Every time I mention to someone that I am moving abroad to teach English I get the same initial question, “How did you end up choosing South Korea?” To be honest I think it kind of chose me. I didn’t go looking for English teaching positions specifically in South Korea but TaLK seemed to be the best fit for me. This post should give you a little insight on how I actually ended up where I am today…
When I was searching for a program abroad I researched jobs in almost every country. I found that most countries had agencies that could find me a teaching job… for a fee and as long as I had a teaching certificate. Well since I don’t have money to pay for an agent, a certificate (up to $1,000), and a plane ticket abroad, I had almost given up on adventure and resigned to life behind a desk.
Then I discovered Teach and Learn in Korea (TaLK). At first I was hesitant to even apply to a program where I knew little to nothing about the country. I had done a project in one of my management classes on doing business in South Korea and after rereading it, okay and after discovering the TaLK benefits, I decided it couldn't hurt to just apply. As I learned more about the program I realized it truly was a good fit for me on many different levels, including the fact that it doesn’t require me to be an actual English teacher, or even have a teaching certificate. So even though I thought it was a long shot considering I didn’t know Korean and don’t have any history teaching English I sent in my first application. After a week or so the South Korean Consulate in Atlanta, Georgia contacted me to set up an interview.
Suddenly this started becoming an actual possibility for my post-grad future. Before the interview I had a new list of things to prepare. I had to get fingerprinted to send in a FBI criminal record check, this was mid October and I just got the CRC back so if you’re considering the program I’d send that in as soon as possible. Then I needed two letters of recommendation, one of which I got from my current auditing teacher and the other from my old boss. Another heads up if you’re applying to TaLK, there is an actual letter of recommendation form on the TaLK website. I didn’t realize that and it put me in a slight panic when I received an email saying I was “missing documents”. Finally, I needed to create my own lesson plan. Luckily I’ve been in foreign language classes since kindergarten and I just used how I’ve been taught and turned it into a lesson plan. I imagine I’ll be doing that for the entirety of teaching abroad career as well.
After I had everything in order it was time for the interview…in Georgia. Mom went with me and we turned the interview into a girl’s weekend in Atlanta. With all the stops we made on the way it took us about 9 hours to get there but I think it’s safe to say we enjoyed ourselves. The interview itself took a maximum of 30 minutes with questions like “Do you know Korean?” “Do you have any friends from Korea?” “Have you ever had Korean Food” “Do you know where Korea is located?” “Why do you want to join our program?” I answered the first 3 questions with “no”, the 4th with a pause to which they assumed the answer was no (I promise I knew where it was!), and then the 5th with the most honest answer I could give them, “Because I want an adventure, I’d like to learn about a new culture, and because this program seems like a good fit for me.”
Two and a half weeks later I received a letter saying I had been accepted, well conditionally accepted. The consulate had to physically mail the new letter of recommendation to Korea and my FBI criminal record check hadn’t been submitted but as long as those two things get to Korea before I do, I’m in.
That pretty much puts me where I’m at now, with laundry list of things to do and 1 month and 24 days away from moving to South Korea!
My next post will go into more detail about the TaLK program itself.
Until then, xox
