Childcare on Jeju Island, South Korea?

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school_seeker
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2015 6:23 pm

Childcare on Jeju Island, South Korea?

Post by school_seeker »

My husband and I have a 2-month-old daughter (so she will be 9 months in August) are considering a job on Jeju. Obviously finding quality childcare is one of our top priorities when considering offers of employment. Does anyone know if nannies or English daycare services are readily available on Jeju? My husband has visited Jeju before and said that English is not widely spoken. It is important to me that I can clearly communicate with our childcare provider. Does anyone have any experience or insight in this regard?

Thank you in advance for any information you can provide!
PsyGuy
Posts: 10793
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

It is available but your options will be Korean locals, or VERY VERY expensive western au pairs.
school_seeker
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2015 6:23 pm

Re: Childcare on Jeju Island, South Korea?

Post by school_seeker »

Thanks, PsyGuy, for your response. Any idea if many of the Korean local nannies would speak English?
reisgio
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:17 am

Re: Childcare on Jeju Island, South Korea?

Post by reisgio »

If English speakers are really important to you, I don't see how you could go with Jeju. Very provincial relative to Seoul metropolitan area, and even Seoul has very few English speakers compared to other major capitals. Don't let your love of a school or location cloud your judgment about what is really most important for your family.
school_seeker
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2015 6:23 pm

Re: Childcare on Jeju Island, South Korea?

Post by school_seeker »

Thanks for the information, reisigio. I would never accept a teaching position without ensuring that my daughter would have quality childcare (and that her childcare provider and I could communicate)... thus the reason for this post! I have taught in other countries where Filipino nannies were widely available and spoke clear English and wasn't sure if a similar situation might exist on Jeju. I did find a posting online for a daycare searching for an English speaking teacher, but was unable to find out much more than that. Jeju sounds like a nice place to raise a family (quiet, clean, access to nature) so I was hoping other young families with experience in the area could guide me in the right direction. I will ask to speak with a family currently working at the school and do further research, but we might just have to wait until she is school-age to consider teaching there.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10793
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

@school_seeker

No they wouldnt be proficient in English. If they were bilingual they wouldnt be in Jeju, and they wouldnt be doing day care. You can find Filipino day care in Seoul and Incheon, but youd have to make it worth their while (meaning expensive) to bring them down to Jeju, and forsake the better pay and salaries in Seoul, etc.
school_seeker
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2015 6:23 pm

Re: Childcare on Jeju Island, South Korea?

Post by school_seeker »

That makes sense. Thanks, PsyGuy.
Sonnypest264
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2014 5:02 am

Re: Childcare on Jeju Island, South Korea?

Post by Sonnypest264 »

It always helps to speak to people who actually have experience of the place. No disrespect to other posters but teaching on Jeju is going through a revolution at the moment.

I work in one of the new "International Schools" in the Global Education City. The pace of change here is scary. We arrived in the January of 2012 and barely recognise the place compared to when we arrived. It certainly is more traditional than Seoul, way less English spoken and the amenities are more restricted but improving.

There are a lot of teaching families with young children at the 3 Schools and how they deal with childcare varies. Some have Filipino nannies, one of our best friends have just "transfered" their nannie to another couple who have just had a baby. I don't know how they found the nannie I must admit. Some have non-working partners.A couple of families have sent their children to local Korean daycare places and really rated the experience. To expose them to the sounds of a new language at those early ages is awesome. I'm not totally sure how the whole communication thing went on but they managed it and the kids are certainly none the worse for it.

At present one school has an Early Years Centre which has provided childcare for teaching staff in return for some supervision duties. There are however rumours of this provision being stopped. Now depending on which school you are in line to work at that is certainly something to discuss.

My advice would be to do exactly as you suggested. Get put in touch with someone who has arranged a nannie and perhaps one who uses a local day care, to find out the details and also clarify if there is any on site childcare / EYC provision. Another option people have used is bringing over their own trusted person (e.g. Gap student, family friend) to do the role, one even considered "importing" their previous Filipino nannie they had from their previous posting. No idea what the paperwork would be!

As a place to bring up a young family Jeju is awesome. It has a great climate, it is incredibly safe, there are now loads of young kids that all seem to flock together to play and the beaches are awesome (a tad chilly at the moment).
school_seeker
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2015 6:23 pm

Re: Childcare on Jeju Island, South Korea?

Post by school_seeker »

Thank you so much, Sonnypest264, for taking time to respond to my question. This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. It's great to hear that there is some hope!
alwaysadjusting
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2015 6:54 pm

Re: Childcare on Jeju Island, South Korea?

Post by alwaysadjusting »

Hi @Sonnypest264,

I'm hoping you are still active on this forum, your post below is very helpful for my situation - thank you. I'd like to get in touch with you if possible.

Cheers.

Sonnypest264 wrote:
> It always helps to speak to people who actually have experience of the
> place. No disrespect to other posters but teaching on Jeju is going through
> a revolution at the moment.
>
> I work in one of the new "International Schools" in the Global
> Education City. The pace of change here is scary. We arrived in the January
> of 2012 and barely recognise the place compared to when we arrived. It
> certainly is more traditional than Seoul, way less English spoken and the
> amenities are more restricted but improving.
>
> There are a lot of teaching families with young children at the 3 Schools
> and how they deal with childcare varies. Some have Filipino nannies, one of
> our best friends have just "transfered" their nannie to another
> couple who have just had a baby. I don't know how they found the nannie I
> must admit. Some have non-working partners.A couple of families have sent
> their children to local Korean daycare places and really rated the
> experience. To expose them to the sounds of a new language at those early
> ages is awesome. I'm not totally sure how the whole communication thing
> went on but they managed it and the kids are certainly none the worse for
> it.
>
> At present one school has an Early Years Centre which has provided
> childcare for teaching staff in return for some supervision duties. There
> are however rumours of this provision being stopped. Now depending on which
> school you are in line to work at that is certainly something to discuss.
>
> My advice would be to do exactly as you suggested. Get put in touch with
> someone who has arranged a nannie and perhaps one who uses a local day
> care, to find out the details and also clarify if there is any on site
> childcare / EYC provision. Another option people have used is bringing over
> their own trusted person (e.g. Gap student, family friend) to do the role,
> one even considered "importing" their previous Filipino nannie
> they had from their previous posting. No idea what the paperwork would be!
>
> As a place to bring up a young family Jeju is awesome. It has a great
> climate, it is incredibly safe, there are now loads of young kids that all
> seem to flock together to play and the beaches are awesome (a tad chilly at
> the moment).
Blazer
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2016 11:36 am

Re: Childcare on Jeju Island, South Korea?

Post by Blazer »

Any new developments on this initial post? Any educational provision for 3 year olds on the island? NLCS?
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