African-American interested in teaching ESL

[Q]

I am an African-American female interested in TEFLing in Korea. I am new to the ESL arena and found your site to be very welcoming so I felt comfortable discussing this matter with you. I am not sure of the amount of African-American candidates that apply for teaching positions in Korea and as such I wonder about Korean perceptions of American Blacks. In your honest opinion, would I be welcomed and respected as a teacher from a cultural standpoint ? Your honesty is greatly appreciated...and no offense will be taken.

Sincerely,
Q

[Dan Henrickson]

This is a very good question about stereotypes in Korea.

In my opinion, Korean people can be very blunt about almost everything. They will tell you if you are overweight, unattractive, beautiful, or whatever else they think.

In Korea, there are not many people of different races, as it is very homogeneous - outside of Seoul, there are Korean people, and some (mostly white) English teachers. This means Koreans are just not exposed to people of different "colors" as many of us would be in more multi-cultural countries of the world.

That being said, I feel very strongly that Korean people need to start being more open to accepting people of color. If they want to learn English to succeed in the new world economy, they will most certainly deal with people from many parts of the world. For this to succeed, they must be able to look past skin color.

I must be honest that I am amazed/frustrated at how many schools will openly admit they willl not hire someone who is not "white". This is the case if the person is black, Asian (any country, even Korean American born in USA), or brown.

I have helped a few teachers of Asian descent get jobs, but only one African American so far.

I have met several black people in Korea, and even worked with one at my school, and they have all said they don't feel their skin color is an issue either with the schools they work for, and expecially not with the kids they teach - except maybe the first day or two if a child is surprised to meet someone with a new skin color.

I would do my best to help find jobs for people of any race, but I also think it would be best for such applicants to also deal with 1 or 2 other recruiting companies to help their chances of finding a job in Korea.

Email any other questions to teacheslkorea@gmail.com or post them on this forum.

Dan

[Q]

Dan,

Thank you so much for your honesty and feedback.

Q