I got an email from the recruiter telling me I have a phone interview with the Seoul education board next Friday at 11 AM Korea time.
He also said the fact I have an interview means I have a 90% chance of getting a position.
As I noted before, I can’t really imagine how they could turn me down considering two factors:
1. My years of teaching experience and higher degrees in the field of teaching English and ESL + my experience living and teaching in Korea.
2. The fact they will be hiring many people who do not have a degree in education/teaching or teaching experience.
But — the world often doesn’t make sense…
The only real stumbling block I can picture, however, is that they try to put me in an elementary school or a middle school…
I won’t accept a job in an elementary school.
My last ditch, worst case position for returning to Korea is to accept a job teaching K thru elementary school kids in a hakwon. I really don’t want to teach that age group again, but at least in a hakwon, the size of the class would be small and manageable but not so in a public school (I think).
If SMOE assigns me to a middle school, I’ll have to think about it.
But high school is by far my preference. Since I decided to teach in public schools in the US around 2006, my focus has been on high school students. That has been my target audience and my motivation. — Even when I did my student teaching in Middle School, it was a little difficult to change gears, because so much of what I say in class or want to say is about “life in the real world” the students are about to enter —-
—- and that works with high school students with 1 or 2 or 3 years left who have a driver’s license and maybe a part-time job already —
—- but for middle schoolers fresh out of 6th grade, it just doesn’t work that well….
