South Korea
Qualifications
South Korea is one of the easiest countries to get a job, however you first must have a 3 or 4 year degree to get sponsored for a work visa. There are many teaching jobs at language schools (hagwons). There is also a working holiday visa for citizens of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, as long as you are between 18 and 30 years old. For more information, go here.
Types of English teaching jobs
Most new teachers start out working in a hagwon. There are a great variety of hagwons, ranging from a small school in a rural part of the country, where you might be one of only two teachers or perhaps the entire teaching staff! I started my teaching career in a school such as this. There are also large franchised schools with dozens of teachers working on a set curriculum. For more qualifications, there are university and public school jobs as well.
Salary
Starting out, you can expect to receive about 2 million won for a 30 hour work week in a hagwon. University jobs pay more and include a much longer vacation, usually a few months. Be careful of schools which offer a surprisingly high salary.
South Korea may very well be the best country in Asia to save money, especially for a new teacher. Salaries are almost as high as Japan, but the cost of living is much lower, especially if you want to travel around the countryside.
Working conditions
There are many children’s schools and schools that specialize in conversation geared for university students and adults. Most teachers will teach a mix of the two. Standard contracts usually include 10 days of holidays, a one-month severance bonus, reimbursement for a return plane ticket from your home country and often paid or subsidized accommodation.
General information
For the entrepreneurial types, there may be opportunities to do other types of work. Although “illegal”, many teachers have private students, write textbooks, do some voice recording and even play small parts in films. Your school “owns” your work visa, so any work that you do outside of your school is considered illegal. There are many unscrupulous school owners, so I would advise you to always talk to a current teacher at the school before you sign that contract from overseas.
Links
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/ - Jobs in Korea
http://english.tour2korea.com/01TripPlanner/EssentialInfo/currency.asp?konum=1 Basic costs in Korea
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Information/general.cfm
