Teach in Korea: EPIK Fears!!!

EPIK vs Hagwon | http://grrrltraveler.com/countries/as... 

* UPDATE* SMOE- Seoul has merged with EPIK: You can now apply to Seoul through the EPIK site under EPIK (it will have

Teach in Korea: Choosing EPIK vs a Hagwon

Teach in Korea:  Choosing EPIK vs a Hagwon

Ever wanted to know the difference between EPIK and a hagwon?  Watch this video!

Full article: EPIK vs Hagwon | http://grrrltraveler.com/countries/asia/korea/teaching-english/teaching-korea-epik/

Culture Clash, Korean Dramas and the Korean love of English

From the Korean Drama, "Sweet  Spy".

I know I have a lot of fans of KOREA and this was too funny, not to share here.

Korea has a weird obsession with the U.S. and using ENGLISH. It's a weird status symbol for them and in K-DRAMAS, only wealthy & successful people travel or study in America.

So, I caught this scene glitch in a K-drama show. It's NOT meant to be a joke. For those who aren't AMERICAN, they make a reference to SEARS, like it's a high class store.

For Americans, Sears is known as a department store with cheap non-brand clothes and accessories.

EPIK Teacher Resource Links

This is a list that a fellow 2010 EPIKer put together from our 2010 Teachers Handbook & Orientation.  It's super helpful and he was kind enough to laborously put it together for us. I wish I got his name so that I could credit him but seeing as I don't, let's just all wish him good things!

2010 EPIK Teachers Handbook & Orientation

Section 1- Korean Culture, Life and Society.

•Chapter 2: A Brief Introduction to the Korean History and Culture.

http://www.HyunwooSun.com
Remember Hyunwoo Sun? He boasted his twitter account and youtube fame… This is his personal website. You can follow him, as well as find a few language resources, here…

http://www.TalkToMeInKorean.com
Yup, this is the site for those who want to learn Korean.

http://www.Lang-8.com
A website for those interested in learning a new language.

Do you really want to teach English in Korea? (Part II: Public vs Private schools)

Apologies, readers. Again, I'm posting a referral link to my article on GRRRL TRAVELER site where the initial questions about my teaching arose.

Continued from Do you really want to teach English in Korea? (Part I: Q & A)


(Please click HERE  to go to GRRRL TRAVELER to read the article.)

November Shoutouts: Chill Travel Reads

The following is carried over from GRRRL TRAVELER...

November almost gone and it's a crazy time of month with news of winter camps, vacations and thoughts of if I'll continue onto Gap Year #2. I've been a busy duck this past month and it's taken a bit of a toll. The biggest question I try not to ask myself is- What will I do if my plans fall short?

Or what if I don't get a university job by my visa extension deadline in January?

Well folks, GRRRL's been incubating wonderful fallback plans, which entail yoga and my love for India!  Looks like Plan A or Plan A? Decision time will come again soon.

.

Great Finds in my Reading Bin:

Why teach abroad?

• Is teaching abroad is a fail safe solution to beat the dying dollar? Think again.  Anne Merritt makes you ask "Is Teaching ESL 'Recession-Proof'?"

• Travis of TravelerHQ offers awesome GRRR! inspiration for those looking to make their way around the way via what else?...teaching! "Working and Teaching His Way Around the World".

• I love Expat Heather's "Photo Essay: Classrooms Around the World" It fell in synced perfectly with alove for travel and teaching children around the world.

NET News:

• Mitch at GO!Overseas wrote an interesting article "Teaching English in Korea: Comparing the EPIK, GEPIK, and SMOE Programs". What abbreviation are you and why?

Also Expacked Issue #96 is out with more newsworthy articles! Here are a few I thought were
important:

• Is your NET job in jeopardy? See what the buzz is all about. Talk of public schools phasing out native speaker English teachers (Brian in Jeollanamdo)

• If you're an EPIKer or EPIK applicant, this is for you, so read.  EPIK Press Releases: Re-entry permits; Application deadline extended; North Korean bombing (EPIK site via Expacked) Interestingly, we EPIKers didn't get any letter from EPIK (or our DMOE !) regarding the attack of North Korean bombing or what to do. We did get some NET Survey Satisfaction form to fill out though! Again, total fail EPIK & DMOE...

• Worried about a potential war and your embassy (like mine) still hasn't notified you? Chris can give you the **evacuation procedures**. Know how you can prepare and where you should run for safety. Life in Korea: emergency evacuation plans from South Korea (Chris in South Korea)






GRRR! Shoutouts

• Finally a warm hollers out to GO!Overseas for listing both My Crazy Kimchi! and GRRRL TRAVELER articles in its weekly newsletters for those who want to teach, volunteer or learn abroad.

Growing Pains of Co-teaching: Why doesn't my co-teacher listen to my ideas? (Part 3)

Continued from (1:Co-teaching: A Ticking Time Bomb & Top 4 rants of NETs...).

Why doesn't my co-teacher listen to my ideas?

In my experience, this was a common rant amongst NET's in my group.

 So you're the new NET in a school which doesn't yet know how to implement you into their structure.... While Korean teachers may initially, ask you to lead certain activities or offer ideas on lesson plans,  they still want the "controlling hand". Wouldn't you if you'd been teaching your own class for years?

You may come out with very good ideas, brilliant even and wonder why they're continually getting

Top 4 rants of Native English Teachers in the Classroom (Part 2)

You just moved to Korea and you already feel like you're on shaky ground. A new work environment, new life, foreign language, culture and foods... your entire world is turned upside down and being a foreigner will feel like your largest wound! When Korean Teachers dole out punishment, your being an outsider and not knowing the Korean language will surface your vulnerability-- you feel helpless, as if you have no control. What are some Korean war tactics used against the NET's in the classroom?...

Top 4 Popular rants of New Native English Teachers:

The cold shoulder (aka Ice out)
Icing out is a manipulative tactic many of us learned to use in high school, when we

Growing Pains of Co-teaching Relationships: A Ticking Time Bomb? (Part 1)

I've been going back to some of my old posts in an effort clean up and revise information I posted earlier. Reading old posts, got me thinking-- things look a lot different after you've safely crossed the initial growing pains of working out your co-teaching role in the classroom. My relationship with my co-teachers, the school system,...; things begin to make sense and become more manageable. But initially, when my  Korean co-teachers and I were both, new to the co-teaching relationship the growing pains weren't simple.

One of my very first Crazy Kimchi blogrants back in April:

I felt like my co-teacher was doing a last-minute lesson plan ditch today; she had grand and creative schemes for lesson plans, but is now just concerned with following the

The DMOE's Letter of New Visa Extension Requirements for NETs

Oct 8, 2010

Dear NETs,

Korea Immigration Service has new requirements for obtaining E-2 Visas. When time comes for you to extend your E-2 Visa or change the status of sojourn, these new requirements will be applied to you. We talked to Korea Immigration Service and below is the information we obtained from them. Please read it very carefully since the verification method is different between diploma and the Criminal Record Check.

More information can be found on this link:
http://www.hikorea.go.kr/pt/NtcCotnDetailR_en.pt?bbsGbCd=BS10&bbsSeq=2&langCd=EN&ntccttSeq=32

Diploma
All native teachers extending their E-2 Visa after September 1, 2010 must submit an apostilled or verified diploma to the immigration office.
Teachers from US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, or South Africa have 3 options:
a.) The diploma can be apostillized by the government in your home country.
b.) The diploma can be verified at a Korean consulate in your home country.
c.) The diploma can be verified through the diploma verification service offered by the Korean Council for University Education.

Teachers from Canada have 2 options:
a.) The diploma can be verified at a Korean consulate in your home country.
b.) The diploma can be verified through the diploma verification service offered by the Korean Council for University Education.

*Canada does not have an Apostillization treaty with Korea.
*** KCUE only accepts applications from organizations or schools. Whether DMOE will submit the request or ask your schools to do it is not yet determined. We will let you know soon. Due to increased number of applications, KCUE is currently not accepting new applications. Once an application is submitted, the verification process takes 4 to 6 weeks. There is a fee for KCUE diploma verification service which is to be borne by native teachers.

More information about the service can be found at this link:
http://english.kcue.or.kr/sub_new_03_1.html

Criminal Record Check
All native teachers extending their E-2 Visa or change the status of sojourn starting January 1, 2011 must submit a central government level Criminal Record Check issued within 6 months before the time of submission. (Important for Americans; make sure the criminal record check is a FBI-level check, state-level CRC’s are no good.)  The CRC also needs to be apostilled or verified before submission.

Teachers from US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, or South Africa have 2 options:
a.) The CRC can be apostilled by your government in your home country.
b.) The CRC can be verified by your government embassy or consulate in Korea.

Teachers from Canada have 2 options:
a.) The CRC can be verified at a Korean consulate in Canada.
b.) The CRC can be verified by your government embassy or consulate in Korea.

*** Issuance of CRC may take up to 12 weeks. If you are planning to extend your E-2 Visa, to renew with DMOE or to continue working in Korea, please consider CRC issuance process, shipping, and verification/apostillization period and plan accordingly.

DMOE does not have information such as which office of your home government provides apostillization service, which consulate/embassy provides apostillization/verification service, and where you should apply for the criminal record check, etc. It is all different from country to country. We are in the process of collecting as much information as possible to assist you with the process of obtaining the required documents. Since timeline is tight for many of you, please start gathering information on how to obtain the documents. It would be a good idea to share the information you find out with fellow teachers from your home country through an online community such as Facebook wall.
I am aware that some of you have handed in apostilled diploma and CRC to EPIK when you first applied as a NET. The documents are with us at DMOE but unfortunately our office is not allowed to return those documents to you to bring it to the immigration office. The immigration office does not check and return the documents but take them away upon submission, and all POEs and MOEs with EPIK are required to store all of NETs’ application documents.

Hope this clarifies the new visa extension process for you. For further confirmation or clarification we ask you to
1) refer to the hikorea website at www.hikorea.go.kr,
Information >> Immigration Guide >> Foreigner sojourn >> Extension of Stay >> Status of stay(35), and select “Foreign language teaching(E-2)” under “Employment Visa”
2) refer to the hikorea website at www.hikorea.go.kr,
Information >> Immigration Guide >> Visa >> Visa >> Visa issuance guide – status of stay, and select “Foreign Language Instructor(E-2)” under “Employment Visa”
3) or call the immigration contact center at 1345 and press 3* for service in English.
*** If you hold a non-working visa such as an F-4, F-2, or F-5 visa, please confirm with the Immigration Service that you are not required to submit the newly required documents to extend your visa.

As we find out more information and guidelines regarding the changed E-2 document policy, I will let you know. Also, as I find out more information or plan about KCUE application, I will notify you through e-mail. Have a great weekend.

Best wishes,
Ji Won Shin
--
Program Coordinator
Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education
Namgu Daemyeong 2 Dong 1819-37
Daegu, South Korea

NETs gain school holidays, not freedom from desk-warming

As I mentioned from my September Shoutouts II on GRRRL TRAVELER:

Last week, the DMOE finally sent out a notice stating that starting fall term, all NETs will have school holidays off. Yay, right? Before you get too excited, this doesn't mean the chains come off and that NETs are excluded from desk-warming duties come winter!  No, while the entire public school system will be off for winter vacation, NETs are still expected to show for work.

Below is the letter we received from our DMOE confirming this:

September 9, 2010

Dear NETs,

I am writing to inform you that an official document regarding the policy about NETs and

A Shocking 411 on EPIK's NET vacation hours

Read article here on GRRRLTRAVELER
http://grrrltraveler.com/2010/05/shockng-411-epik/

GRRRL Goes Whimpery in Her New Korean Location

How do you take a bath in Korea?  Let me tell you how I just did it.  I washed over my sink and shaved my legs by propping them up on my toilet lid.  Yes, a toilet lid can have more uses than just one when you’re in an efficient country like Korea…

My Korean bathroom (sink/toilet/shower compressed in the same room) is smaller than my NYC apt bathroom

But all smart-assing aside…  You haven’t heard peep from me in a while as I’ve been in an intense transition, which just hit rocky; and the “rocky” is something I’m working through. I’ll fast-forward over my escape from the draft of flu, my partial hearing loss due to airplane travel with a cold and my