Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Guest]

after being here for a short few months, i see a mono-cultural self-sufficient society. Before anyone slates me for being pessimistic, this is more from the viewpoint of a practicality:
an open question for opinions:
how many students do you think will end up using english in their careers?

[Yaya]

It's not so much whether they'll use it or not, it's a social thing. But in the job market, a good TOEIC score will definitely boost your skills, and many companies are also giving interviews in English to see conversation skills. With so many job seekers and so few jobs in Korea, the successful candidates are the ones with everything a qualified candidate has and more.

[OiGirl]

For most kids, it's not likely. But there are always the possibilities:
- They may one day go to a foreign language high school.
- Their dad could get transferred to an English-speaking country.
- Their dad could get transferred to a country where English is used in the international schools.
- They could apply for university in an English-speaking country.
- They could get a job as a Korean English teacher or an elementary-school teacher who needs to teach English.
- They could get a job teaching Korean to foreigners.
- They could rise to a postion in any academic field where they need to write and present papers in English.
- They may become a missionary.

Just for starters.

[Saxiif]

a couple of my students say they want to be english teachers (usually the ones with the worst english ) so there's at least that and one of my favorite students has an American uncle and wants to move to the US eventually.

[jajdude]

Some will. They may travel someday. Maybe they'll get a job that sends them places.

[Guest]

yeah, i was speaking to a korean friend about it, and i hadn't realised it really improves your chances of employability in korea, even if you don't use english on a daily basis.

[just because]

i think to be precise 6 724 901 children will use their English in the future. Thats justa n approximate guess taking in the wind chill factor, some random earthquakes and the amount of kimchi that will be eaten in the next 22 minutes .

[jaebea]

Yeah, being "book" smart doesn't prepare you for the real deal when it comes to face to face conversation.

Anyone can know the theory how to cook a pavlova (memorise the instructions/receipe) but it's bloody hard to do it in real life.

Hrm I guess that's a passable analogy. :)

jae,

[The evil penguin]

[Kwangjuchicken]

Well, once English becomes an offical language in Korea , who knows what will happen next.

[some waygug-in]

They may not use it today, or tomorrow or even next year, but eventually they will have to use it if they are going to apply for any kind of a decent job in Korea. English is becomming more and more important every year.
The ones that won't study and refuse to do any work in class are the same ones who will end up coming to adult hagwans later on to try and brush up their Englisheee.

Yes, it is true that there are many jobs today that don't require English, but those are usually low paying, less desirable jobs.

Cheers

[Butterfly]

[peppermint]

I teach adults, and have a lot of students who say that they work for foreign companies, or have foreign co-workers and need english to communicate. Many people want to go to foreign universities, because they are starting to realize that they are simply better schools. Some just want to watch movies with out depending on subtitles.

[The Man known as The Man]

And they want to hit on Mistress Peppermint and her knob.