This is Jestine writing. For those of you that don't know me, I am a 23 year old student graduating with a degree in Graphic Design and I am about to start a whole new chapter in my life. I am graduating with the love of my life (Bobby) this May and we are getting everything in place to start a new journey to teach English in South Korea. HOW EXCITING! I thought I would begin this blog by talking about everything we have done so far...
So to begin, we decided we wanted to travel abroad and teach English last year, but we were not sure where we wanted to go. I read online about the great opportunities that were available in Asian countries. So we started to research Japan, China and South Korea. We decided to go with South Korea for a few reasons. First, I had just started working with the International Programs Office at my college. Many of the people I work there have either taught in South Korea themselves or know of people who have taught there and they had nothing but great things to say about it. Bobby and I also started being conversation partners with Korean exchange students at our school around the same time. They started teaching us so much about the Korean culture, I instantly knew it was the right place for us. Plus, it is nice to know we will already have a dozen friends living in Korea when we get there!
The next step was to apply. We choose to apply through TeachESLKorea.com. I liked this site the best because they gave so much information about the whole experience from the contract, to the flight, to when you land there, to examples of the houses, etc. We applied there and joined TeachESLKorea on Facebook, which is a GREAT social networking tool. I have already been able to learn a lot about what it expect in Korea through that group and know if I have any questions someone will answer it. I have also met a few people who live in Canada currently that also will be leaving in August for Korea.There are many other groups you can join which I will state later. A few days after we applied, our representative Dan e-mailed us and gave us tons of stuff to start working on. We started on:
- Tailoring our resumes
- Taking photos of ourselves
- Creating introductory videos
- Gathering two Letter of References (LOR) (there were TONS of guidelines for these which made them tricky)
- Getting a FBI Criminal Background Check
- Acquiring a letter of Intent to Graduate
- And completing a whole gamut of other applications/paperwork
Then Dan recommended we get our TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate). It is a 100 hour certificate, which so far has been a great experience. I was nervous because I didn't know a thing about teaching, but this class is going to give me the confidence I need to be comfortable in the classroom.
Last week we sent Dan our LOR and he transferred us to one of his partners, Terry, who works with ILoveEsl.com and is going to help us find a job at a public school. We filled out another long (and meticulous) application...including choosing our top 3 places we want to live in Korea. This was such a hard decision. We have some great friends who are also applying to teach English in Korea and we hope to be placed by them. The good news is, if we aren't placed near them, the country is small enough that traveling across country should be a breeze (when we get a chance).
So that is where we are now. We are still waiting for our FBI Criminal Background check to be returned to us, and we will finish our TEFL certificate by May. Then the only thing we will need is our degrees apostallized and we will be good to go.
I am so excited to find out where we will be teaching and living for the next year of our lives. I think about it everyday. Pretty soon we will be packing up all our stuff (giving most stuff away) and be on our way to live in another country. We are also having to second guess what we are buying. We have to constantly remind ourselves that we are leaving in (hopefully) 6 months. For example, we just ran out of our Almond Butter... I am not sure how long it takes us to go through that huge jar since we don't eat it to much.. so should we buy another? And when we buy clothes now we think.. "is this something I should bring to Korea, or does it have to be stored away or given away" (Bobby always asks, "What would Ty wear?"). Bobby bought me (us) a video recorder. It is cute and small and will be PERFECT for when we are in Korea. When I have looked at other people's blogs I loved watching their videos. It makes you feel like your right there. So that should liven up this blog a little more.. and we also bought each other a nice "adult camera" that I can't wait to use more.
Look forward to photos, videos and more posts about our progress.
Cheers,
J&B
Below are our photos we took to turn in with our resume.
Below are our photos we took to turn in with our resume.
