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Whistleblower
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
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 Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:54 pm Post subject: English Education in Korea: It�s Time for Accountability |
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Just some interesting reading. Some guy having a rant about how dire the education system is in Korea. I wonder what type of accreditations he holds with teaching and how long he has been a teacher. I wish him luck in his future endeavors as he won't last long in this country.
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2007/10/181_7525.html
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English Education in Korea: It�s Time for Accountability
Being an EFL instructor in South Korea for three years has really opened my eyes to the blanket ignorance that shrouds the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development here in this beautiful country. Is it not a wonder why over $10 billion was spent on English education in South Korea in 2006, and yet there has been no noticeable improvement in the English education system?
Moreover, is it not comprehensible that the average Korean�s ability to intelligibly handle the English language is mediocre at best? Despite the exorbitant amount of money and time spent learning English, Koreans just aren�t learning! Why is this? Has the ministry no idea of the cause? Perhaps I can shed some light on this appalling phenomenon.
Koreans are not learning English due to the lack of competent instructors. Currently, the Ministry of Justice only requires those wishing to teach English as a foreign language to provide the following _ a valid passport (from an English speaking country); a filled out E-2 class visa application form; a diploma (from any discipline) from a university located in an official English speaking country; transcripts from an institution
Nowhere does the Ministry of Justice state that an instructor of the English language must have some type of teaching certification, experience, or relevant credentials in order to teach. Rather, they state, ``In principle, a foreign language instructor shall be a native speaker of the language taught.��
The aforementioned criteria are the minimal requirements that must be met in order for a foreigner to teach English in Korea. Unbelievable isn�t it? Well, what about Korean�s teaching English? What requirements do they need?
Today, Koreans wishing to teach English as a foreign language are required to have only a bachelor�s degree in any discipline. In other words, a Korean can teach English without really knowing the language.
Do the two ministries think that by pouring even more money into English education that the problem will be remedied? Moreover, do they think that by hiring more native English speaking teachers that the problem will eventually go away? Sadly, they are mistaken. Hiring more English teachers is not the answer. Rather, hiring those qualified to teach the language is.
With the demand currently outweighing the supply, it�s understandable why Korea would continue to hire unqualified people; they need them. English education has undergone a consistent increase in overall student enrollment since 1999. In 1999, approximately 61,000 people were recorded as having been enrolled in English �hagwons.� In 2002, the number rose to a little more than 66,000.
Then in 2004, the number increased again to almost 69,000. Finally, in 2005, student enrollment in English hagwons was recorded at a staggering 71,000 enrollees. The Ministry of Finance reported that this enrollment trend is expected to continue. These were the numbers that were reported. Imagine the numbers that were not.
Who is responsible for the pathetic excuse of an English education system in this country? The answer is: Korea. Who is responsible for setting the guidelines that govern who can teach English as a foreign language? The foreigners currently residing in South Korea do not set the standards.
Also, Koreans teaching English in South Korea do not decide who can and cannot teach. The Korean government and its branches decide. They set the standards and they are the ones that give the yea or nay in allowing someone to teach in this country.
With all of the `interesting� television shows and documentaries based on the `terrible teachers of Korea,� one would think the government would take action and correct this problem. Instead, they sit back and do nothing.
It is understood that the academy or hagwon associations exert a lot of influence over the government. Furthermore, because it is such a lucrative business, hagwons are seen as a wonderful source of revenue. Imagine what would happen to the hagwon industry if the government were to tighten the standards that dictate who can and cannot teach.
The industry would collapse and the government and its officials would no longer receive the money they currently do from the private sector. It�s amazing how much influence money can have.
Change must start from within and Korea needs to realize this. I have been living in Korea for three years and am fed-up with the fact that people blame teachers (both Korean and foreign) for the mishaps of the English education system. It is time that people step up and accept responsibility; it is time that blame is placed on the correct cause of the problem. It is time for the Republic of Korea to be held accountable.
[email protected]
Rafael Sabio is a graduate student at Shenandoah University and has been an EFL instructor in South Korea for three years. |
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Hanson
Joined: 20 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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Unless I'm mistaken, he does post on dave's...
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| how long he has been a teacher |
| Quote: |
| Rafael Sabio is a graduate student at Shenandoah University and has been an EFL instructor in South Korea for three years. |
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Newbie
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:59 pm Post subject: |
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| I agree with him. |
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jaganath69
Joined: 17 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Hanson wrote: |
Unless I'm mistaken, he does post on dave's...
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| how long he has been a teacher |
| Quote: |
| Rafael Sabio is a graduate student at Shenandoah University and has been an EFL instructor in South Korea for three years. |
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That's Cubanlord. |
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The_Eyeball_Kid
Joined: 20 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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There are some appalling punctuation and syntax errors in that letter. And he likes the sound of his own typing, doesn't he?
EDIT: Also, the picture on his website is unintentionally hilarious. |
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Whistleblower
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Hanson wrote: |
Unless I'm mistaken, he does post on dave's...
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| how long he has been a teacher |
| Quote: |
| Rafael Sabio is a graduate student at Shenandoah University and has been an EFL instructor in South Korea for three years. |
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He has been an EFL instructor for three years in Korea or has he had other teaching experience in a different country? If not, then how can he compare Korea's poor educational performance without the experience to match? Not very constructive, is it?
Sorry, just asking the question to a much anticipated answer. |
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Whistleblower
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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(no photos without consent--mod edit)
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| Good day everyone. Our names are Rafael Sabio and Anna Helane Winchester Sabio and we are EFL Teachers in South Korea. We have been here for a combined time of over 3 years. Since our departure from The United States, our lives have been filled with adventurous moments. Allow us to start from the beginning... |
So he has been here for three years combined with someone else's experience. Hmmm~
So can I say I have been here for a combined period of 35 years as I am married to a Korean?
Just a bit of BS and some hot air. I guess he is getting sick of Korea now. |
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Saxiif
Joined: 15 May 2003
Location: Seongnam
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Whistleblower wrote: |
| Hanson wrote: |
Unless I'm mistaken, he does post on dave's...
| Quote: |
| how long he has been a teacher |
| Quote: |
| Rafael Sabio is a graduate student at Shenandoah University and has been an EFL instructor in South Korea for three years. |
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He has been an EFL instructor for three years in Korea or has he had other teaching experience in a different country? If not, then how can he compare Korea's poor educational performance without the experience to match? Not very constructive, is it?
Sorry, just asking the question to a much anticipated answer. |
Well its pretty obvious to anyone that the amount of improvement in the English ability of the average Korean is not at all commensurate with the amount of money that's being poured into it. I don't think that the problem or the solution has all that much to do with foreign teachers, since the bulk of students get the majority of their English instruction from Korean teachers. What needs to be fixed is:
-Making sure that Korean teachers of English can actually speak English.
-Making sure that Korean teachers of English don't use outdated teaching styles (for example lecturing about an English passage for half in an hour in Korean while the students listen will teach them jack shit). Korean teachers often teach English in the same way that Latin was taught to English school kids a hundred years ago, and most Koreans today are about as fluent in English as people from England were fluent in Latin a hundred years ago and for much the same reasons.
So while there's billions of dollars being thrown around precious little of it is going to where its actually needed: teacher training. |
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The_Eyeball_Kid
Joined: 20 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:22 pm Post subject: |
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I'm sure he's a nice guy and well-intentioned, but talking about frigging bombastic! 'Combined experience of five years'?! 'Winchester Sabio'?!
Have these people no modicum of modesty or refinement? Is this the sort of thing you can get away with in the States? |
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vox
Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Location: Jeollabukdo
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:37 pm Post subject: Re: English Education in Korea: It�s Time for Accountability |
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| Whistleblower wrote: |
Just some interesting reading.
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English Education in Korea: It�s Time for Accountability
Koreans are not learning English due to the lack of competent instructors.
[email protected] |
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Hey! How opportune that this should be dumped on us today. On Friday we were instructed to develop materials to help prepare the students for a speech contest in December. On Friday we'd prepared a number of grade-curriculum-appropriate 3-minute speech topics for grades 4,5 and 6 and framed in a way that would make use of their classroom English they'd actually been learning.
But when we showed up this morning the SAMPLE speeches we'd prepared as models were used by the Korean English teacher to engage the children in a mass-memorization task. This wasn't some preparatory step, this is the only activity they will engage in, in their preparation for the speech contest. 84 students in each grade will each memorize and perfectly recite the one-page, three minute handout that was supposed to accompany another sheet showing them how to write a page on the topics given. Topics included things like 'My Family' and 'What I Want To Be When I Grow Up'. I had no parents' name to put into the sample, so I put Ban Ki Moon hoping they'd replace it. 20 kids came in this morning reciting that their parents were Ban Ki Moon!
The sole criterion, it was later revealed, was for the children to pronounce English correctly. It was not a speech contest, it was an enunciation and memorization contest, prestigiously labelled a speech contest. Delivery may yet not even be on the criteria for this farcical competition.
After the other English-native-speaking ELI and I expressed our disapproval particularly of the sudden unconsulted diversion from Friday's direction, the K-English teacher ignored all requests to listen to why the students should be composing their own speeches (it should be added here that they presently practice weekly journal writing, and so have a precedent on which to base such a request) and had the balls to criticize one of the the samples for being too difficult to memorize. She actually left the room. The other teacher chased her up to her classroom and eventually made her concede that the children should make their own speeches as was originally planned.
I am so sick of people like Rafael saying crap like this falls in our laps. They have no idea what goes on in some of these English programs. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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Hear hear!
How do you reconcile a Korean education system that is all about "busy" work, with a Western model that is based on "thinking".
Koreans will change the system when they are good and ready, and it won't come through government money, gov't initiatives, because the Korean govt does things the Korean way.
What will change the system is successful private initiatives that spill over into the public sphere. I'm not optomistic about this, however, in fact I doubt if there will ever be quality and accountability in Korean EFL education, as I don't think it is present in schools in Korean, math, science, etc.
I personally think the level of English for the average Korean student is equal to the level of French understood by the average Canadian student learning French. That is to say, nearly nil. |
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BRawk
Joined: 14 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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The situation is not really that complex. If you want more qualified teachers, you must offer higher salaries. The higher the salary, the greater the qualfications of the candidates that apply.
Obviously the situation in Korea is that they want to provide education to a large number of students and aren't willing to spend a great deal more than they are already spending.
It is useless for people (like the author of this article) to get indignant about the quality of teaching in this country, and it is arrogant to assume that he can see what the problems are while the entire Korean education sytem remains blind.
The public schools endeavour to get as much English bang for thier buck as they can to as many students as they can. Hagwons are providing parents with the product they want at the price they are willing to pay.
English teachers in Korea who lack teaching certification in thier home countries or MA's are not really getting away with anything. They are making relatively low salaries compared to thier home countries but are nevertheless atrracted to the position they have. The people who employ them are not foolishly spending thier students tuitions or conning thier students into believing they are getting more than they actually are. It's really just market value. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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| BRawk wrote: |
The situation is not really that complex. If you want more qualified teachers, you must offer higher salaries. The higher the salary, the greater the qualfications of the candidates that apply.
Obviously the situation in Korea is that they want to provide education to a large number of students and aren't willing to spend a great deal more than they are already spending.
It is useless for people (like the author of this article) to get indignant about the quality of teaching in this country, and it is arrogant to assume that he can see what the problems are while the entire Korean education sytem remains blind.
The public schools endeavour to get as much English bang for thier buck as they can to as many students as they can. Hagwons are providing parents with the product they want at the price they are willing to pay.
English teachers in Korea who lack teaching certification in thier home countries or MA's are not really getting away with anything. They are making relatively low salaries compared to thier home countries but are nevertheless atrracted to the position they have. The people who employ them are not foolishly spending thier students tuitions or conning thier students into believing they are getting more than they actually are. It's really just market value. |
I read a couple days ago that an American making $60,000 a year has a take home pay of $3,200. This was on msn in the money section. Correct me Americans if this is wrong.
If it is in fact correct, then I don't see how teaching in Korean should be considered low paying. Your take home pay is more than $2000 a month, plus house, plus bonus, plus health, plus pension, plus plane ticket. You're looking at about $3000 a month, easy. How is that low paying? |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Well, what about Korean�s teaching English? |
Doesn't look like this fellow's qualified to teach a damn thing about apostrophes. |
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The_Eyeball_Kid
Joined: 20 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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| KWhitehead wrote: |
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| Well, what about Korean�s teaching English? |
Doesn't look like this fellow's qualified to teach a damn thing about apostrophes. |
From the looks of him, he's barely qualified to teach 'Sh*tting into a Bucket (Level 1)'. |
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