{"id":4356,"date":"2017-10-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog?p=4356&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=4356"},"modified":"2018-01-19T15:03:31","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T20:03:31","slug":"our-grads-share-stories-from-teaching-esl-in-china-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/our-grads-share-stories-from-teaching-esl-in-china-south-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"Our grads share stories from teaching ESL in China &#038; South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two Oxford Seminars grads, Amanda and\u00a0Chelsea, share their stories\u00a0and\u00a0review their experiences teaching ESL abroad. Amanda taught English in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/country\/china\/\">China<\/a>, while Chelsea taught ESL in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/country\/korea\/\">South Korea<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Amanda &#8211; Teaching English in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/country\/china\/\">China<\/a><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_4366\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-5-optimized.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4366\" class=\"wp-image-4366\" src=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-5-optimized-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Amanda Teaching ESL in China\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-5-optimized-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-5-optimized-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-5-optimized-690x919.jpg 690w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-5-optimized-320x426.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-5-optimized-150x200.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-5-optimized-108x144.jpg 108w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-5-optimized.jpg 830w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4366\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amanda taught ESL in Chongqing, China after completing her TESOL\/TESL\/TEFL Certification.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Even for a seasoned traveler like myself, it\u2019s always a scary thing to travel half-way around the world to begin anew. Fortunately, when I found myself in Chongqing, China, I was greeted with open arms and warm hotpot hearts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4367\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-3-optimized.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4367\" class=\"wp-image-4367\" src=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-3-optimized.jpg\" alt=\"Amanda Teaching ESL in China\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-3-optimized.jpg 809w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-3-optimized-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-3-optimized-690x457.jpg 690w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-3-optimized-320x212.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-3-optimized-150x99.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-3-optimized-217x144.jpg 217w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4367\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It&#8217;s more than just a job. Teaching ESL abroad lets you travel and explore the world.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;While I would argue that no amount of preparation can prepare you for becoming a first-time ESL teacher, Oxford Seminars gave me the foundation I needed to discover, explore and share my love for teaching. Along the way, I have made plenty of friends, all of us family in this home away from home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4368\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-2-optimized.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4368\" class=\"wp-image-4368\" src=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-2-optimized.jpg\" alt=\"Amanda Teaching ESL in China\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-2-optimized.jpg 809w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-2-optimized-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-2-optimized-690x457.jpg 690w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-2-optimized-320x212.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-2-optimized-150x99.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/AW-Image-2-optimized-217x144.jpg 217w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4368\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Just enjoying the view.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;On days when I\u2019m not teaching my incredible students, I\u2019m scaling mountains at 5,200 feet and learning languages I never knew existed. While I worry that the people of China have taught me more than I have taught them, I am reminded by my talented and wise students: &#8216;\u5b66\u81f3\u4e8e\u884c\u4e4b\u800c\u6b62\u77e3&#8217; (to experience is to learn). As a result of the support I have received from my family, coworkers and friends abroad, I have had incredible opportunities that include, but are not limited to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Climbing to the highest peak on the Great Wall<\/li>\n<li>Eating dinner with Buddhist monks in Lhasa, Tibet<\/li>\n<li>Touring a Chongqing Hotpot Factory<\/li>\n<li>Being featured on CCTV [China Central Television]<\/li>\n<li>Waking up to Mount Everest at Everest Base Camp<\/li>\n<li>Winning \u201cTeacher of the Year\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Participating in the school musical production of &#8216;Mamma Mia&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>Cuddling pandas in the Chengdu Panda Reservation&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Despite my extraordinary time spent in China, once again, I find myself wanting to travel half-way around the word to start anew as an ESL teacher. While I may not know where I will go next or when I will arrive, I know that Oxford Seminars will always be there to help me figure out the next step of my grand adventure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Chelsea &#8211; Teaching English in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/country\/korea\/\">South Korea<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;My experience in South Korea was one that was filled with the desire to try new things. I wanted to explore new niches and understand the country in which I began to live in. South Korea was the first Asian country that I had been to in my life, and I was excited to begin a new life within this country. South Korea provided me with unique experiences in food, culture, and in nature.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4370\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1328-optimized.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4370\" class=\"wp-image-4370\" src=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1328-optimized.jpg\" alt=\"Chelsea teaching ESL in South Korea\" width=\"500\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1328-optimized.jpg 605w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1328-optimized-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1328-optimized-320x427.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1328-optimized-150x200.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1328-optimized-108x144.jpg 108w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4370\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Chelsea&#8217;s photos from South Korea. Teaching ESL is a great\u00a0opportunity to immerse yourself in a new culture.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;I truly enjoyed the food culture within South Korea, I quickly adjusted to the differences in food and began my exploration of the many wonderful dishes within the country. I found many favorites that still stand out in my mind. The food was exceptional, and the way every dish was presented was marked with tradition and the flavor that I have now associated with South Korea. The usage of spices and the array of side dishes was something that I would never forget.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The South Korean culture wasn\u2019t hard to adjust to. I had found many parallels in the United States and in South Korea. Due to these parallels, I was able to avoid culture shock and be able to enjoy my time fully. The difference in language was the most difficult part about living in South Korea. Even though I lived in the sixth largest city in South Korea, the number of people who could confidently speak English was few. I had to learn some basic language skills to be able to communicate on a day to day basis with people. This wasn\u2019t hard to do, due to being immersed in the culture.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4369\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1306-optimized.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4369\" class=\"wp-image-4369\" src=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1306-optimized.jpg\" alt=\"Chelsea teaching ESL in South Korea\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1306-optimized.jpg 806w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1306-optimized-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1306-optimized-690x518.jpg 690w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1306-optimized-320x240.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1306-optimized-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/CM-IMG_1306-optimized-192x144.jpg 192w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4369\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Enjoying Gwangju&#8217;s beautiful surrounding countryside in Spring.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;My favorite time of year was spring. Spring time in South Korea was beautiful and marked with cherry blossoms. They didn\u2019t have much of a scent, but the aesthetic of the flowers framing the roads was especially magical to me. Gwangju (where I lived), was surround by mountains which provided a lot of opportunities to go hiking and enjoy the weather. Where I lived also had tea fields and a lake right outside of the city. It was all worth the short ride to view these places.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I truly enjoyed my time in South Korea and would recommend people who are willing to learn a bit of the language and try new food to make a journey to South Korea. The experiences could not be replaced and are definitely unique to the country.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Want to start your adventure <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/teaching-abroad\/5-steps-to-teaching-abroad\/\">teaching English abroad<\/a>?<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/oxford-seminars-grads-review-their-job-placements-teaching-esl-abroad\">Read more reviews from our grads<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/teaching-abroad\/free-info-sessions\/\">Sign up for a free information session about teaching ESL overseas<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/tesol-tesl-tefl-course\/locations-dates\/\">Find a TESOL\/TESL\/TEFL course near you<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>[wp_social_sharing social_options=&#8217;facebook,twitter,pinterest&#8217; twitter_username=&#8217;oxford_seminars&#8217; facebook_text=&#8217;Share on Facebook&#8217; twitter_text=&#8217;Share on Twitter&#8217; googleplus_text=&#8217;Share on Google+&#8217; pinterest_text=Share on Pinterest\\&#8221; icon_order=&#8217;f,t,g,p&#8217; show_icons=&#8217;1&#8242; before_button_text=&#8221; text_position=&#8221; social_image=&#8217; \/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-social-sharing\/static\/socialshare.png&#8217;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two Oxford Seminars grads, Amanda and\u00a0Chelsea, share their stories\u00a0and\u00a0review their experiences teaching ESL abroad. Amanda taught English in China, while Chelsea taught ESL in South Korea. Amanda &#8211; Teaching English in China &#8220;Even for a seasoned traveler like myself, it\u2019s always a scary thing to travel half-way around the world to begin anew. Fortunately, when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":4371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,24,27,441,344,23,28],"tags":[86,323,308,98,414],"class_list":["post-4356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-getting-tefl-certified","category-oxford-seminars","category-reviews","category-teaching-esl","category-tesol-jobs","category-tesol-stories","tag-china","tag-esl-teaching-jobs","tag-review","tag-south-korea","tag-teaching-esl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4356"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4404,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4356\/revisions\/4404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}