25 Things No One Tells You About Teaching English in Korea

If you’ve ever thought about teaching abroad, you might wonder about the things no one tells you about teaching English in Korea? Korea is one of the best countries in Asia to teach English and I highly recommend coming here to anyone considering to move abroad. There’s so much opportunities for fun and growth. In this post, we’ll be covering the good, the bad, and the ugly of what no one tells you about teaching English in Korea.

Blog Posts You Might Like

• Advice For Moving To Korea
• An Idiot’s Guide To Korean Apartments
• How I Paid Off My Student Debt in Korea
• What To Bring If You’re Moving To Korea

1. You’ll Probably Be Teaching Elementary Students

The EPIK Program in Korea has been downsizing for years. What does this mean for incoming English teachers? This means that you will most likely be placed at an elementary position since those are in larger abundance. Alternatively, if you choose to go the hagwon (private academy) route, you are also more likely to be teaching elementary school as well.

2. Desk Warming is a Bitch

This is one thing I absolutely hated about teaching in Korea. Since you are a civil servant getting paid with tax money, you must be at your desk even though there are no students present. A foreign English teacher is considered a contract teacher and not a full fledged teacher; therefore, they get less time off.

I highly suggest you use this time to gain some awesome skills. While desk warming, I learned photography, how to edit photos in Lightroom and Photoshop, how to video edit, SEO, and other skills I plan on using to become a full time blogger when I leave South Korea. I suggest you take my advice because you never know what skills you’ll need and when.

3. You Will Be Teaching The Kids How To Human

While abroad in Asia, I only taught middle school and high school. Little did I know part of their education was teaching them how to human. Now, the trick for teaching middle school is you have to be willing to give tough love and set the bar high. If you’re not, they can sniff you out like a shark smelling blood in water.

I have a very strict rules for my students I review every single school year and semester. They know the rules of my class and the consequences for breaking those rules. I never scream or yell at them. As a teacher, my philosophy was to give my students building blocks for the future and not tear them down. Screaming solves nothing and doesn’t make you students respect you.

If my students broke our class rules, I would make them tell me which rule they broke. Then, I would ask if they understood why they have a punishment. I would usually get a sigh because they were upset at having a punishment, but talking them like adults (in easy English of course!) did wonders for my classroom management. My advice to you as a fellow teacher is to set high expectations and make them meet it. Your classes will go more smoothly and your students will respect you.

For the seventh grade students coming in from elementary school, first semester is dedicated to teaching them what not to do in class. Some of the things I have scolded them for include: taking off their uniform in class, not having pieces of their uniform in the right place, rocking back and forth on the chairs, touching their friends, and taking their friends’ items.

4. You NEED Hand Sanitizer

Bring masks and hand sanitizer around cold and flu season. Many kids don’t cover their mouths when they sneeze or cough. Those lovely droplets float around the class and will contribute to making you sick. I try to teach my students to cough into their elbows and wear a mask to keep everyone healthy.

5. Canceled Or Surprise Classes

There were times when I would prepare for class and have everything ready to go. When I would walk into the classroom, I’d get strange stares from the students and homeroom teacher because class was canceled that period for a special lecture. Sometimes your co-teachers assume someone else told you. Other times, the schedule moves around and you’ll have extra added classes to make up for holidays. Always ask about the schedule.

6. Some Teachers Are Old School

One of the things that drives me absolutely insane about working with some teachers in Korea is they LOVE to translate everything you say. They don’t allow the students to think for themselves. Right now, I work with a teacher who translates the easiest of tasks such as, “open your book,” “get a pencil,” and “turn to page 97.”

I think this is very detrimental to your students’ learning and sometimes you can talk to these teachers until you’re blue in the face, but they’ll still do whatever they want. Also, you’ll find some teachers are way too soft with the kids and know they have more power as the Korean teacher. These teachers will usually ignore your class rules in favor of their own as well.

7. You Will Get Uncomfortable Questions

This was something I was ready for after having lived in Japan, but just a head’s up, the kids will also ask you some weird questions. I’ve gotten personal questions such as, “Where do you live?” or “Do you have a boyfriend?” In America, there is a very clear line to a teacher and student relationship. In Korea, those lines are kind of blurred. I’ve heard my male counterparts sometimes get even more rude questions so just be careful.

8. Everyone Is Still In School After Finals

This is one thing I never understood about the Asian school system. Why is it after finals, the kids have to be in school learning? When final grades are in, what is the motivation to try anymore? Not only do I feel sorry for the kids who are tired after studying so hard, but also because a lot of them are also going to after school academies aka hagwons. It’s very hard to control them during this time because they don’t want to study and just goof off with their friends.

This is especially true for the ninth grade students who are going off to high school. My advice to you is to do something everyone will like. For instance, last year, for 20 minutes I taught the kids cursive and the other 25 minutes, we watched Stranger Things on Netflix. Get creative because you’re gonna need it.

9. You’ll Probably Be in A Rural Area

Everyone wants to be in Seoul or Gyeonggi. There are more teaching positions available around the country. The Korean education system wants all students to be exposed to English. After all, English is important for getting jobs in big cities and more advancement opportunities for future jobs.

While your recruiter may tell you you’ll be placed in a big city like Busan or Daegu, just remember they are in huge provinces and it may take you well over an hour to get to the city center from your placement in the rural outskirts.

10. Learn Korean Before You Come To Korea

If you believe in being kind to yourself, I recommend you learn Hangul before coming to Korea. You can learn it in an afternoon with this free 90 minute Hangul cheat sheet. I made the mistake of not learning Japanese before going to Japan. Don’t be an idiot like I was and go into it illiterate. Learn basic phrases and classroom vocabulary and commands.

11. You Need a Bachelors & TEFL Certificate

This is the number one question I always get asked in DMs and emails. Do I need a bachelors degree in teaching to come to South Korea and teach? The answer is NO. You do not have to have a bachelors in teaching or English, but it definitely helps you stand out amongst all the other applicants. If you do plan on returning to your home country, I suggest studying what you love so you have something to fall back on.

In addition, the Korean government requires you to have a TEFL certificate. If you’re looking to get one online, I suggest going through my link at ITTT so you can save 20% off your certification. This is a banging deal on a TEFL that is certified through accredited universities and can be used in multiple countries.

12. The Process To Teach Abroad Takes Awhile

When I applied to teach in South Korea in 2015, I was doing it abroad from Japan. If you’re in Japan now and you need help through that process, check out this blog post here for easy step by step instructions. Your paperwork takes time to gather and it can get pretty expensive. Here are some of the paperwork requirements for teaching English in South Korea.

• Notarized and Apostille-Approved Photocopy of Your Original Bachelor’s Degree.
• Apostilled Criminal Background Check.
• Two Copies Of Officially Processed Transcripts.
• Your Resume.
• Photocopy Of The First Page of Your Passport.
• Signed Contract.
• Six Color Passport Size Photos.
• Completed Self Health Form.

In addition, you need to go to your nearest Korean embassy and submit those documents with your passport so they can attach your visa to one of the pages. You must do everything in a timely manner because you don’t want to be on a plane to Korea without your things in check. Check out my Ultimate Guide to Teaching English in South Korea for more information.

13. You Should Use Online Lesson Planning Platforms

Since I get a lot of questions about this, I’m gonna let you in on the best secrets ever. I usually find a lot of my lessons online at waygook.org or on korshare.net. On both websites, you’ll find specific lessons and activities for the books your school uses. There’s also great ideas for summer and winter camp. I take game templates and adapt them for my own students and their level.

14. You’ll Be Assigned Special Classes

This is one thing I definitely wasn’t prepared for. When I came to Korea, I was prepared to teach summer and winter camp because of all the research I had done online beforehand. What I did not expect was that on top of that sometimes I would teach special after school classes like speaking or club activities where we would have a two hour block of time dedicated to English.

15. Some Teachers Will Pass Their Work Off On You

I once worked with a teacher who used to pass a lot of her work onto me. While I don’t mind helping out my coworkers, I do mind if they’re taking credit for something I did. I do advise you to help your co-teachers grade and volunteer to run the speaking and writing tests. This shows that you are willing to work while also having your own work to do.

16. You’ll Get Thrown Into The Classroom Unprepared

If you come through a recruiter, they will have an orientation with workshops on teaching in Korea. While I came through the Korvia Consulting and I highly recommend them, I had zero time to prepare (and this was due to my school and no fault of Korvia). I got off the plane at 4pm on Thursday, was dropped off at my apartment and then told I would be teaching first thing the next morning. You can’t imagine how bad I felt knowing that I had zero time to prepare my lesson and the stress of just having moved abroad.

My situation was probably very unique in that aspect where I was thrown in with zero warning or preparation. Most recruiters realize the need for an orientation. In addition, if you go directly through EPIK, you will also have an orientation. If you get a placement at a private school or hagwon, you will also be shadowing a veteran teacher to show you the ropes.

17. You’re Not Allowed To Be Alone In The Classroom

This is one of the downsides to teaching English in Korea or Japan because you’re not allowed to be in the classroom alone due to discipline management and legal reasons. On the flip side, if your co-teacher is freaking awesome, then this shouldn’t be a problem. Right now, my co-teacher and I vibe so well our classes are run effortlessly. I also have a different coworker where our styles are super different and this creates conflict.

18. You’ll Have To Change Your Teaching Style

While doing my undergrad at Illinois State, I was taught to a teaching style much different from Korea’s approach. For instance, I was taught the classroom setting should mostly be centered around the student and not the teacher. In Asia, it’s the opposite. One of the things no one tells you about teaching English in Korea is because of the Confucianist mindset that the teacher is the bringer of knowledge and the student takes a more passive roll, this can be hard to adjust to.

Try making your students do group work and play games in order to get them to open up and talk to you more easily. Make learning a group effort and you’ll see that your classroom environment will change.

19. Sometimes You’ll Be Teaching At Multiple Schools

With EPIK, the number of schools you’ll be teaching for sometimes won’t be limited to one. If you work for one school, that’s pretty awesome and lucky. Some people actually teach at five schools which means they go to one different school per week.

20. You Will Change The Way You Speak

RIP my lovely Chicago accent.

The way I speak now changed a lot from when I first started teaching English abroad. As a native speaker of English, sometimes you don’t realize how quickly you speak your own language or how strong your accent is. A friend from Texas once told me the first time we met, my Chicago accent was so strong, she knew exactly where I came from.

In addition, I had to make my English more simple so the masses would understand me. That goes double for my own students. Since I’m not used to using quite a large vocabulary, I forget some of the big words I used know.

21. Pick and Choose Your Battles Wisely

Did you know saving face is a thing in Korean culture? This means if there’s a conflict they will avoid the problem or brush it under the rug to maintain respect and avoid humiliation. If something happens between you and your co-teacher where you have a disagreement about something, pick and choose your battles wisely. Choose if what you’re fighting about is worth the change and tension or just let it go.

22. There’s No Room For Advancement

The mentality amongst most foreign English teachers and Koreans is that this is a temporary job. Most teachers stay a year or two and then go back to their home countries. In America, if you’re a good teacher, you can move through the ranks of advancement and get more pay or better positions. That’s not the case in South Korea.

If you’re in a hagwon or public school, there is no chance for you to advance. EPIK topped the pay scale off at 2.5 million won ($2103) per month. This is one of the main reasons why I left South Korea.

23. The Korean Education System is Flawed

While the world may be praising South Korea for how high their students rank, the system is fundamentally flawed. I’m not saying this to deter or scare you. What you need to realize is Korean students are under intense amounts of pressure. Their classmates are their competition, not friends.

Students are expected to do well in their regular classes and then attend hagwons after school. These hagwons consist of all core subjects or other extracurriculars parents want their students to excel in. Most of the time, the students don’t get home until 10pm and then they have homework. They then wake up the next day and do it all over again.

You should also be aware that because of these pressures, a lot of the students have emotional problems and Korea has the highest rate of suicide in the world for young people.

24. Kids Are The Same All Over The World

One day, while on a school field trip, there were a few of my boys who decided to entertain themselves by climbing a mud hill. While on this hill, they began to amuse themselves by throwing dirt at each other. It was at that moment I realized no matter where you are in the world, kids are all the same. I say this because I distinctly remember my brother and his friends laughing as they did the same.

Korean kids love Kpop and western pop, hate doing homework, like playing with their friends or playing computer and cell phone games. Children love songs and games and teenagers love jokes and interesting activities. The beauty is it’s easy to connect through those sorts of things. Use it to your advantage and when planning your lessons.

25. Every Day Is An Adventure

Everyone should live abroad at least once in their lives. It opens your mind, teaches new life skills, and makes you a more rounded human being at the end of the day. By observing how someone else lives their life and learning how to problem solve, you will become more efficient as a person. Because you have to learn and adapt to a new place, school, and way of life, you will constantly be on your toes.

26. Your Students Are The Best Part Of The Job

One of the reasons I stayed so long at my current school is I genuinely like my students. True, they’re in middle school and have their days, but most of the time they’re pretty awesome. My school is located in a low income area and we don’t have much, but we do have creativity and a drive to be better. My students make me laugh with their theatrics and sometimes tell me about their personal lives or the gossip going around the school. They make every day worth it and I was lucky enough to build a fantastic relationship with them.

Ask any teacher in Korea and they will almost always tell you, “The students are the best part of the job.”

This post contains affiliate links which means at no additional cost to you, I make a small commission to help keep Gina Bear’s Blog running. Thanks for your support!

Free Seoul E-Book

Do you love South Korea?

Enter your name and email address and click the button below to receive your Easy Seoul Travel Guide so you can travel like a local!

Subscribe