Teaching in Korea

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Teaching in Korea

SMOE teacher in Korea South Korea offers some of the best ESL teaching opportunities in the world. Do you need to save money, pay off student loans or build for the future? If so, Korea is the place for you.

Korea offers the highest starting teaching salaries
Korea offers free round-trip airfare
Korea offers free housing
the cost of living in Korea is pretty cheap

Take your time and have a look at the wealth of information we have about teaching and living in South Korea. All Footprints ESL recruiters have been English teachers, many of whom taught and lived in Korea for several years. If you're accepted as a Footprints teacher, you will also receive a comprehensive Korean Orientation after you sign a contract.

We have over 40 teaching positions in private language schools in Korea EVERY MONTH. In these private language schools, also called Hagwons or Hakwons, you can teach all ages of students. We have some private language schools that are focussed on teaching kindergarten aged students and others that only teach adults. Most of these schools cater to elementary to high school aged students and some offer classes to all students K-adult (K being kindergarten).

If you've got teaching experience or an Education degree, Footprints is the main recruiter for public school positions around Korea. Footprints alumni are able to get coveted public school teaching jobs in South Korea in year 2 ahead of the rest of the pack. Korean public school teaching jobs generally start in August and March each year but due to the incredible demand for teachers for public schools we are placing teachers EVERY month in these positions. These are great programs for teachers to add incredible international teaching experience to their portfolio.

Marijuana - A Risky Past Time in South Korea

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

Something that many of us don’t think about before we leave our home countries to teach abroad is - different countries have VERY different laws. Things that we take for granted as being “Not really a big deal” can carry steep penalties when we are outside of our home countries.

A big one – Marijuana use. For many in North America it JUST makes the list of controlled substances with the use of medicinal marijuana being somewhat commonplace and mostly accepted – in Canada at least.

Teacher Interview - Teaching English in Korea

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

Checking out North Korea

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

Ever wondered what it was like in a country that has been closed to the world for 50 years?

A country that received a donation of 50 bicycles in 2001 from the Red Cross so that doctors could make house calls to patients and get to hospitals? A country where foreign movies have been banned for 50 years but the leader of the country has his own book written about his favorite blockbusters. I think Batman tops his list.

Can you guess what country I’m talking about?

North Korea is an amazing country if you look past the constant antagonistic government that threatens to sell nuclear weapons abroad or even to use them, you will see a remarkable country.

It's a Bird - It's a Plane ... It's my English Teacher?

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

People that travel overseas to teach English are often a unique breed. This story about a teacher looking to do something different in the land where eating live octupus is not only accepted, it's encouraged.

Here is the story she has to tell of her adventures soaring over the Korean peninsula.

Korea Tourism

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

Korea is one of the hidden treasures in Asia. While Thailand, Japan and China and other countries have long been in the spotlight for tourism in Asia, Korea remarkably has hidden quietly in the shadows. In most cases it isn't until work or a flight layover brings you to this amazing country that you begin to realise the incredible offerings that South Korea has to offer.

The Korea Tourism Organization offers insights into the amazing offerings of this warm culture whose culinary delights and barbeque treats will strike the fancy of most appetites and whose historical treasures and striking landscapes will amaze the most intrepid of travelers.

Learn more about the Korea Tourism Organization CLICK HERE

Students of English Study Behind Bars

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

UIJEONGBU PRISON, Gyeonggi Province - It looks like a typical scene at thousands of hagwons in Korea; students sit around a foreign teacher, trying hard to express themselves in English, with laughter interrupting the flow of conversation every few minutes.

If not for the monotonous blue uniforms which all the students are wearing and an iron-barred window, it's easy to forget this classroom is set back from the rest of the world, behind layers of locked steel doors and towers and checkpoints manned by prison guards.

SMOE Canceled Almost 100 Jobs in August 2009

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

In the last week of August Footprints was contacted by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) to let us know that they had over accepted and that almost 100 teachers who had been accepted for teaching jobs and who were in various states of departure readiness would not be required to teach with the SMOE. When our Footprints Placement Coordinator Dave Harvey first learned about this situation while he was in Korea receiving public school teachers at the Incheon airport he took immediate action to ensure Footprints teachers were best accomodated and re-situated as quickly as possible. Footprints Korea General Manager Scott Kim immediately followed up with the Ministry of Education, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and with Ben Glickman, co-owner of Footprints Recruiting. As the largest supplier of teachers to public school teaching opportunities in South Korea, this situation was to dramatically affect 26 Footprints teachers.

Basic Benefits to Teach English in Korea

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

Salary/month (minimum) - 1,900,000 Won per month (MINIMUM)
Tax - 3.5 - 7%
Overtime - approximately USD 20, CDN 25
Working Hours - 25 - 30 hours/week
Severance - Upon successful completion of your contract you will receive an extra one month salary as a bonus - also called severance and a legal responsibility of the employer.
Airfare - FREE airfare provided - reimbursed on arrival
Housing - FREE furnished apartment -single or shared
Medical - Complete coverage - 50% paid of monthly premiums paid for by employer, 50% paid for by teacher. Amounts to about 2-4% of salary.
Vacation - 10 days paid leave vacation plus national statutory holidays.

* Terms and rate subject to change - contracts vary from school to school and benefits increase in accordance with qualifications and experience.

What is happening with the Korean Won?

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

No need to be alarmed. The Won is a currency that fluctuates from time to time and these are tough times everywhere. The one amazing thing about Korea and Koreans is that they are a highly developed country (for the most part), with a highly developed economy and industry. The Korean Won will rebound. (Bloomberg-Korean Won May Gain..)

Take the IMF crisis back in mid 1997 as an example. The Won was critically devalued to 1800Won to 1USD from 800Won to 1USD, people were losing jobs, major companies were crashing down. It was absolute mahem. The Koreans rallied.

No Limits - A Year or a Career

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

Hello, I am a certified teacher originally from Toronto, Ontario. After graduating from teachers college I had a lot of trouble finding a job. I substitute taught for a little while but then I decided to go back to school and pursue a Masters degree in Developmental Psychology.

After graduating, I knew I wanted to travel but at the same time I needed to make money. I also wanted a change of scenery and was longing to meet new people and see new things. At that point, I decided I should seek a job overseas. I did some research and contacted Footprints. They got in touch with me very quickly and I expressed to them what I was looking for.

English Camps Reflect South Korean Ambitions

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

ANSAN, South Korea -- "Next!" barked Joanne Richardson, a bureaucratic-looking Canadian sitting behind a desk in a bustling hall marked "Immigrations." She beckoned to a timid looking 15-year old girl wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt.

"Good morning, what is your name?" Richardson, 27, asked using clear, enunciated English.

In the English Village in Ansan, students use English in order to receive dollar-like coupons to use for goods and services at the "village bank."

Korean Ultimate Team Represents in Shanghai

Korea Information - Teaching in Korea

On the weekend of June 21/22 The Korea Ultimate Players Association sent an ultimate frisbee team to compete an international tournament in Shanghai
The Korean team is unique at most tournaments in that nearly all our players have pretty much the same job… teaching English!

Saturday morning comes too early and we awake to unfathomable humidity and air thicker than the previous night’s hot and sour soup. We huddle up, pass out our sweet new uniforms from Footprints, and prepare to battle for Asian ultimate glory.