sirell wrote:
What's that got to do with anything, lol?
I don't think he was being racist (lol), just that he doesn't understand why you would teach in Korea rather than China, as presumably you speak Chinese and English but not Korean as far as we know.
Although I think I remember hearing that Korean English teachers don't actually talk to their students in Korean at all, just English, so it's normal to hire people who don't speak a single word of Korean to teach in English in South Korea.
Vapora Dark wrote:
I don't think he was being racist (lol), just that he doesn't understand why you would teach in Korea rather than China, as presumably you speak Chinese and English but not Korean as far as we know.
Although I think I remember hearing that Korean English teachers don't actually talk to their students in Korean at all, just English, so it's normal to hire people who don't speak a single word of Korean to teach in English in South Korea.
Also, while I'm not sure if this really is the case in Korea for China, but I can at least say that what surprised me last time I was in China was how Chinese schools place emphasis on learning Korean as well as English, primarily for the business prospects in Korea. It could be that alongside the English, the Chinese background might also prove to be really valuable, which must've given him an advantage during the process. I'm just guessing it's a two way street between Chinese and South Korean education systems, do correct me if I'm wrong.
Teaching in China is not a prospect that I would particularly look forward too. I am Hong Kong Chinese and there is a certain amount of hostility/tension between Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese. I would not look forward either to the prospect of teaching English in Hong Kong; the working and living conditions are getting continuously worse every year, particularly to natives.
To be honest, I don't really see why my ethnicity would weigh in on my decision to teach in SK rather than China. Teaching ESL in Asian countries is done purely in English and if you do speak Korean, they actually give you orders not to speak in Korean in front of the students. Only some schools look for Korean native teachers and those are the exception to the rule.
The Chinese background is actually detrimental to the recruitment process. I was told by no less than 3 recruiters that the target demographic of recruiting teachers are primarily on 1) Caucasian and 2) Female. Lots of schools prefer to recruit Caucasian teachers because they look the part and then other skin colours that are not easily mistaken for oriental-asians and thus misunderstood to be Korean. Female teachers are also generally more preferred over male teachers, due to their natural rapport with children.
To be honest, I don't really see why my ethnicity would weigh in on my decision to teach in SK rather than China. Teaching ESL in Asian countries is done purely in English and if you do speak Korean, they actually give you orders not to speak in Korean in front of the students. Only some schools look for Korean native teachers and those are the exception to the rule.
The Chinese background is actually detrimental to the recruitment process. I was told by no less than 3 recruiters that the target demographic of recruiting teachers are primarily on 1) Caucasian and 2) Female. Lots of schools prefer to recruit Caucasian teachers because they look the part and then other skin colours that are not easily mistaken for oriental-asians and thus misunderstood to be Korean. Female teachers are also generally more preferred over male teachers, due to their natural rapport with children.
sirell wrote:
The Chinese background is actually detrimental to the recruitment process. I was told by no less than 3 recruiters that the target demographic of recruiting teachers are primarily on 1) Caucasian and 2) Female. Lots of schools prefer to recruit Caucasian teachers because they look the part and then other skin colours that are not easily mistaken for oriental-asians and thus misunderstood to be Korean. Female teachers are also generally more preferred over male teachers, due to their natural rapport with children.
That's actually really interesting. I don't really know enough about the subject to talk more about it, sadly, other than some guesses from my observations at schools in China.
HiFromBuddha wrote:
That's actually really interesting. I don't really know enough about the subject to talk more about it, sadly, other than some guesses from my observations at schools in China.
It honestly depends where you're applying to. A lot of business language schools might look for English and Mandarin teachers because that's just economically where the world is beginning to lean. Some schools prefer Korean native teachers that are fluent in English. There are also religiously based schools (usually Catholic) that look for a Christian English teachers.
But for the general public school applications, the target demographic for hire is Caucasians and females, though Korean natives fluent in English are also very niche.
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