Korean Job Discussion Forums

[garykasparov]

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2007/11/13/200711130007.asp


Recent developments in Korea have shaken the English education scene. Foreign teachers with fake diplomas have been arrested. Criminals were unearthed and illegal teachers were jailed and deported.

This has led the Korean government to take a long, hard look at the policies behind the hiring of foreign English teachers. This was, in my opinion, long overdue. Korean students could only benefit from a stricter selection process for foreign teachers. I even applauded an initiative to require criminal background checks and degree verification for all applicants for teaching visas. This, I thought, was a very positive development, as Koreans deserve quality educators.

I observed all of this from Canada, approving many of the initiatives I heard about. All this time, my wife and I had planned to return to Korea in 2008 with our son so he could learn Korean properly, connect with his Korean heritage and spend time with his grandparents in Busan. I was planning to teach English again and was looking forward to living in a country I love with a family of in-laws. I was also looking forward to applying my experience as a teacher and to be a better educator than I was when I first visited Korea.

Then came the shock.

It seems that I am no longer qualified to be an English teacher in Korea. Indeed, one of the many changes implemented by the government to better control the quality of English teachers in Korea has been a change in visa eligibility for Canada. People from Canada who graduated from French-language universities have been declared ineligible to teach English in Korea. The measure may seem sensible at first glance.

However, it will eliminate many qualified teachers without giving them the opportunity to prove they have the required proficiency in English. It would not be that complicated to verify that an applicant has the necessary mastery of English. A simple test or interview would do. The new policy does not even allow this much.

I was raised in Quebec in a French environment. My education from kindergarten to graduate studies has been in French. However, I have been completely bilingual since the age of 10. I speak English with no accent and have obtained a near perfect score on the Federal Government English qualification test (Speaking, Reading, Writing).

My current job requires that I teach and grade academic papers. My students are in large majority native English speakers. I also have over two years of experience teaching English in Korea and have been teaching.

Yet, according the new rules, it would be pointless to even apply for an E-2 visa because it would be rejected based on nothing more than a cursory look at the university I graduated from. The measure is closed-minded and completely inflexible. It does not take into account past experience nor the linguistic reality of Canada.

In the end, this change in policy has led me to give up my plans to go back to Korea to teach. The result of this decision may be insignificant in the grander scheme of things but it is symptomatic of what Korean students are losing: motivated, dedicated and experienced educators whose sole sin is to speak English as a second language, albeit fluently. Language education is about far more than being a native speaker. And Korean students deserve better.

By Jean-Francois Marcoux

Jean-Francois Marcoux teaches history and political science for the Government of Canada. He was an English teacher in Korea from 1997 and 2000. -- Ed.






2007.11.13

[Pak Yu Man]

A lot of the French from Quebec don't want to speak English while in Canada. fuk em.

[bellum99]

I'm from Canada. This post is not intended to be hurtful. I have met a few people here from Quebec who couldn't string a sentence together. It was difficult to understand what they were saying and they really shouldn't have been teaching English. I am sorry to say it but it does make sense.

PS: I have also met others who had a perfect grasp of the English language.

[mindmetoo]

[englishiscrazy]

The idea of having a degree in English is intended to:
1. prove the competency in English
2. measure the quality of the person
(for Kyopo teachers they must have high school and university done overseas.)

I think more emphasis should be put on an interview and competency test.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[Vicissitude]

[thu_tinh]

[ulmaeri]

If your wife still has her Korean citizenship, why not come over on the F2 visa. Or was the change for all visas?

[Julius]

I met "saw" some people from Quebec at an international students party once. They were in their own clique refusing to speak to anyone else in English. I couldn't figure out if it was because english was not their mother tongue, or wether ithey could speak English but were refusing to out of pride.

Either way...left a bad impression, so je suis desole, no sympathy from moi

[bacasper]

[Paddycakes]

Look, a lot of western Canadians are hardly even unilingual, so let's stop with the anti-Quebec bigotry.

[bassexpander]

I'm waiting for the tourist-visa opinion article, discussing how so many Canadians can just come here on a tourist visa and work with no background checks at all.

I heard the Korean visa thing with the USA fell though... if it has gone through, perhaps Korea would have allowed Americans a long tourist visa.

Could you imagine the illegal teacher mess Korea would have then? All of the recent publicity would merely be a magnet for every pervert back home who can't get a job or live within 3 blocks of a school because they are a on a pedophile website.

[some waygug-in]

I'm not sure if this means anything, but here goes.

I see adds on pusanweb for universities that say no airfare compensation will be given if applicants are hired in Korea. I wonder if their ad is just old or if they haven't heard about the new laws.

Hmmm.

[littlelisa]