Korean Job Discussion Forums

[greg1973]

Hi, just want some feedback on English English teachers. Do they not want us? I am looking for a job in Korea and have sent out a lot of resumes in the hope of being able to pick out what I want, and I have had a pretty dismal response to say the least. Is it a handicap being a British national? Are there many Brits in the field over there who could give me any clues, any adice, or should I change my sex and nationality to North American Woman?

Greg

[eamo]

It's about 10-times easier to get a good job if you are a North-American female as opposed to a British male.

It's not just discrimination against the British though. Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans, gyopyos and Irish all find it tougher to secure good contracts in desirable locations.

It's just a perceived notion in Korea that the North-American accent is easier and more desirable.

You'll get a decent job eventually if you stick to your guns and be patient.

[waggo]

Are you joking?

You shouldnt have any problems at all. Koreans, for one reason or the other, dont speak very good English and they do cling to American English thinking that they cant understand any other accent.Even though most of the world speaks "British" English.
Most hogwans have a preference for American teachers or Canadian leeches.
But there are teachers here from every corner of the English speaking globe including Ireland!

Your best bet is to send a photo.As long as youre not hideously ugly theyll phone you up and as long as they can understand you youll get a job.

[eamo]

Don't know about Greg1973 but I sent photos with my resume to several Hagwons every day for a month without one decent offer. I don't think I'm too ugly!!!

However, a good offer did come in last week which I was happy to accept. The director actually said that a few parents complained because all his current teachers were American!! They wanted their kids exposed to different English accents.

I think times are changing but I've talked to so many recruiters (Korean and foreign) in the last 3 years who all agreed it's much easier to place North-Americans in jobs than the others.

[Mosley]

Is that a flame, waggo, or would you care to elaborate?

[Bubbliee]

Yes Waggo please elaborate. I take offence to "Canadian Leeches"

[GirlFromMars]

I was offered a position and then it was withdrawn because of my British accent (erm)

The place that eventually hired me has a Kiwi head teacher who did all the interviewing etc.

[billbile]

"It's just a perceived notion in Korea that the North-American accent is easier and more desirable"

This always makes me laugh. If they want to speak easily, they should stick to Korean. What could be easier than that?

[rapier]

Koreans think America is the pinnacle of civilisation, the most supreme happening superior country in the world. They want some of this to rub off on them. So, they massively prefer Americans over other nationalities. They want every darling boy to go to an American university one day- so therefore they must learn American English from an early age...
Koreans never envisage going anywhere in the world except America. Why bother visiting a poorer, lesser country? Therefore, why bother learning a lesser brand of English? In their minds, English as spoken by the English is not really English.

[billbile]

Yes, it is certainly very interesting albeit flawed logic.

If Korea can transplant everything from America, such as the education system, the methods of selecting and electing members of parliament and presidents, the corruption levels, etc. then Korea will become rich and powerful too. Oh yes.

Another funny thing is a lot of the Korean professors around the age of 60 or more. There are only two countries in the world, from their perspective. The rest of the world is practically a giant blindspot. They will ask you "Are from America", and you say no, and you tell them where you are from, and the poor old dears get all confused.

And then they namedrop all the places in America they've been to and the Americans ('famous' or otherwise) that they've met, as though you'll be really impressed.

And they keep talking about "American philosophy" or "American culture" or "American literature" as if it exists in a complete vacuum, when it can be seen better in a wider and more appropriate context (at least sometimes) such as "Western philosophy", English-language literature", etc.

And they will spout on endlessly about, I don't know, the South Dakota University of Beer-Brewing or something, as if it is of a higher order than, say, Oxford or Cambridge. And writers who did not study in the University of Anywhere At All in the U.S. will have studied "somewhere in Europe, perhaps".

It really is odd, and sometimes frustrating.

[waggo]

Im sure it is frustrating Billbillie but.....All roads lead to Rome

[billbile]

hmmmm...

apart from a lot of roads outside of Italy or Europe, I'd wager...

[Mosley]

can you address my original question?...

[rapier]

Its actually quite sickening, the Korean obsession with all things American- and I've even heard Koreans say so, how embarrassed they are, that for example parents get tongue - lengthening operations on their kid's tongues to enable them to pronounce English better, etc.
Japan mimicked everything western as well, so obsessively and completely. They mutated into such a power that Korea sees the only way to do this is to emulate them.
I see the logic. But I can't excuse their lack of perspective. After all, England was the greatest colonial power. The founders of American, Australian, and all western civilisation were English. From England. Where people speak English. The home of the language. The standard by which all international versions of the language is judged.
England is the centrepiece of the commonwealth, a large group of english speaking nations worldwide. Koreans are totally limiting themselves and their world view.

[Leeroy]

It`s totally a Korean problem. It`s all too easy to go off the handle and start slagging America and Americans in these kind of threads, but America and Americans are not really where the problem lies. The problem is Korean society`s obsession with things American to the extent that they label all foreigners "American", all foreign concepts as "American", and just about anything that isn`t Korean "American". Of course this kind of narrow mindedness hasn`t really improved their English a lot either, has it?

When I taught in Korea I worked with a number of Korean teachers who at first I thought were fluent in English. Why did I think this? Because they spoke with a near flawless American/CNN type accent. I was young and naive then. I soon found out that I couldn`t get a lot of English conversation out of them. This was due to the fact that most of their "English instruction" involved practising how to pronounce their limited knowledge of English in a treacly American/CNN type accent. They hadn`t actually learned a lot of English at all. I found this to be the case with many Koreans who had been "studying English". Just look at survival English on EBS. Fraught with errors, but spoken with a nice accent.

The thing that annoys me the most with the "America only" mindset among Koreans (and I see it here in Japan too) is that it stems from an inferiority complex which is perpetuated by themselves. Deep down a lot of Koreans and Japanese subconciously see themselves and their society as inferior, just because it isn`t like America. I don`t believe that this transplanting or mimicking systems of another country will lead to the status that countries like Korea want. Countries like Korea need to look to their own beliefs and values and have some confidence in their own methods. It may prove more succesful than simply trying to transplant foreign concepts and methods into their societies.

I believe the situation in Korea is changing (very slowly). Last time I was there I talked with a lot of students who said they thought that learning English from teachers of different nationalities would be beneficial to their English learning. Still, for every hagwon that does hire a mix of nationalities as their English teachers, there is still a dozen that specify in their ads "NORTH AMERICANS ONLY". it is changing, only very slowly.