So I think the title speaks for itself. Actually, this isn't really news per se. If you've talked to me recently you would know all about my plans. So what are they you ask (as most people probably don't talk to me)?
Well, I the school that I will be working at is called Alphabet Street (I googled it and found a lot of Prince lyrics) and it is located in a rather nice area of Seoul (or so I'm told). Alex and I will be both be at the same school (a plus) and we'll get to share a two bedroom apartment (another plus, though I'm not sure yet if their definition or a two-bedroom apartment is the same as mine - only time will tell).
Some other hilights I can share with you (that I know right now):
- The apartment is aparently (I'm using this word a lot) within a 10 minute walk of the school (not too shabby cause I can probably do it in 7 or 8 if they say 10).
- We start March 1st, though rumour has it the school wants us there on the 22nd of February (more on that later) to get settled and such.
- We get two (separate) weeks of vacation and one is in August so there is still hope to get to the Olympics.
- About half the day is devoted to teaching a small (about 10) group of kindergarten students and the rest of the day will be elementary students.
That's about all I think you might find important. Since I last wrote Alex and I have been frantically trying to get all of our documents together so we can get our visas. I think my next post will be about that fun and exciting process (on the plus side, I can now say I don't have HIV or Hepatitis C).
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Getting a Job
Now that you have a recruiter working for you, your job search becomes much easier. In my case, my recruiter gave us several options to pick from and gave us time to look at them. Like anything you do in this process, the most important part is to do your research.
Where can you do this research you may ask? Finding out about a place that doesn't even use the same language as we do is not an easy task. Wikipedia can provide some insight to some cities in Korea, so that might be your first task (some recruiters may even allow you to pick from any region of the country). Lonely Planet and other travel books can be helpful - though I did find the libraries in Victoria only had older versions of the Lonely Planet book and not the various other series of Travel books. Simple search engines can also provide some results, but most of them won't search through Korean sites unless you make your searches super specific. Looking for a particular school online can be fairly easy, though often if a school has a website a recruiter will give it to you for you to check out (even though they are mostly in Korean - or whatever your browser determines the characters are, usually "???" - I found that pictures of students and other teachers can be very telling). There are also several sites out there that "blacklist" certain schools. Don't believe everything you read, but don't ignore it either. If you have concerns, make sure you ask. If you're curious make sure you ask. Just ask a lot of questions, ok?
You will likely also have to make a decision between public and private schools. I will assume that if you've gotten this far you've likely run into one of the many resources on the internet that talks about the differences. Your recruiter will probably give you information on that as well, so I figure there is no point in repeating it here.
If you like a school then your recruiter will contact them with your info and the process is pretty simple from there: set up an interview if they like you, do the interview, the school decides and then you have to decide if you want to work at the school.
As everyone should tell you at this point, don't immediately answer. Take your time to consider the terms of the contract. Read it over. Get your friends and parents to read it over (maybe someone who has a law degree too). Do more research just to make sure. The most important thing though, is to get an email address of someone who has worked at the school or someone who is working there. Ask them questions, but if the school can provide someone who says good things about the school then that is definitely a good sign. If you can make multiple contacts with this person (not just through the email - often teachers in Korea have facebook) then that just assures you that the person actually exists (though I doubt a school would go through all of that trouble just to get someone to Korea to give them a raw deal).
Once you have made your decision, then you should make sure the school finds out (probably through your recruiter). There is still more work to be done, however, before you step in front of your class the first time.
If you have any questions about the process up to this point, please don't hesitate to ask.
Big news is coming soon to this site, so stay tuned!
Where can you do this research you may ask? Finding out about a place that doesn't even use the same language as we do is not an easy task. Wikipedia can provide some insight to some cities in Korea, so that might be your first task (some recruiters may even allow you to pick from any region of the country). Lonely Planet and other travel books can be helpful - though I did find the libraries in Victoria only had older versions of the Lonely Planet book and not the various other series of Travel books. Simple search engines can also provide some results, but most of them won't search through Korean sites unless you make your searches super specific. Looking for a particular school online can be fairly easy, though often if a school has a website a recruiter will give it to you for you to check out (even though they are mostly in Korean - or whatever your browser determines the characters are, usually "???" - I found that pictures of students and other teachers can be very telling). There are also several sites out there that "blacklist" certain schools. Don't believe everything you read, but don't ignore it either. If you have concerns, make sure you ask. If you're curious make sure you ask. Just ask a lot of questions, ok?
You will likely also have to make a decision between public and private schools. I will assume that if you've gotten this far you've likely run into one of the many resources on the internet that talks about the differences. Your recruiter will probably give you information on that as well, so I figure there is no point in repeating it here.
If you like a school then your recruiter will contact them with your info and the process is pretty simple from there: set up an interview if they like you, do the interview, the school decides and then you have to decide if you want to work at the school.
As everyone should tell you at this point, don't immediately answer. Take your time to consider the terms of the contract. Read it over. Get your friends and parents to read it over (maybe someone who has a law degree too). Do more research just to make sure. The most important thing though, is to get an email address of someone who has worked at the school or someone who is working there. Ask them questions, but if the school can provide someone who says good things about the school then that is definitely a good sign. If you can make multiple contacts with this person (not just through the email - often teachers in Korea have facebook) then that just assures you that the person actually exists (though I doubt a school would go through all of that trouble just to get someone to Korea to give them a raw deal).
Once you have made your decision, then you should make sure the school finds out (probably through your recruiter). There is still more work to be done, however, before you step in front of your class the first time.
If you have any questions about the process up to this point, please don't hesitate to ask.
Big news is coming soon to this site, so stay tuned!
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