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Smee
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Location: Jeollanam-do
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 Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 3:57 am Post subject: Rebuttal against Park Nam-sheik in the Korea Times. |
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You'll remember Yu_bum_suk and I wrote rebuttals to Park Nam-sheik's comments on native speaker English teachers. They didn't get published, so we posted them on Dave's here:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=154115
This evening mine got published (with the line about cranio-rectal inversion taken out).
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There is no evidence whatsoever that native speaker teachers lack affection for students. Ironically, this ``affection'' is often taken to mean beating students in order to encourage them to study harder.
But on the contrary, teachers like myself and many others spend hours each week preparing for our regularly scheduled classes, for conversation clubs, and for teachers' workshops.
Without the benefit of proper textbooks or teachers' guides, we develop material that is both educational and entertaining.
We teach our classes entirely in the target, foreign language, and we do not fall back on speaking Korean or letting a CD do the talking for us. And let's not forget we do this while adjusting to life in a foreign country.
Furthermore there is also no reason to say we often cause problems. Actually, when we read stories about teachers behaving badly, it is not native speaker teachers but rather Korean teachers who accept bribes, beat students, sexually abuse minors, or participate in anti-government rallies.
Just as it would be irresponsible to suggest that ``many'' Korean teachers cause problems, it is inappropriate to do the same for foreign ones.
There is, as I often say, a profound ignorance about what we do in the classroom. Perhaps the biggest challenge we face is creating a classroom environment that encourages learning in a way so contrary to the traditional Korean style.
People think we ``just talk'' or simply play games with the students, but in reality we try to create lessons that give students a chance to use the language they've studied for years.
We have the difficult task of bucking not only the system of passive rote learning and obedience, but also the stereotype that foreign teachers are clowns or zoo animals. |
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2009/05/137_44632.html
I'm surprised it got in, and got in two-and-a-half weeks later, but it might have been in response to my decision to give up writing for them so long as they continue to print the garbage about English teachers without giving any balance or thought. An excerpt of my post on that:
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a paper that continues to allow hit pieces on us, and refuses to allow rebuttals of equal size and strength, clearly is not committed to its native English-speaking audience. I will continue writing the weekly piece in the JI, and will write regularly for the Herald's Expat Living section on issues I think we'll find interesting and instructional. I'm excited to reach out to other teachers and foreigners here who have not yet talked with me or read my blog, and I'm even more excited to reach Korean readers who, to my surprise, have responded to several of my latest pieces with enthusiasm.
I can't continue to write for a paper that is so habitually offensive to a portion of its audience, and that refuses to give voice to the group that is the target of so much of its negative coverage. |
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/05/suffice-it-to-say-im-done-with-times.html |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 4:36 am Post subject: |
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It's good to see that someone responded to the obnoxious comments made by Park Nam-sheik, Lee Young-chan, and Koo Young-sun. Those comments were insulting towards good foreign teachers and deserved rebuke from Korean educational authorities. But we ALL KNOW that wasn't going to happen. 
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Perhaps the biggest challenge we face is creating a classroom environment that encourages learning in a way so contrary to the traditional Korean style.
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So true- especially in public schools.
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We are given little direction beyond ``do whatever you want'' or ``teach them speaking,'' and we are often unable to understand the school's textbooks because the teachers' guides are in Korean.
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This is true even in hagwons. "Just have conversation with students" is a common activity in hogwans.
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Korean administrators often don't understand what's written in our contracts, and foreigners are often ignorant about the workplace culture of Korea.
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Uh, Brian, the school administrators and "co-teachers" all know what's in the contract. They often push things to see if the foreign teacher knows what's in the contract.
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| And there are further challenges we face that people don't seem to think about. |
How about the many problems we face just living in a foreign country? The Korean teachers go home, every night. We leave school to go to an apartment that seldom feels like "home"- it's just a place to crash. Don't think that adds to the weight we must bear?
All-in-all, a very good response. It's a shame that no Korean teachers or administrators felt like responding. That's what should have happened. |
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Unposter
Joined: 04 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 6:02 am Post subject: |
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| Good job, Smee! |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 6:03 am Post subject: |
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| Koreans should remember that so many of them speak English as well as they do because of the contributions of Western English teachers. Even when they learn a lot when going abroad, they go with a foundation in English that they received at hagwons and public schools, and they should remember that next time. |
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bogey666
Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Location: Korea, the ass free zone
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| Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 8:37 am Post subject: |
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Brian, nice job.
but re contract, they are written in Korean, with an english translation. They clearly know, if they care to know, what's in the contract  |
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justaguy
Joined: 01 Jan 2008
Location: seoul
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| Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 1:03 pm Post subject: |
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| bogey666 wrote: |
Brian, nice job.
but re contract, they are written in Korean, with an english translation. They clearly know, if they care to know, what's in the contract |
True, and it should be noted that only the Korean version of the contract is legal in Korea. I encourage everyone to get the Korean version of your contract because the English contract is not used when a legal dispute arises. The Korean one is the only one that really matters. |
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Smee
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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Sure, when they read it they can understand it, but how many times have your coteachers or principals actually read the contract? Do they know how many classes we're supposed to be teaching? Do we know when and for how long we're on vacation? Do they know about pension and airfare?
How many times have people just signed off on stuff without looking? Notoriously in my school province the principals said that the teachers should take vacation in February because they had to be available for camps in January. Well, December rolled around the the principals then complained that teachers were going on vacation during those three days of graduation.
On the flipside, how many foreigners don't know how things are done in Korea? How many have started problems by expecting to be paid extra to compensate for subway fare, or who have refused to teach these conversation clubs? How many have angered coworkers by wanting to go home early after classes, or trying to get extra vacation days? It does work both ways. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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Better late than never. I can only hope the decision to print it was based on sober second judgement and not a desperate need to fill up space. Love the 80s yearbook photo, too.
How I'd love for one of us to be able to engage Mr Park in a public debate about the merrits of native speakers teaching in Korea, where he could show off his superb English skills. |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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| i'm glad it was published. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 12:39 am Post subject: |
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| Smee wrote: |
Sure, when they read it they can understand it, but how many times have your coteachers or principals actually read the contract? Do they know how many classes we're supposed to be teaching? Do we know when and for how long we're on vacation? Do they know about pension and airfare?
How many times have people just signed off on stuff without looking? Notoriously in my school province the principals said that the teachers should take vacation in February because they had to be available for camps in January. Well, December rolled around the the principals then complained that teachers were going on vacation during those three days of graduation.
On the flipside, how many foreigners don't know how things are done in Korea? How many have started problems by expecting to be paid extra to compensate for subway fare, or who have refused to teach these conversation clubs? How many have angered coworkers by wanting to go home early after classes, or trying to get extra vacation days? It does work both ways. |
Brian, the Koreans KNOW the contracts. Sometimes they may play dumb or may actually be dumb, but the hagwon owners and the public school administrators know what's written in contracts. Now, if they choose to abide by it or ignore it, well that's the big question.
It's up to the foreign teachers to know what's in the contracts and show cajones when challenged.  |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 12:53 am Post subject: |
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| wylies99 wrote: |
| Smee wrote: |
Sure, when they read it they can understand it, but how many times have your coteachers or principals actually read the contract? Do they know how many classes we're supposed to be teaching? Do we know when and for how long we're on vacation? Do they know about pension and airfare?
How many times have people just signed off on stuff without looking? Notoriously in my school province the principals said that the teachers should take vacation in February because they had to be available for camps in January. Well, December rolled around the the principals then complained that teachers were going on vacation during those three days of graduation.
On the flipside, how many foreigners don't know how things are done in Korea? How many have started problems by expecting to be paid extra to compensate for subway fare, or who have refused to teach these conversation clubs? How many have angered coworkers by wanting to go home early after classes, or trying to get extra vacation days? It does work both ways. |
Brian, the Koreans KNOW the contracts. Sometimes they may play dumb or may actually be dumb, but the hagwon owners and the public school administrators know what's written in contracts. Now, if they choose to abide by it or ignore it, well that's the big question.
It's up to the foreign teachers to know what's in the contracts and show cajones when challenged. |
The Koreans at my school are genuinely clueless about my contract. In my case it really is quite meaningless, as the expectations of me are basically the same as the other teachers. |
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