Teach English in South Korea and Get to Know the People, and the Country from the Inside Out

Teaching any subject is a very fulfilling occupation, one of the few that potentially offers a high degree of job satisfaction. Some subjects are however more useful than others in a day to day context out there in the big wide world, and learning a foreign language must surely rank as one of the most important skills, especially if you have 'wander lust'.

Here in the UK, we are one of the luckiest nations around, because many countries the world over speak English to one degree or another. Certainly you've got a good chance of making yourself understood in most towns and cities in the civilised West, and it tends to make us rather lazy as far as language is concerned, whilst most other countries are very keen and active to learn and improve their English speaking skills. The spread of English is obviously closely related to the old colonial days, that and the economic power of the USA and to a certain extent the UK too.

Teach English in South Korea

South Korea is no exception when it comes to desperately wanting their young people to learn what is generally being accepted as the global language of commerce – the English language. They have in actual fact set up a special program (the EPIK – English Program in Korea) which is administered by the South Korean Ministry for Education, and which is responsible for hiring over 1,000 ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers each and every year.


What a great ambition to have though – going to South Korea, experiencing a totally different culture with its wonderful heritage, customs, sights and sounds, and getting paid to teach your native language to South Korean students. For any individual with that 'wander lust' we talked about earlier, it must be like a dream come true. But how to go about turning that dream into reality - where would you start?

Well luckily many people happen to share the same goal; to teach English in South Korea. But even with the EPIK being in existence, there is still a huge gulf between a young person (or a person of any age come to that) having the desire, and having the nerve to take the plunge and start consulting with a foreign government department. But like so many things these days; when a problem arises, the online fraternity that is the World Wide Web, picks up the challenge, and before you know it, solutions begin to appear.

For ESL teachers wishing to teach English abroad or in countries such as South Korea, there are now several excellent websites that can provide all the help and support that you need to complete a successful application. They can even help you to land a specific post. These organisations have gathered invaluable insider knowledge and experience in recent years, and know everything there is to know about how to put together a winning application.

Not only that, but they can give you an enormous amount of help when it comes down to knowing what to expect, and knowing how to behave. Living in a foreign country means immersing yourself in the culture, so the more you know beforehand, the better prepared you will be.