South Korea: Being Native English Teacher and Reverse Racism

Geoffrey Fattig of Jeollamite blog shares his brutally honest opinion on reverse and latent racism in South Korea, urging fellow native English teachers who under-appreciate a fairly good working condition to stop whining. Some of the highlights of his post are: 

On the whole, though, Korea is a pretty easy place to teach English, and playing that foreign card has brought far more advantages than not over the seven years I’ve been in the country. I would add though, that being a tall white guy probably has a lot to do with it.

3 comments

  • Allison Louise Turner

    There are plenty of foreign teachers and workers in South Korea who have the opposite experience. Just look at ads for teachers in Korea that openly pronounce “No minorities need apply.”

  • Allison Louise Turner

    Many others have had to deal with open racism in South Korea. Just look at ads for teaching positions that proclaim “No minorities need apply.”

  • StephanieKlein

    Hi! I’m a former ESL-teacher expat, current US public school English teacher looking to return and have an experience at an all-girl’s boarding school over summer break to bring back to my students. I’m looking for a contact at such an organization but alas, all sites are in Korean and my Korean language skills suck! Any email addresses, names of current teachers or the like to share?

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.