Teachers Share their Experiences While Living Abroad!

Recently, I’ve become rather curious about the ways in which Chungdahm Institute (CDI) and Chungdahm April are different. While I have only worked at an April for about a year and a half. A friend of mine had worked at both a CDI and an April. Thus, together we thought up a list of the most notable differences between the two academies.

As I complete my third full week living and working in Busan, South Korea, I am able to look back at my experience with gratitude. Many native-speakers working with Chungdahm may agree, the first few weeks working can be quite overwhelming, especially when thinking back to training week—which ended up being a five-day intensive of information and methodology which are essential for a smooth transition to the branch location. Using this opportunity, I will be completely honest about my experience thus far. I have no regrets about applying to work for this company, and look forward to this experience of a lifetime.

Occasionally, as a Chungdahm April teacher, I get to chaperone on field trips! Recently, I went on my third field trip to a place called KidZania. This is my favorite field trip location. There is nothing for me to do because, as the name shows, it is only for kids. Thus, I just simply love the place's concept and love to see how much fun the kids have on these field trips.

My name is Romy Darius and I am from the city of Toronto, Canada. I graduated from York University with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and obtained a TESOL Certificate and this past August, I decided I wanted to teach English in Korea. The opportunity to teach students abroad intrigued me due to my love of teaching. I have never lived outside of North America, so this was my perfect chance to not only gain experience teaching, but, to engage in another culture and make a difference in the lives of others.

When applying to teach English in Korea through Aclipse, you initially will apply to teach for ChungDahm Institute. ChungDahm Institute is one of the most famous and well financed private after school academies in all of Korea. The students who come to ChungDahm pay some of the highest tuition rates per month and their parents are expecting to get their money’s worth with that price of tuition. But what many people do not know is that ChungDahm is a huge company. ChungDahm has hundreds of locations in Korea and have recently opened up in the markets of Vietnam and Japan. Not only is there ChungDahm (mother company), but there is also the i-Garten program, ChungDahm Chinese, and April Academy. This blog will help you differentiate between April Academy and ChungDahm Institute.

If you decide to either work for April Institute or ChungDahm Academy, both company’s terms last for thirteen weeks. You will see your students 2-3 times in a week and you will always have a group of kids who never bring their supplies to class. As a result, it’s always good to keep an extra set of pencils, erasers, and coloring pencils/markers for tests and group projects. It may sound cruel, but I always need to have a red pen close by so I can correct their homework. Your location will probably have a set of materials for you to use, however, I always find that it is never enough. Since I have my own classroom and my own projects, I decide to buy my own things and make it feel like it is my space. Corporate will provide you with the tools that you need for your classroom, but I wanted my room to be comfortable. As the summer term just ended, and the Fall term has just begun, I wanted to provide people with a list of places where you can shop for new school supplies. What's even better is that most of the places mentioned in my blog are cheaper than the big retailers like E-Mart and Home Plus.

I’ve been teaching in Korea since November with ChungDahm's April Busanjin Branch in Busan.  To get a better idea of how ChungDahm operates, one the first things you should know is that there are four seasonal teaching terms: fall, winter, spring, and summer. The majority of time our teaching timetable remains stable and students are enrolled in a certain level for two terms before taking an achievement to see if they will level-up or repeat the current level. The levels for the April program in order from beginner to most advanced are: Starter, Seedbed, Seed 1, 2 , Sprout 1-3, and Sapling 1,2.  However, during the summer and winter months, the kids have breaks from their regular school classes…so it would be super distressing if they had to continue going to normal English academy classes during vacation time! Still though, to learn English or any language, one needs to be habitual in their practice. Enter: Winter and Summer Hybrid Schedules.

Few people out of all the world’s population have the privilege to travel…and exceptionally fewer choose to act on this opportunity or circumstance. My name is Linda Gaida and I'am from Spartanburg, South Carolina, and I graduated from Washington and Lee University in Virginia. After the experiences I had during my undergrad years, traveling to different places in Europe, Asia, and South America, and witnessing varieties of opportunities available to people, I knew three things. First, I wanted to be valuable for others. Second, I wanted to be valuable for myself. And lastly, I wanted to travel or move.  As a result I decided to pursue education.

As my first year teaching in Korea came to a close this November, I was prompted with an offer from my branch to extend my contract for another year. I was very flattered by the offer, because it is not guaranteed that a branch will want to extend your contract. An offer of extension is pretty much a compliment of the work you’ve done over the past year.  In this blog I will tell you why I decided to sign on for another year of teaching with ChungDahm Learning.

When I arrived year to teach in Korea last year, I was placed in ChungDahm's April program.  Since many people applying through Aclipse to teach for ChungDahm may not know about the April program, I figured I would use this blog to introduce you to the program and tell you what a typical day as an April teacher is like.

The first thing you need to know about the April program is that although it is a division of Chungdahm Institute, not all Chungdahm branches will host the program. It depends on space availability, budget, demand and enrollment. Thankfully, my branch in Busanjin is able to  host both the CDI and April programs. It is quite a large branch employing 8 foreign teachers, 5 Korean teachers and 4 Korean administrative staff. All April teachers are paired with a Korean co-teacher whom you share classes with.