• Cross-cultural experience: Living and working in a foreign country can be a wonderful eye-opening experience to a new culture, concept, and way of life. Korea has many interesting festivals and cultural assets to explore. Plus the food is delicious and very different than anywhere else in the world! By living in South Korea you will surely get a sense of the country’s unique culture.  

• Travel: If you plan things right you should be able to use your weekends and holidays to do some traveling around the country or even the continent. Many teachers also use their time after or between contracts to do more extensive traveling. For example, when we lived in Korea, we backpacked through SE Asia, Japan, Hong Kong, in addition to visiting most places of interest in South Korea.

• You enjoy working with kids or teaching: The vast majority of jobs available in Korea involve teaching children. The children range in age from kindergarten to high school. Successful teachers in Korea are comfortable spending time with children. Remember, a Korean classroom is just as lively as a classroom in your home country! If you have little patience or are easily frustrated you may want to reconsider. Yet for many people, working with children is a genuinely fun and rewarding experience. Plus, most teachers will finish their contract with countless amusing stories from the classroom. 

• Money: It cannot be denied that working in Korea is a fairly easy way to save money. While the salary is not extravagant, your housing is paid for and the cost of living is lower than in your home country. Many people have even paid off their student loans by teaching for only a year or two in Korea. It is quite easy to live comfortably and still save 25-50% of each paycheck.

• It’s an easy job (or is it?): Many people teach English abroad because they have heard that the job is easy. They have gotten the idea that very few hours will be required of them, and that the time they do teach will be easy. Although some schools have an easier workload than others, most schools will require you to plan your classes, prepare tests, and create monthly report cards for your students. Remember that the 30 hour maximum is teaching time only. It does not include preparation and marking time. If you are preparing to teach abroad you should expect to put in as much effort as you would in a job back home. It is much better to assume this, and be pleasantly surprised if it ends up being easier than expected.
  

Hopefully you see yourself as a person who will enjoy living in a new and different culture and teaching kids as your job.  If these two things sound good to you, you will be starting off on the right foot!