By SHELTON BUMGARNER
NTY Guest Blogger
I continue to get an uneasy feeling that we’re just about to reach the tipping point when it comes to Americans teaching EFL in Korea. The New York Times, whose publisher I’ve met, don’tcha know, seems to be rooting its nose around the issue. While Korea isn’t really mentioned in this specific story, the idea — the meme, if you will — of teaching EFL for fun and profit is lurking just beneath the surface. Soon, I expect a huge write up about the “joys” of teaching at a hagwon, replete with smiling kids and people taking greenback bubble baths.
Jump forward a year or two, and the stories will grow darker, ending with a huge expose on the America House in some dark Korean jail.
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13 Comments
That post made almost no sense. Were you in too much of a hurry to proofread it, or are you drunk?
Yeah, what the hell’s this entry about?
I think the post is talking about the possibility that we might soon see a ’silver age’ for teaching English in Korea (the golden age being in the 1990s before the Asia financial crisis).
I would personally welcome an influx of teachers into Korea. The current market has made it really difficult for our college to get anyone who meets our (certainly not impossibly high) standards
Shelton has in the past obsessed in this space over whether he is a good writer and on the whole he has encountered mostly detractors. The masochist/time waster in me occasionally steers me to Migukin and my conclusion is that he’s a perfectly adequate wordsmith, but that he is in the thrall of bad or daffy ideas. He needs an editor with strict WTF? standards.
that was an interesting article but i wish it would have addressed one thing: how long is “too long” when working overseas?
i guess this question is irrelevent for those of us who are currently working abroad in a career we wish to continue even back home and are qualified to do so, but what about those wandering souls who one day go to Asia to teach or tend bar with the intention of doing so for a year but end up doing this for several years, esp. those without any educational degree in such areas? i mean, in the U.S. at least, it might be very hard to get a really good ESL teaching job without some sort of Masters in ESL no matter how much oversease experience teaching ESL one has.
(just going by the jobs my friends have gotten and comparing those with MA degrees in the area and those without it. those with the degrees in the subject have managed to get very nice work packages in the states after their time abroad for it seems there is a demand for qualified, certified teachers in the field. those without the degrees and who wished to continue teaching eventually have been forced to go back to school for 2 years to get that degree–for them, the transition into the mainstream workforce was not so easy.)
is there not a certain time window in which one loses marketability in the job market back home?
after six years working overseas with eventual intentions to go back to the States, this idea has bothered me as i’ve heard the warnings: the longer you stay out of the US job market, the harder it will be to actually get a good job back home (which is partially why i stopped teaching English and started making a career overseas related to my degree so that i would have a fighting chance when i choose to relocate back home).
i would be interested to hear what major companies have to say about that: what constitutes working “too long” overseas, esp. in a field not related to your academic background or your lifelong career intentions? and for those who are working in a job related to their degrees and long-term career intentions, is there such a thing as working overseas for too long and if so, what is the timeframe?
Jodi,
Why do you capitalise “U.S.” and “ESL”, but not the first letter of your sentences? Are you trying to make a point? Is the point that “No-one should employ me as a teacher or academic under any circumstances”?
“Jodi,
Why do you capitalise “U.S.” and “ESL”, but not the first letter of your sentences? Are you trying to make a point? Is the point that “No-one should employ me as a teacher or academic under any circumstances”? ”
What?? Who cares? This isn’t a goddamn application.
Have I been trolled?
pyotr–i’m not getting paid to comment on this blog so i really don’t give a flying f*** about punctuation and really, what does having a job as a teacher or academic have anything to do with my original question which you so brilliantly overlooked? if you aren’t willing to address my question, why not refrain from your pointless attacks?
i’d be happy to take this argument offline with you instead of polluting the thread and sorry in advance to robert for this.
Pyotr, this posting made perfect sense. Let me break it down for you:
This part is about cow tipping of course. Cow tipping is common in parts of America where there is not much to do except tip sleeping cows over and write nonsensical blogs, usually under the influence of a malt liquor that has an animal on the label.
I believe this must be about the House of Representatives, usually found in American Government and mentioned in various editorials throughout America but not to be confused with a government that represents the people.
This was tricky but I believe is an illusion to some sort of sexual act that culminates in an orgasm for whoever was writing this particular blog entry. Orgasms have been a topic of recent Chosun Ilbo articles wherein it is uncertain who has them in Korea or why. This last point is quite relevant to events in Korea as of late.
jodi (small “j” this time, out of respect),
Actually, although it might not have been obvious to you, I addressed your question generously, brilliantly, and incisively.
You asked a convoluted, grammatically sloppy question concerning your job prospects, and I gave you a clear answer. Take it as you will.
There is no need to apologise to Robert about all of this - if he is willing to let literary pimples such as Shelton Bumfodder contribute to his forum, he is almost certainly willing to let them be squeezed and to endure the consequences.
R. Elgin,
Thank you so much for your guide - everything is so much clearer now!
Dear Ray,
No, you haven’t been trolled - you were on my side from the beginning.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that jodi’s reply was, actually, an application - to me - the Spirit of Anal Retention!
From now on, where ever jodi goes, whatever application he writes, to whomever he addresses an enquiry - he will forever burr my crosshairs! Until he repents and actually pays some attention to how he constructs his dribblous drivel, he will always garner my constipated attention.
Yours anally,
Pyotr
Why do you white dudes make working in Korea sound so bad?
You could always think of yourselves as modern-day agents of imperialism. nyahaha
Nobody would realize the value of what you’re doing? You could always employ the Korean tactic, you know the “this is the Korean counterpart of something american” as in Lee Hyo-ri is the Britney of Korea
You work at XXXX Wonderland and people back home do not have any idea what it is? You could always say that you work for the Phillips Exeter of Korea. nyahahaha
You could almost picture somebody saying
Hi! My name is Robert. I used to work at Chosun and now I am “currently working for a lifestyle and culture magazine in Seoul”. Chosun? Ahhhh, it is the New York Times of Korea. My current employer? It is the GQ/Vogue of Korea.
Heck, I’ll betcha, even Dr. Laughlin must be in the same tight spot all the time.
Highbrowed CERN researcher: KAIST? Where/what is that?
Dr. Laughlin: Ahhhh, let me see, KAIST is the, hmmmm, the CALTECH of Korea, you know, we have more grad students than undergrad.
nya hahahahaha