My Book - Featured on the Qiranger Adventures Podcast

Each week I listen to the Qiranger Adventures Podcast. This morning I was listening to it while making my breakfast and swilling my morning coffee. I was a little more than happy when I hear him, unexpectedly give a great review of my book!

Listen to well known travel blogger Steve Miller discuss "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal."

Tips For New Teachers: Rules and Consequences

Tips for new teachers......

Rules and consequences

As a new teacher it is extremely important that you set very clear rules from day one with your students. You might want to ask the manager or owner of your school about this, but normally, one of the best ways to inform students about the rules is by posting them on the wall. Students will of course need to be constantly reminded of the rules orally, but a visual reminder often makes the rules more tangible.

Of course, what would rules be without consequences? You might not be able to make these up yourself because the school you work in may have certain policies already in place. On the opposite end of things, you may find yourself working at a school that is chaotic and prefers not to have rules for fear of “scaring off students.” The school I talked about in my “Disorganized School” story was one such school. The owner of that school in Korea didn’t want us to consequence students in any way, even if their behavior was bad because he was afraid the school would lose customers. Luckily not all schools are like that.

The consequences you choose to go with your new rules will of course have to be fair and not extreme. The most important thing for you as a new teacher to remember is that you must always maintain those consequences. Sometimes a teacher may say something like, “If you speak during quiet reading one more time then you will have an extra homework page.” The student then does speak again, the teacher tells them to be quiet, but forgets to give the homework page. Those students, as well as the others in the class, have just learned something very important about the teacher. They’ve learned that the teacher’s threats are hollow. From that moment on, the students will continue to probe and push, seeing how far they can get with their new teacher.

Many years ago, the first mentor teacher I had during a student teaching practicum in Canada told me, “Kevin, if you talk the talk you better walk the walk. If you tell students they will have to stay in at lunch as a punishment, be prepared to give up your own lunch to watch them.” Valuable words. If the kids in your class (this of course doesn’t apply to adult learners) know there will always be repercussions for breaking rules, most of them won’t break the rules or at least not as often.

This is a small excerpt from my eBook "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal." For more teacher tips like this as well as stories and job hunting ideas, download the book for only $5.99.

You can also read an interview with me about self-publishing on the Our Man in Abiko blog! Check it out today.

Good Reviews of "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal"

It has been more than 24 hours since my first book was published on the Amazon Kindle store. I am very happy that I was able to finally see this writing project come to fruition and so happy that people have been downloading the book.

I plan to work hard in the coming days, weeks and months to promote it and make sure it gets a wide audience. So far, many people having been saying kind things over Twitter and on Facebook. People have also been writing some AMAZING reviews on the Kindle Store itself.


Here are just some of the great tweets sent to me (@jlandkev) on Twitter:

There have been many other amazing tweets and I am saving everyone of them!

This morning I woke up to find an email from the well-known Korea-based blogger Steve miller, aka "qiranger" who already did a review of Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal for his blog and You Tube. Check out his review video!



I appreciate all the great feedback! Thanks everyone.

When new reviews or interviews about the book occur, I'll post all the information right here!

The "Teaching in Asia" Home Stretch

Yes folks, we are on the home stretch. Just days away from the release of my first book, "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal", I have to admit, I am having trouble sleeping at night. Why am I have this trouble? I suppose that is pretty simple. My mind is racing with thoughts of excitement, nervousness and some anxiety. I have put so much of my energy and free-time into this project and I of course hope it is a success.

I suppose the fact that, as a blogger, my first book will be published period, is a huge achievement itself. Now I know what I am capable of and what I need to do in order to improve. Now I am excited for the next writing project! Hey, if I can write one book, why not another after that? Ideas are already darting around in my brain and I have been jotting down notes.

As I have explained before, "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal" is a "how to" guide for people interested in coming to Japan or Korea to teach. it is a great place to start your research. if you are not directly interested in coming abroad to Asia, I think you will sill find the stories entertaining. If you enjoy my writing style and are a regular reader of this blog, then it is basically my blog on steroids!

A question many people ask me is, "Kevin, can I read your eBook if I don't have a Kindle Reader?" Of course you can!

Amazon has a free Kindle reader app for iPhones, iPads, Android devices and of course, PC's and Macs. There is even the Kindle Cloud Reader! If you have a computer, you can read my book!

You can download the free Amazon Kindle readers here: Amazon Kindle Reader


I will be uploading the book to the Kindle Store early next week. If all goes well and there are no technical issues (I have never formatted a book and ePublished before), it will be good to go late next week!

I will make a series of You Tube videos on all my channels and announce it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and here of course!

Stay Tuned!

Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal (My FIRST book)

A month has passed since my last post and a lot has happened in that time. Most of what I have been doing is work related. Teaching and all of the other administrative things that go along with my job have been keeping my days and evenings full.

The school year has ended for me and I am beginning to enjoy a three-week vacation. I plan to stay in Kobe and finish up my biggest personal project to date.

Now, I haven’t been writing posts for this blog, but I have indeed been writing, rewriting, editing and revising.

Last summer, while out for a walk during a break at work, I was reading a blog I follow. I read that the blogger has just published an eBook about travel. My interest was caught. I went back to work and for the remainder of my break read about self-publishing. Seemed pretty straightforward as long as I had something to publish.

I decided I would write a short eBook about teaching in Asia. I have experience teaching in both South Korea and Japan. I worked as an ESL teacher for several years and then returned to Canada to get my teaching certification. After gaining some experience in Canadian classrooms, I then came to Japan where I have worked as a homeroom teacher at an international school since.

Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal is a “how to” guide of sorts. It is mostly for those interested in moving to Asia to teach. It will definitely be a helpful source of information for university students hoping to make the move abroad or professional teachers thinking of moving to Japan or Korea.

The “how to” aspect of the book is only part of it. The rest is filled with stories from the classroom as well as many stories about adventures and inspirational moments I have had outside the classroom. If you are a teacher or thinking of becoming one, Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal will be for you. If you simply have an interest in education or life in Asia, you’ll enjoy it too!

Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal will be available on the Amazon Kindle store soon.

For more information about the book, check out the new companion blog, TeachAsia. Loads of informational about the book and the topic are there.

Listen to my Teaching in Asia update podcast on Sound Cloud:

Here is the working cover for the book! Looks great, but there may be some changes in the next few weeks. 

Teaching in Asia

Earlier this evening, an online and "real life" friend of mine asked me, over Twitter, "what exactly is your book about and how can I get it when it is finished?"

That's right folks. I'm in the midst and in the home stretch of finishing my first book. Well, at least the first draft of it at any rate. I have mentioned this before here on this blog as well as on my You Tube channels (from which I am taking a hiatus), on Facebook, Google+ and on Twitter. Some of you are aware of my writing project and many of you are not. 

Long story....not so short. I was an ESL teacher in South Korea for more than five years. I then went back to Canada, got my elementary school teaching credentials, taught in Canada and then came to Japan where I now teach at an international school. I have been a teacher for ten years now, taught in three countries and have worked in language schools, Canadian public schools as well as the international school system. All the while, I have been a blogger and for more than five years, a You Tube video blogger. 

In those years, I have received hundreds of questions from people all around the world interested in coming to Asia to teach. Some questions have been thoughtful while others, not so much. I have written many a blog post answering some of them and have made even more videos. My videos about teaching in Korea and Japan have received hundreds of thousands of hits. Some of my most popular ones are not so much about facts and advice, but stories from my time in Korea and Japan. 

I am a teacher and I am a story teller. I'm honestly not sure which one I like being more. In a way, they both go hand in hand. 

Last September, while out for a lunch time walk at work I came to a conclusion. There was no way I could ever truly explain everything I want to about working and living in Korea and Japan in a blog format. There's simply too much to discuss. Likewise, I could never do more than scratch the surface with a You Tube video. That's when the idea was born.

I began writing "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal" that same evening. A book that would be both practical and hopefully entertaining. A book aimed at those around the world who were interested in coming to either South Korea of Japan to teach. It would be a practical "how to" guide as well as series of stories about my experiences in Asia, both inside and outside of the classroom. People really seemed to enjoy my stories on You Tube so I thought a lot of people out there would enjoy them on paper as well. 

The book started to almost write itself and by November, the bulk of the first draft was completed. Then my work schedule increased and I started video blogging on You Tube more than ever before. With all the time I was spending on You Tube, I had little or no time to write. The book basically got put on the back burner. 

The new year came along and I decided that writing was far more meaningful to me than video blogging. I decided to stop video blogging all together until I could get this project finished. My priority is to get this done and self-published. In 2012, that is a pretty easy thing. My book, once done will be available on the Amazon Kindle store for a small sum. At the moment I am in the midst of adding a few more stories to make it more worth while and fun for the "future readers" out there. 

If you have any thoughts of coming to Asia to teach, this book will help you find a job and hopefully the right one for you. it will also help anyone out there with no classroom experience and for those who do, hopefully offer you a few new perspectives. 

Even if you have no desire to ever teach in Asia, I think you will still find something interesting within it's pages.

Close to launch time, I will let you know about the website for the book itself.

Stay tuned for more!

Check ut a story from my BusanKevin You Tube channel. I shot this one more than 3 years ago. It is about the first time I stepped foot in a classroom. This story and many others will be in "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal."

Things I Shouldn't Have Done in Korea

I received an email today from a You Tube viewer who is soon heading to South Korea to be a teacher. They asked me some questions about getting prepared for their big move. Obviously there are so many things one can do to prepare in advance of such a life-changing endeavor.

The question I liked was along the lines of, “Looking back on your time in Korea, what would you have done differently?” That is a great question. It immediately got me thinking about some of the bad choices I made so many years ago when I first went abroad to teach.

Now, I have of course made some great choices over the years, but I had had my fair share of “bad calls.” Writing this post in 2012, I am a dedicated and hard working teacher. I love what I do and really feel that I’m good at it. I take what I do seriously and love helping others who hope to become teachers or current teachers who wish to become better ones.

In 2002 I wasn’t the teacher I am now. I wasn’t even the same person I am now.

Let’s just jump into a short list of some things I would have done differently during my first year in South Korea:

Taken my job more seriously! I know for a fact that I wasn’t a very hard worker and didn’t really care much about my teaching. I was having an “adventure” in Korea. I was drinking and having a yearlong party. I was the type of “teacher” who annoys the Hell out of me now. I was the sort of teacher that in my current position in 2012, I would probably fire!

I wouldn’t have partied so much. I was so excited to be so far away from everything I knew. I was having too much fun in bars, pubs and clubs with other like-minded “party animal” teachers. As I look back on those days, I lament all of the amazing things I could have or should have done while in Korea. I was too busy going out and drinking beer to travel extensively or really learn about my host country.

I would have avoided the “human train wrecks.” I associated with too many people who were out of control. I met too many teachers who simply went overboard and felt that there were no boundaries for them. I was hanging around with men and women who drank too much, got into fights and generally gave foreigners in Korea a bad name. I wish I hadn’t spent any time with people like that.

I wish I had traveled more. I lived in three different cities in Korea and explored them extensively, but really wish I had spent more time exploring the more rural areas of Korea and the culture they had to offer.

I wish I liked seafood back then. I like seafood now. I didn’t eat it in 2002. Now that I think about it, I missed so many amazing culinary experiences. Korea has amazing food and I should have eaten more of it.

I wish I spent more time becoming a better teacher. I wish I had taken the time to learn about being a better teacher. I taught some great kids during my first year in Korea and I wished I had done a better job educating them.

Now of course I had many wonderful experiences in Korea during that first year. I went on to spend five years in total there. In the end, I made more good decisions than bad ones.

If Korea or Japan is the place you want to go, there are countless ways to research them these days. Spend time on blogs and watching vlogs. Take your time though. It’s never a good idea to rush into anything and remember, try to do things the “right” way!

Writing and injuries

Just a few days ago, Mother Nature was showing us her kind affection by taking the temperatures here in Japan down a few notches. After a nasty and humid summer, things were becoming tolerable. Daily temperatures were in the mid to low 20's (Celsius) and there was no humidty. It was bliss. Last week all of that changed. we were slammed with summer all over again. "Ugh" is what I have to say about that.

I have been trying to spend more time with my family recently and also have ben dealing with a little running frustration. After Saturday night's sprint training session I developed some tenderness in my right achilles tendon. I wasn't able to go for my long run Sunday morning. It's now Tuesday morning and I still haven't run yet. I am hoping that my tendon will feel alright tomorrow morning. I will try a short 5k run slowly around the neighborhood and I will of course keep you guys informed.

On a more positive note, I have dusted off my eBook project and am writing up a storm. I have lived and worked as a teacher in both South Korea and Japan for many years. Many of my most popular blog posts and video blogs are about the topic. Also, my story videos about my time in Asia often attract a large audience.

Once I learned more about self publishing on e-platforms such as the Amazon Kindle I was sold. If I could publish my own book, why not do it? I'm still working on a title, something I'm going to use crowd sourcing to help me (probably on my Facebook page....link is on the side of this blog) make a decision on.

Since I started blogging about teaching in Asia more than 6 years ago, I have fielded literally hundreds of questions about the topic. Why not put a lot of this information in book form and add several personal stories about my experiences in both countries?

I am hoping to have my first draft completed sometime in early October and then proofreading, editing, having someone else edit it and then off to eBook land, most likely the Kindle store.

There will be lots of updates on what I am doing here on this blog, but the best place to follow would be my BusanKevin Facebook page. I added a new widget this morning on the side of this blog to make that easier for you!

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!

You deserve to be angry when...

It recently dawned on me that it has been more than nine years since I left my life as a 3D modeler in the games industry, moved to Asia and became a teacher. There was of course, time for teacher’s college back in Canada thrown in there as well, but I have been in Asia for a long time.

The entire time I have been here I’ve worked in education. I’ve worked in both South Korea and Japan and as a teacher in private language schools and private international schools. I have dealt with many types of employers, students, parents and colleagues. I have had wonderful experiences and some that have been anything but wonderful!

While out for a walk this evening (a beautiful spring going on summer evening here in Kobe, Japan) I was thinking of my own experiences, those of former coworkers and stories I have heard from the hundreds of teachers I have met over the years.

Often I have met “angry” teachers in Asia. At times I have been an “angry” teacher. Sometimes I think you have every right to be angry. Others times, not so much!


As a teacher in Asia…

You DESERVE to be angry if:

1. Your school doesn’t pay you on payday! I have met too many people (including my wife) who have worked for a school that only paid them part of their salary or none at all come payday. There are many fly-by-night organizations in both Korea and Japan.

2. Your school hires you to work a certain schedule or teach certain grades and when you arrive in the country, they change everything at the last minute!

3. The company that hired you seems to be (or just is) completely disorganized.

4. Your coworkers are more concerned with partying than teaching (therefore coming into work every morning, hung over or possibly, still drunk!).

5. Your boss (often in Korea) pressures you to drink on a regular basis and when you explain to him that you don’t like drinking very much, you are mocked!

6. You have to deal with pushy mothers (of students) who have no background as educators, but think they know everything and want to dictate your teaching style.

7. Your school doesn’t support you when pushy mothers are pressuring you.

8. You’re told not to teach too much because the students might become bored. Just play with them and make them happy.

9. Your school has no curriculum.

10. Your school has no training mechanism in place for teachers (it sucks to learn under fire!).

11. Your school tries to convince you that it is perfectly ok for you to work there on a tourist visa (very illegal).

12. Your school fires you in the 11th month of your contract so they don’t have to pay your severance pay or give you a return airplane ticket. This happens from time to time in Korea. Often the school gives some bogus reason to fire you like, “The children were scared of you.” Or “ You weren’t kind.”




You DON’T deserve to be angry if…

1. Your school expects you to actually work! Your school is a business and they have spent a lot of money for you to come to Korea/Japan to work for them and help them earn money. They didn’t hire you so you could “have an amazing adventure and travel experience”!

2. Your school expects you to show up 10 minutes before work! Welcome to a job. Teachers in Canada/America/Australia or wherever definitely show up long before classes begin in the morning and leave long after those classes are over.

3. You don’t get paid for prep (preparation) time. Welcome to reality! The entire time you were in school as a students, your teachers didn’t get paid for prep time either. Teaching is a salaried gig.

4. You come to work hung over on a regular basis and your manager/head teacher gets angry with you. You are being paid a salary to teach. That means you are now a professional teacher. Act professional.

5. Your manager/head teacher is angry cause you came to work drunk. If you did that in a Canadian/American/British school you’d be fired faster than you can imagine. Your license would be revoked as well!

6. Your school expects you to work hard and teach.

7. You have singed your contract, come to Korea/Japan and then realize other teachers you meet earn more than you. Hey, you should have done more research! If your school offered you a certain salary and you accepted, you don’t really have the right to complain about it. Finish your contract and then move on to something else.

8. Your school doesn’t ant you to speak Korean or Japanese in the classroom. They did hire you after all to teach English. They are not paying your salary to practice the language of the country you are in!


Sometimes, teachers in Korea and Japan can have a reputation of being complainers. Sometimes those complaints are completely justified. Other times, not at all.


You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev