine you, or be super helpful. I've heard a lot of stories of co-teachers doing all these
things, it's important to remember that you bare the sins of all native teachers past, so if they've had bad experiences with native teachers in the past, they may have a poor attitude towards native teachers in general. The Korean co-teachers are trained and licensed teachers in Korea, while their English level may not be great, but a native English speaker with a cheap online TEFL certificate does not equal being a better teacher, and this attitude can be apparent...on both sides. It can be very hard to bridge these hard feelings, especially when paired with cultural differences, can make for a very difficult atmosphere at work. My articles on Mediocrity in ESL and ESL in Korea: Cultural Differences, cover these issues more in depth. Public Schools are often advertised as having two month long vacations (1 in summer, 1 in winter) plus all red days off, this isn't always the case. Depending on the school they may run summer/winter camps or require teachers to desk warm (be at school when there are no students) during these breaks. In reality teachers often get 1-2 weeks of break during summer and winter vacation, which can still end being more than teachers at hagwons get. While at hagwons you may at least have other foreigners around to ask for help with housing/life issues, at public schools there is often only one foreign teacher. While co-teachers are usually responsible for helping the foreign teachers, how helpful the actually are varies greatly.
International School
International schools offer teachers higher salaries, more vacation time and a greater amount of autonomy in the classroom. Teacher work typical school hours and are expected to write lesson plans, create in class material and grade students work in their free periods. The catch with International Schools, is that typically all classes are taught in English and having an actual ESL teacher is not super common, which makes them better options for teachers who have an actual teaching license. There are a couple "buyer beware" issues to be aware of with international schools in Korea. Many schools that call themselves aren't actually international schools and have just stuck that in their name, so while you may think you're applying to an international school, it's actually just a hagwon. As I mentioned, International Schools typically teach all classes in English, which means ESL teachers are rare. However, International Schools in Korea have been known to hire teachers on E2 visas (we'll get more in depth into visas in a later article) which are for teaching English as a second language, to teach subjects in English, which would not be allowed on that type of visa. In 2017, a franchise of Canadian "International Schools" was caught by the Korean government doing this and resulted in the deportation of a number of teachers (you are responsible for making sure your job complies with your visa) and the schools being fined.
University
Some of the most sought after and most competitive teaching jobs in Korea are at Korean Universities. With high salaries, a generous amount of vacation time, a lower number of teaching hours and ... these jobs can seem pretty cushy. Universities have higher hiring standards than the rest of the ESL industry in Korea, this disconnect means that the majority of teachers in Korea will never meet the hiring standards for universities, even rural ones. A masters degree, Phd or DELTA, plus two years teaching at the university level are standard requirements to be considered for a position. Smaller or more rural universities may accept CELTA certificates and adult teaching experience depending on the applicants they receive. Teachers are responsible for writing a syllabus, planning lessons and creating/finding material to use in class along with designing and administering exams. Teachers are usually held to higher standards at universities using a variety of metrics, including student satisfaction, this can literally be the difference between your contract being renewed or not. There is a trend to not offer visa sponsorships, or to only offer them to highly qualified candidates and to require a certain amount of Korean language proficiency. This varies by university and is more common at bigger universities (think SKY universities) and is less common at universities that have a harder time attracting applicants due to size or location. Teachers may also be responsible for organizing, or helping students organize and run "English Corner" which is basically conversational English practice for faculty, staff and students.
Private/Christian School
While smaller in number, private schools and Christian schools both exist in Korea, many prefer to hire directly over working with a recruiter so job listings may be harder to find. As with International Schools, it's important to make sure the visa you are on is the correct visa for what you are teaching . Salaries are generally comparable to those at public schools and hagwons, with work hours matching those of public schools. After school programs may provide teachers with a chance to earn additional income. Visa sponsorships are a toss up at these schools, some offer them and some do not, the same goes for housing. Teachers will typically have a set curriculum and textbooks to follow, but are often responsible for creating their own lesson plans and activities for class. Christian schools may have a religious requirement for applicants, if you think that's discrimination, this is Korea, things are different here.
Whew, this turned out longer than I expected. I've tried to included as much pro/con and general information for perspective ESL teachers in Korea as possible to help you make more a more informed decision when choosing between job offers.
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