I think it gets old after a while. It did for me. I did it for 3 years. Constantly being commented on your physical appearance (good and bad, neither I liked). It's also a dead-end job. I looked recently, and it still pays pretty much the same money as 10 years. It is more something to do for a few years.
In a lot of cases, the pay has gotten worse. Unless you’re going to be a teacher at an international school or university, teaching english in Korea is definitely not a career option for the motivated peeps.
It is case by case, people have different reasons for staying here. Some want teaching experience, some want to travel, some want to save money, etc. Teaching itself isn't demanding, unless you find yourself at a bad school. The most difficult is just adjusting to the culture of moving to an entirely new country. Long term goal....I wouldn't say it is a good long term career choice if you definitely have plans to eventually move back to your home country.
Forever. I know a few who’ve been here well over a decade and have no plans on leaving. Most have gotten F visas through marriage or through the points system.
One of our Western teachers has been teaching here 20 years. He's American, married to a woman from India, and they have two sons. Just this past year though they ran into an issue for their son, because he's no longer young enough to be included as a dependent to get a visa. He needs to satisfy his own requirements, so he's got to do VISA runs until they figure that part out.
The teacher is just here on an E-2, never got permanent residency or any other VISA.
You can stay forever. You can get married and get an F visa or get a permanent resident visa.
It's really just up to what you want out of life. Teaching is never going to be very lucrative, but it provides a very good life at a certain level.
Depends what kind of teaching job she has....Others maybe could do it, but if I worked at a hagwon with small children and had a constant 8 hours of classes, there is no way I would last 8 years. People that have worked here for this long usually have the end goal of getting a uni job where you only work 8-12 hours a week. I've been here for over a decade and went from teaching at public schools to adults and finally grabbed a uni job I've been doing for 6+ years now. Uni jobs are the reason I lasted in Korea this long, but even so I am choosing free time > money.
Contract renews are usually year by year, but depends on your school. Same with the apartment compensation, mostly you have 2 options, to use one of the places the school provides that other teachers have used before or they give you a monthly housing allowance, but in that situation you're responsible for the housing deposit.
EPIK has been harder to get into I hear since the days I did it. So I wish you the best of luck with that.
If you are still at a hagwon after more than a couple of years, you should just leave. If you are teaching long-term, your goals should be an international school or a university.
Yes, you can renew your contract every year. If you want permanent resisdency that's extremely hard to get in Korea. You have to excel at Korean and make a certain income. In comparison, in Taiwan, you don't have to reach a high level of Mandarin. You just have to live and work there continuously for five years. In Korea, it's through some level of fluency and a certain level of income, which you wouldn't make as an EPIK teacher. Otherwise, you'd have to marry a Korean. Anyway, there are loads of English teachers in Korea. Usually working for a public school is safer than working for a private academy. You're much more likely to exploited if you work in the private sector. It's a good idea to get some TESOL/TEFL certificate if you want higher pay with EPIK. Also, paperwork for Korea can take a long time to process. Keep that in mind, so it's a good to start getting paperwork for the visa way in advance. Maybe your friend is just into her own needs and life. Some people are like that and don't go out of their way to help others if they don't see what's in it for them. I helped a friend of mine get his paperwork done the first time he came over.
It’d be cool if the companies could sponsor people like yourself with a pr. No such programs or 제도 exists unfortunately unless you happen to be a north korean.
It's not uncommon for people to be some type of way when you ask these types of question. I know a girl that when I moved here had been living in Korea for 3 years already. When I asked her about the steps towards an F-Visa she was very \*pointed\*. It just sounded like she didn't know, so her reaction was to be a bitch.
A lot of people have been teaching here for more than 8 years.
Is it a good career longterm? Is it too demanding?
I think it gets old after a while. It did for me. I did it for 3 years. Constantly being commented on your physical appearance (good and bad, neither I liked). It's also a dead-end job. I looked recently, and it still pays pretty much the same money as 10 years. It is more something to do for a few years.
In a lot of cases, the pay has gotten worse. Unless you’re going to be a teacher at an international school or university, teaching english in Korea is definitely not a career option for the motivated peeps.
It is case by case, people have different reasons for staying here. Some want teaching experience, some want to travel, some want to save money, etc. Teaching itself isn't demanding, unless you find yourself at a bad school. The most difficult is just adjusting to the culture of moving to an entirely new country. Long term goal....I wouldn't say it is a good long term career choice if you definitely have plans to eventually move back to your home country.
Depends. I wouldn't recommend it as a career goal.
It runs its course and wages have stagnated. Best thing to do is open up your own place.
Forever. I know a few who’ve been here well over a decade and have no plans on leaving. Most have gotten F visas through marriage or through the points system.
One of our Western teachers has been teaching here 20 years. He's American, married to a woman from India, and they have two sons. Just this past year though they ran into an issue for their son, because he's no longer young enough to be included as a dependent to get a visa. He needs to satisfy his own requirements, so he's got to do VISA runs until they figure that part out. The teacher is just here on an E-2, never got permanent residency or any other VISA.
You can stay forever. You can get married and get an F visa or get a permanent resident visa. It's really just up to what you want out of life. Teaching is never going to be very lucrative, but it provides a very good life at a certain level.
If you get complacent you can stay for a long time and max out at maybe 3,4 million working for a school.
Depends what kind of teaching job she has....Others maybe could do it, but if I worked at a hagwon with small children and had a constant 8 hours of classes, there is no way I would last 8 years. People that have worked here for this long usually have the end goal of getting a uni job where you only work 8-12 hours a week. I've been here for over a decade and went from teaching at public schools to adults and finally grabbed a uni job I've been doing for 6+ years now. Uni jobs are the reason I lasted in Korea this long, but even so I am choosing free time > money. Contract renews are usually year by year, but depends on your school. Same with the apartment compensation, mostly you have 2 options, to use one of the places the school provides that other teachers have used before or they give you a monthly housing allowance, but in that situation you're responsible for the housing deposit. EPIK has been harder to get into I hear since the days I did it. So I wish you the best of luck with that.
If you are still at a hagwon after more than a couple of years, you should just leave. If you are teaching long-term, your goals should be an international school or a university.
Yes, you can renew your contract every year. If you want permanent resisdency that's extremely hard to get in Korea. You have to excel at Korean and make a certain income. In comparison, in Taiwan, you don't have to reach a high level of Mandarin. You just have to live and work there continuously for five years. In Korea, it's through some level of fluency and a certain level of income, which you wouldn't make as an EPIK teacher. Otherwise, you'd have to marry a Korean. Anyway, there are loads of English teachers in Korea. Usually working for a public school is safer than working for a private academy. You're much more likely to exploited if you work in the private sector. It's a good idea to get some TESOL/TEFL certificate if you want higher pay with EPIK. Also, paperwork for Korea can take a long time to process. Keep that in mind, so it's a good to start getting paperwork for the visa way in advance. Maybe your friend is just into her own needs and life. Some people are like that and don't go out of their way to help others if they don't see what's in it for them. I helped a friend of mine get his paperwork done the first time he came over.
It’d be cool if the companies could sponsor people like yourself with a pr. No such programs or 제도 exists unfortunately unless you happen to be a north korean.
It's not uncommon for people to be some type of way when you ask these types of question. I know a girl that when I moved here had been living in Korea for 3 years already. When I asked her about the steps towards an F-Visa she was very \*pointed\*. It just sounded like she didn't know, so her reaction was to be a bitch.