Informational Presentation on teaching in Korea. It provides brief descriptions of what you need to apply, benefits, types of schools, educational culture background, Korean phonology, Korea syntax, example word walls for the classroom, teacher do's and don't, and professional resources.

2. Contents
Slide Number Contents
3 Introduction
4 What you need to apply
5 Benefits of Teaching in Korea
6 Culture Shock
7-15 School Types in Korea/Brief Overview
16-18 Korean Culture and What it Means
19 Korean Phonology
20 Korean Morphology/Syntax
21-22 Word Wall Examples
23-24 Teaching Do’s and Don’t’
25 Professional Resources
26 Conclusion
27 References

3. Introduction
 Teaching English in Korea can help you
grow as a person and a professional.
 This presentation will give you an insight into
teaching in Korea with a useful background
that can help you succeed as a teacher.
 My name is Justin Gunn-Taylor and I came
to Korea in 2012 through a recruiting agency
called Reach to Teach. I am now going into
my 8th year as an EFL teacher in Korea. I
began as a hagwon teacher, then moved to
a public school, and now I am currently
working at a tertiary institute.

4. What do you need to apply?
 1: Applicant must be a native English speaker.
 Public school programs applicants must hold a valid passport from USA, Canada, UK,
Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa.
 2: Must have at least a Bachelor’s degree.
 All degrees need an apostille.
 Better jobs to teachers with higher degrees and/or relevant educational
background/experiences.
 TEFL Certification may be required.
 3: A Criminal Background Check
 Within 6 months before you come.
 From only your home country.
 Needs an apostille.
 Helpful hints
 The school year starts March 1st.
 Schools will start looking for teachers in late November.
 Preparing documents can be tedious start preparing two to three month before November.
 Some applications may require a lesson plan.

5. Benefits of Teaching in Korea
 1: Starting salary 2.1-2.3 million won
 Depending on your experience it could be higher, but for first time teachers expect in this
range.
 2: Full Health Insurance
 50% covered by the school 50% covered by you (about 30 USD a month)
 Health care system is much cheaper compared to western countries.
 Most doctor’s can speak in English.
 3: Paid Vacation
 Varies from job to job (More details in school slides).
 All national holiday also known as red days are paid days off.
 4. Contract Completion Bonus
 Usually one months salary.
 5. Housing paid for by school.
 Usually small one room apartment fully furnished.
 6. Round-Trip Flight Reimbursement

6. Culture Shock
 Teachers may experience significant culture
shock. A personal disorientation caused by
experiencing unfamiliar cultures to their own.
 Usually during the first two months.
 Helpful hints
 Research the city before you come.
 Find foreign hot spots.
 Use social media to meet new people in the city.
 Make a schedule to keep busy.
 Immerse yourself into the culture.

7. 학원/Hagwon/Private School
Kindergarten

8. 학원/Hagwon/Private School
Kindergarten
 Starting Salary
 2.1-2.3 Depending on Experience
 Vacation
 7-14 days plus holidays
 Working Hours
 30-40 hours
 Overtime pay after 40 hours
 Sometimes late working house (I.E, 3PM to 10PM)
 Grade Levels
 Kindergarten-12th Grade
 No co-teaching
 Small Orientation Period

9. 학원/Hagwon/Private School
Kindergarten
Pros Cons
Good Teaching Experience 1-2 Weeks Paid Vacation
Usually High Level Students Long Working Hours
See Same Students Daily Unstable
Materials and Books
Provided
Cater to the parents
Small Classes Some Bad Hagwons
Little Desk-Warming Ran Like a Business
Stepping Stone to Better
Job
Short Breaks and Must Stay
at School

10. English Program in Korea

11. English Program in Korea
 Starting Salary
 Based on Work Experience and Educational Background
 Level 3: 1.8-2.1 Million Won
 Level 2: 2.0- 2.3 Million Won
 Level 1: 2.3-2.7 Million Won
 Vacation
 One Month in Summer/One Month in Winter
 Working Hours
 20-22 Teaching hours per week
 Overtime pay after 22 teaching hours.
 Sometimes late working house (I.E, 3PM to 10PM)
 Grade Levels
 1st-12th Grade
 Co-teaching (Unless at a an English Center)
 Two-Week Intensive Orientation Period

12. English Program in Korea
Pros Cons
Government Run Usually only foreign person
at your school.
Vacation Travel to more than one
school.
Co-Teaching (New Teacher) Large Class Size
Materials and Books
Provided
Sometimes Bad Co-Teacher
Stable Desk-Warming
Contract More Concrete Must Pay for School Lunch
Long Orientation Period Middle School Students can
be difficult.

13. University Jobs in Korea

14. University Jobs in Korea
 Starting Salary
 Based on Work Experience and Educational Background
 2.1-3.5 Million Won
 Vacation
 1.5 Months Summer Break/1.5 Months Winter Break
 Working Hours
 About 13 Teaching hours per week at Private Universities
 About 20-24 National Universities.
 Grade Levels
 Freshman-Senior
 No Co-teaching
 Small Orientation Period

15. University Jobs in Korea
Pros Cons
Vacation Need a Master’s Degree
Short Office Hours At Least Two Years
Experience
Dream Job for EFL
Teachers
Class Size Varies
Small Teaching Hours Grading Policies
Freedom for Curriculum Student Complaints
Many Foreign Teachers Not Many Teaching
Resources
Higher Level Students Should Have Korean
Language Ability

16. Korean Culture and What it
Means for Education
 The Korean culture is deeply rooted in the Confucian system and
the roles of hierarchy (Kim, 2004). Kim (2004) explains that social
interaction is directly reflected by a person’s gender and age.
Teachers must respect their senior staff members and not give
constructive feedback. There are networks you must go through to
make requests. Usually, you talk to your head teacher and they will
talk to the administrator (Personal Experience).

17. Korean Culture and What it
Means for Education
 Teachers are respected figures, the higher level of education the
more respected. (Personal Experience). For example, my father in
law always tells his friends that I am a professor, but before as a
public-school teacher, he would never think to mention it. Students
usually won’t question the teacher because of the hierarchy system
in place and usually are silent when interacting with the teacher
(Kim, 2004). Kim (2004) recommends group work with their peers to
get them to communicate better. Students love active learning
activities.

18. Korean Culture and What it
Means for Education
 Koreans have a tendency to ask questions to get personal
information, these questions may be inappropriate in western
culture, but they see it as to build relationships in Korea (Choe,
2002). People will often ask questions like “Are you married?”, “How
old are you?”, “How tall are you?”, “How much do you weigh?”, and
“Where are you from?” Koreans do not find this to be rude or
impolite (Personal Experience).

19. Korean Phonology
 Korean has 14 consonant and 10 vowels that are combined to make
syllables. They do not have phonemes to represent the sounds l, r,
ð, θ, f, v, or z. Koreans have no sounds that go with the English
sounds /f/, /v/, /th/, and /z/ (Jeon, 2016). They often have difficulty
hearing and pronouncing words with the letters P, B, F, R, L, TH and
Z (Personal Experience).
 The Korean language does not have diphthongs, but only has
monophthongs. Where the English language has both diphthongs
and monophthongs (Jeon, 2016).
 In the Korean language, the first syllable is stressed, but individual
word stress is not significant. It is a syllable-timed language. English
is a stressed timed language where each word will be stressed
differently (Jeon, 2016). Students are sometimes as perceived as
monotone when speaking in English (Personal Experience).

20. Korean Morphology and
Syntax
 Korean sentence structure consists of subject, object verb (SOV).
The English language is SVO (Jeon, 2016). For example, in Korean,
I pizza eat and in English, I eat pizza. Korean English speakers will
often change word order when speaking English. This is very
common to hear in the classroom (Personal Experience).
 Koreans use honorifics as part of their language. Pronouns and
verbs have several forms to show a degree of formality or familiarity.
In the English language, pronouns are used the same and formality
and familiarity don’t play a role (Jeon, 2016). For example, the
pronoun “저” is formal for “I” and “나” is informal for “I”.
 Koreans Subjects and Object are given markers. Such as “가” ,“을”
and “를” (Jeon, 2016). In Korean, they say Mike-가 Cola-를 drank. In
English, Mike drank cola. There are no markers on the English
subject or object (Personal Experience).

21. Example Word Wall for
Classroom - Konglish

22. Example Word Wall for
Classroom – Self Prefix

23. Teaching Do’s and Don’t
 When calling a student over keep your palm to the ground because
the other way is seen for animals.
 Don’t write your students name in red ink. A name in red means they
are deceased.
 Don’t use the word crazy in class because it is associated with the
mentally ill and seen as a bad word.
 When addressing you they will say your first name plus teacher.
“Justin Teacher” or just teacher. It is not common to call people by
their names.

24. Be careful of 똥 침
 It is not very common anymore, but it
sometimes happens in Kindergarten.

25. Professional Resources
 KoTESOL – Provides conferences,
newsletters and more to help teachers.
 Waygook.org – Provides lesson plans and
discussion forums for teachers in Korea.
 https://www.eslcafe.com/ - Dave’s ESL has
job forums and lesson plans to use all
throughout Asia.
 Connect with fellow EFL teachers through
social media.

26. Conclusion
 Korea is a great place to teach. You may be
a new teacher looking for experience or a
veteran teacher looking for new challenges.
The benefits massively outweigh the risks. It
is crucial that you understand the culture of
your students and recognize your own
biases. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity
that you can’t miss out on. Hope to see you in
the future!

27. References
 Choe, Y. (2002). Intercultural conflict patterns and intercultural
training implications for Koreans. International Area Review, 5(1),
111-128.
 Jeon, C. Y. (2016, December 11). Contrast between Korean and
English. Retrieved from
https://www.hanyang.ac.kr/web/eng/special1?p_p_id=newsView_W
AR_newsportlet&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_col_id=column-
1&p_p_col_count=1&_newsView_WAR_newsportlet_action=view_
message&_newsView_WAR_newsportlet_messageId=51343
 Kim, S. J. (2004). Coping with cultural obstacles to speaking English
in the Korean secondary school context. Asian EFL Journal, 6(3),
17-27.