Teaching in Asia: Disorganized Schools

I've tasked myself with a pretty large project. I have decided to write some fun and hopefully useful posts about teaching overseas. I have asked a large number of teachers in both Korea and Japan to answer some questions. Once I've received all the interviews, I plan to compile the information into some in-depth blog posts and then later this year, an ebook.

I've been blogging and vlogging for many years now and have received literally thousands of questions about teaching in Korea and Japan. I have made dozens of videos on my two You Tube channels (jlandkev and busankevin) and many of those videos have proven to be my most successful.

I have also decided to get back into making videos about teaching as well. My series "Teaching in Asia" will focus on teaching in both Korea and Japan (two countries I have experience in). I will also look at teaching itself, resources, assessment, methodologies and about getting into a teacher education programs in your native country.



This afternoon I decided to shoot a video talking about a negative experience I had while teaching in South Korea. Not all schools are equal. As a new teacher coming to work in Asia, sometimes finding a great work environment can be a crap shoot.

If you are working for a large franchise operation, one campus may be wonderful, while the other may have a tyrannical manager or unfriendly teachers. Some schools offer great training and a solid curriculum for new teachers while others throw you into the classroom your first day with no truing whatsoever. Some are flexible and some are rigid. Some schools pay handsomely while others may not have enough funds to make payroll.

You simply never know.

Today's video blog is about disorganized schools. There are many!

8 Ways to Make a Successful Blog

A constant for me in the previous two or three years are emails of a common theme. People from around the world have often emailed me asking how they can get more people watching their You Tube videos or reading their blog. I have spent about 6 years regularly, and more often irregularly, blogging and vlogging about life in Korea and Japan, about being an educator, about my views on a wide range of other topics.

I have spent more time than I can count chatting and discussing strategies with other bloggers. How can we get more traffic coming to our sites? How can we get more subscribers? How can we become professional bloggers? How can we become successful?

I think I have learned a great deal in my years of blogging. I do understand how you can create a successful blog or You Tube channel (the latter becoming harder these days since You Tube no longer seems to support new talent or even mid-pack partners such as myself). Now I have learned a great many things, but have often not put them into practice. I suppose I have learned how I "could" be more successful, but haven't taken many of the appropriate steps in that direction.


How can I become a successful blogger?

1. Choose a theme and stick to it! Most people who have successful vlogs or blogs have a specific theme and rarely, if ever deviate from it. If your blog is a random mishmash of ideas and topics, it will be hard to draw in a specific following. People with a narrow focus tend to find more success. A great example of narrowing a blog/vlog’s focus is the Korea-based You Tube vloggers, Simon and Martina. They used to make videos only about Korea and being a teacher. They were good and finding some success on You Tube. Once they zeroed in on making K-pop (Korean pop music) videos and created their K-Pop Mondays series, they blew up as You Tubers and are now VERY successful. Their blog eatyoukimchi.com is also hugely successful.

Although I know that I myself should be more narrow and focused, I tend not to be. In a way, I am shooting myself in the metaphoric foot!

2. Consistency pays off. If you want people to notice you, you must create a body of work. In order to do this, you must write or shot video consistently. People tend to not pay attention to or simply forget those who only post a new blog a few times a month. A few times a week or more is always better. Once you start building a following, those who really like you will crave content!

I personally have a great deal of trouble producing regular content. With a demanding job, wife and infant son, as well as a marathon running hobby, I have very little time to sit in front of a computer these days.

3. Interact with your readers/viewers. Followers love it when you interact with them by replying to emails and responding to their comments. This gives your readers a more personal connection. They begin to feel like you care about them and they in turn will support you even more. I suppose it is about community building. Unfortunately, as your following grows, this will become more difficult to do.

4. Build and maintain your community. Use other complimentary social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to promote your writing or videos.

5. Toughen up. If you can’t take criticism or rude comments from the occasional Internet troll or someone who disagrees with your point, blogging isn’t for you. The Internet is full of people who have strong opinions and many may be the opposite of yours. There are also a lot of idiots with too much time on their hands. From time to time they may target you. This is part of online life. Don’t take it personally!

6. It takes time. To many impatient people send me emails (which I normally delete and never respond too) about how they have made one or two videos and now they are ready for Internet fame. If you are a blogger or vlogger seeking success, it can take a very long time and a lot of hard work! The now famous You Tube star Wheezy Waiter, who now has hundreds of thousands of subscribers still only had about 200 followers after he had made 100 videos! He was doing it for years before he broke out!

7. Accept failure when it happens. Not every idea for a blog or video channel will work. Sometimes, after trying for a long time, it might be better to just call it a day and move on to a new theme or project!

8. Build a network. Make friends and connect with other bloggers and vloggers. If you have a great online network, they will help you and promote your content. Building a network takes time. You must regularly comment on people’s blogs, interact with them on Twitter and Facebook.


These are all very good pieces of advice. If you follow them, you may achieve success. There is also of course an element of luck involved. Sometimes someone accidentally notices you big and they promote you. Other times, your luck may not be so good.

You mustn’t only produce good regular content; you must also spend a great deal of time promoting yourself. Your blog is a product and you want people to buy in.

I know these rules, but I am often guilty of not following them. I am sometimes scatter-brained so making videos or blog posts on a consistent theme is difficult for me. I also have a lot of trouble producing consistent content and interacting with followers. This is due to a lack of time.

Would I like to be a super-duper successful blogger someday? Of course I would! Will I? Probably not, but you never know (Any famous bloggers out there waiting to notice me?).

How Do You Battle Stress?

It's been a long school year and one that certainly brought its fair share of stress. As the year comes to an end (one week left in my school year) and vacation quickly approaches, I've been reflecting a lot.

I've been thinking about how I was able to cope with the hard times I had and also how I wasn't able to cope so effectively. I suppose I also began to think, not just about the past school year, but other periods of stress in life.

Stress is something we all must face from time to time. It can come from any direction and at times, when you least expect it. I suppose that what's important is how you deal with it.


Ways I've coped with stress over the years:

1. Avoidance: this is if course probably on of the least effective ways of dealing with things. Simply put your head in the sand and pretend everything is all right. While you avoid your problems though, they tend to grow. I've used this method many times, especially in my 20's. Nothing good ever came from it!

2. Vacations: In the past, getting away from things for a few days or weeks has often don the trick! It still does work.

3. Drinking: Often seems like a good idea, but normally ends up being the opposite. Having one or two drinks to unwind is one thing, but anything more than that can just lead to a headache, a lighter wallet, a nasty taste in your mouth and nothing solved (and often made worse) in the morning.

4. Running: An amazing way to release stress. Of course you release so many endorphins and lots of other fun physical benefits, but you have a lot of time to think. It’s also not just a regular way of thinking. Thinking while running a long distance can be so clear and concise that you actually can very easily work your way through problems.

5. Talking with friends and loved ones: This is of course a no brainer! There’s nothing better than unloading on friends and close family for advice and support.

6. Drastic life-altering change: My former life as a tech guy caused me a great deal of stress. What did I do to solve it? I quit my job as a 3D modeler in Canada and moved to South Korea to work as an English teacher! Many years later, I am now a professional teacher with my license and a passion for what I do!

7. Research: Getting online and trying to Google the way you feel and a way to make it better (probably not the most ideal way of dealing with stress).

8. Family Time: Now that I have a family, time with them, maybe a picnic or walk, makes almost anything better!

Stressed Much?

There are of course many other ways one can deal with stress. These are just a few things off the top of my head. Of course, just so all of you wonderful readers know, at the moment, I have very little stress in my life. Things are very good and I'm a pretty happy guy!

How do you deal with the stress you have to deal with? Leave a comment ☺

Follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Building an Online Following

This morning when I woke up and sat down in front of my computer with my breakfast and coffee. I logged into You Tube and was pleasantly surprised to see that the Tsunami podcast did a profile of me on their weekly podcast about Japan-based content creators. It was quite cool.

In watching the video where Hiroki talked about my online presence and showcased some of my videos, past and present, I got to thinking about how I got to where I am today online.

I am by no means “famous” or even remotely “quasi-famous”, but I do have a wonderful and loyal following on both of my You Tube channels and a small, yet growing readership on this blog. My “success” on You Tube was achieved in a variety of ways:


1. Consistently make content. If you want to get noticed online you have to be constantly putting out a product. The more of “you” out there, the better chance there is that people will notice you. Also, once you begin to build an audience, they want to see you on a regular basis! If you are on You Tube, make videos frequently. If you blog, write several times a week.

2. Make a quality product. I of course mentioned that you must produce content consistently, but remember; no one wants to watch crap! Also, people don’t want to read crap. Make it fun, interesting and well done.

3. Write about or vlog about something you really love. If you love or really like what you are vlogging/blogging about, the passion shows and people will notice.

4. Find a niche. I’m still trying to do this! I know that if I did, I would find more success online. An example of this would be my friend Sara. She has been in Japan for quite some time and LOVES Starbucks. She is a fan of their products and their culture. She recently did a very cool thing. She began a blog about Starbucks in Japan. That is a great topic. There are many Starbucks/coffee fans out there and of course there are many Japan fans out there. She is killing two birds with one stone.

5. Network like nuts. I still haven’t done much of this with my blog, but have done loads over the years on You Tube. Get out there and meet people. Find other vloggers within your community or who make similar videos. Comment on their videos and blogs. Send them emails and messages. Form a relationship. This can take time, but that’s how you build your network. Once you have online allies, they will look out for you and also promote you!

6. Pay it forward. Karma is a real thing online. Do good for other vloggers and bloggers and you will build a solid reputation. In time, others will do good for you. Shout people out! Make videos or write blogs about other content creators you admire or like. Add them to your blogroll or liked vloggers box on You Tube. Shout people out in videos. When you begin to do this frequently, people will notice that you are a kind web citizen and eventually people will do the same for you.



These are some basic things you can do to help you channel or blog grow. Now, this doesn’t normally happen over night. For most successful vloggers and bloggers out there, it took a lot of time and work to achieve success. It takes time to build a network and build a body of content. If you want it enough and do it wisely though, success can definitely happen!


Now of course, I’d love it if all of you would check out Tsunami Ep. 9 - Busan Kevin, the video made about me, as a content creator:

I Want To Teach in Asia

I normally don’t talk about teaching ESL in Korea or these days in blog posts or in You Tube videos. To be honest, I feel pretty disconnected from the whole ESL industry and from life in Korea. I left Korea in 2007 and when I left Korea, I left the ESL industry.

I do however still receive loads of emails from people asking me about teaching in South Korea and Japan. Sometimes I think my knowledge about Korea is now pretty dated. Like most aspects of life in South Korea, the ESL industry changes quickly and unless you are there on the ground and have some sort of vested interest, it is impossible to keep abreast with those changes. I have also never taught English in Japan so any knowledge I have of the industry here is purely second hand. I listen to stories from my friends who have or do teach ESL in Japan and read about it in newspapers.

That being said, I wasn't to impart some basic information to those interested in making a career in ESL or just taking a year or two to try teaching. The advice I am about to share is general stuff that basically doesn’t change with time. Most of it simply has to do with being professional. I suppose this will be some advice that could be used for many different professions.



1. Do I need a university degree to get a teaching job?

If you want to work legally as a teacher in Korea or Japan, you must have a university degree. You must have a degree in something (doesn’t matter if it is Science, Arts, Business, etc.). This is not a great global plot to keep those without degrees down; it is simply necessary for visa regulations. These governments consider teachers to be skilled/white collar workers and they need degrees. Besides, wouldn’t you want your child’s teacher to have a degree as well? In order to be a teacher in the United States, Canada, U.K normally you need more than one degree to be a teacher. Long story short, there is no way around this. If you want to teach in Korea or Japan, but have no degree, you will have to take a few years and get it!


My first job in Korea (2002) was at a large franchise operation. I didn't care for my first job, but the folowing year I worked at a great school.


2. Once you get to Korea will I screwed by an employer?

I would like to say no, but it does happen occasionally. You also have to remember that that sort of thing happens in Canada and the United States as well! I did meet a few people that did get screwed out of pay by employers and it even happened to me on two occasions, but those cases are still relatively uncommon. There really is no way to prevent this from happening. Most large schools are franchise operations so where one branch might be an awesome place to work, the next branch might be a crap –hole! If something does happen, the Korean Labor Board is very good at going to bat for teachers. If your case is legitimate, they will certainly put the crews to the school owner. For more on dealing with the Korean Labor Board, there is a great podcast on it here at the Midnight Runner Podcast website.


3. Is teaching ESL an easy job?

Teaching is never an easy job. It can be challenging and very rewarding at the same time. You may at times find yourself frustrated with the cultural differences though. Koreans generally push their children very hard and education is far more important in their eyes than in Western culture. You have to realize that you cannot change Korean/Japanese people to think the way we do about education. You simply have to go with the flow. You are a guest in their culture and paid by them to teach the way they want you to. As far as the teaching goes, it can be intense. Please remember that you should take your work seriously. This isn’t a part-time job at a shopping mall or a fast food restaurant. You are doing a serious job that takes time and preparation, often outside of your contract hours. Welcome to teaching! In fact, welcome to most professional jobs anywhere in the world. Being ask to show up 10-20 minutes before class (contract hours) is not unreasonable, it is the way companies around the world work. As a teacher in Canada and now Japan, I put in countless hours of preparation work outside of my contract hours and I never complain because I take pride in my work!


Teaching adults during my 3rd year in Korea. I personally prefer teaching children, but it was a great experience for one year. I certainly learned a lot about Korean culture!



4. Why do I come across so many negative people online/in person?

There will always be a lot of negative people online. Welcome to the land of trolls. It is the perfect hiding place for disgruntled teachers who need to vent about work. Many folks who head to Asia to teach would never be interested in teaching in their native countries. It is a means to an end and many don’t like the work they do. Mind you, some people may have legitimate gripes about things. You will also meet many negative people once you get to Asia, especially Korea. I don’t think there are so many negative people in Japan because many who come to Japan to teach are already enamored with the country and culture long before they get here. As for Korea, I think many people simply go there for work purposes. Many of those people are simply not cut out for lie in another culture and get easily annoyed by the differences in language and life. Some others you may meet complain often simply because they are young and inexperienced in life. Many new university graduates arrive in Korea expecting to party all year and treat it like “University Year 5.” Those are the people who give all teachers and foreigners a bad reputation in Korea. They are also the ones who are simply unprepared to have a full-time serious job and complain the loudest. Often they see their job as something that gets in the way of the party!


5. How should I behave in my host country?

Remember, you in a way are not only an ambassador to your own country. You are an ambassador for all foreigners living in Korea and Japan. If you misbehave or cause trouble, Koreans/Japanese don’t se you as an American/Canadian/Australian. They see you as a foreigner and they will judge. Just as we do in our own countries, people in Asia will brush you with broad strokes. If you act like an asshole in front of Koreas/Japanese, some of them may assume all foreigners in their country are assholes! Don’t miss around. Act the same way you would in your native country. Have some respect for your hosts and they will happily return that respect!




For current and useful information on teaching in South Korea I’d recommend some great video blogs by teachers who are there now doing it!

Simon and Martina: They are a married couple from Canada and work as public school teachers in Korea. They are serious professional teachers who make the most entertaining and useful videos for those coming to Korea. They have many “how to” guides. Their website is amazing too: www.eatyourkimchi.com

Qiranger: Is an American ESL teacher living outside of Seoul. He is a serious teacher and a very fun video blogger. He makes useful and informative videos about many different aspects of life in Korea. He also has some other fun travel videos!

Zenkimchi is a wonderful website about Korean food. www.zenkimchi.com

Myargonauts: For great videos about the JET (Japan Exchange for Teachers) program in Japan, watch myargonauts.




BE CAREFUL....WARNING....
If you are working and living in Korea and are having problems with your school, don't complain about it on You Tube or your blog. Korea is one of the few countries in the world that has criminal liable laws. If your school finds out that you are bitching about them online (and mentioning the school's name) they can press charges! You can actually be arrested and sued!!!