Korean Job Discussion Forums

[schwa]

No argument, english competency among Koreans has a long way to go. Also easy to apportion blame: obtuse public education policies, incompetent Korean teachers, money-driven hagwons, goof-off native speakers, etc etc.

But maybe we need a longer yardstick before we condemn the whole project. How long has Korea as a nation embraced the idea of english ability as a worthwhile goal? Maybe 10 years? I've been here 5 & I've seen some remarkable progress in that time.

It has become part of my daily experience to have shopkeepers, taxi drivers, restaurateurs, students & so on initiate conversation (albeit simple) in english. Quite naturally, without the 'heehee I'm talking to a foreigner' self-consciousness that I first met here. I'm talking normal transactions, not artificial 'english practice sessions.' I like to use my modest korean too but I'm thinking this is cool. Kids yelling 'hello,' bursting into laughter & running away (annoying as hell) used to be common here -- very rare anymore. Used to be a frequent issue on Daves -- is it lessening elsewhere too?

The school system is a lumbering bureaucracy but I see change there too. Younger motivated teachers are starting to come into ascendancy & the system is encouraging them (at least in my province) in productive ways. Every summer a contingent of secondary teachers is sent to Alberta for a month-long immersion, similarly elementary teachers to Saskatchewan. Teachers are being sponsored for 6-month training with native speakers in Cheongju. Yearlong sabbaticals abroad are subsidized for a few. All these teachers bring back improved confidence & competency to their classrooms.

I work for the local school district office (through epik) & I think we've worked up an effective program. I work in a middle school 3 mornings a week & work with different groups of teachers each afternoon. I'm onto my 3rd school now which means some 3000 kids know me by name & dont see foreigners as quite so 'strange' anymore. The teachers who voluntarily attend my classes are much more comfortable using english in their classrooms. I'm not a great teacher but continued exposure has made a noticeable difference. Other districts are following our lead.

Now Gangwondo has started development of a beach-side resort-style English Village for year-round week-long immersion sessions for small groups of students or teachers. I think Gyeonggido just started something similar & other provinces will follow. All to the good. There will be start-up glitches but it could end up offering an authentic 'overseas'-style opportunity to less well-off families.

& hagwons will continue to serve their function. Even though it might seem to teachers there that not a lot of measurable learning goes on, I can easily pick out kids in my classes who have spent time with foreign instructors, be they good, bad, or indifferent. Something useful sinks in regardless.

If you read this far, well thanks. Just wanted to make the point that I think our efforts do amount to something.

[peppermint]

Well, I live in a smaller university town in central SK, and I regularly have university students and random drunks doing the "Hello!" *snicker* thing to me. I can accept it from kids, but it's a little more irritating coming from a 25 year old man.

That said, I am noticing that people are more comfortable with foreigners now wether they speak English or not. My freetalking students this morning were citing self consiousness as one of the big blocks to learning English for Koreans, so at least they're aware that that is making the problem worse, not better.

[Ilsanman]

It takes the time to educate the vast majority of a generation, and educate them to the level that they can teach their kids when they have some.

Honestly, I am negative a lot, but I think Korea is doing great on the english education progress.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

The push to learn English comes from the top around here. You need to have an internally logical reason to successfully learn a second language. You need to make an emotional investment in it. That's a bit of a big ask when you're planning on being a civil servant and want to live your whole life in Korea, and you're required to make grades in an exam which tests your grammar and comprehension but not your communicative ability. It's all a bit academic in that case. People who want to learn will learn, let's see if more people are choosing to make the effort or not.

[Howard Roark]

[desultude]

kiwiboy_nz_99

[Derrek]