When my job was lost to downsizing, I faced a choice. Should I stay in a crumbling America, or go abroad?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The decision was easy. If America didn\u2019t want me, then plenty of other countries did, because I was a master of English, the global lingua franca.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So, before long, I found myself on a Korean Air 747 soaring over the Arctic, on the way to teach at a private school that I had never seen or heard of before. Though it didn\u2019t seem so at first, moving to Korea turned out to be one of the best career moves I ever made.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The 747 arrived at Seoul\u2019s Kimpo Airport late at night. The school\u2019s director and vice-director were there to meet me. They deposited me at a \u201cyogwan,\u201d or traditional Korean inn, for a night\u2019s sleep. The next day, I was at school, getting acquainted with other teachers and the curriculum.<\/p>\n
The teachers \u2013 all native speakers of English, plus a Japanese lady who taught her native tongue — were a mixed lot. There was a towering beauty who was all smiles in class but growled about \u201cthose damn students\u201d between teaching hours. Another teacher, a bubbly young blonde from California, once went into a spontaneous dance on a polished floor, slipped, and landed heavily on her rump.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Japanese lady belonged to some religious cult with detailed teachings about torments awaiting the greedy in hell. The school fired her. I wondered if it was to save money, or to keep her from attempting conversions. Perhaps she gave management disturbing thoughts about the high tuition.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I taught advanced English conversation. Students were mostly college age and close to native fluency. They could discuss, in lucid English, everything from Korean ghost stories to computer science. My students taught me as much as I taught them.<\/p>\n
One thing I learned was that Korea has a vastly more literate population than the United States. Korean students can quote Caesar in the original Latin. Meanwhile, roughly half of all Americans lack the reading and comprehension skills to understand this article. Care to guess whose brainpower will be imported to keep the U.S. running?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Korean kids have their whimsical side too. Inscriptions on t-shirts seem simply to have fun with English. For example: \u201cUFO \u2013 Meeting Next Particular Any Style or Color.\u201d That\u2019s nice to know, if I ever go shopping for a UFO. The message on the back of one jacket read, \u201cJust Take Care Of.\u201d Of what? Anything you like. What could be more user-friendly?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
These are examples of \u201cKonglish,\u201d the Korean-English patois that many Koreans use. They seem apologetic for it, but I love it. It\u2019s like the scrambled-word puzzles one sees in newspapers. How, for example, would you interpret \u201cAlram Beel\u201d? No, it\u2019s not Arabic for a gas station. It\u2019s \u201cAlarm Bell\u201d in Konglish. Wandering in a Konglish environment for a few days, you start to think spelling and grammar are just Western preoccupations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You may want to spend about a month in Seoul checking out employment opportunities. There are plenty, in fields ranging from consulting to teaching. Schools and companies need the services of native speakers of English. Just be careful of the hagwans, or private English \u201cacademies.\u201d Some are reputable, but others are rip-off operations. If a hagwan owner pushes a contract at you and urges you to sign on the spot, then run, don\u2019t walk, out the door. Get a university position if you can. Benefits and pay are better than at hagwans. A friend of mine from Canada got tired of the hagwan racket and wound up with a university job here. He loves it. Maybe you will find a good position too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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