So I teach English in Korea...

[bantership]

and it is awesome.

I was asked to spell the following words today for my Korean 2nd grade boys' comic strips:

Maplestory
Poop
Sword
Zombie
Mummy
UFO
Chop off head
Heavy sword
Die
One year later
One hundred years later

[Adacore]

Knowing a large number of English teachers out here, this... does not surprise me.

The funniest stuff I've heard from my teacher friends is the insults (accidental or otherwise) they get from their kids. For example, one of my friends was told 'teacher, other students don't like your face, but I like your face'. Another was informed that 'teacher, your hair looks like where birds live'.

Where are you based? I'm down in Changwon (창원), in the southeast of the country.

[hyunchoi98]

...they seriously didn't know how to spell 'UFO?'
What did they think it was, you eff oh?

I'm not being insulting (ok maybe I am) since I'm korean myself, and being 14 years old.

Anyway, I'm guessing you are an english teacher at a hagwon? Or are you a teacher at a school?

[chocopancake]

Can I ask what qualifications you got, like certificates or degrees if any, in order to get this position? I'm looking more into China myself, but I really want to teach in an actual school instead of a tutoring place.

[Adacore]

Most of the english teaching jobs in Korea are at after-school academies (which are, as you say, tutoring type places). For that you basically just need a bachelors degree in anything, and to be from an English-speaking country.

Public school jobs are available, though, but they are a bit harder to get and I think they prefer people with some background in education*, but the stated requirement is still basically the same: citizenship of Australia, Canada, USA, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, or UK; bachelors degree in any subject from one of those countries; completely clean criminal record; clean health check.

Check out Waygook.org and Dave's ESL Cafe for a start, and for many people considerably better informed than me.

*Having said that, I think some places prefer people with no education qualifications, because it allows them to keep you at a lower pay grade for longer under the foreign teacher employment contracts here.