I’ve been getting a lot of questions from people from India and the Philippines- in regards to teaching English in Korea.
After searching for a couple of hours this is what I came to the conclusion to:
Short Answer: No.
Long Answer: Yes, but…
The “official” stance is that they allow teachers from countries that have English as their official language. According to Wikipedia both India and the Philippines consider English as an official language. However, when you surf the job boards you’ll notice this:
Requirement: Native English Speaker from (Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, South Africa)
My guess is that after all of these countries they may pick people from India or Philippines.
Unfortunately, its tough luck to those with citizens of those nations not on the list at the moment.
Even if there are more qualified teachers in other countries that may teach English better its not going to be happening any time soon with the bureaucracy.
There is a preferred hierarchy for English teachers (skin color, accent)… but that is an entirely different post.
Photo: Stuck in Customs