Korean Job Discussion Forums

[milkweedma]

The pitfalls of teaching english in Korea.

Having taught english in the Public School system (if you can call it that) in Korea for a bit over 2 years, I thought it appropriate to write a review of it so that all who head over there in the future can be forewarned. As an aside, I also taught english in Taiwan for 2.5 years in a privately run cram school, and had a much better overall experience for reasons that I will get into later.
As a direct comparison with Taiwanese people, Korean's are very xenophobic or frightened of differences that foreigners exhibit. For example, to understand this concept, it's important to understand a little of how Koreans behave today and why.
In Korea, the 'group mentality' rules supreme. This is expressed through rigid conformity such as, dress, constant greetings, the speed with which they rush from A to B, interests, make-up, weight loss obsessions, etc etc. Now anything different is not tolerated. That includes foreigners who are effectively excluded from mainstrean Korean society because we don't conform to any of their constrictions to begin with. There is also the problems associated with language and cultural misunderstandings that will be used as a cover for deceit and duplicitous behaviour against you at some point. Also it's important to understand that ones appearances reins supreme in this country so if it looks like the real Mc Coy, it most certainly is. What's underneath is effectively irrelevant and does not exist. This is key to understanding how working as a foreign english teacher in Public School in Korea works. This also explains how terribly written and poorly contructed textbooks being used all over Public schools in Korea, can be used without complaint. In Korea, complainers are 'problem teachers'.
English is failing in Public school in Korea and there are several obvious reasons why. The first is poorly written textbooks. The second is lack of standardisation that occurs when foreigners are asked to write a lesson plan as an aside from the poorly written textbooks. Thirdly, lack of repetition of the material. Forthly, and this stems from the first reason, a curriculim that baby's the kids insteand of pushing them, even a bit. Fifthly, Korean trained co-teachers that you will work with who don't question the value of the curriculim, are too afraid to make ANY decisions for themselves, and instead brown-nose the vice principal and principal in order to get promoted at a later date. Sixthly, Korean co-teachers whose english is so poor anyway that they conduct their english lessons with way too much in Korean in the first place. (kind of defeats the whole purpose really).
In a hierachical society where blind obediance to the 'powers that be' at the top is enforced (with violence if necessary), any changes to the curriculim, and the ability to think �outside the box� just doesn't happen at all. You can throw away all your 'western logic' down the toilet when you arrive at school for your first day at work if you can run the gauntlet of applying for a job in Korea with all it's unnecessary paperwork.
For most of us working in a job hopefully has two parts to it. They are, job satisfaction and the money. In Korea, I saved a lot of money but I was often thwarted of any job satisfaction by my Korean co-teachers who at one school in particular, rallied behind my back and had me sacked for not doing what they wanted. Now, I have an inkling of how to get kids interested and progressing in their english language study thanks to my previous experience with a good cram school in Taiwan. So, in the beginning I asked my Principal if I could use a better textbook. He said he didn't have any problem with that (he spoke very good english and was a nice man). I tried to get this textbook into every kids hands, but was told just to photocopy a chapter at a time instead cos the school could not afford to buy them a book each. (In other words, we'd rather use the money for something else, cos we don't care that much about english language. We're just pretending for the parents. Remember appearences? This is key concept in Korea). So I did this for several months but was eventually told to stop doing it and use the original textbook which was about as useful as toilet paper. I refused, and was served with a sacking notice a few months later.
While that was going on (I was teaching at 6 different schools in rural Gangwan-do province in north eastern Korea), at my home school (a Girls Middle school) the P.E teacher (a notorious piss-head like most Korean guys) decided one day to torture one of his students in the teachers office in front of everybody including me. He gave a 13 or 14 year old girl a chinese wrist burn so hard that she screamed out in agony a couple of times. Now, i'm quite a sensitive person and I felt a high degree of outrage at the time to what he had done as I suspect many of the other Korean teachers did too. This teacher was dealt with by the other Korean teachers (in house) by him coming to school the next day with a bandage around his head covering one of his eyes to make it LOOK like he had been dealt with. I thought it strange that the bandage came off 2 days later with no marks at all around his eye. Remember appearances? These guys are supposed to be teachers, but really are just abusers and scolders of kids in a system where mistakes made by students are often punished with force or 'scolding'. How is one supposed to 'learn' anything in this environment I'll never know. Many teachers in Public School in Korea that I witnessed would have been arrested and charged by police here in New Zealand. It was reminescent of how brutal teachers would have been in New Zealand in the 1950s and prior.
I've detailed two of three major incidents I survived in Korea, my sacking and the nasty abuse of a 13 year old female student and the last one is the motor vehicle accident I had on the way to school one day and the way it was handled by my school and recruiter. (Helpful folks that they were). At the start of my third contract at yet another school in Korea (they like to herd you around) I was driving in my car and an old farmer hit the side of my car at low speed. I accepted it was partially my fault, but mostly it was his because he was the one that hit me. I stopped at the scene and was fully cooperative with the cops. Anyway, despite it not being my fault, I was going to be sued by him (because in Korea the foreigner is fair game) and Korea is another asian country where the victim magically becomes the perputrator. So on the advice of other fellow foreign teachers, I fled the country so I would not have to pay anywhere from 5 to 10 grand. Having fled the country and swapped emails with my friend who was a doctor and my school and rcruiter, it was deemed I did not have to pay anything at all and was free to come and go from Korea again. However, my school decided I was a troublesome teacher (as advertised by their recruiter a few weeks later) and craftely used my reason that �it would take 8 weeks to go through the visa process again for me to return to teaching with them in Korea� as the excuse to 'let me go'. So in other words, don't expect ANY help if you get into a serious situation from your school in Korea. They will wash their hands of you and simply get another foreign teacher, because after all we are just 'disposable' items anyway.
This is a damning but brutal assessment of some of the things that happened to me in Korea that I want everyone to know about because it could happen to you if you go there. Foreigners have many problems in Korea because Korea is by nature a very pedantic and conformist society that rellies on 'systems' and 'top down' decision making probably more alligned to a military regime than anything in civil society back in the western world. If money is not an issue, don't bother with this country, try Taiwan, China, or Japan because you'll probably have a better overall experience and make more local friends.

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

1, At PS just smile and nod and supplement the textbook as best you can
2, I guess you didn't get a re-entry permit when you left. That voids your visa.
3, You said the crash was partly your fault. Why you would suddenly flee is a bit open to question, other than that at heart you don't like the place (fair enough)

[nzbradly78]

While I agree with several points, and am neutral on others, there are so many grammatical mistakes that I cannot believe this was actually published! I'm not a nitpicky marker, but capitalization is kind of a major issue.

It would be important to note this was a personal experience, and I haven't had several of those issues the OP has dealt with. I think this is partly from before coming to Korea the first time I had been warned by former Army residents and teachers that ESL is a for profit business and that's the way I need to approach work. It sounds terrible, and I do my best with what's at hand. However, making a fuss isn't going to change anything, since they (my employers) know that I'm not going to stay there forever. It's not worth the trouble bucking the trend. It sucks for the students, but even they know how the game is played in hokwans and in the schools.

On a quick aside, the books that really get me annoyed are those designed for immigrants moving to the States or to Canada. Why do Korean children need to know about mowing lawns or doing North American cultural activities?

All in all, Korea isn't a bad place to live and make money. I've posted this isn't an easy place to live compared to more "Western-friendly" places like Taiwan or Japan. We (my wife and I, not the foreign community at large) came here for the sole purpose of saving money, and I think that mindset makes the quirks of Korea easier to bear.

[Jane]

One of the only reasons I bear living in Korea is cuz I can save money.

I also learned the hard way that caring about your job only brings you down here. I think of my job as a business exchange: their money for my services. I'm never disappointed now.

[pentheus]

Sorry but there's one (main) thing that I don't understand. There was a traffic accident between you and a farmer and it was mostly his fault because he hit you? I'm not entirely sure I follow the logic of that statement. Then because he was suing you you fled the country rather than face the courts which you, following advice from other foreigners would label anti foreigner. (I make this presumption because you say you were in the right for the accident and therefore would have nothing to fear from a proper court.) So you ran from your contract and from the country rather than stick around and face your responsibilities. The 'advice' from your friends turned to be utter bull because the court found no fault with what you'd done. But you ran from your contract and the school, yet expect to be greeted back with open arms. I think you need to take a step back and view it from their perspective.
Also I would disagree with your assesment that they like to move teachers around the schools. I'm in a rural town myself and I, as well as most other teachers who have gotten on well in their schools, have been offered positions in the same schools next year. But thats just my experience.
Finally I would have to wonder about why you are angry you didnt get kept on in your school when you write a long message ranting about how bad the place is! You've been here for 3 years, you say Taiwan is much better, you don't need a college degree to work out the solution to your problem amigo. You were let go from 2 schools... maybe you could stop trying to change a country that has an entirely different culture to the one you're used to (whether it be right or wrong, if thats even possible) and try adapting to it rather than resenting the challenges you face.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Which news paper did this get published in?

[pentheus]

I think it was one of those 'correct the mistakes' newspapers for practising your english.

[jinks]

I don't doubt the validity of the OP's post, but his (I'm assuming it's a guy) point of view is very subjective. It may make a good diary piece, but it is NOT a very good analysis of ELT in Korea. I really can't see many newspapers in New Zealand, or anywhere, publishing an article like this.

We walk on shaky ground when we criticise others' grammar and spelling, but this writer's crazy reversal of the possessive apostrophe rule and his wonky spelling is calling out for some comment - especially as he is writing about his time as an English teacher. I am tempted to describe the OP's writing skills as 'below average', but perhaps that would be too harsh. Maybe 'low average' would be more accurate.

A good editor could knock this article into shape pretty quickly - if the writer had a point worth conveying - but apart from a litany of woes, the OP hasn't much to say really. I would be interested in reading more detail about the contrasting experiences for teachers in Korea and Taiwan; particularly if the author were able to generalise from his experience, rather than just write a list of his grievances.

[Burndog]

It's funny that the OP didn't quote this dude...

[Burndog]

The Accident...(sorry, slow P.S afternoon).

Here's what happened -