Korean Job Discussion Forums

[superNET]

[Unposter]

As the person who said that a professional photographer is a person who makes a living doing photography, a hakwon teacher can say that he or she is a "professional."

Yes, yes, yes, one could say that a McDonald's chef is a professional too but we don't.

We generally do say that "teachers" are professionals. That is good enough for me.

In the end, much depends on what you think you are. And, much might also depend on how you behave.

If you think you are a professional, and you want to be a professional, don't listen to the doom and nay sayers. Their opinion doesn't really mean anything.

If you don't want to be a professional, I don't think anyone in Korea would be surprised.

[lifeinkorea]

[edwardcatflap]

[superNET]

[edwardcatflap]

You're saying certain qualifications, which you do not hold, are unneccesary. How can that opinion be anything else except ill-informed? It was not meant to be rude. Until you have taken these qualifications yourself, you simply cannot have a valid opinion on this subject.

[superNET]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[quote="superNET"]

[edwardcatflap]

[superNET]

[languistic]

Hagwon workers are not professionals simply by virtue of where they work. They may be personally professional, in that they engage in self-development, actively strive to be better teachers and actively desire to be a teacher, with a full set of academic knowledge and applied skills; this makes one a professional and would make such claims valid.

Korean hagwons offer a unique situation where dictionary definitions do not apply; it is a rare scenario where one can actually attain what in any other situation would be a job reserved for those with formal training to engage in their trained activity for sustenance - A.K.A. professionals.

Where else (but in EFL/ESL) can one be a 'teacher' with a BA in an unrelated discipline? EFL in Korea, at the hagwon level, is such that one need not have special training to satiate the set requirements for the position, but one must also accept that no, they are not a professional simply because they are referred to as "teachers" by the culture. It is only a name for Koreans to refer to you as something, not someone (in the culture, not a race thing), but it does not carry the weight of the word in other contexts.

It is as I said earlier, glorified unskilled labor and if that changes or not is completely in the hands of each individual worker.

[edwardcatflap]

[languistic]

You people aren't really interested in answers, are you?

[Unposter]

For what it is worth, I don't think one need to "experience" something to analyze its benefits.

Certainly, democracy doesn't work that way. We don't have to be professionals to have an opinion of something or to vote on an issue. Should there be free trade? Well, we all have a say. If I am not informed, maybe others won't listen to me, but we all state opinions about things we might not have any direct experience of or are experts in.

Even academics way-in on topics which are not their field of expertise. But, they don't lack in intelectual skills to make a contribution.

I don't think everyone who wants to be a teacher can just show up and teach. But, I also think some people can.

I think one of the key skills to teach anything - is knowledge of the subject. I don't think this is the case of many ESL/EFL teachers but I know from growing up in my school system there were teachers there that might have been "professional" teachers but they didn't know much about their subject matter. They had studied Education but they had not studied History or Math or Science or whatever

The thing is - when we are talking about teaching "English Conversation" - what is the subject? Well, there are a lot of people who don't have fancy degrees that are actually quite knowledgeable. It is not rocket science. I know - I know - there is so much more to it than that. Maybe, it is true. But, 90% of the people who are hired to teach English are here to be a living language lab for students to interact with.

Ask most successful language learners where did you learn to speak a foreign language and many will say they learned it from going out and using the language. The classroom may be a great starting place but it is out in the world that people really learn to use language. The problem is there is no world out there for Korean students to use English, at least not in Korea. So, English has become so vital and the market has become so big Koreans have brought the world here by bringing in English teachers.

Teaching English is not easy. There are a lot of qualities that a good English teacher in Korea needs to have. There are people who are quite successful and there are people who aren't. The people who succeed and earn a living doing it, if they so desire, may take the mantle of "professional."

[superNET]