Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yaya]

Seoul, Aug. 5 (Yonhap) -- Chun Hae-in has been on tenterhooks for weeks. The 10-year-old elementary school student has been on cloud nine just thinking about what the next few weeks on the Pacific island of Guam have in store for her.

"I have been counting my fingers since the end of July," Chun told Yonhap News Agency, saying that she thinks it will be fun to meet foreign friends and stay with them.

However, Chun's trip is not just for fun or sightseeing. It's for English.

It has become almost a ritual for parents in affluent districts of Seoul to send their children abroad to get a head start in English education.

"I decided to send my child to Guam to let her see the world in places where English is spoken," Chun's mother said. "My child has a great interest in English and she told me that the language is necessary for her to achieve her dream -- becoming a scientist."

The student is just one of thousands traveling abroad during the summer vacation season to learn English from native speakers and having a first-hand experience of foreign cultures.

"Parents send their children abroad for English education as well as the experience," said an official at Eduhouse, a company arranging overseas study holidays.

By some estimates, thousands of students have already left for English-speaking countries, including the United States and Australia, during the summer vacation season.

According to a report released by the Korea International Trade Association in May, about 340,000 people went abroad last year for English courses or studying, costing the country US$4.6 billion including tuition and living expenses.

Chun's two-week English course at an elementary school on Guam comes with a price tag of 2.3 million won (US$1,950), not chump change for the average household. But for Chun' mother, it is the price she expects to pay for her child's future.

"I exposed Hae-in to American Forces Network right after she was born and I wanted her to develop an interest in the language," Chun's mother added.

The network is an English language television channel for the 37,000 American soldiers stationed in South Korea.

The craze for English seems strange to some foreigners as well as to older generation South Koreans, whose memories are still fresh from forced Japanese education during the colonial era (1910-45). At that time, Koreans were forced to ditch their names in favor of Japanese ones.

These days, it is not unusual for young South Korean students to use their American names in private English institutes, if not throughout the whole day.

For many Koreans, the ability to speak the world's lingua franca has become key to achieving success in the increasingly competitive Korean society.

In a recent survey, about half of all college students pointed to "poor" language skills as the biggest barrier to getting a job.

Thirty-two percent of those who responded said skill in a foreign language is necessary to become a successful employee while 31 percent said it is needed to survive in the global market.

Meanwhile, parents who cannot afford to send their children abroad send them instead to either private English camps or language institutes. The economic burden, however, is not necessarily light.

Some experts doubt the effectiveness of English education for young children, saying that short-term English courses abroad could have a negative impact on the emotional development of children.

"Improper English education could impair the intellectual and emotional development of children," an elementary school teacher said.

Such possible harmful effects, however, has not deterred parents from trying to educate their children by reading English fairy tales and showing them videos.

Lee Kwan-hyung, a 37-year-old office worker, reads English fairy tales to his four-year-old son almost every day, saying that he is trying to teach his son naturally that there are languages other than Korean and trying to have a good time with him by reading books.

"Due to parents' desire to educate their children in English, sales of educational books for babies and children have been on the steady increase," Lee Maeng-su of an acquisition team from Kyobo Bookstore, one of the largest bookstores in Seoul, told Yonhap.

The English craze does not appear limited to elementary or middle school students. Some university students also take part in intensive language courses in English-speaking countries. Others attend private language institutes, better known here as Hakweons.

The fever for English education is evident in major cities across the country, including the capital Seoul, where major commercial districts are dotted with private language institutes.

In Seoul alone, there were 846 official language institutes as of the end of June, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

The phenomenon has also given rise to a new term -- "goose daddy," which describes a father living alone in Seoul after sending his wife and children to an English-speaking country, usually the United States, for a better education environment, including improvement of their English skills.

Judging by the growing competition and globalization in South Korea, the phenomenon appears unlikely to subside anytime soon. As former U.S. President Bill Clinton might have said, "It's the English, stupid."

http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20030805/301900000020030805100945E0.html

[helly]

Sometimes I get the feeling that the media simply reprints the same article every year.

Why is this posted? Can it really be considered news?

[gomurr]

What?? Koreans crazy over English!!! No Way, you don't think. Wait a minute, they were crazy over English in 1996-97-98-99-00-01-02-03.

I agree it's nothing new.

[Geckoman]

[tatu]

The phillipines is cheap. I've heard of courses that are 1600 usd a month for 6 hours of classes a day and that includes food and housing.. I've had students go for two months at a time and their English improved alot. I imagine Guam is alot more expensive.

[Landros]

[Scotticus]

[Pyongshin Sangja]

[cdninkorea]

[moosehead]