Life as an English Teacher in South Korea
Free mornings. World-class street food for ₩5,000. Subway that runs until 1am. K-pop drifting from the convenience store. Korean BBQ at 10pm on a Wednesday. What teaching life here actually feels like.
The hagwon teaching schedule: a day in the life
The after-school hagwon creates a teaching life that most Western teachers have never experienced before. The afternoon-evening schedule means your mornings are genuinely free — not “free in principle” but free in practice, every day.
to
1pm
Free morning
Totally your own. Gym. Korean language study. Palace visits. Hiking the city’s mountain trails. Slow coffee in a Hongdae café. Errands. Extra sleep. Most teachers describe this as the single best thing about hagwon life that they didn’t expect to value as much as they do.
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2pm
Arrive at school
Lesson prep, admin, material printing, checking in with Korean co-teachers. Most hagwons provide substantial curriculum support — you’re adapting existing materials more than building from scratch.
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9pm
Teaching
Back-to-back classes of 40–50 minutes each, small groups (5–11 students), no co-teacher. Students are engaged, motivated (their parents are paying for this), and responsive to native English. Some are exhausted from a full public school day — your job is to make this the class they actually want to attend.
onwards
The Korean evening
Korea’s social life is genuinely late. Dinner starts at 9pm. Korean BBQ restaurants are packed at 10pm. The streets of Hongdae or Haeundae are fuller at 11pm than at 8pm. The energy of the evening in Korea is something most teachers describe as one of the genuine pleasures of living here.
Korean food culture: what living here means
Korean food is one of the world’s great cuisines — and in Korea, the accessible version is genuinely inexpensive. The hierarchy from cheapest to most expensive runs: convenience store (GS25, CU, 7-Eleven) → street food → local restaurant → Korean BBQ → upscale dining. Teachers operate mostly in the first four tiers and eat very well.
Korean convenience stores deserve particular mention. They are significantly better than their Western equivalents — stocking prepared kimbap rolls, ramyeon (noodle soup cooked on a heated machine in the store), sandwiches, dumplings, tteok (rice cakes), and complete meals, all at ₩3,000–7,000. A significant number of teachers eat at least one meal per day from a convenience store not out of budget necessity but because the food is genuinely good and convenient.
Korean BBQ (samgyeopsal — grilled pork belly; galbi — beef short ribs) is the social meal of choice for teachers. Groups gather around tableside grills, ordering meat by the portion with endless banchan (side dishes) and soju or beer. A full evening of Korean BBQ for four people with drinks costs ₩60,000–80,000 — roughly $50–60 USD split between a group.
Regional food differences: Seoul is a food city of extraordinary breadth — every cuisine at every price point. Busan is a seafood city — the Jagalchi Fish Market, milmyeon cold noodles, and hoe (raw fish) culture. Daegu is famous for spicy food and makchang (grilled intestines). Wherever you’re placed, the local food culture is worth exploring deliberately.
Transport in South Korea
South Korea’s public transport is world-class — particularly in Seoul, where the subway system covers virtually the entire city with trains running from 5:30am to approximately 1:00am. The Seoul Climate Card (₩62,000/month) provides unlimited bus and subway rides within Seoul — one of the best-value transit cards of any major city in the world.
Individual rides cost ₩1,400–2,500 on the Seoul subway depending on distance. The T-money card (loaded with credit, usable across all public transport) is the standard payment method. The card also works on buses in smaller cities, on KTX high-speed rail at station machines, and at some convenience stores.
Inter-city travel is fast and affordable: KTX high-speed rail connects Seoul to Busan in 2.5 hours (~₩59,000 one way). Seoul to Daegu takes 1.5 hours. Express buses are cheaper. For teachers based outside Seoul, KTX access to the capital makes weekend visits straightforward on a teacher’s schedule.
The expat teacher community in South Korea
South Korea has approximately 24,000 foreign English teachers working at any time. The community is large, active, and well-organised — particularly in Seoul (Hongdae, Itaewon) and Busan (Haeundae, Gwangalli). Teachers arriving in Korea almost universally describe finding social connections within their first two weeks, typically through their hagwon colleagues, local expat bars, and organised language exchange events.
Working at a hagwon alongside 2–6 other foreign teachers provides an immediate community — one of the social advantages of the hagwon over public school teaching, where you may be the only foreign teacher in the building. The hagwon colleague network is often where lasting friendships and travel partnerships form.
KOTESOL (Korea TESOL) holds regular professional development events, social meetups, and conferences. Language exchange events run weekly in every major city. Facebook groups and r/teachinginkorea maintain active social threads alongside job and community information. Teachers who engage with these networks consistently report stronger Korean experiences than those who remain within a small isolated group.
Learning Korean while teaching English
Korean (Hangul) has a reputation for difficulty. The alphabet is actually learned by most teachers within a week — it is logical and consistent in a way that Chinese or Japanese scripts are not. Basic conversational Korean follows, with meaningful progress typical within 3–6 months for teachers who make effort to engage with the language. Functional Korean — enough to navigate daily life, shopping, and basic social interaction — arrives for most teachers within 6 months.
The classroom separation that you encounter in some markets doesn’t exist in Korea in the same way — most teachers want to learn Korean, and Korean colleagues and students are generally enthusiastic about teaching it. Language exchange partners are easy to find through apps like Tandem and HelloTalk or at community language exchange events.
Learning Korean, even at a basic level, produces a dramatically different experience of Korea. The cultural nuances that are inaccessible in English — the formal and informal speech levels, the social significance of food and meal-sharing, the meaning behind K-drama dialogue — open up when you begin engaging with the language directly.
Travel from South Korea
South Korea’s location and transport infrastructure make it an excellent base for regional travel. Incheon International Airport (Seoul) is a major Asian hub with direct routes to Tokyo, Osaka, Bangkok, Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila, and beyond — often at very competitive prices through Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, as well as budget carriers like Air Seoul, Jeju Air, and T’way Air.
Japan is particularly accessible: Tokyo is approximately 2.5 hours by air. Fukuoka is 3–6 hours by ferry from Busan. Weekend trips to Japan are a standard part of life for many teachers in Korea. Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, and Southeast Asia are all within 4–6 hours by air and well within budget when booked in advance.
Within Korea itself: Jeju Island (domestic flight 1 hour from Seoul, or ferry 11 hours from Busan) is one of Asia’s most beautiful islands with beaches, Hallasan mountain, and a distinct cultural identity. Gyeongju — the ancient Silla kingdom capital — is a day trip from Busan or a 2-hour KTX from Seoul and contains the highest concentration of UNESCO heritage sites in Korea. Jeonju — famous for its hanok (traditional house) village and as the home of bibimbap — is a weekend destination beloved by teachers across the country.
What nobody tells you until you get here
What teachers genuinely love
- The free morning block is transformative — every day
- Free housing changes the financial picture completely
- Korean food is extraordinary and genuinely inexpensive
- The technology infrastructure is the best in the world
- Regional travel (Japan, SE Asia) is cheap from Seoul/Busan
- Korean students are engaged, motivated, and respectful
- The social community finds you — you don’t have to look hard
- The severance + pension payback makes year-end finances genuinely excellent
Honest adjustments to expect
- Evening schedule adjustment takes 2–4 weeks for most teachers
- E2 visa document process is complex and slow — start early
- Hagwon quality varies — vetting your school is critical
- 7–10 vacation days is much less than home country norms
- Korean workplace culture is hierarchical — different from Western norms
- Winter heating bills (December–February) are significant — budget for them
- Language barrier outside major cities is real; English not universally spoken
What teachers say about life in South Korea
"I came for a year to save money for grad school. I stayed three. The morning freedom, the food, the travel — I didn't expect Korea to get under my skin the way it did. Left with $22,000 in savings, conversational Korean, and a group of friends I’ll have for life."
"Busan completely surprised me. I chose it over Seoul for the savings figures and ended up staying for two extra years because of the lifestyle. Haeundae beach in the morning before work. Japanese BBQ in Fukuoka on the weekend. The quality of life here is genuinely exceptional."
"My hagwon was great — small classes, engaged kids, organised curriculum. I was terrified of the evening schedule but adjusted within two weeks. The mornings are everything. I’ve learned more Korean, visited more temples, and read more books than in any other year of my adult life."
"The visa process stressed me out, but TEFL Heaven walked me through every document. I arrived knowing exactly what to do. My school provided housing in Hongdae. I was at a norebang (karaoke) with Korean co-teachers on my second night. Korea is aggressively social and I’m grateful for it."
"I paid off my student loans in 14 months teaching in Busan. Housing free, salary solid, costs low. I wasn’t even particularly frugal — I ate well, travelled to Japan three times, and still saved more than I ever could at home. Korea is just genuinely financially different."
"The food changed me. I had never eaten this well or this cheaply. Convenience store kimbap. Halmoni’s (grandma’s) doenjang jjigae restaurant near my school. Korean BBQ every Friday. I came thinking Korea would be a stopover on my way somewhere else. I’m still here two years later."
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