When I decided to teach in Korea about 3 weeks ago, there were some basic things that I had to understand. Some I researched beforehand, while others I learned during the application process. One thing I knew for sure was that teaching at a hagwon would help me accomplish my goals.

Before you start applying, it's important to solidify your knowledge on a few topics.

Identify your motivations. This will be the key to enduring all the hardships you'll experience in the next year. Homesickness, culture shock, long working hours, ostracism, xenophobia, extreme weather conditions, etc. are all very common difficulties that foreigners face. Will your ambitions push you through them for 12 months?

If you want to teach in Korea, you will need to obtain something called a "Visa." This is a document that grants you government "permission" to stay in a country for a longer time. Korea will place a Visa on your passport in the form of a sticker. To be eligible for a Korean visa, you must meet certain requirements.
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Nationality Requirements
You must hold a passport from one of the following 7 countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the United States. Residents from these 4 countries may be eligible to apply to teach, but the standards are stricter: India, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore.

​Academic Requirements
You must have an undergraduate degree from an accredited 3 or 4 year university.

​Most foreigners fall under an "E-2" type visa, allowing a person to teach at a school (including hagwons) for 1 year before they need to renew their visa or leave. However, for those with Korean parents, you would be eligible for an "F-4" type visa, which has many more lenient restrictions and allows you to stay for 2 years before needing to renew.

There are other types of visas, but 99% of foreigners interested in teaching in Korea will apply for an E-2 or F-4 visa.

​Regardless of which visa you're getting, you'll need the following materials:

• 2 Passport Photos (size: 3.5Cm * 4.5Cm)
• 2 University Transcripts
• Apostilled Diploma
• Apostilled Criminal Background Check (CBC)
• Unofficial Health Statement (E-2 Health Statement Form) (F-Type Health Statement Form)

An Apostille is a vetting system done at the state (diploma) or federal (criminal background check) level in which an authoritative figure will claim that all the information is true. These items are necessary to obtain an E-2, but are also submitted to the Ministry of Education to prove that you meet the minimum requirements to teach. F-4 visa applicants will need them as well.

Once you've gotten your Apostilled Diploma and Apostilled Criminal Background Check, you've completed about 90% of the work to obtain an E-2 visa!

E-2 Visa
Personally, I am not getting an E-2 Visa, so I'm not too familiar with the process. I highly recommend calling your local Korean Consulate (if available) and asking what is standard procedure. Below are links that go over the steps.

• E2 Visa Instructions for Americans
• E2 Visa Instructions for Canadians
• Getting an E2 Teaching Visa
• Application Forms for E-2 Visa

Procedure
A school did give me a very brief rundown of what to expect after gathering my Apostille documents.

"[O]ur school should submit your diploma and FBI background check to the immigration office and then we have to wait about one week to get VISA application number. After I get VISA application number from the immigration office, I should give it to you so that you can apply for E2 VISA with the number.  It will also take about another one week to receive E2 VISA."
          - Gyeyang Global Language Center


​F-4 Visa​
What's great about the F-4 is that the process is somewhat straightforward and does not require interviews like the E-2 does. Essentially, you have to prove you are Korean.

Required Documents

• F-4 Visa Application Form (PDF Format)
• Your Valid Passport
• 2 Passport Photos
• Original & Copy of your Birth Certificate
• Documents proving you are ethnically Korean (e.g. your Korean family registry, your parents' Korean passports or your parents' birth certificates) (호적 등본)
• Document(s) showing renunciation of your parent's Korean Citizenship (제적증명서)*
• $45 Fee

​* If your parents have NOT renounced (gotten rid of) their Korean citizenship, that is a separate process that will need to be done in person at your local Korean Consulate office. It may take up to 3 months.

Procedure​

1. Call your local Korean Consulate Office. Ask about all the required documents needed to obtain an F-4 Visa. Although I've provided a checklist above, it may have changed.
2. Gather all your documents (listed above)
3. Make an appointment to submit your documents to the Korean Consulate. If you can go in person, set aside time when both your parents can visit the consulate with you.
4. Wait up to 1 month for the visa to be processed. 

When I started my job hunt, there were a lot of minor things I've noticed about the application process. Knowing them might be helpful before you start seeking a teaching job.

Finding a Job

• The top 2 job boards I used when applying was Dave's ESL Cafe and Craigslist
• If your Korean is decent, you can use Naver to search hagwons in a specific location and apply directly via the school's website (i.e. 인천 학원 - Incheon Hagwon)
• Schools prefer degrees in English Literature or Education.
• Hagwons, unlike most public schools, hire all-year round. They hire whenever a current teacher's contract is expiring soon and that teacher is not renewing. For the record, a school year typically starts around March.
• Take "working hours" (e.g. "9:00am ~ 6:00pm") with a grain of salt. What you should be focusing on is the required "teaching" hours. Assume at least 2 hours of prep-work per 6 classes of 50 minutes. Expect more prep-work for schools that to do not have course books or a set curriculum.
• Some schools will require occasional teaching on Saturdays
• Average monthly salary for teachers with no experience is 2.1 ~ 2.2 million won for 25 teaching hours.
  To keep conversion rates simple:
  1,000 won = $1 USD
  2,000,000 won (2.0 million won) = $2,000 USD
• Most salaried teaching positions will include free furnished housing (either a studio or dormitory), but you'll need to pay for utilities, taxes and other fees that can eat up to 10-20% of your income before you see your money

Applying 

• You will be asked to submit a resume and photo. Some schools request a cover letter outlining your teaching experience
• A few schools require that you have all your Visa documents (Apostille Diploma and Apostille CBC) in hand before you apply
• If it's your first time, you'll most likely be using multiple recruiters to apply to hagwon jobs (Do NOT use more than one recruiter to apply for a public school. It will get you disqualified.)
• NEVER pay a fee to a recruiter. Recruiters get paid by the school when they find the perfect teacher for the academy (recruiters receive a paycheck as soon as you board the airplane).
• Some schools will only accept Gyopos (F-4 Visa) or will only accept native foreigners (E-2 Visa)
• Some schools forbid couples (a married man and woman both applying for teaching jobs at the same school)
• Good recruiters will find you interviews the next day or sometimes the same day. Be prepared to have interviews with as little notice as 30 minutes (this happened to me with my first recruiter. I was so shocked!)
• Many hagwons are a franchise or have many branches, so contract negotiation is harder with these types of schools.. Examples are Chungdahm Learning Institutes and Poly Schools.

The Interview

• Almost all your interviews will be done via Skype Video chat. I recommend finding a simple, professional background (i.e. a library conference room) with earphones to prevent background noise.
• Some hagwons will require a "demo" of teaching students, sometimes called role-playing (5-15 minutes long)
• Specify interview times in Korean Standard Time (KST) to make it easier for the interviewers
• If you get an offer on the spot, you will be asked to respond within 1-2 days. I recommend scheduling a bunch of back-to-back interviews to weigh offers within the same time frame.
• If you have a TEFL/TESOL certificate, hagwons will probably not ask you about it. I've gone through 10 interviews and was never asked to verify my certificate.
• Questions will mostly be about your teaching experience, but occasionally will include inquiries about your personal life (i.e. relationship status, smoking & alcohol tendencies, hobbies)
• Tip to ace interviews: Be so passionate about kids and teaching that interviewers will think that the only thing on your mind is teaching, and teaching only.

Knowing where to look for resources and help during the entire application process is essential to making well-informed decisions. And there are many available, if you know where to look. Below is a list of links I've visited frequently.

General Help & Information:

• /r/TeachingInKorea
• Korea 4 Expats
• Korea Bridge
• Any big-name TEFL Course blog (e.g. International TEFL Academy)
• Any big-name Recruiter blog (e.g. Korvia, Gone 2 Korea and Travel & Teach Recruiting)

Taxes:

• National Tax Service (income tax)
• National Pension Service (required pension plan)
• National Health Insurance Service (NHIS or NHIC or KNHI)

Government Related Information:

• Korean Labor Laws
• Korea Immigration Services

Korean Schools:

• Naver (Korean Google)

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Culture Blogs

• ​Kimchibytes
• Eat Your Kimchi
• Seoul Searching​

If all else fails and you still can't find what you're looking for, good ol' Google is the way to go.

Welcome to my blog series "Korea Teach to Learn," dedicated to my teaching plans at a hagwon (private after school program) in Korea. The first few posts will outline my background, motivations, and pre-hagwon processes. 

There are so many resources that will help you make a decision if you're on the fence about teaching in Korea. My blog will be a little different because my reasoning is obscure, and I'll talk mostly about my day to day life with updates on my own learning experiences. Hopefully, you'll enjoy a thing or two during my journey as I live in a completely new environment overseas!

Hello! My name is Sora and I decided to pursue an opportunity to teach in Korea a few weeks ago. A month later, here I am, signed on to teach at a hagwon for a year. Don't get me wrong, the idea has been brewing at the back of my mind for a couple years, but I never took full reign over the thought until now.

What makes me different than most teachers is my motivation to go abroad. ​I will be teaching at a hagwon to learn at a hagwon. A majority of people choose Korea for reasons like saving money, experiencing life abroad, the culture and food, career change, having the time of your life, and so on. I'm here to be a student by day and teacher at night. 

One of the biggest debates if you're contemplating on teaching English in Korea is to decide where to teach. There are two main types of education in Korea. The first is called a hagwon (a private for-profit institutional education program), and the other is your typical public school (schools funded by the government). There are a lot of things to weigh when you decide one or the other, such as benefits, location, salary, students, class sizes, etc.

Truth be told, I chose a hagwon because 1) you can choose your own location, and 2) I sort of decided this on a tiny whim, so it was difficult to nab a recommendation letter on short notice. Only public schools require LOR.

Which one would be best for you? It differs by person.

• Public School: If you're brand new to the culture, don't know a lick of Korean, or you need someone else to help you with transitioning, public schools are probably the way to go. They're usually easier for people who may be more prone to culture shock.
• Hagwon: If you prefer teaching at night, want to be surrounded by fellow foreign teachers like yourself, or enjoy smaller classrooms, hagwons may be better. Just be warned: 99% of the time, working conditions are much harsher.

I recommend doing a quick Google search on the pros and cons of teaching at either types of schools. Here's a couple: The Pros & Cons of Working at a Hagwon and ​Private vs. Public Schools, What's Better?

There are lots of things to consider when teaching in Korea. The next few blog posts will go over the following topics specifically for hagwons. Because I knew that a hagwon would best fit my needs, all my research is based around them.
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1. Motivations & Circumstances
2. How to Research
3. The "Korean" Job Hunting Process
4. Visa Types
5. Recruiters
6. Interviews & Contracts
7. Taxes & Living Costs
8. Preparing for the Move