So, aside from being older, not as pretty and not knowing how to spell 'definite', what makes you better than the hundred thousand 22yr old undergrad kids going into the ESL field?
However, as an English teacher, when you steer clear of politics, you have lots of freedom there, save for an odd spot check.
I agree wholeheartedly. the Korean government has too much big government influence over every aspect of the market, and the minimum wage here is pathetic. The creeping socialised agenda (BEGUN in Europe, IMPORTED to America and SPREAD throughout the globe) is taking root. Time to hit the ejector seat.
I'd just like to remind everyone that hangook hasn't spent a single minute working in China.
It's way more than the odd spot check, believe me as one who lived there. So Major is correct, work there first then make statements like "the odd spot check", 'lots of freedom'. Sadly Hangook has been mislead.
You will be poor in Taiwan,What absolute horse manure. I get the equivalent of 3.3 million KRW and my friend who works in a private school gets about the same with 20 teaching hours in a week, mornings only which means he has the rest of the day to do privates. So he is smiling all the way to the bank.
What qualifications do you have? Many schools hiring "real" teachers and paying big bucks in places like the UAE don't really count ESL experience as experience. They want experience in teaching a particular curriculum, typically the one being taught at their school. It's not always nice to hear that serious educational institutions don't care about your experience with bomb games or co-teaching an unrecognised curriculum, but that's reality if you want a lucrative teaching position.So, aside from being older, not as pretty and not knowing how to spell 'definite', what makes you better than the hundred thousand 22yr old undergrad kids going into the ESL field?
Asides from a smartphone misspelling of a word, what other nonsense do you have? (Honestly, it's always the most arrogant and stuck up that rather than actually having a good argument have to pick apart one mispelled word in a language with a million different exceptions and words that come from so many multiple languages in it's origins are bound to have the odd mispelled word. But if that feeds your arrogant pipe dream, so be it.) Teachers experienced with children and doing many activities certainly can teach but an arrogant condescending attitude from ignorant stuck up foreigners is part of why the Koreans get away with the exploitation. Like they are the House Slaves or something. Apologists for sure. The truth is someone who has taught for years has been great at knowing how to run a class, have fun activities, can deliver a lesson, and are fun for the kids. Half of these old twits in ESL or who had a Masters of TESOL or whatever were the most boring nerdiest people I've ever met in my life. I am surprised they stayed employed. Kids probably complained about boring teacher. It does actually take some skill to teach ESL and keep kids attention and interest as well as to manage a class. Some jackass employer hiring a kid on the cheap then complaining about that kid's teaching ability has no one to blame but himself. That's what he gets for being a greedy dick hakwon owner. Either way more pay for experience ought to be the norm and if it isn't folks will leave once other options will become available.
Lots of vids from people who went there and said that. Also the salaries didn't look so great. I am not talking about people with education degrees. I am talking about ESL.
ESL in Taiwan has been on the decline for a while. Oversaturated market. Harder to get a good job while at the same time adjusted for inflation wages are going down. But the term poor is relative. For a South African the pay is good. Average wages in South Africa are roughly $6k a year.
You make it very difficult to feel sorry for someone like you.While having never taught in China nor Taiwan, you claim to know better than a man who has taught in both countries.If you think you're entitled to higher pay, your C.V needs to reflect that you qualify for it. Since you've evaded my questions about qualifications, I'm going to assume that you only have an undergraduate degree... and there's nothing wrong with that. To people who hate studying and are content with a 3mil cap that's cool. Nothing wrong with teaching ESL in Korea either, no need to tie you career to your self worth, but you're demanding people pay you more money so here we go:- You were born in 1977, I assume.- Lets assume you graduated when you were 23- That means, you're around 45 and in the past 22yrs you've done jack sh*t to improve your qualifications as a teacher. - A prospective employer is going to look at your application and see this massive gap and deduce that you're no particularly serious about improving your craft.Then you have the downright arrogance and audacity to sneer at educated people who spent time, money and effort into studying to become better teachers as being boring, compared to you because you're more fun and interesting... you know what the kids also find fun and interesting? Jesters, clowns, monkeys, comedians and entertainers. Consider those fields.Don't preach to us about what it takes to teach ESL, everyone here has at least 7yrs of ESL experience under their belt. ESL in South Korea really doesn't demand much. It's a frustrating job, but not demanding in the slightest. It would seem that a BA graduate is all it takes to teach key expressions from a YBM textbook with a few flashy games thrown in. Keeping students interested only requires a BA graduate. Getting academic results out of them requires a certified teacher WITH a solid curriculum AND a lot more authority than we're given.You think THAT is what certified teachers, teaching American, British or South African curriculums are doing? The day a real teacher's responsibilities, classroom management, curriculum and lesson planning are put on your desk is the day you're going to sh*t a chicken!I give Koreans a lot of sh*t but do you know what they do when they want more money or a promotion? They do courses and postgrad work. They don't whine and complain, they improve themselves and work towards the money.So, go to China. Like South Korea, they're not looking for you to produce academic results, they just want another funny little foreigner to make them laugh.
L I, you are here? You speak with such authority. Just to point out your error. Recently the government has declared that English will be their 2nd language and they are pumping millions into English education, so don't be so sure that it's on the decline. My program in one county will get 300 additional teachers this coming academic year.
Hangook77, you are spending an awful amount of your time trying to convince people that China is the better option. Well maybe for you it is but for most folk here it isn't (CCP, internet censorship, lack of personal freedom, danger of being arrested without cause, moral reasons etc, etc).No one is telling you not to go and if you want to go it's your choice but don't go in blindly and think it is all rosy and pink unicorns. It is not. It is a big challenge to live there as a foreigner these days, way harder than it was for me. The CCP wants to stay in power forever (1000 year Reich) and they can only do so by keeping massive control over their people and making them believe that theirs is the only true system for happiness. How do they do that? Massive nationalism through indoctrination. It starts at kindergarten and never lets up. Walk into any classroom and you will find propaganda books littering the classroom, it's in their curriculum, it's in their faces 24/7 and though the majority of people don't give a flying fig about the CCP, they will kowtow because they don't want their lives disrupted BUT there is a large % of real hardcore nationalists that will do anything to deify the CCP plus there are now incentives by the CCP to report your neighbor should they show any disregard for the CCP. So, as a foreigner, you may be completely innocent but some dude doesn't like you (took his girlfriend or something like that), you are a sitting duck. You won't get legal representation or even if you do it is token only and you are dead in the water. The conviction rate in China is almost 100%.So, by all mean go, but really think carefully about it. There is a verse from the Bible that comes to mind ( I am not Bible punching) just using it as an illustration. What use is it that a man gains the whole world but loses his soul..