ENGLISH TUTORING IN KOREA

The happiest of people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything they have. – Author Unknown

Two tutoring students

Saturday, April 19, 2014 (DAYS 775 – 799)
Continuing on my previous topic of ways to replenish funds from battered bank accounts while committing to long-term budget travel, I’ve decided to share more specifically how I have been able to financially provide for myself as I take a short hiatus from the arduous dealings of moving from place to place–country to country–as I know many people have been curious and have asked me several detailed questions regarding how and where to begin. South Korea offers an enormous advantage for those from native English speaking countries the ability to earn money with minimal requirements. Typically you will need a bachelor’s degree and those that have an education background, such as myself with Journalism and English Literature, will have more negotiating power when it comes to salaries or private tutoring rates.   

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Volunteering at Pyeongtaek

LEGAL TO WORK: First of all, you will need to have the proper visa to work legally in South Korea, this limits many foreigners, especially those that come to teach with Hagwons (Private English Academies) or Public Schools. For those that can obtain the F4 Visa through family that are Korean nationals this can be done quite easily through immigration. There are other visa types that can allow for this type of work but you will need to research this based upon your availability, but you can begin here.  

FINDING STUDENTS: This can be done through a variety of methods. I have found most of my students through posting on Craigslist surprisingly. If you would like to view my post that I continue to keep recent feel free to check it out here. I have also gained some students through friends that are teachers and other Korean adoptees (KADs) that are currently living in Seoul. Posting flyers in areas that are permitted such as coffee shops and around Universities is also beneficial.

NEGOTIATING RATES AND SCHEDULES: Personally, I feel that the minimum rate should be determined through such variablesas; commuting time, transportation costs, and lesson preparation time. I use a simple formula to determine my hourly rate. Students and those English Teachers tutoring should first be aware of LEGAL and ILLEGAL tutoring. I personally do not like hearing of other foreigners taking advantage of tutoring without the proper visa to do so, because others often already have preferential treatment when applying for English teaching jobs. Most schools want their English teacher to look the part, meaning a Caucasian individual, often a female over that of a male. 

PROBLEMS AND DIFFICULTIES: Being an English tutor is not as easy as you may expect, and the number one problem I tend to have is the lack of consistency of students committing to schedules. This is primarily due to the arduous work schedule that is part of the Korean society for professionals. So as much as you are running the math in your head thinking, wow, I could be earning close to 50K a year, it’s not that simple. Finding students that would like to meet during the day is quite rare.

THE REWARDS: Besides providing a monetary income for myself that allows for savings, I do really take it upon myself to have a passion for my students in wanting to see them to improve and feel more confident in learning. I take great pride in going to an extra effort for my students and I feel that this is important and separates those that do private tutoring for money versus those that also have a genuine passion for their students.

© of Global Overseas Adoptees' Link

MY PERSONAL RTW EXPERIENCE:
My first three weeks back in Korea after making the decision to stay and live for a while I have decided to discuss my experience with G.O.A.L. (Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link) in assisting me with my F4 Visa and the negative experience that was full of empty promises and, what I feel are questionable practices. I know many other adoptees may have had good experiences and so I don’t want to entirely discourage those that did have those, but I think that people should be aware of the various organizations and to feel comfortable in either supporting them or utilizing their services.

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Another amazing Korean meal

I began contacting G.O.A.L. during my first trip back to Korea in October of 2013 with a few simple questions and each time with their response I was constantly encourage to sign-up and pay for their membership of $60. To me, this is understandable that they are a NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), however the way they went about it always made me feel a bit uneasy. I chose not to meet with them since I was only in the country for one month and I was dealing with a lot as I was here to experience my heritage and meet my birth family for the first time. When I knew I was planning on returning in April of 2014 I began contacting them from Vietnam about a month prior to returning to Korea with a simple question regarding recovering citizenship for dual citizenship status. Once again each email ended with the request to pay for their membership. I chose to ignore this feeling and scheduled an appointment with them just two days after entering the country. While at their offices they were helpful in answering some questions and provided some material for me to review. They also stated that the first step was to apply for the F4 Visa, which they told me they could assist with and since I had brought of the necessary paperwork and had provided them with this, they could go with me to immigration as early as the following week. They told me they had to have my naturalization paper translated and this is the only reason for the period of time to wait. For more than three-weeks I waited and emailed each week with promises that the document was being translated. After talking with several other KADs that were living in Korea they told me there is no reason to continue waiting on G.O.A.L. but that I could do this myself. The only reason I chose to work with them was because they seemed to be the only organization that had information on dual citizenship. When I finally gave up on the empty promises of G.O.A.L. I went back to Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) and had to request new copies of my certification of adoption along with retrieving a copy of my family registry, which my caseworker Ms. Kang personally walked me several blocks to obtain. All in all, I began this process around 10am on a Friday and by 2pm after commuting to the Seoul Immigration office about 25-min by subway and walking from Hongik University subway station this was completed.

Seoul Immigration Office
319-2, Sinjeong 6 (yuk)-dong, Yangcheon-gu, 
Directions: Seoul Subway: At Omokgyo (Mok-dong Stadium) Station exit 7. Go straight for about 10 minutes. (Seoul Subway interactive map)
Phone: 02-2650-6212~5
For other immigration offices in Korea please click here.

Moving on, I did have a chance to spend a weekend with my birth mom and visit her restaurant that she opened just a few short weeks after I left Korea in November of 2013. I always enjoy taking the KTX (Korea Train Express), which has a top speed of 305 km/h (190 mph) and allows me to travel from Seoul to my birth mom’s town of Iksan in just over 90-minutes. Upon my first arrival after taking a taxi to her restaurant and being accompanied by a very nice young woman to help act as our translator for the afternoon, unfortunately I cannot remember her name, we arrived just after 1:30pm. In typical fashion my mother immediately took us to a restaurant where we had an absolute feast. Since, my mom runs and operates her restaurant entirely by herself she was able to convince a friend to cover for her for a few hours while we enjoyed a meal and the usual slow-paced conversation as each sentence was translated back and forth. 

F4 Visa valid to work LEGALLY in Korea

My question was, why was I told that I needed my naturalization paperwork translated? First, this was not the case when I spoke with a woman at the immigration office. Second, when I was told that this was a requirement by the government from G.O.A.L. later and that if it was not carried out there was a chance my application could have been rejected and is posted on the government website and they were just following procedures. Even if this were true, the United States Naturalization document is pretty standard and having a Korean-translated document such as this with simple changes should be available and on-hand. Regardless, I felt as though an entire month of my time was wasted on empty promises, especially when I emphasized to G.O.A.L. the importance of getting this completed as soon as possible to begin working in Korea legally. After speaking with quite a few other Korean adoptees (KADs) living in Korea, I realized that this organization does not have a very good reputation among the adoptee community. I have met others that feel as I do, which G.O.A.L. still seems to be a relatively important organization and I understand that, but I did want to write about my personal experience using their services, especially for those that have a more pertinent time constraint than myself. I will say that as sad as it is, the overall consensus from several other people the shared sentiment is that this organization, which was started by a Korean adoptee, portrays itself as a non-profit when it seems as though they are masquerading under this banner, but are in fact acting as a for-profit business. My advice is be very clear, as I thought I did, when using this organization and my hope is that changes will occur to better assist future Korean adoptees.

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My birth mom's chicken restaurant

After our meal my mother had to return to the restaurant before saying goodbye to our translator that was returning to Seoul on the 6pm train. My mother insisted on sending her back with two large bags of food and often I can see where I get some of my hospitality as I stood their smiling at this gesture. I leaned over and told her that I figured she would do this and that she will certainly enjoy the food. Once we said our goodbyes and I thanked the young woman for assisting us, I took a seat as my mom seemed to talk to her friends, the woman that took over the duties of operating the restaurant while we went to lunch and her other friend, an older man that owned the small supermarket next door. It wasn’t long before I was invited to help my mom in the kitchen washing dishes, and preparing chicken. I still can’t believe how hard she works. Not only does she operate the restaurant entirely by herself, but she does so six-days a week (Monday-Saturday) from 11am until 11pm, but because she is so meticulous with cleaning her restaurant to perfect each night, she typically does not leave until after 1am. Once we had closed the restaurant just after 1am and I helped her clean it to perfection, we went next door to the supermarket and enjoyed a late night snack with several bottles of makgeolli (막걸리), which is a Korean alcoholic beverage. I realized my mother can be quite the party animal as we stayed up talking and eating until after 3am! I thought for sure we would have just enjoyed a short post-work meal and drinks, especially since we were waking up early for church on Sunday, but I was wrong and by the end of it I was begging to get back to her place to get some much wanted sleep.

Escorting my birth mom to church

Using Google translator to communicate

After what felt like only a few hours of sleep, I was awoken to my mom rubbing my shoulder to let me know that it’s time to get up. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes and sitting up she asks if I would like some coffee. Shaking my head yes as I come out of my state of delirium I make my way to the bathroom for a shower to help bring myself to life. After a cup of coffee and putting on my suit that was custom tailored in Vietnam just a short month ago, we are headed out the door for the short 10-minute walk to my mother’s church. When I had this suit made in Vietnam for a whopping price of $150, I knew that I wanted it to be worn the first time to escort my mom to church because I knew she would feel quite proud of this fact. I also knew that this suit may come in handy for other future uses, especially now that I have decided to stay and work in Korea a bit. It was another very nice afternoon, even though I had absolutely no idea what was being said and was introduced to numerous people. I know that since our translator had left us the day before and people have asked how we communicate since my mother doesn’t speak any English, well, thanks to Google translator that is never quite accurate, it does well enough in an attempt to say simple phrases at a snail pace. Saying goodbye is never quite easy, but I suppose being the life of a traveler I’ve learned to deal with it, and before heading back to Seoul on Monday, my mother escorted me to the train station and waited with me hand-in-hand until it was time to board. All I could think about was how fortunate I am to have yet another great memory in spite of the language barrier and be thankful of the opportunity to be here in Korea. 

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