Korean English Teachers Question - Page 2

I never understood people who got drunk with the power of being idolized by a bunch of chicks who don't speak your language (or barely) and you can't have an intelligent conversation with. I travel in Asia frequently and the thought has never even crossed my mind even though opportunities abound. But the people who end up staying abroad to bang the woman are, without any exceptions, some of the most moronic and least ambitious people I've ever come across.

You know what they say about redheads, O'Higgins!

i taught overseas for over a year after graduating. it's just for fun. i don't even put it on my resume. came back with a few hundred dollars and memories to last me a lifetime. shit... good times....

hopefully he'll have a lot of fun. if poop really hits the fan, well, i've always been a big fan of challenging/crappy experience early on in life--builds character and gives perspective, i think. as long as he doesn't get hurt or get in trouble with the law, it's all good. if the dude's looking to go to law school, his pre-law experience isn't going to matter at all, so no worries about how it looks on his resume or anything. as for the experience itself--it's totally case by case, i think. some people get hooked up with great employers, some with really terrible ones that won't pay. hopefully he'll do his research. and if it's the partying and the fun that he's looking for, he should really be in seoul. not even "metro" seoul, i mean seoul proper.

Only slightly true for Japan...but not really the case at all with Korea. Most middle class Koreans got there quite recently, so they look down on foreigners coming to their country to teach English. And what's the point of dating a girl knowing she wants you to take to her to tour the states?

Yup, there are so many foreigners in Seoul it's really nothing special. I even saw a few wiggers last time I was there, shit was ca$h dogg.

I'm doing it now. It was more profitable a few years ago, but I like it alright. You can live like a pauper and tuck away ~15 grand a year in savings, or live like a king and save nothing. It's a comfy life for me right now, but it's basically a big hole in my resume and I don't intend on doing it forever.

The English teachers in Japan make more money and work less hours than I do (I work for the Japanese government)!! Tell him to go there

My best friend went to teach in Korea and hated it so much he spent most of his time cooped up in his room playing his playstation. When he got back, he was unrecognisable as a human being. Only 1 year later is he starting to return to his old self.

My friends who taught English in Japan, however, loved it so much they've stayed there for years and one of them even volunteered to help out in the Tsunami-stricken Miyagi-Prefecture.

It's a great experience and good money. You can travel to other surrounding countries fairly easy as well. Although, it's a lot harder to find a public school/ government job now. Private schools (hagwons) are hit or miss.

Also, if the said person graduated from a "prestigious" university, he could make a lot more (under the table, on the side, etc) by teaching SSAT/SAT/GRE/GMAT and revising admissions essays. $10k/month during the summer is not unheard of.

If said person graduated from a prestigious university, why the hell would he/she be TESLing?

It's not a bad gig if you want to life a different type of lifestyle for a year and don't expect much more out of the experience than that. One of my good friends is coming back to the States this weekend after a year doing this in Korea. For him, it's been a mixed bag. He's an adventurous person, so the big change in lifestyle wasn't a huge deal for him. Eason's description is accurate. My friend has a BA and the process went like this: apply, conduct a fuzzy phone interview with a guy who speaks broken English, accepted.

My friend used this as a means to see a different part of the world while earning enough money to do some traveling once his time there was over. He's a frugal guy, so he's accomplished that. His room and board is paid for, so he's only responsible for feeding and entertaining himself. He's coming back here for a couple of months, but plans to return to Korea for another year to earn some more money before he once again returns home and embarks on a more ambitious travel agenda.

Sounds like this guy will be sleeping in your basement in a few years.