Requirements For TEFL In South Korea [What You Need]
What are the requirements for TEFL in South Korea? Well, to teach English in Korea...
There’s 9 things that you may need to teach English in Korea
1. Degree
You need a 4 year degree from an English speaking country. You need this for an E 2 visa. If you have completed 2 years of your diploma then you can try the TALK program.
2. Native English speaker
You need to have a passport from an English speaking country: Canada, USA, UK, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
3. CBC (criminal background check)
You need an FBI level (not a state level) criminal background check. Follow the directions below to do that.
4. Apostilled diploma
You need to apostille a copy of your diploma.
5. Transcripts (for public school)
If you teach in a public school then you will probably need these. They used to be required for all schools including hagwons, but as of recent only public schools require them.
6. Health check
You need to be in good health and be drug free.
7. Passport photos
These will be needed for your visa. I would get 10 of these to be on the safe side.
8. Passport (with at least 1 year on it)
You want to have at least a year on it, because I know from experience that renewing this in a foreign country is a major pain in the... I think 6 months is what you actually need for your visa, but it’s a lot easier to renew it now in your own country.
9. TEFL certification (is preferred in some schools)
Hagwons do not typically require this, however some may prefer it especially if you don’t have any experience. EPIK (public school program) states that they prefer it and getting a job without one is pretty tough unless you have experience and/or related degrees.
Here is an online TEFL course focused on teaching in Korea. It’s a video based course that was mostly filmed in classrooms in Korea.
Other online courses do not include videos specifically focused on teaching in Korea. Many of the cheaper online courses are just text based, which is fine if you like reading and absorb everything you read, but according to some studies people only read 20% of a page.
If that is true how much do you think they remember?
Not much.
If you don’t remember much of a course then do you think that is a good use of money and your time?
So should you take a TEFL course?
Well, as stated it’s not necessarily required, however what do you know about teaching English? In my experience teaching was pretty stressful especially in my first year.
- Can you organize kids?
- Can you plan lessons?
- How do you deal with trouble students?
You’ll have problems too. Getting a job is just the beginning.
Notes:
Before you apply for a job you need the apostilled diploma, transcripts for public school, and a CBC.
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