Korean Job Discussion Forums

[KHerald]

If anyone�s vehemently for or against the prospect of Filipino instructors being granted E-2 visas so they can teach English here (and you'd like to speak with me about it), please send me a PM.

Cheers,

Matt Lamers
Korea Herald

[ttompatz]

[Yaya]

I FIRMLY oppose letting non-native speakers of English get E-2s, including Filipinos, Singaporeans and Hong Kongers. Please spare me the argument that non-native speakers can teach better blah blah blah, it's bad enough that so many Koreans are learning English from Koreans who couldn't speak English to save their lives.

[creeper1]

As I understand it the Koreans wanted to bring over qualified teachers from there along with the Indians. It was the Filipino goverment that blocked the move fearing a "brain drain"

I thought that they were good at English and it was a plentiful and cheap commodity. The fact that they adopt the above policy suggests otherwise however.

[huffdaddy]

[kprrok]

[shostahoosier]

I'm all for it if they open up the ESL market to ANY country that has English as a national language.

[fugitive chicken]

I personally don't have a problem with it at all. Many very qualified teachers are being held back from teaching here because they simply aren't from "the right country" and some pretty terrible teachers are being brought over to teach because they are. Korea would do very good to screen the teachers who come in, no matter from what country it is. If they have teaching experience with good recommendations and are good English speakers.

The problem is the parents as ttompatz said. My public school wouldn't hire a well qualified black woman from the US to teach because they were afraid of what the parents would say; and who knows how they would react if someone NOT from the major English speaking countries came in to teach.

[air76]

[kbit]

[huffdaddy]

[mayorgc]

The end goal of most English programs in Korea/Japan (I'm assuming) is to do business/interact with the Western world (That was basically Jet's mission statement I think).

They ideally wanted to learn from native speakers because they wanted to do business with native speaker countries.

Singapore/India/Hong Kong/Philippines aren't in the west. The main reason hagwon owners would want those teachers is because they'd probably be cheaper. Teachers from those countries wouldn't automatically be poor teachers, but they probably wouldn't be able to speak like a "Native Speaker".

[huffdaddy]

[ttompatz]

[Ruthdes]

If Filapinos were able to get an E2 visa, they would presumably be subject to the same restrictions that apply to the rest of us, i.e. doing all schooling, including a bachelors degree, in English. If they have done this, the chances are that they speak English as well as most people from the main English speaking countries. There might be some regional differences in vocabulary, or common structures used, but you find this between those of us here already.