i am looking for a French teaching job in NE Asia. Is it possible in South Korea ? Safe ? Which websites should i check ? Any help would be very appreciated !
Its mostly English teaching jobs but in the past ive seen postings for other languages as well
If youre French canadian you can get a working holiday visa if you dont want to stay long term
Or you could probably get some work by just putting an ad in the Seoul Classifieds (Seoul"s english newsletter - you can pick up a copy in most coffee shops in Itaewon, Seoul)
In terms of being safe it depends on what you mean - if your talking about the threat from the North, I"d say it is totally safe.
In terms of problems with employers -- I was teaching English in korea last year and had a few bad experiences -- and heard a lot of horror stories regarding teachers getting ripped off and swindled by their schools. If youre signing a contract - make sure everything is clearly spelled out -- if you think the bad grammar is an accident -- it usually isnt. If you have a masters degree or a pHD consider just contacting Universities directly to look for work. A masters seems to be the minimum requirement for teaching in uni and these jobs pay better and have better working conditions.
Hogwan (private academy "school") owners are not representative of the general population however -- all the Korean ppl i met were super friendly and honest -- 4 yr olds can walk to school alone -- its super safe in that regard - you could leave your wallet on a table in a restaurant and come back 4 hours later and it would still be there...a friend of mine did this....
Hope this helps
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Its really easy to find ATMs that accept foreign bank cards in Seoul -- I lived in korea last year and used my Australian card with a Cirrus symbol - and it was accepted in all the bank machines in the subway stations (they have a bunch because the olympics was held in Seoul in the late 80s i think)-- the instructions are usually available in English on these machines as well -- just in case your Hanguel isnt up to scratch. In more remote areas bus depots will have machines that accept foreign cards. Just check with your home bank what the fees are like on their end - i remember that they were crazy low in korea.
Stay away from money changers in Itaewon. This is the suburb of Seoul where all the US army guys hang out -- probably likely to get a bad rate. Be prepared to carry giant wads of cash around -- the largest Korean denomination is 10 000 Won which is the equivalent of a bit less than ten dollars US, so a hundred bucks turns into a wad.... You can use your credit cards at major stores... but you most likely wont be buying that much stuff in big department stores -- they are super expensive relatively. Korea is really a lot safer than the US in terms of theft - so carrying cash isnt as big an issue -- if your eating at little restaurants and stuff cash is most likely your only option.