Korean Job Discussion Forums

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

I admit I had to go to Google for this one . . . I wanted to see if this was the same person as the guy in your avatar.

wylies99 · Joined: 13 May 2006 Location: I'm one cool cat!

michaelambling · Joined: 31 Dec 2008 Location: Paradise

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

blaseblasphemener · Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:04 am Post subject:

1. Hagwon businesses will be very happy to hear about this development.

2. Foreign teachers should NEVER, EVER, do ANY classroom management. That is not the job of an assistant, nor is it the job of someone who is not speaking the native language. Just sit back and let the head teacher do it. Let them earn their paycheques. You just edu-tain.

harlowethrombey · Joined: 17 Mar 2009 Location: Seoul

``Foreign teachers with more experience will receive higher salaries and better working conditions,'' Choi said.

Better working conditions? So this means they'll stop whipping me, pushing me to the ground and dangling spit over my face?

said Jeon Byung-man, an English education professor at Chonbuk National University. ``I don't think native English speakers are helpful for our students. If they need native English speakers, they should hire those who have teaching licenses.''

This is brilliant. Because Korea makes zero effort to hire people with teaching liscenses. As someone with a license, I appreciate the bit of extra money I earn with it and my prior experience makes my job easier. But to expect that Korea can field a certified teacher in every school is so unrealisitic it borders on stupidity. If they could, it would have already happened.

Additionally, I know plenty of other people here who do a fine job teaching with a variety of degrees. It's real funny a college prof. would decry someone else's lack of a teaching degree as a qualification for a job.

But, anyway, this is all spin. If they had 100% retention this year they'd be touting these teachers as invaluable public servents, blah, blah, blah. If every teacher leaves next year they'll say it was all part of the plan, etc.

Troll_Bait · Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:21 am Post subject:

Teelo · Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Location: Wellington, NZ

In a way, you could have two avatars.

First you'd need to get your own webhosting and domain, then set it up to parse files with .jpg extensions as php scripts.
Then you'd need to write a php script that rotates the image every time its downloaded.

Simple Smile

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

I don't know guys... for every cool teacher who knows what they're doing, I have Korean friends at public schools telling me about some nut-job foreigner teaching at their school.

There are, without a doubt, a fair share of foreigners in Korea who should not be allowed to set foot in a classroom.

The thing that bothers me is that these education office people apparently have no idea that foreign teachers are often left alone to teach unassisted. Heck, I even proctored tests when I was teaching high school here. The foreigners at my school always taught alone.

MrRogers · Joined: 29 Jun 2008

Straphanger · Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Location: Chilgok, Korea

stevieg4ever · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Location: London, England

The problem is, with due respect to these Korean government officials, do they ever consult or meet with any of the foreign teachers themselves??? The likelihood is 'no' they probably don't as they don't want to come face to face with anything that reflects badly on their education system, their country or themselves. Oh the wonders of Confucianism in the 21st century....

stevieg4ever · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Location: London, England

Very interesting article. I think the bit about teachers leaving because of the 'worsening of north and south relations' is a load of rubbish.

And I find the bit about certain teachers receiving better 'working conditions' very interesting indeed. I'd like to know what he means by this.

And the quote at the end of the article from Jeon Byung-man is the kind of stuff that makes me fume and laugh at the same time. 'I don't think native English speakers are helpful for our students' he remarks and goes onto say 'If they need native English speakers, they should hire those who have teaching licenses.' Does he realise what a lot of teachers go through, does he not see that professional teachers are often the most critical of Korea's English / education system and also the ones, I have found at least, that are the least likely to stay long term?

The mind boggles...

travelingfool · Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Location: Parents' basement

Go ahead and shoot me but this my opinion.....Koreans have a very serious inferiority complex when it comes to westerners. Even if you are a qualified teacher they will never admit that you are more knowledgeable than they are. That is why you have hagwon owner Mr. Park who knows not a lick of English and has no education whatsoever dictating to whitey how to teach. That is why you have draconian visa laws that are tantamount to indentured servitude. If they want to do business with the west and communicate effectively, they need native English speakers. They know it and are extremely bitter about it just like they hate the US military but know they need them.

Koreans are very myopic when it comes to learning English which is why I think they suck so badly at speaking it. Learning a foreign language involves more than nouns and verbs. It involves learning about the cultural context of the language. One of the best things about teaching English abroad is the cultural exchange that goes along with it. Unfortunately, most Koreans don't give a damn about any other culture besides their own. I think this is the bigger picture here.