Chungdahm Learning

Here's to the next chapter of travel!  South Korea, to be more exact.  In the whirlwind process of applying for jobs all over the state, then the country, then the globe, I came across a few promising options for teaching English abroad without a master's degree (which is basically impossible in the states, unless you go through a rigorous and sometimes expensive teaching residency).  I was offered a position teaching at Chungdahm Learning, a string of 125 English language institutes all over South Korea (as well as Canada), through a placement agency based in San Francisco and headquartered Boston called Aclipse.  After over 20 years in business, Chungdahm is now known as the industry leader for ESL in Korea, and has begun to expand globally.  Chungdahm teaches over 60,000 students with 1,300 instructors and 390 corporate employees in their 125 locations in Korea.  The students at Chungdahm range from elementary to high school aged, with the majority in between the ages of 12 and 15.  So basically, I'll be teaching a classroom full of little Korean Jacks how to speak English.

My acceptance email - yahoo!

I got the job offer to teach with Chungdahm through Aclipse about two weeks ago in my inbox and about peed my pants.  After sending in a bunch of application materials, plus a half hour phone interview with a mock teaching exercise, I really wasn't sure how I'd done or what was to come of this whole application process.  I sent back my Memorandum of Understanding (basically, saying "I do" to their job offer, pending more information) yesterday, February 21st.

I'll try to make this as short and sweet as possible, but basically this is what they offered me.  A position teaching English in South Korea, at one of the 125 Chungdahm locations across the country.  There are two different salary packages, one monthly and one hourly.  The monthly salary is set at 120 hours worked per month and includes a semi-furnished apartment, Korean healthcare, and 7 paid days of vacation.  The pay rate is a bit lower than the hourly salary package, which is guaranteed at a minimum of 96 hours worked per month and does not include the cost of housing or paid vacation.  The rates after conversion are around $2,100/month or $25/hour.  When I first get to South Korea, they have you go through a training week in Seoul where you learn critical teaching skills.  After that, you are placed at your location and begin teaching - crazy!  My salary package, location and start date have yet to be determined until I pass my FBI background check, but I have a pretty good feeling I'll be offered the hourly pay rate and will be starting sometime around August of this year (per my email correspondence with my recruiter, Nicole).

Derp, a map for all you geography dummies.

A picture I found on this blog written by a Chungdahm teacher from Maryland as an example of what the kids do in the classroom... pretty funny.

I'll keep updating as I get more information and know more about my particular position, placement, and school.  But this is what I've got for the time being, and I'm super excited about this new adventure!  Cheers to being open to whatever possibility life hands you, or something.