Korean Job Discussion Forums

[agentX]

Once again, the Korea Times provides us with some valuable insight.
If you wanna call it that. http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2008/01/137_16376.html

[RJjr]

In a reading class where we used first grade level storybooks, one Korean teacher had to reference the books while grading the midterm and final exams and was highly pissed at the Canadian head teacher for not creating an answer key. Hell, I had students making 100s left and right and it was not an open book test, but that teacher had to research the little books to see if her students' answers were correct? WTF??

[Homer]

Some common theme is coming out of all of this....and it is a predictable evolution of any ESL industry that relies of foreign labour....at some point the locals become qualified enough to take over the jobs.

This is inevitable. It will take time but it will gradually happen. They will start by requiring more qualifications. Then they will look at the system and see a local with the right education and experience can do the job (teach English). This will change the market from an open one to a closed one focused on hiring only qualified foreign teachers.

Not gonna happen tomorrow but it will.

You can see signs of it already.

As for the comments on the article...they are partly sad and partly very revealing.

The article itself points to a real issue that has not been adressed with the new regs: illegal teachers coming in on tourist visas....that is a harder issue to tackle and it will require the government looks at the employers harder than it has so far.....

[Don Gately]

[Don Gately]

Phonics and pronunciation too. I've met many Koreans who can pronounce even multisyllabic words flawlessly.

[Captain Corea]

[agentX]

I have too. Not very many, given where I live. But hey, they're trying...

But, her argument has a huge fallacy in it.

[crusher_of_heads]

[stevieg4ever]

it will be an eternity and take a miracle of EPIK (pardon the pun ) proportions before Koreans can teach, learn and apply English without the use of foreigners.

The only Koreans that, as a rule, can speak flawless English are those that are 유학s for - at an educated guess - at least 10 years. That ive met anyway.

Their placement for conversational English in international rankings is 101st. Korea is light years away fom even 3rd world countries like Nepal.

The fact that education (especially English education) has become a business here will also be a problem because, as everyone knows, foreigners arent the only ones who profit from the English business in this country.

As a side note, I have been learning Korean for almost 2 and a half years as a part time student in London before I came to Korea. I am level 3 in the government exam and it has taken a lot of work to get there. Up against my teachers who have learnt English for well over 10 years and guess which langauge gets used the most?

[Seoul_Star]

I found those comments (in the paper) to be typical BS coming from a very small minority of Koreans who were educated overseas and came back to Korea looking to teach. The whole 'expel the evil foreigner' attitude is counter productive for Koreans who are trying to learn functional English.

Koreans who go overseas to get educated aren't coming back here in record numbers to teach English. These idiotic comments come from disenfranchised Koreans who have some kind of chip on their shoulders. Sure the person who wrote that comment in the paper may be a Korean who speaks acceptably good English, but really, how many Koreans who are fully bilingual are going to come here and teach, when there are much better opportunities for them at multinational companies and firms?

If I'm not mistaken, foreigners were first brought to Korea to start teaching due to the horrendous results being produced by local teachers. Sure, these days more Koreans speak English, but not nearly enough to even consider replacing foreign teachers.

[Ilsanman]

HOmer's right, but the time when they don't need us is at least 10 years away, and more likely 20-25 years away. If these E-2 regulations cripple the hagwon industry, as many people think they will, there still arent enuf of us to fill up the demand for public schools.

[Homer]

Don..did you not read properly buddy...

I said in time it will happen...not now, not even tomorrow but it is pretty much the normal evolution of an ESL market such as the one in Korea....

There are not nearly enough Korean teachers capable of teaching conversational English now. But things have changed dramatically in the short 10 years I have been here....and they keep changing.

The timeframe is not precise. It might be 10 or 20-25 like I-man said. But the trend is moving that way. The change however is on its way but going slowly. The demand for us is still sky high but, as I-man says the new regs might affect the industry, especially if the logical second step is taken and the hakwon industry gets a hefty dose of regulating.

You can choose to ignore the heavy trends of the industry or look for the opportunities that will open up down the road for teachers who saw the curve ahead.

[crusher_of_heads]

okay bro, I will read everything you post literally and not in-between the lines, no sarcasm, no implied meaning whatsoever.


dUUUUUUUUUUUUUUde...you know we are on the same page more often than not...but I am willing to wager your child will be a dad before Korean are self-sufficient in the teaching of englishee

[Homer]

It may turn out that way crusher.

But I think by the time what you said happens...the industry will have changed greatly.

You just need to take a look at the growing number of Koreans studying abroad....that is just one indicator.

Then again, the government will make the ultimate call crusher. If they decide local teachers are what they want...poof its over buddy.

If they decide they want qualified foreign teachers only things will change.

I am just saying that in the time I have been here, I have seen some impressive changes in the ESL industry and some heavy trends at play.

[Don Gately]