Sounds fine. Is there really a big market for Koreans in Korea wanting to learn Spanish though? I've heard of people going there to teach English but not other languages....
There isn't a big market, but I plan on doing a program at a school for languages (Hanguk University of Foreign Studies), and Spanish is one of their top studied languages. Also, there aren't exactly many Spanish speakers in South Korea, so a small market, but also small supply.
It's a perfectly fine way to spend your summer. See if you can get some experience poking around and learning about how they do healthcare in Korea. It's actually a very interesting system that lent some inspiration to our current system.
Interesting.
You can't really call the situation a glut when there is such a high demand. $50's not the normal as the rate depends on reputation. And $50 / hour most often requires having the degree for teaching a foreign language.
Just choose something that you can learn and grow from as well make into a meaningful experience. You have only a few summers left. They are very valuable, so I wouldn't do a SMDEP if you think of it as a "coursework" summer; or teach English if you think it'll be burdensome.
Well, I do think that spending a summer in Korea would be meaningful and unique. I've never been in Asia, let alone live in a foreign place for more than a week, so a two and a half month stay could be a lot more formative (I feel I could really grow from it, living on my own in such a foreign place by myself) and open me up to different things more than, say, one of those service trips to Africa or Central America. Other activities I do in college focus on Korea-related things, so it is a way to expand upon my interest.
Hmm, I guess this is a bad question, then, but isn't that what SMDEP pretty much is? I mean, obviously you have fun while doing it because there's always fun activities with people or organized by the program itself, but isn't the main purpose to give more insight into medical school application and some information about the field of medicine? Thank you.
First, Korean's don't care about learning Spanish. I think it will be difficult to teach spanish there. ( I lived in Korea for 1 year)
If you want to teach english, there isn't a glut tutors in Korea, but english tutors are plenty...
How do you plan on tutoring english?
there are companies that hire people to teach english in Korea but those are usually for year long...not just summer and you will likely not be able to learn korean in that process you will be teaching full time (and in advanced courses as it seems you are not fluent in Korean?). Even so your english proficiency must be very good in order to teach advanced courses.
Lastly, to teach english privately, you would need to come from a very well known US school, ie ivy or caltech...etc. English tutoring used to be very lucrative, but it is also because parents are willing to pay a lot for tutors who have strong background.
From friends that live in Korea, there are apparently tutors of several different levels. As I am not some certified teacher, I would most likely be eligible to help out people who want to practice more conversation skill or advanced writing skills, not someone teaching conjugations or the typical things that you imagine from a foreign-language classroom.
Also, I understand your point that there are not a lot of people seeking to learn Spanish in South Korea, but there are also not many people teaching Spanish, and my program is at a school where there are people actively learning Spanish (it is their major), so I could help some out.
Yes, I'm from an ivy league school. Friends told me that's a pretty big deal, to be from an ivy league school, for Koreans who want to be taught.
Thank you all for your responses.
It seems doing something non-research or non-service for a summer is not such a crazy idea after all.
