The Asian Paradox

[Nick Young]

This is a paradox, found mainly amongst Asian university students. No I am not talking about Asian Americans, I'm talking about FOB Asians accepted into American and European universities.

I am speaking mainly of Asians originating from the countries Japan, China and South Korea.

Many students from these countries grow up pushed by their parents to study insanely hard in school, and to take extra classes and get the very top grades.

HERE IS THE PARADOX:
Many Asian students learn English in class starting from a very young age. So how come when they come to Europe or America, they often times suck hard at English? Surely English is a class that their parents would force them to work extra hard at and dominate-and yet, I know many an Asian student who has been in America or Europe for years and still sucks at English.


I bring to you-the Asian paradox.

[nathanjizzle]

This is a paradox, found mainly amongst Asian university students. No I am not talking about Asian Americans, I'm talking about FOB Asians accepted into American and European universities.

I am speaking mainly of Asians originating from the countries Japan, China and South Korea.

Many students from these countries grow up pushed by their parents to study insanely hard in school, and to take extra classes and get the very top grades.

HERE IS THE PARADOX:
Many Asian students learn English in class starting from a very young age. So how come when they come to Europe or America, they often times suck hard at English? Surely English is a class that their parents would force them to work extra hard at and dominate-and yet, I know many an Asian student who has been in America or Europe for years and still sucks at English.


I bring to you-the Asian paradox.

its really the asian american students or "americanized" asian students that succeed the most in school, the immigrant kids usually are substandard. lack of english teachers in these countries contribute to it and money from where they come from. no money = no education, if they have no money how can they get proper english education. so when they fill out their student visas and come over here they are pretty much thrown in the lions den. i know because i know a few students personally

[flipogb]

not enough art, they are taught to memorize things. schools teach people there like you would teach a robot.

[Nick Young]

its really the asian american students or "americanized" asian students that succeed the most in school, the immigrant kids usually are substandard. lack of english teachers in these countries contribute to it and money from where they come from. no money = no education, if they have no money how can they get proper english education. so when they fill out their student visas and come over here they are pretty much thrown in the lions den. i know because i know a few students personally
Not all are in America and Europe on scholarships. Many come from wealthy families. Also, if these students had no money, their parents wouldnt have been able to afford to send them to extra after school classes in math and SAT test taking skills.

[Nick Young]

Start learning Cantonese and tell me how long it takes you to sound like a native Chinese citizen.
I don't think I'd ever sound like a native citizen but if I studied it for 5+years with my parents sending me to extra classes and pressuring me to study it all the time growing up I'd definately atleast be able to make myself understandable and grammatically correct.

Foreign languages aren't ass difficult to learn as many people make them out to be. It's just that most people don't have the dedication.

[niko]

This is a paradox, found mainly amongst Asian university students. No I am not talking about Asian Americans, I'm talking about FOB Asians accepted into American and European universities.

I am speaking mainly of Asians originating from the countries Japan, China and South Korea.

Many students from these countries grow up pushed by their parents to study insanely hard in school, and to take extra classes and get the very top grades.

HERE IS THE PARADOX:
Many Asian students learn English in class starting from a very young age. So how come when they come to Europe or America, they often times suck hard at English? Surely English is a class that their parents would force them to work extra hard at and dominate-and yet, I know many an Asian student who has been in America or Europe for years and still sucks at English.


I bring to you-the Asian paradox.
I'm thinking you don't understand the word paradox.

[gigantes]

i've read a little about this when it comes to english classes in japan.

japanese schools basically stick to a weird hybrid of dated english and their own grammar rules (which they somewhat arbitrarily add), consider it 'perfect', and then drill the hell out of it until the students are running complex programs in their head to spit out their own crazy version of engrish.

IIRC both azrael the famous african-american english teacher in japan and the ivy-league guy who runs the awesome blog "this japanese life"... have both commented that when they dared to gently correct the 'perfect' japanese over there, they were met with incomprehension, then cold stares and hostility.

in other words, the japanese in particular are purposely trained to use awkward, flawed english.

[Nick Young]

i've read a little about this when it comes to english classes in japan.

japanese schools basically stick to a weird hybrid of dated english and their own grammar rules (which they somewhat arbitrarily add), consider it 'perfect', and then drill the hell out of it until the students are running complex programs in their head to spit out their own crazy version of engrish.

IIRC both azrael the famous african-american english teacher in japan and the ivy-league guy who runs the awesome blog "this japanese life"... have both commented that when they dared to gently correct the 'perfect' japanese over there, they were met with incomprehension, then cold stares and hostility.

in other words, the japanese in particular are purposely trained to use awkward, flawed english.

sheeeit someone's gotta go there and fix the english education system.

[LJJ]

It's for a variety of reasons, but to point out the more obvious ones.

1. In Chinese and Japanese the spoken and the written language are two entirely separate entities. They don't relate phonetically like most languages do, hence learning to read and write these languages and to speak these languages are entirely different concepts.
This is the way they learn English too, most of them can probably read and write much better than they can speak the language.

2. The sounds used in Chinese (not so sure about Japanese) are complex in an entirely different way. Blending consonants is a very difficult skill to learn if you don't pick it up from an early age and it doesn't really exist in Chinese. Just like the vast majority of westerners who can speak Chinese will always struggle with the tonal qualities in that language.

[Nick Young]

I'm thinking you don't understand the word paradox.
It is a paradox. They study so hard and are good at everything, but for some reason many are still bad at English, despite studying it so hard. Even though the other things they study so hard they become really good at, or at least competent.

[ThatCoolKid]

This is probably related http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period_hypothesis.

Also, taking a class is very different than immersing yourself in a second language and only using the second language like what study abroad students do.

[gigantes]

sheeeit someone's gotta go there and fix the english education system.
thing is, it's just an extension of the whole culture-- 'this is the way things are done. nothing to discuss, nothing to fix.'


the koreans and chinese seem a lot more easy-going about this stuff to me. then again, the modern chinese method seems to involve more slackness and indifference whenever possible. so... choose your poison, i guess.

[Bandito]

This is a paradox, found mainly amongst Asian university students. No I am not talking about Asian Americans, I'm talking about FOB Asians accepted into American and European universities.

I am speaking mainly of Asians originating from the countries Japan, China and South Korea.

Many students from these countries grow up pushed by their parents to study insanely hard in school, and to take extra classes and get the very top grades.

HERE IS THE PARADOX:
Many Asian students learn English in class starting from a very young age. So how come when they come to Europe or America, they often times suck hard at English? Surely English is a class that their parents would force them to work extra hard at and dominate-and yet, I know many an Asian student who has been in America or Europe for years and still sucks at English.


I bring to you-the Asian paradox.that is because the dont speak english in daily life. So they dont really practice it. In PR the same thing happens. In order to learn a language you have to speak it for practice. I learned by watching tv and school , but not everybody is like that.

[ace23]

It is a paradox. They study so hard and are good at everything, but for some reason many are still bad at English, despite studying it so hard. Even though the other things they study so hard they become really good at, or at least competent.
Dude this is not a paradox.

[tmacattack33]

This is a paradox, found mainly amongst Asian university students. No I am not talking about Asian Americans, I'm talking about FOB Asians accepted into American and European universities.

I am speaking mainly of Asians originating from the countries Japan, China and South Korea.

Many students from these countries grow up pushed by their parents to study insanely hard in school, and to take extra classes and get the very top grades.

HERE IS THE PARADOX:
Many Asian students learn English in class starting from a very young age. So how come when they come to Europe or America, they often times suck hard at English? Surely English is a class that their parents would force them to work extra hard at and dominate-and yet, I know many an Asian student who has been in America or Europe for years and still sucks at English.


I bring to you-the Asian paradox.

:confusedshrug:

It's pretty hard to learn a language just by taking classes of it in school.

I got all A's and B's in Spanish at my high school but i could never actually speak it very well and neither could any of my class mates.

[millwad]

This is a paradox, found mainly amongst Asian university students. No I am not talking about Asian Americans, I'm talking about FOB Asians accepted into American and European universities.

I am speaking mainly of Asians originating from the countries Japan, China and South Korea.

Many students from these countries grow up pushed by their parents to study insanely hard in school, and to take extra classes and get the very top grades.

HERE IS THE PARADOX:
Many Asian students learn English in class starting from a very young age. So how come when they come to Europe or America, they often times suck hard at English? Surely English is a class that their parents would force them to work extra hard at and dominate-and yet, I know many an Asian student who has been in America or Europe for years and still sucks at English.


I bring to you-the Asian paradox.

You're a clown, if people would have wrote something like that about Israeli students you would have called them anti-semitic and that they are nazis.

[JEFFERSON MONEY]

Hmmm.

Don't have an answer to this but have an inkling as to what it may be.

Isn't American English one of the few languages which is LOADED with exceptions, inconsistencies, idioms, jargon, prepositions, spelling mistakes, fairly large discrepancies between dialects (well UK as well of course cockney vs. londoner) slang (well everybody has slang but americans have even more), s-v-p format? According to my linguist teacher this could be it although not sure.

Amelia Bedelia series went on and on. Most of the jokes in Rush Hour were based on culture shock and J. Chan trynna swaggerjack Chris Tucker.

I before e except after c can be defiled quite quick.

In conclusion, it's pretty hard.



Anywho, if this is an indirect jab at encouraging Asians to balance their social lives with their academic lives; then I'm all fukking for it.

[Nick Young]

You're a clown, if people would have wrote something like that about Israeli students you would have called them anti-semitic and that they are nazis.
not really doe. My parents were a lot like AZN parents IMO, in terms of constantly pushing and nagging to study extra hard and get top marks, only they didn't discourage creativity. Lots of Jewish parents are like AZN parents, so its not really offensive for you to make a post like that.

As for Israelis, I dont know anything about how their parents raise them I never even been there doe.

[magic chiongson]

filipino students fob are pretty good at english..even better than some americans :D

[n00bie]

I don't think I'd ever sound like a native citizen but if I studied it for 5+years with my parents sending me to extra classes and pressuring me to study it all the time growing up I'd definately atleast be able to make myself understandable and grammatically correct.

Foreign languages aren't ass difficult to learn as many people make them out to be. It's just that most people don't have the dedication.

Taking a class for a couple hours a day will not make you fluent in any language. You actually have to speak it on a daily basis.. which means the only way they'd learn is if they actually lived in north america for a couple of years.

Honestly, this is common sense.. you don't need to make a thread about it. :facepalm

[lefthook00]

In my experience, fob East Asians are pretty damn good when it comes to writing/reading English(b/c they practice on paper mostly), but due to their tongue/culture/new environment/fear, their verbal English lags severely behind their written skills.

Or they just suck over-all.

Also, with Korean and Japanese, their syntax is all backwards so it's really hard for them to write/speak English sentences(it's like how Yoda speaks). Chinese/Indians/Flips are usually much better at speaking English, but their written skills are lagging imo.

[GatorKid117]

Its actually pretty simple.

They don't have to speak for their exams. The only thing required is written stuff (vocab/grammar rules etc). So, they don't practice speaking. Their English grammar is amazing because in English class that is really all they are being taught.

Source: I live in China and teach English.

[JtotheIzzo]

paradox :lol

1-their languages are dramatically different.

2-their schools teach grammar rules, not casual conversation.

3-their cultures are littered with bits of butchered English which they think is acceptable.

4-most of them (the Chinese anyway) speak their local dialect plus Mandarin.

5-with the internet and the ability to enjoy everything from back home there is less incentive to become good at English, they can hang around with people from their home country, talk their native language, listen to their music and watch their own TV on websites like Funshion.

6-rich kids practice conversation with people like Gator Kid, but in group classes that are held in cram schools (after hours kind of babysitting school). The average rube cannot afford this.

7-They have noises in their languages we cannot make and we have noises in our languages they cannot make, only those with extensive time overseas can sound fluent.

Working a lot overseas and dealing with East Asians I have gotten used to poorly written emails and broken conversations, it is a delight when I deal with someone who has been to school in North America because they are so much better. It is much much worse back in the motherlands Nick, much worse.

[Randy]

I'm in S. Korea right now teaching English, so I can't speak for Taiwan, Japan, China, etc. and am certainly not an expert... but from what I've learned, there is an exam here (I think high school age) that determines how capable students are at English, but it is mostly reading and written, with little speaking. My students can read very, very well but then struggle to tell me what they actually read about.

A lot of English teachers here are not very good, and only want a paid vacation to Asia. Luckily my school has teachers who really do care and encourage our students to engage in conversation. It can be difficult to get shy kids to speak up, especially when there are other students who are slightly better at English than them. However, I have some very, very bright kids that should/could be very good at English as they get older.

So, yeah... if you really cared about the subject, that's my view.

[GatorKid117]

paradox :lol

1-their languages are dramatically different.

2-their schools teach grammar rules, not casual conversation.

3-their cultures are littered with bits of butchered English which they think is acceptable.

4-most of them (the Chinese anyway) speak their local dialect plus Mandarin.

5-with the internet and the ability to enjoy everything from back home there is less incentive to become good at English, they can hang around with people from their home country, talk their native language, listen to their music and watch their own TV on websites like Funshion.

6-rich kids practice conversation with people like Gator Kid, but in group classes that are held in cram schools (after hours kind of babysitting school). The average rube cannot afford this.

7-They have noises in their languages we cannot make and we have noises in our languages they cannot make, only those with extensive time overseas can sound fluent.

Working a lot overseas and dealing with East Asians I have gotten used to poorly written emails and broken conversations, it is a delight when I deal with someone who has been to school in North America because they are so much better. It is much much worse back in the motherlands Nick, much worse.

I agree with everything but #6 (speaking about China). I work in a public school and most of the native speaking foreigners I come into contact to do as well. I know a lot of people who just work at training centers on the side for extra cash.


A lot of English teachers here are not very good, and only want a paid vacation to Asia. Luckily my school has teachers who really do care and encourage our students to engage in conversation. It can be difficult to get shy kids to speak up, especially when there are other students who are slightly better at English than them. However, I have some very, very bright kids that should/could be very good at English as they get older.


Definitely true. Sometimes I can't believe how many sleazy looking people are getting teaching jobs. Not the mention the fact non native speakers getting OK jobs as well. I have a Mexican friend whose English is pretty bad who is teaching English right now. He's teaching kindergarten so its not that big a deal but still... the man cannot write worth a damn. He cannot speak in past tense properly. But for many schools, its not about the teaching quality, its about the status of having foreign teachers so it all works out.

[Nick Young]

Taking a class for a couple hours a day will not make you fluent in any language. You actually have to speak it on a daily basis.. which means the only way they'd learn is if they actually lived in north america for a couple of years.

Honestly, this is common sense.. you don't need to make a thread about it. :facepalm
In my language classes, we always had to practice speaking to eachother, and when I had a French tutor I had to speak to her in French for an hour. So I assume in these English classes in Asia, students would be encouraged to practice speaking to eachother too.

[dr.hee]

Before criticising foreign students for their lack of English skills, OP should work on his own vocabulary...for example by learning what the word "paradox" means.
:facepalm

[kNIOKAS]

Some of them are exposed to yall stupid writing grammar on internet. You know how that inhibits learning? A lot.

[dr.hee]

I'm in S. Korea right now teaching English, so I can't speak for Taiwan, Japan, China, etc. and am certainly not an expert... but from what I've learned, there is an exam here (I think high school age) that determines how capable students are at English, but it is mostly reading and written, with little speaking. My students can read very, very well but then struggle to tell me what they actually read about.

A lot of English teachers here are not very good, and only want a paid vacation to Asia. Luckily my school has teachers who really do care and encourage our students to engage in conversation. It can be difficult to get shy kids to speak up, especially when there are other students who are slightly better at English than them. However, I have some very, very bright kids that should/could be very good at English as they get older.

So, yeah... if you really cared about the subject, that's my view.

Cool, would be interesting to read a bit more about how you got the job, what's your background on teaching and so on...

[The_Yearning]

Its actually pretty simple.

They don't have to speak for their exams. The only thing required is written stuff (vocab/grammar rules etc). So, they don't practice speaking. Their English grammar is amazing because in English class that is really all they are being taught.

Source: I live in China and teach English.

Fellow Gator over here. Are you teaching English over there as a full-time gig or just a side thing? How do you get one and what are the requirements?

[Bandito]

In my language classes, we always had to practice speaking to eachother, and when I had a French tutor I had to speak to her in French for an hour. So I assume in these English classes in Asia, students would be encouraged to practice speaking to eachother too.
You would think tat but they probably don't . I learned how to speak English by going to America and having to learn English in order to survive. In most places because you don't hear it or talk to anybody that is at least competent you don't learn to speak the language. So the only way to speak it is to for example live in a place where they speak it regularly.

[GatorKid117]

Fellow Gator over here. Are you teaching English over there as a full-time gig or just a side thing? How do you get one and what are the requirements?

I teach full time (8-5). I'm in more of a unique position though compared to the majority of English teachers in China. Most have around 15-20 45 minute classes a week and maybe 10 or so mandated office hours. The rest of the time during the week is theirs to do whatever.

I did that last year and it was OK. You can get some really nice gigs if you're lucky, 15 or so classes a week and thats it. I really only wanted to teach kindergarten (which I'm doing now) or History/Biology/Geography (which I did last year) so that kind of limited my options.

If you directly compare salaries from China to the US its not that great. However I don't have to pay taxes, get free food Monday to Friday and the cost of living is much lower here, even in a very expensive city like Shenzhen. I'm able to save a decent amount each month.

There is a big difference between working legally and illegally. China is cracking down pretty hard on illegal workers now but its still pretty easy to find work (albeit maybe crappy work) if you want it.

Typically, all you need is a college degree. A certificate like a TESOL or CELTA is a nice plus as well. Oh yea, being a good looking white guy/gal is also a bonus.

I think its a pretty cool way to get to experience another culture. Traveling is great, but you don't really get to know the people.

Mandarin though.... :mad:

[The_Yearning]

I teach full time (8-5). I'm in more of a unique position though compared to the majority of English teachers in China. Most have around 15-20 45 minute classes a week and maybe 10 or so mandated office hours. The rest of the time during the week is theirs to do whatever.

I did that last year and it was OK. You can get some really nice gigs if you're lucky, 15 or so classes a week and thats it. I really only wanted to teach kindergarten (which I'm doing now) or History/Biology/Geography (which I did last year) so that kind of limited my options.

If you directly compare salaries from China to the US its not that great. However I don't have to pay taxes, get free food Monday to Friday and the cost of living is much lower here, even in a very expensive city like Shenzhen. I'm able to save a decent amount each month.

There is a big difference between working legally and illegally. China is cracking down pretty hard on illegal workers now but its still pretty easy to find work (albeit maybe crappy work) if you want it.

Typically, all you need is a college degree. A certificate like a TESOL or CELTA is a nice plus as well. Oh yea, being a good looking white guy/gal is also a bonus.

I think its a pretty cool way to get to experience another culture. Traveling is great, but you don't really get to know the people.

Mandarin though.... :mad:

Long ass post and you didn't even answer my question. How did you get one? How did you apply? Are you legal? Did you pay for your own travels? etc.

[GatorKid117]

Long ass post and you didn't even answer my question. How did you get one? How did you apply? Are you legal? Did you pay for your own travels? etc.

God forbid I include any pertinent information someone asking questions might be interested in knowing.

You're right, only answered 2/3. Whoops.

I'll keep it simple for you then.

Google it.

[Nick Young]

Do you know anything about teaching English in Japan? Is it a pain in the ass to get a job doing it over there compared to China?

[niko]

Do you know anything about teaching English in Japan? Is it a pain in the ass to get a job doing it over there compared to China?
The rules are different. And there are less illegal, under the book type jobs. If you really want to do that, there are a lot of sites that will walk you through what you need to do in detail, specifically for Japan.

[wang4three]

I lived in Taiwan, China, and Japan for extended periods of time for work. I've found that just because the population started learning from an early age, it does not mean that they were learning proper English. In most cases they have terrible foundation and at minimum can only really read English, but not speak or listen.

The problem is the teachers who are teaching English. Asian countries have a huge deficiency of quality English teachers. A lot of these so-called "teachers" are fresh out of college American students who couldn't find a real job in America because they just spend 4 years of their life dedicated to bullshit majors like communications, sociology, or whatever other liberal arts major out there. Not to say that everyone who studies these are idiots, but there is a strong majority of them who pick it because it's easy and they wander aimlessly to get their degree. I know cause I was one of them. I almost went to teach English after college until a close friend of mine told me to get a real job with a real future. It sounds so appealing: you get to travel and live in a foreign country and it pays relatively well, especially considering you don't get taxed on your income.

I have tons of friends who did JET Programme, Teachaway, and other such programs. They're native English speakers but do not know the basic grammar principles. Instead they rely on their knowledge of conversational English which instead gets hairy because as we all know, colloquial English is very different than formal English. So the Asian students are not learning about basic stuff like subject and predicate, past participles, etc. Concurrent with that, teachers are not disciplined enough to correct them as much as they should. Instead they're more concerned with spending their free time traveling the country side or dating the locals.

I have a friend who has been teaching in Japan for almost a decade now. We've been in contact sparsely over the last ten years since he graduated college. In his most recent email to me, it was rifled with run-on sentences, comma splices, and subject noun agreement issues. I'll give him some credit because he's been living in the country side with little access to other English speakers, but it was AWFUL. Not to mention, he's teaching elementary to middle schoolers which definitely means they'll grow up with terrible mechanics of the language.

I'm not going to say all the teachers who do this are terrible. I have another friend who was a linguistics major and I know she probably did a great job with her students abroad, but quite frankly it's just a complete mess. She quit after two-three years and informed me of this whole problem. She says most of the better teachers quit early and return back to the states because they're not incentivized to do a good job and there's a lot of nasty politics involved. In addition, she's pretty smart so she found a better job back in the states. She also had her life together for the most part. Meanwhile, the ones that don't have their lives together stay there for long periods of time doing a poor job teaching.

[The_Yearning]

God forbid I include any pertinent information someone asking questions might be interested in knowing.

You're right, only answered 2/3. Whoops.

I'll keep it simple for you then.

Google it.

Take it easy man. I'm just wondering what you majored in to go to China to teach English after 4 years.

[AS85]

This is a paradox, found mainly amongst Asian university students. No I am not talking about Asian Americans, I'm talking about FOB Asians accepted into American and European universities.

I am speaking mainly of Asians originating from the countries Japan, China and South Korea.

Many students from these countries grow up pushed by their parents to study insanely hard in school, and to take extra classes and get the very top grades.

HERE IS THE PARADOX:
Many Asian students learn English in class starting from a very young age. So how come when they come to Europe or America, they often times suck hard at English? Surely English is a class that their parents would force them to work extra hard at and dominate-and yet, I know many an Asian student who has been in America or Europe for years and still sucks at English.


I bring to you-the Asian paradox.

Paradoxically, you write a lengthy post on why FOB Asians aren't good at English and yourself use the word 'paradox' incorrectly.

[Nick Young]

Paradoxically, you write a lengthy post on why FOB Asians aren't good at English and yourself use the word 'paradox' incorrectly.
One might even say that it is ironic and hypocritical on my part:confusedshrug:

For the record, this doesn't just apply for FOB AZNs. I also know a huge amount of Greek and French people from my course who have been in England for 3+ years and are still as incomprehensible in English as the first day they came here. Polish, Germans and Eastern euros tend to be good at english. Dutch and Scandanavians, well it goes without saying, most are better at English then English people and Americans.

French, Italians, Greeks, Spanish and Portugese though, for the majority, are pretty bad at English. My accent in French is pretty bad but atleast I can speak in proper grammer and say more then just "hello" "yes" and "no."

[MavsSuperFan]

why asians from asia got to be so bad at english
-Nick Young

For the record asian kids are better at english than american kids are at Mandarin/Korean or Japanese.

[Bandito]

why asians from asia got to be so bad at english
-Nick Young

For the record asian kids are better at english than american kids are at Mandarin/Korean or Japanese.
Remember that Americans think they are the best at everything. You should see them try to speak Spanish :lol

[magic chiongson]

op giving swaggy p a bad name :no:

[MadeFromDust]

Paradoxically, you write a lengthy post on why FOB Asians aren't good at English and yourself use the word 'paradox' incorrectly.
Duhhhh It falls under "common usage". Frikkin forrners :rolleyes:

[gigantes]

God forbid I include any pertinent information someone asking questions might be interested in knowing.

You're right, only answered 2/3. Whoops.

I'll keep it simple for you then.

Google it.
:D :banana: :D :banana:

bwahahaha

[Randy]

Cool, would be interesting to read a bit more about how you got the job, what's your background on teaching and so on...

I don't have a an education degree, but I used my BFA to get a teaching certificate a couple years after graduating college. I got a job teaching middle school in north Denver, 3 math classes and 3 literacy classes per day. I loved the job, school, co-workers, kids, and basically everything about it. However, I was working for a lower income district and they ended up 'terminating' my position. I had an offer to move to another school in the district, but I wasn't really happy with it and decided to take my talents to Asia.

I researched for probably three weeks straight comparing the pros and cons of various countries. I finally narrowed it down to Korea or Japan, which were my initial top two to begin with anyway. Korea just offered more than Japan, and after jumping through the bureaucratic hoops and many skype interviews, I accepted a job in Seoul. Every country has different benefits, but I wanted East Asia. It's really up to the teacher and where they want to live. SE Asia didn't really appeal to me, but it does for many others, there are many many options. I should also mention that Taiwan was very high on my list as well. It looks absolutely beautiful there, I have never lived by the water, and they love basketball. But anyway, here I am in Korea.

I love it here, and luckily ended up with a position and school that I really like. My hours are 1-8:30 pm, and only teach for 4-5 hours a day. The kids are sweet and funny, so I'm very happy here. I have read many horror (probably exaggerated) of other foreigners coming here and having problems. I've had a very smooth transition.

I do have issues with our syllabus and materials, and the vacation time isn't ideal, so I try to make class fun and engaging to get the kids conversing and telling stories in English. Even though I do have a few complaints, I have rent free apartment on the 13th floor in a very rich district, my flight here was paid for, and earn a healthy salary. There is not as much English here as I was expecting, so my Korean is improving everyday. I've only been here for 5 weeks and I can read and write the Korean alphabet, order foods, understand most numbers, and other basic stuff. I came here knowing nothing of the language so I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm taking free classes too, the country is overall quite welcoming if you make an effort.

I decided in early June that I was leaving, but didn't know where. I traveled quite a bit during June so I didn't really start researching until late June/early July. I started my paperwork and documents for Korea around July 25, and landed in Korea on November 27. It's roughly a 4-5 month process, most of it just sitting around waiting for documents to arrive in the mail. It's enough to drive a man insane.

[gigantes]

whoa... nice work, randy. :cheers:

whole thing sounds almost dreamlike, not that you didn't bust ass, apparently.

[SyRyanYang]

I'm Asian and my English is better than yours, suck it. (seeing that you don't even understand the word "paradox")

[senelcoolidge]

I wanted to teach in Asia too. But I have social anxiety and I don't think it would go well. I would be a nervous wreck to begin with. Plus I'm a college drop out and don't have a bachelors..so I'm not good enough..:oldlol: . But I would love to live in Asia and integrate into whatever countries society it is. Best of luck to you Randy. I'm teaching myself Korean at the moment.

[AintNoSunshine]

Maybe because they were taught by the same dumbazzes who worked their tails off in English class but hasn't communicate with a foreigner their entire life?