Before moving to Korea, I had to decide where I wanted to apply for/live. I decided on Busan because it’s a little bit smaller than Seoul but still a big city with many things to do. I also wanted to live in Busan because it has a lot of beautiful beaches. After living in Busan for almost a year and a half I’m happy with the decision I made! Busan is a great city and I’m really glad I live here. In spring and fall, there are lots of mountains to hike around Busan, in the summer there’s always a new beach to explore and in winter there are lots of spas, shopping, and nightlife options.
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Tags:
Korean culture,
Teach English in Korea,
Teach Abroad,
moving to Korea,
Teach English overseas,
Teach English abroad,
things to do in Korea,
busan,
things to do on the weekends,
top places to travel in Korea
When I started teaching over a year ago, I didn't know very much about the working culture and educational culture in Korea. When I first started at iGarten, I was really surprised by the amount of workbooks and worksheets kindergarten students had to complete every month.
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preparing to teach in Korea,
on arrival,
Korean culture,
Teach English in Korea,
Teach Abroad,
moving to Korea,
Teach English overseas,
Teach English abroad,
things to do in Korea,
busan,
iGarten
About 6 months after my boyfriend Colin and I started dating I asked him if he'd be interested in teaching abroad. I'd always wanted to live abroad and I knew he wanted to travel as well - I was so excited when he said he was open to the idea of teaching in Korea! Almost a year later we moved to Busan. I’m so thankful to Aclipse for making this all possible and finding a school where we could both teach and work the same hours. Moving overseas as a couple has a lot of perks, and I have been so thankful for this experience! Having lived in Busan for over a year, I've met lots of single people, people who started new relationships while abroad, and other couples who moved abroad together. Regardless of your relationship status, living abroad is an unforgettable experience. I'm especially grateful I was able to share these memories with Colin.
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Tags:
preparing to teach in Korea,
on arrival,
Korean culture,
Teach English in Korea,
Teach Abroad,
moving to Korea,
Teach English overseas,
Teach English abroad,
things to do in Korea,
busan,
iGarten
One of the huge pluses of living abroad is that you move closer to countries that you want to visit. Living in South Korea gives you cheaper access to Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. For Chusok, a Thanksgiving-like Holiday in Korea, a couple friends and I traveled to Tokyo for four days. The experience was incredible.
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Teach English in Korea,
teaching in Korea,
Teach English abroad,
English teachers in Korea,
English teacher in Korea,
Japan from Korea,
Japanese,
Chusok,
Activities to do in Korea
One of the greatest things about becoming an ESL teacher for Chungdahm is the large amount of time you’re going to have off. Between the hours themselves, level tests, and holidays, you’re definitely going to have a good amount of time off, so you need to take advantage of it. I personally have not had to work a Wednesday in my 11 months living here. It’s been awesome. And this semester no one in my branch is working Wednesdays so we’ve made it a point to go on Wednesday adventures and enjoy the beginning stages of springtime in Korea. This past Wednesday we hiked Bugaksan, situated in the heart of Seoul, right behind Gyeongbukgong Palace. It was a great hike with a little history mixed in and some great views of the surrounding mountains and the city itself.
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Tags:
Teach English abroad,
a year in Korea,
things to do before leaving korea,
Exercising in Korea,
hiking in korea,
tourist attractions in Korea,
ecofriendly,
history of Korea
I experienced an immense time of growth while teaching in Korea. Although teaching English was merely a means for me to spend time with my grandparents and family, I acquired numerous skills from teaching that I’m sure will prove useful in life. In addition, there were so many things to do in Seoul, and I certainly made the most of it.
Korea is a place that I have been to many times before. However, living here on my own shed a new and unfamiliar light on everything I did. Growing up in he U.S., I never learned Korean properly, which is highly frowned upon in Korea. I felt out of my comfort zone and judged by family and strangers. Luckily, a fellow instructor at my ChungDahm branch was kind enough to give me Korean lessons. I learned so much, and now I freely speak Korean with confidence.
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Korean culture,
Teach English in Korea,
teaching in Korea,
Teach English abroad,
Better in Korea,
Activities to do in Korea,
teaching at Chungdahm,
Health in Korea,
Beauty Products in Korea
It’s been a little over 11 months since I’ve started teaching English in Korea with Chungdahm, and already my one year contract is coming to an end. I must say the time flew by. I remember before coming here, I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d get out of it other than a new experience. My friends and family assumed that I was going for fun and thought that it wouldn’t benefit me career wise. However, I knew there was nothing to lose and that there would be something to learn. In fact, teaching English in Korea has been more rewarding than I expected.
One of those rewards is public speaking. Public speaking was never my thing. Whenever I had to speak in front of a crowd, actually even just a group of people, I would get nervous, blank out, and have the voice of a chick. Teaching and speaking in front of a group of students on a daily basis, has allowed me to practice and become a better public speaker. Confidence can be heard through the projection of my voice and have learned to relax, take my time to collect my ideas and speak.
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Tags:
Teach English in Korea,
Moving to Korea alone,
moving to Korea,
teaching in Korea,
Teach English overseas,
Teach English abroad,
a year in Korea,
misconceptions about Korea,
English teachers in Korea,
teaching at Chungdahm
When you teach English in Korea at Chungdahm there is a fairly set curriculum (some classes, such as masters, have more freedom with the material), so I was a little worried as to how much I would like what I am teaching. When I received my books however, all of my fears vanished. Despite the occasional dry or uninteresting class, the research and development team has done a great job of creating exciting and interesting lectures for the students as well as for us teachers. Here are a few of my favorite class topics.
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Tags:
teaching in Korea,
Teach English abroad,
teaching at Chungdahm
Before I came to teach English in Korea, there were a million and five questions I had in terms of how I was going to live. Although excited, I was very concerned about how I would adjust to living without things I was used to. There are things that happen in our day to day life routine that are not thought about, but just done out of habit. Three of the things that you can live without with over in Korea are: 1) Television, 2) Dryer, and 3) Car.
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Tags:
Teach English in Korea,
moving to Korea,
teaching in Korea,
Teach English abroad,
appliances in Korea,
getting around seoul,
Apartments in Korea
If I went back in time to talk to myself in the middle of university, I wouldn’t have believed that I’d be teaching English in Korea. Like most of my colleagues at my branch, we weren’t studying to become educational professionals. Since I am approaching the end of my 2nd year and my time in Korea next week, I’d like to reflect on some of the most rewarding things I’ve taken away from teaching English in Korea. I hope these aspects of life here will shed some light on what some are some of the more gratifying aspects of teaching here for those who haven’t really considered teaching English for awhile after university.
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Tags:
Teach English in Korea,
moving to Korea,
teaching in Korea,
Teach English overseas,
Teach English abroad,
a year in Korea,
Korea
