Hello Cat,

I'm sorry I didn't see your post earlier. When I lived and taught in Korea I spent a week on Jeju Island visiting the 'touristy things' and was quite impressed. I hiked through the lush tropical forests to the crater's edge of Halla-san Volcano, the highest mountain in Korea, gazed, awestruck, at the tumbling waterfalls of Seogwipo City, and walked in the black sands and warm waters off Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak), said to have the most spectacular sunrises and sunsets on the peninsula.

Jeju is Korea's favorite vacation spot, dubbed 'Hawaii in Asia,' and if I were ever to go back and teach in Korea I would make it my first choice.

I lived in a small mainland city by Korean standards (about 100,000 people) and everything I ever needed could be found there. When on Jeju I visited both Jeju City (400,000) and Seogwipo City (155,000), each with numerous western and Korean-style restaurants, bars and stores. Unless you are the kind of person who needs the hustle and bustle of a metropolis, I imagine you would never run out of things to keep you busy in your spare time. Nonetheless, not everyone can find a job there and there are countless other beautiful and interesting locales where one could happily live.

One extra piece of advice: If you don't quite have your sea legs about you, I would recommend flying to the mainland rather than taking the ferry. My wife and I arrived on Jeju via ferry from Mokpo and when it hit the open waters it bounced and swayed so dramatically that about half the boat spent the trip in the washroom. While I felt fine and was glad to be in the open sea, it wasn't a great experience for a lot of people.

Enjoy your teaching adventure, wherever it may take you!

The horror stories from friends who taught in China were many and really bad, but I have heard none in SK that compared to them.

Well Allen that's because you haven't looked, as they are all over this site and many others. You sound like a spokesperson for SK to be honest. That you yourself had 2 good experiences, so you say, means little to me. That you claim to be unaware of complaints about teaching in Korea, well is laughable, and makes me question if you are who and what you say you are. As for comparing a small country like SK to one so large and heavily populated as China, well that's absurd. We have all seen plenty of people coming on her defending teaching in China because they had a good experience, and they think it's a fine place to work. Simple ignorance is all that is, or someone with an agenda. The truth is there are complaints showing up here all the time about Korean schools, clearly you don't care to read or even look for those, as they would conflict with whatever agenda you may have. My guess, you work for a school on Jeju island, probably the one in question.

Anyone thinking about going to SK should think again. It's not the paradise this person is painting it as. If there are less complaints then there are about China, well duh, South Korea has 48 million people, while China has 1 billion 400 million. Basically China has about 30 times the number of people. With that kind of disparity in population, we should see 30 times less posts complaining about working in SK, but we don't. No, we see a number which is much closer, in a country that is so much smaller. When you look at things in that way, it makes no sense that we see as many complaints as we do about SK, and the only conclusion that can be reached is that it is in truth worse than teaching in China. It is simple logic really. If you go to a place with 100 people and 10 of those people are murdered, and then go someplace where 3,000 people live and 20 people are murdered, who has the bigger crime problem, and where would you rather live? Both have a problem, but I'd say the place with 100 people has a much bigger problem based on the numbers, much bigger by far. Now multiply that exponentially. This is the kind of thing that people like this Allen person, who is way to pro Jeju island, don't want you to think about. They don't want you to do the simple math and see the huge disparity. Taking into account that SK has such a small population, and that we see maybe half as many complaints about SK as we do China, that's a huge disparity, as it should be far far less if it's such a great place to teach, and given it's small population and size. Also take into account the huge number of new and first time posters trying to sell this Jeju island, and I think it's obvious that some people who are currently working at these schools in SK are being asked or paid to come here and give a positive review.

Use logic and reason and you'll see for yourself that SK is not a good place to work. Like anywhere else there will be good schools, but they are the exception, not the rule, and with the numbers I have quoted, and the clear disparities that are evident when compared to such a huge country as China, well I would avoid ever going to SK. The odds simply are not on your side. Take care.

My advice to you cat is to avoid South Korea all together. There have b en more posts on this board and others about the hazards of working in SK then I can easily count. Considering the small size of SK for there to be so many complaints about working there says it all. SK is not somewhere you want to teach. As with anyplace you have good places to work, and bad, however by and large SK has far too many complaints about it for it to be a safe bet if you ask me. I would advise against China as well. Japan is a better option, you should look into teaching there, but avoid SK I say.

Hi Cat

I have heard Jeju is really beautiful. I also wanted to go teach there when I was looking for work in SK. However after some research and reading, and having spoken to someone in SK; Jeju rains 9/12 months a year. The 3 months when it is not raining is when the tourist season picks up. Just what I have read and heard.

However when I get to Korea I definitely want to check out Jeju; the write ups and pictures online look awesome.

Shaun