Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Troll_Bait]

From the JoongAng Daily ...

President seeks better English skills for pupils

[Milwaukiedave]

TB, thanks for posting this. It's a shame because they are throwing money at the problem instead of changing the way English is taught, especially in the public schools. I work at a public school in Incheon and the city is throwing billions of won into English education to create this "English city" which in my opinion will never happen. Part of the problem is they study English mostly for tests instead of speaking the language.

[wylies99]

Why aren't teachers involved with any of these decisions?

[DCJames]

[VanIslander]

[wylies99]

[ChuckECheese]

[Real Reality]

"The number of teachers using only English in class was 22.3 percent in 2003, but fell to 19.9 in 2004 and 17.6 last year. Meanwhile, the ratio of those using only Korean in class rose to 12.9 percent last year from 10.7 percent in 2004 and 9 percent in 2003.
We believe there are many reasons why teachers use more Korean than English in their classes. Foremost is their lack of ability to speak English fluently...."
Source:
School English Classes: Quality of Teaching Appears to Be Diminishing
Editorial, Korea Times (June 7, 2006)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200606/kt2006060717004354050.htm

Korean teachers in Korea have guaranteed tenure until they reach the mandatory retirement age.
See:
Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers
Country Note: Korea
John Coolahan, Paulo Santiago, Rowena Phair and Akira Ninomiya
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Directorate for Education, Education and Training Policy Division
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/26/49/31690991.pdf

[Milwaukiedave]

[Ya-ta Boy]

While having the EBS station is a good idea, just having a native speaker in each school is not a useful solution UNTIL they learn to use the native speaker to best advantage. The present situation does not do that. At this point, that is just window-dressing and therefore, a waste of money. (I mean insofar as getting the most bang for the buck.)

[DCJames]

[esetters21]

[ajuma]

My dream: That the Korean government require all new hires for public schools to attend a week long training seminar taught by native speakers and fluent Korean teachers who have BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT. Included in the training (which I also think should include Korean teachers new to teaching and old-timers who want to (I know the system...most of the old-timers won't)) should be how to effectively co-teach, discipline in the classroom, and how to incorporate English into other school subjects.

If the Korean government REALLY wants to see students improve, the need to focus on quality as well as quantity!

[jvalmer]

The govenment should abandon the hiring of foreign native english teachers and concentrate their efforts on the future Korean english teachers already in the universities and the schools. How to do this more effectively? I don't know, and it isn't my problem...

But as long as they keep hiring native english speakers, might as well take their money.

[Milwaukiedave]

I tend to agree with both YBS and Ajuma. I don't know exactly what YBS meant by window dressing, but I think I can pretty much guess. I would say it has to do with having a curriculum that would actually facilitate teaching English and give teachers some say in what is being taught.

Ajuma's idea of training is good as well, but part of the Korean culture is doing things at the last minute. That doesn't boad very well with things like training teachers which takes preparing something ahead of time.

Another way to look at it is that Koreans think throwing money at English education will help kids learn English. Sadly that isn't the case though.