Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bobbybigfoot]

Koreans need to turn over English education to English native speakers. Let us teach a generation. Then, let that generation teach the next. Done.

I have met very few truly fluent Koreans in my 3.5 years in Korea. Most are very good, but have no business being primary teachers. Why?

(1) They model an accented dialect
(2) They have not mastered the use of articles (a, an, the)
(3) They have not mastered conjugation
(4) They have not mastered the tenses
(5) They use awkward phrasing

They end up sabotaging the children's progress. Simply put, the children learn an erroneous version of English. And it becomes really difficult to correct the errors. Bad habits are hard to break.

Finally, the bulk of the Korean teachers I have encountered have no formal training in education. And the majority have only had a scant few hours of training.

[earthquakez]

Bobby Bigfoot put it in a nutshell. Really, let Incheon go ahead and dump native English teachers. They deserve their kids saying nonsense like 'Every Jack has his Jill' and thinking it's everyday English.

However, I have to say that younger Korean English teachers are far better than the older ones from what I have experienced. In my last two schools I worked with female teachers on their first ever teaching gig and these young women had also travelled to countries like Canada, the US and NZ. Their English was impressive, including their accents.

It was embarrassing to hear the stilted accents of the older teachers in their 40s and 50s. I'll never forget one male who was 47 and he sounded like he was braying when he spoke in English. Just terrible.

[Junior]

[Vagabundo]

[Radius]

[Vagabundo]

a more interesting discussion would be for what reason are the kiddies learning English?

if the answer were to be (as it should be) for communication purposes, rather than passing some stupid test, or even fluency, then the majority of Korean English teachers would be adequate for the job. Clearly, for business/professional types, their English would need to be a bit better, but even for them, the best Korean English teacher might be adequate.

After all, when someone tells you, "take a rest", even though this is amusingly erroneous, are you having any understanding/communication issues?

of course not.

[Vagabundo]

[bcjinseoul]

[Vagabundo]

[creeper1]

Most Korean teachers are beginning to use English in the classroom and communicate in this means to their students. They just have to get the balance right.

Concerning foreign teachers I really think they take the easy way out 90 percent of the time with very poor teaching methodologies. They play hangman when the students' spelling is better than theirs. . They show videos in class. How much effort is required to press play? Do you need to pay someone handsomely to do this?
They also rely on bomb games way too much. Bomb game after bomb game after bomb game.

[Junior]

[b-class rambler]

[bbud656]

How do you do quotes on here?

I don't know if this is a cultural thing, but my Korean teachers (most speak English pretty well) rarely converse with students before or after class and almost never talk about anything outside of the text book. I speak to my students about their haircuts, what they did last weekend, what is on the menu for lunch, etc. I also let my advanced kids write about whatever they are passionate about (even Starcraft) as long as they can stay within the 5 paragraph essay format. Also, The idea of a debate was such a foreign concept to these kids (I can only speak for the ones I teach) before I got here.

I don't think my kids would be as engaged if they were just taught my Korean teachers, even excellent English abilities. Just memorizing words and rules isn't a good way to become fluent. Speaking and writing on subjects they are passionate about and thinking critically on the spot while defending topics they may not agree with seem to help my students a lot. Also, it helps to have a NET there to correct any mistakes and pronounciations problems.

[lowpo]

[b-class rambler]