Certification: Prepping for Adventure

Come to Korea and teach English! Free flight and housing! No experience required! Any degree will do!... What a sales pitch. I must admit, Korea was not my first choice, but became the logical choice for these reasons and others. Being a person living below poverty level, Korea is the obvious choice. Sprinkle on top the modernity and slight-western influence and you have a clear winner for a first year teacher. I had been investigating my possibilities of places to go prior to graduating college and the relative ease in finding a job in Korea and the safety of the jump made more sense than trying to find work in Vietnam.

I committed to researching Korea after running into a girl who I had a class with the semester prior, at the supermarket. Her name is Heddi ( I imagine this spelling might be incorrect) and she is a stunningly beautiful Korean girl who convinced me I would love it. Sold. As shallow is this may sound, I had long before developed an affinity for Korean cuisine and have been eating kimchi out of the jar for a good 7 years. Her insistence that I would have a great time was merely icing on the cake and what incredibly delicious icing coming from Heddi.

***

The idea of teaching in a foreign country with no experience or background in education sounded like a bold thing to do, bordering on stupid. I am no spring chicken and unlike most fresh out of college graduates, I have lived on my own in a few different places. I have felt that sense of anxiety of things new before. It takes getting used to. I am also different than most recent college graduates who, young and eager and ready to conquer are somewhat delusional because of their newly acquired knowledge and sense of ability that has been fostered by college professors. College has, in a sense, made me more jaded. So instead of assuming I knew what it takes to teach a class (I had attended many) I thought it wise to get a certificate from TEFL. I paid for the expensive, most intensive online course available because it seemed the most in depth and worthwhile. It might even bump up my first year salary according to the program salesman.

This course was worth it. Maybe the cheaper course would have been just as good, but I found that more information and in-class hours needed to complete the course, very beneficial. I could not believe how little I knew about what goes into teaching. Grammar? My god, I need to learn it so I can teach it. Classroom management? Thank you for that chapter. It is entirely possible to find everything you need to teach on the web, but I felt the need for some structure and this course was super helpful and to my liking. Not to mention the actual classroom observation. It was humbling getting up in front of English learners for the first time.

 I wasn't expecting the course to be as difficult as it was, or as detailed and heavy in the work load. My online classmates were feeling in a similar way by their comments, some were obvious over-achievers and others were plain stupid. The worst part about the course was peer responses. Shoot me if these clowns are supposed to be my peers. College really cranks out the trite. Halfway through I realized that little effort would get you the pass after reading garbage lesson plans by ding-bats and dip-shits. I made sure to get the most out of it though, knowing that I paid for the course using student loans and I am essentially paying more for it as the interest accrues. I worry about the livelihood of the Liberal Arts Major who assumes their drama experience will suffice for running a classroom. Good luck!