J. William Fulbright Scholarship Program
The Fulbright program is the largest U.S. exchange program offering opportunities for students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide.
In 2017, I started the application process to teach in South Korea. By February 2018, I was accepted to the program and prepared to embark on an adventure.
I spent a year in Korea living with a host family and working as an English teacher at a high school in a rural town in Korea. That year was one of the most incredible, challenging, and formative year of my life, and I am so glad that I took a chance on this program.
Check out my story and blog to read more about my experiences.
My Story
I am a 2018-19 English teaching assistant for the Fulbright Program in South Korea. I was placed in 서천 (Seocheon : city) in 충청남도 (Chungcheongnam-do : the province) in South Korea. Prior to landing in Incheon for Orientation, I had no experience with teaching, Korean culture, or the Korean language. Needless to say, I felt uniquely unqualified for this position. Armed with experiences from short-term travel, a passion for teaching kids, and a good attitude, I immersed myself into the Korean culture and language all at once. To learn more about the details of my experiences, check out my blog.
If you are scouring blogs because you are applying for Fulbright ETA grant to South Korea, welcome. My advice is to preservere through the application because even if you feel like you are not qualified, you might have exactly what KAEC is looking for. You'll never know if you don't try.
Alternatively, if you are looking for an unfiltered account of what being an ETA is like, this is the blog for you! Fair warning though, ETAs, even those in the same country and cohort, can have vastly different experiences depending on his or her placements and attitudes, so don't assume your experience will be the same. This is just my perspective on things in my small corner of South Korea.
Thanks for reading about my experiences! If you would like to contact me and ask me any specific questions, click the icon of your preferred social media platform below, and I'd be happy to answer them.
