doing TEFL in korea on your own

roisinmcg

hi all I have just graduated and I have a 120 hour TEFL certificate that i did last year. I'm thinking of applying to teach english in korea to start in spring next year but I am reluctant as i'll be applying on my own. a lot of the posts i have been reading are from people who went over with a friend or a partner but there is nobody i know who wants to do this. I am reluctant to apply as I'm worried the cultural shock will be too much for me if i go alone and i will be fairly lonely. im just wonderring if anybody else out there has gone over on their own and what experience did they have would the recommend it going on their own?

squeakyduck

roisinmcg wrote: »

I'm worried the cultural shock will be too much for me if i go alone and i will be fairly lonely. im just wonderring if anybody else out there has gone over on their own and what experience did they have would the recommend it going on their own?

I've went alone. I had a friend over in Korea but he was like 3 hours away. I would recommend going alone. If you go with a friend you will use that as a comfort and potentially miss out on making friends with other people alone.

There is a huge amount of Irish over here, and they are close in Seoul. There is always someone around. There are foreigner groups in every city, groups on fb to help with everything and people in the local areas are friendly too.

Before you go over research the school thoroughly and also research the area, no harm in adding the local fb group and saying hi.

The apprehension is the worst part! I came over alone and I've met so many people I'll be friends with for life!

roisinmcg

awh thats great to know you'v put my mind at ease so much thank you i really really want to do it but i was scared of going over the other side of the world entirely on my own but thats put me at ease about it now. and how did you go about applying for it and all that i'v been googling it and there seems to be so many different companies to go through hard to know whats decent ones and whats dodgey ones. and do you pick where abouts you want to be based or do they put you somewhere? im goin to the gradfair in the rds next week cos EPIK will be there i figured it would be better to talk to a company in person.

squeakyduck

roisinmcg wrote: »

im goin to the gradfair in the rds next week cos EPIK will be there i figured it would be better to talk to a company in person.

Well TEFL in South Korea is a great thread you'll find it on the first page. They'll be able to give the low downs about everything.

Hagwons (private schools) vs Public Schools.
How to get over there (documents wise)
What to bring..
How to deal with some stuff over there.

Check out Dave's ESL cafe, work with several recruiters (ATC is my recruiter) and research, research RESEARCH!

joysabroad

I came to China alone! I also think it's best to come alone. I was jealous of people who came with friends or boyfriend/girlfriend but I've gotten so much more out of the experience by having to do it all by myself. In China there are many people who have also come on their own - I'd imagine it's the same in Korea. Everyone becomes friends and you create a small community. It's great and you shouldn't let anything stop you. :-)