Do’s and don’ts of teaching English in South Korea

As a general rule, the Koreans are friendly and welcoming. Fellow teachers are usually keen to make you feel welcome in your new school and new home country. They will often take a real interest in you as an individual and ask you lots of questions. In more rural areas of South Korea, you may get stared at by the locals, but try not to be offended – this is done out of intrigue rather than to be nosy or rude.

Keep in mind

DO

• Use the correct naming structure. In South Korea, the naming structure is: family name, first name, middle name. e.g. KIM Min-seok.
• Give and receive gifts with two hands. This often goes for giving and receiving objects in general too. If you can’t use both hands, try to use your right hand rather than your left hand.
• Be modest when receiving compliments – and expect locals to be very modest, perhaps even denying nice comments made about them completely.
• Read between the lines. A Korean may not necessarily directly say ‘no’ to a request you make, instead they will try to use subtle body language to imply a ‘no’ rather than giving a negative response.
• Respect the family unit. Koreans are very dedicated to their families and can take any comment or mention of family members quite personally.

DON’T

• Be afraid to enjoy a good laugh with locals. The Koreans have a great sense of humour and like to share a joke or two.
• Keep your hat or shoes on indoors. It’s polite to remove your hat and shoes when entering someone’s home, and even in some restaurants!
• Apologise when you bump into someone in the street. South Koreans don’t normally consider it necessary to apologise for small accidents – it’s just a part of life that they accept! And with that in mind, don’t be offended if someone doesn’t apologise for bumping into you!
• Avoid talking about religion. Koreans are usually quite happy to talk about religion in a casual manner.
• Be shocked by the unusual dating culture. Koreans can be reluctant to go on one-on-one dates, so you may find yourself on a group date!
• Write someone’s name in red ink. Koreans will only write someone’s name in red if they have died.

Meeting and greeting

DO

• Greet people with a bow. If you’re meeting someone in a casual situation, you can give a more casual slight bow of the head. If you are meeting someone older or in a senior position to you, it’s polite do a deeper bow.
• Shake hands – this is also a popular greeting in South Korea. It’s respectful to shake hands with your right hand and put your left hand underneath your wrist. Sometimes women greet each other by grasping both hands of one another.
• Use someone’s official title – such as Ms, Mr, Professor – until they ask you to do otherwise.

DON’T

• Greet people in an overly affectionate manner. South Koreans don’t usually hug or kiss when greeting each other.
• Be late. South Koreans are usually punctual and will expect you to be too. If you are late, make sure to apologise.
• Treat business cards carelessly. If someone gives you their business card, they will expect you to treat it the way that you intend to treat their business. So, any casual or careless actions will imply that you don’t respect their business. Take the card with both hands, read it carefully before putting it away, don’t write on it, and don’t put it in your back pocket.
• Don’t turn down tea in business meetings. It’s considered polite accept tea – even if you don’t finish it all!

At the dinner table

DO

• Use a spoon to eat soup and sometimes rice, but use chopsticks to eat noodles, side dishes and everything else.
• Keep older people’s glasses full – younger people are expected to look after senior members at meals. You should also fill others’ glasses up before filling up your own.
• Drink heartily (if you do drink). There’s a big drinking culture in South Korea and locals like everyone to be involved.

DON’T

• Use your left hand to hold chopsticks or a spoon.
• Eat while walking. Even if you buy street food, it’s considered more polite to eat it on the spot rather than walk while eating.
• Eat food with your fingers – always use chopsticks or cutlery.
• Blow your nose at the dinner table! This is considered very rude and embarrassing. Leave the table to blow your nose if you’re desperate.

In the classroom

DO

• Take education seriously. South Koreans consider education to be very important and will spend lots of time doing homework and revising. Children and teenagers can also receive lots of pressure from their parents to do well.
• Expect students to be competitive – Korean students are very hardworking and the students with the highest grades are respected by their peers.
• Give lots of praise and rewards to your students. It’s important to build any student’s confidence but Korean students respond particularly well to their successes being recognised.
• Share your lesson with your co-teacher. In most South Korean public schools, English lessons will have a local teacher and a foreign teacher (you). Generally, you’ll be expected to take half the class and your co-teacher will take the other half of the class.
• Be relaxed. South Korean students and your fellow teachers will often expect ESL lessons to be more relaxed and hands-on.

DON’T

• Be surprised if punishment is used frequently in the classroom. Corporal punishment was only banned relatively recently, and many teachers still use discipline methods that you might not be used to.
• Make fun of your students. Like many places in Asia, the concept of saving face is important in South Korea. Although you may be able to make jokes at your younger students’ expense, this often won’t go down very well with students past a certain age.
• Point with your finger – use your whole hand instead.
• Beckon by bending your fingers towards yourself. Instead, put your hand out with your palm facing down and wiggle your fingers.

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We hope these do’s and don’ts not only made you more confident about visiting South Korea but that they made you excited to learn a bit more about this fascinating culture! If you enjoyed this snippet of South Korean culture, you may also enjoy our blogs: Do’s and don’ts of teaching English in China and Do’s and don’ts of teaching English in Italy.