Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Unposter]

I think Eamo is on the right track.

Honestly, there are many aspects of English that Koreans know well: speaking and writing are not high on the list. It has absolutely nothing to do with Native Speakers and changing the qualifications of Native Speakers will do nothing to improve Korean's ability to speak and write. In general, though not completely, those Koreans who do study with Native Speakers, can speak and write English better than those who don't study with Native Speakers.

The problem is that the Korean College Enterance Exam and to a certain extent the TOEIC Test only requires an understanding of English grammar. The TOEIC test does not require any ability to produce language. Koreans are almost exclusively taught reading and listening comprehension and grammar. Only when they are with a Native Speaker do they have to produce anything.

That is the problem.

Cuban Lord, I believe your heart is in the right place but I don't believe you really understand the problem - except your placement of blame on Korea and Koreans. It is not the qualifications of Native Speakers; it is the expectations and place of importance of English by Koreans. Some of this is changing. The placement of Native Speakers in Public Schools is part of this. It obviously has a ways to go though.

I don't believe putting things in the hands of parents would help. Koreans need to make up their minds about English education. They are far too ambivalent about it. They seem to want to be fluent (something that almost no high schools and university in America require anyone to be) but they don't have the curriculum or drive to be fluent.

Please stop bashing Native Speakers who are caught in this Korean ambivalence. We are not the problem and we are only part of the solution.

[mindmetoo]

Lets look at how things play in North America:

Parents pay taxes and the government provides the schools. It's found the schools aren't turning out students ready for higher education or the work world.

Solution? Get a new government. Raise hell. Toss the bums out and find someone who can fix the damn school system to teach kids what they need to know.

Korea:

Parents pay taxes and the government provides the schools. It's found the schools aren't turning out students ready for higher education or the work world.

Solution? Keep sending them to the crap schools and then pay more money for private education. Keep voting in the same politicians.

[eamo]

I also reckon the Korean public school system suffers from low-expectation malaise. It could be a hangover from the bad old days when Koreans felt they were doing well if most kids left school able to read, write and do math.

There was very little government funding for schools in those days (pre '80s) so the education system struggled with over 40 in each class and I'm guessing that teacher training was minimal.

The low-level of government funding is still a problem. Just today I asked could I order a bunch of A3 sized cards to give my high-school kids a poster project. My boss looked mystified. Order? He said there was no system in the school for ordering anything not on the curriculum. The Koreans teachers never order anything according to my boss. This is the situation in a top-rated Seoul Foreign Language High School with a name recognized by most, if not all Koreans. I dread to think how skint little country schools are.

[dogshed]

[T-dot]

[bosintang]

I've posted lots about this before, so I'll keep it short.

The Korean English education system is just a ...mess. Complete, utter mess. There's absolutely nothing about it that is a role model.

Everything that they do in Korea, they should do opposite, and they might make some progress.

As for foreigners roles in Korea, I honestly think they should just stop hiring foreigners to teach English in Korea except for specialised roles. For a few years, anyways. As a whole, we're just causing more problems and we cost too much. With things like visas, housing arrangements, recruitment fees, and when it comes down to it, just plain disorganisation and mismanagement on the schools part, supporting foreigners becomes an end in itself rather than a means to an end.

My main point is, it's not about us, or at least it shouldn't be. We're not hired or treated as professionals let alone in control of anything. We didn't hire ourselves or force anyone at gunpoint to send us free airplane tickets and housing. How can it be our problem? We're just one bloody freak show in their 3-ring circus.

[VirginIslander]

First, I would like to see more English programs for English learners. And they cant suck like they do now! Have you watched Arriang?

Second, books. Most ESL books I've seen in Korean do not target Korean children and their specific language needs. Publishers produce books that can be sold in the international market, not the Korean marker. For example, I have sixth grade elite students who can write excellent essays on the unification of Korea but can pronounce the "w" in wolf when reading The Call of The Wild.


Third, time off. Kids and Teachers should get a break while in class. Watch a movie in class, have a party, do a play, go the park at least once a month.

Also, Kids and Teachers should have time off from the academy. How creative, motivated and concerned about students can a Korean Teacher be when she has been teaching year-round for three years? I only took off a week between contracts and Im not as creative or as interested in the material as I was the year before.

I would argue that that is the one of the biggest problems with privatge English education in Korea. That's not Korea's fault; it's Korea's men who define their masculinity by the numbers of hours on their time card. Hey, if I can work 12 hours a day, so should my teahers.

I hear often hear complaints about learning too many words and too much meaningless homeowork. But, after working 30 consecutive months, what would you rely on?

[VirginIslander]

[mack4289]

[Don Gately]

[cubanlord]

Everyone that has participated in this thread thus far has given excellent view points on the English education system in Korea. Hopefully, those that have not been participating, rather just sitting back and reading this thread, will speak up without the sarcasm and actually put forth ideas which could help solve this problem.

[VirginIslander]

[VirginIslander]

Mack wrote:

[mack4289]

[cubanlord]