ESL Teaching on the rise by William Han Asian Americans taking ESL teaching jobs in Asia as become a new move in the Asian community. Basically you go to a Asian Country, and teach english in schools. But is it worth it? Some say yes, others well....they had some horrible stories to share about their experiences. A breakdown:

The working conditions
Basically the school that hires you will pay for your airplane ticket. They would provide you with a room (in most cases a apartment).
You would be teaching close to 30 hours a week during the weekdays and have the weekends and holidays off. Class sizes vary from 5 - 12 children and from one-on-one tutoring to classes of 15 for adults. Saturday is a regular working day in Korea; however, most of the schools do not require Saturday teaching. They would provide you with teaching materials, and you would basically have to stand in front of the class and run a 40 to 50 minute class. Sounds legit right?


Salaries & benefits
Like I said, they provide you with a room and also a round trip airfare. In most cases, the salary is between 1.7 and 2.0 million won per month, which is close 16 or 18 hundred dollars a month.Overtime work is often paid at the hourly equivalent of the regular salary, though some schools pay more for overtime. Utilities (electricity, water, gas and telephone) are the teacher's responsibility. So basically you get to save up while taking the job. Most offer a one year contract with a option to renewal for extra year if you choose to.

The Procedures
So who's qualified for this job? Basically anyone who has a 4 year degree, speaks English fluently, and is a citizen of a English speaking coutry. And no, you do not have to know the language of the country you are going to. The steps are easy:
1) you apply,
2) they accept (no most cases:no interview needed)
3)You apply for your visa
4)they send you the airplane ticket
Bingo you're done.

The bad side:
Yeah, we did research on this. We heard some negative experiences from some of the people we interviewed for this article. A good example, is a American born citizen from Texas. James Crawford stated that he did a ESL teaching job last year in Seoul, Korea. (The name of school will not be mentioned). Basically he had a hard time cause of his employer. Right after he got off the plane, he was expected to run some practice skits without time to even unpack. The room was soo small, he had barely and room to move around.

He noticed that a lot of teachers that were on their last month before their contract was up was fired so the employer didn't have to pay for the one months severance pay after completion of one year. He was forced to answer phonecalls cause not a whole lot of them spoke english well. In the end, he too was fired before his last month. Basically Mr. Crawford had nothing but negative things to say about the whole experience.

Another person shared his story: Micheal Lee is a Korean American who took a ESL position in Seoul, Korea. His experience wasn't as bad so Crawford but he stressed that often times he had a hard time with the students cause they expected a Caucasian face to be in that classroom than Asian Americans. Some employers will not even hire you if you're not Caucasian.

The good side:
Lisa Schmidt had positive feedback about her experience in a teaching position she took at Korea. Her employer was great! The treatment was nice and it had a family like atomosphere. She stated that they would also take field trips with the students to tourist attractions, and the expenses were paid! She was more than satisfied with the working and living conditions.

Bottom line
Basically It comes down to this: your experience depends on who hires you. If you get Mr. Crawford's employer, then it could be a horrible one year. If you get a employer like Lisa, then you'll have a positive experience. I bet you're asking "how in world would I know who's a good employer??"

Do some research, often times we hear positive remarks from those we got their positions through agencies instead of applying directly from the employer. Try picking a agency that has been doing for at least 4 to 5 years. They will recommend you to the right schools and help you with the whole procedure. From the application, getting your visa, to getting you on that plane! Here's some we recommend: