TEIK: Hagwon Edition Audio and 2nd Discussion Announcement

[broadway-bound3.livejournal.com]

Thank you to everyone who came to the hangout and listened and participated in the first TEIK discussion!

For everyone who couldn't make it I edited and uploaded the audio to a youtube video:

It's 57 minutes long. You can listen from the beginning or skip to the section you're most curious about.

The beginning is just an intro--explaining the set-up of the discussion--and a self-introduction.

What is a hagwon?: 6:40-8:16
Recruiters: 8:16-17:59
Paperwork: 18:00-30:30
Settling in: 30:30-47:10
Teaching environment: 47:10-57:00

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Second Discussion
TEIK: Public Schools
Date: Friday, November 20th
Time: 8:30 PM EST
Location: Google Hangouts
(link will be posted the day of the discussion)

If the guest speakers cannot make it to the discussion then the topic will be changed to culture shock, k-pop, and whatever other fun stuff people want to talk about.

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If I had a shot for every "um..." and tongue click I edited out of this, I would be dead.
If you want a written list of the paperwork you might need, let me know in the comments or you can PM me.

Comments

[opd-devil.livejournal.com]

Thanks for doing this , OP!

Totally forgot about this... and didn't get to join in :( Hopefully I get to next week!

[rivains.livejournal.com]

I missed the last discussion, but since the first post from the OP I've actually been in contact with Adventure Teaching and they've accepted me! So thanks, OP.

[umai-jae-ai.livejournal.com]

Congrats! I've been working with Adventure Teaching for the past few months & I'm actually flying out to South Korea tomorrow morning to begin teaching with Avalon.

[rivains.livejournal.com]

How has the process been? I'm currently emailing one of the advisors rn, and I'm currently gathering my visa docs together. I should be done soon! I originally wanted to go the public school route but I researched a lot into AT and I decided to go with them whilst applying for EPIK as well because they seem to be reliable.

[umai-jae-ai.livejournal.com]

I have mixed feelings about the overall process. Whereas recruitment companies such as Footprints allow you to view various job openings & decide whether or not you want to apply, AT keeps everything under wraps & is much less aggressive in securing interviews. From my understanding, AT basically put my resume up on a public forum & waited for schools to show interest & offer an interview. It took a good 3 weeks for AT to schedule my 1st interview & another 3 weeks to schedule a second. I became so frustrated that I began working with Footprints while waiting for more information from AT. Footprints secured 2 interviews & an actual job offer within the 1st week that I had been working with them. Ultimately, I went with a job offer that came through AT but it's been a rough road. There have been MANY last minute changes, however, most of those changes are due to the Korean Hagwon that I will be working with & an apparent lack of communication between them & AT. Overall, AT isn't as aggressive in finding jobs for their teachers as I would have liked but they have great recruiters who are very friendly & do their best to answer any questions you may have. Furthermore, they lay out the process very well & make everything easy. So if you're patient & not going to go stir crazy waiting to get interview offers, AT is overall a reliable company but it's definitely a good idea to keep your options open with other recruitment companies. Hope I provided some useful info! Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[broadway-bound3.livejournal.com]

That's so cool. I hope you have fun! Which campus are you going to? I know that there was a campus in Haeundae that needed an extra teacher. I was going to go back to Korea and work at that campus but HR figured it'd be better if I waited to go to Seoul so I could be closer to the big hospitals.

[umai-jae-ai.livejournal.com]

I was actually supposed to be going to their Haeundae campus until 2 days ago when they suddenly switched it on me. Apparently the 2 campuses down there merged & they no longer needed me but they secured a position for me in Pyongchon.

[broadway-bound3.livejournal.com]

That's so exciting! Is that Pyeongchon in Anyang? That's pretty far south but at least you'll be close to HR which is in Bundang. The staff that takes care of the foreign teachers are really nice. Amos is in charge of hiring and Linda does a lot of the orientations.

[umai-jae-ai.livejournal.com]

Yes! Pyeongchon in Anyang. I've only spoken with Amos once during the interview process but he was great & made sure to secure me a position despite the 1st 2 campuses I was supposed to teach at undergoing sudden changes & no longer needing new teachers. If the rest of the staff is anything like him then I know I'll be in good hands.

[broadway-bound3.livejournal.com]

Amos is pretty great. He helped me while I was in the hospital this past April and with getting me back to the States for my chemo and then persuading higher ups to let me come back. I'm taking him out to dinner when I go back. Haha.

If you have any questions or worries about Avalon or Korea feel free to ask! I'll be excited to kind of know another foreign teacher when I get there.

[umai-jae-ai.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I will. It's a relief to talk to someone who has some experience with Avalon & Korea. I'm glad to hear you're doing better and are coming back!!! When will you be arriving? Would be awesome to meet you 😄

[broadway-bound3.livejournal.com]

I won't be coming back until mid-February, which is when most new teachers come. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't have to go to orientation until February with all the other new arrivals. You can PM me and we can meet up!

[umai-jae-ai.livejournal.com]

Nah. They already have us all scheduled for a week of orientation & training this coming week. Wish me luck! lol I'll see you in February!

[broadway-bound3.livejournal.com]

Wow! I'm so happy for you! I'm curious who they'll place you with. Good luck!

[seulgibear.livejournal.com]

my internet crashed 10 minutes after i joined. it's too weak, so most likely i'll keep up through your uploaded videos. thank you for doing this!

oh, a question: is adventure teaching just for us people or for other countries as well?

[umai-jae-ai.livejournal.com]

You mean, who will they work with and place in South Korea? Going by their visa process page, Adventure Teaching seems to work with Americans, Canadians, British, Australians, Irish, New Zealanders & South Africans. Hope that answers your question!

[broadway-bound3.livejournal.com]

No problem! I'm glad people are finding them useful. Hopefully, I'll have four discussions done, but that's if I can get guest speakers.

I know they work with people in the USA and Canada, and umai said they list other countries on their visa page, but I'm not 100% sure if they actually place people from those countries. It wouldn't hurt to shoot them an email and ask directly.

[raksha38.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you so much for doing this!

*runs off to listen*

[kyokomurasaki.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd ever teach but this is interesting to me so I gave it a listen. :p A lot of these tips would be useful for getting a job or studying abroad in general.

Just wanted to say about notaries, sometimes banks and places like UPS stores will do that as well. You should just be able to google "notary public" and find one close to you.

I did have a question: you said to bring cash for spending; is it easier to use cash only or are credit cards accepted widely?

[broadway-bound3.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that about the notary. I looked up where to get it done in my area and it just said the library. Then I asked the librarian about it she said funeral homes do them too.

I'm pretty sure most places will accept credit cards. I don't have a credit card so I didn't think to mention it. But, like the bank card, if you're going to use it overseas I'm pretty sure you have to let the credit card company know that you'll be in another country so that when you use it they don't think someone stole it. Thanks for bringing that up!

[kyokomurasaki.livejournal.com]

No problem!

I think some post offices might provide notary services as well; you basically just have to get a certificate from your state government to become a notary public so a lot of people like lawyers, tax accountants, etc. get them because it's useful for their services to be able to notarize documents.

That makes me feel better about the credit cards. I'll take some cash as well because there are always some places that don't accept them. I'm pretty sure most banks/credit card companies let you notify them online if you're going to be traveling so they don't shut your card off (sometimes I do it when I go somewhere domestically too just in case.)

I know that you can order foreign currency from your bank and they'll usually give you a good exchange rate instead of relying on an ATM or getting robbed at currency exchange places. I've never done it before but I will next time I go overseas.

EDIT: it's also good to make sure your credit card company won't charge you a fee for using it internationally because some do depending on what type of card you have.

[broadway-bound3.livejournal.com]

I don't know about other countries but I waited until I was in Incheon airport to exchange my money. Different Korean banks have booths set up that will exchange your money. I used KEB and they didn't tack on any fee for doing it, and they give you a receipt so you can see there was no hidden fee or anything. Cash is always good to have on hand, especially if you plan to go to traditional markets and places like that.

[sugakookies.livejournal.com]

When I was in Korea I found Foreign Currency cards (i used caxtonFX, I know there are others..) to be really useful for when my atms were being iffy with my bank cards (the amount you can withdraw at atm's is lower if you're foreign). You basically load a certain amount of money on to the card and use it as a debit with no charges :D It meant that I didn't have to have cash on my all the time which I was really paranoid about flying out tbh.

All forms of debit/credit cards are accepted in SK, though there isn't chip and pin, it's all sign for which is great and easy but sucks if your card gets lost or stolen. Also yeah make sure to check that you won't get landed with fees for using your cards abroad. You may also get charged for transferring money to accounts too.

:D