Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Troglodyte]

From the Korea Herald,
2011-01-17


�English kindergartens� to be banned


http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110117000871


.

[dyc]

[Son Deureo!]

[murmanjake]

[northway]

Here's what I don't understand: can't they just all register as hagwons but continue to provide classes for the younger kids, so long as they don't use the term kindergarten? Also, does it provide a loophole if there's a licensed Korean teacher in the classroom?

[ThingsComeAround]

[supernick]

[interestedinhanguk]

But this is ok?

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/01/18/2011011800310.html

[liveinkorea316]

Actually it seems that they are going to actually shut down all 270 English-teaching pre-schools in Korea. Big move.

If anyone can translate the following Korean news transcript from MBC I think you will find that they are talking about closing them all down permanently because they do not want English taught in Kindergartens.

From what i can gather it seems to say that schools which target pre-schoolers and teach English will be targeted so it is not only because of their name but their activity. Part of it is that there is no regulation of such schools so it is perceived as dangerous. But the issue is that they would not exist if there were not a strict National curriculum for Kindergartens that completely excluded English. I suspect the next thing on the table will be including English in the allowable Kindergarten curriculum and making the curriculum more flexible as some parents said they chose the private schools not only for their English but also a different variety of teaching content and styles on offer.

흔히들 영어유치원이라고 부르죠.

앞으로 유치원 흉내내는 영어학원들은 문을 닫아야 합니다.

오해정 기자입니다.

◀ＶＣＲ▶

학부모들 사이에 인기를 끌고 있는

이른바 '영어 유치원'은

유치원이 아닌 영어 학원으로

당국에 신고돼 있습니다.

현행법상 유치원 과정에서는

영어를 가르치도록 돼 있지 않기 때문입니다.

교육과학기술부는 앞으로는

유치원과 같은 형태로 운영되다

적발되는 유아 대상 영어 학원은

폐쇄하기로 했습니다.

정부가 이 같은 결정을 내린 계기는

최근 발생한 서울 강남의 영어유치원에서

발생한 식중독 사고입니다.

학원은 유치원과는 달리

당국의 관리 감독이 허술하기 때문에

이 같은 문제가 발생할 수 밖에 없다고

보기 때문입니다.

또 영어학원을 홍보할 때

프리스쿨이나 킨더가르텐처럼

유치원을 연상시킬 수있는

단어만 사용해도

단속하기로 했습니다.

교과부는

이같은 내용의 유아교육법 개정안이

국회에서 통과되면

곧바로 시행할 계획입니다.

현재 유아 대상 영어 학원은

전국 270여 곳에 달합니다.

이 때문에 이 방안이 시행되면

학원 업계는 큰 타격을 받을 수 밖에 없고,

학부모들도 일시적인 혼란을

겪을 것으로 보입니다.

MBC뉴스 오해정입니다.

(오해정 기자 [email protected])

[kimchi_pizza]

I, for one, support it 110%. Good for them. An introduction to English should be included in middle school and upwards. Elementary? no. Pre-school? Definitely not.

'Nuff said.

[gypsymaria]

I wonder if that will affect the younger classes in my school. I teach at Uiwang English Premiere Center, which is an English Village, but in a government funded facility that includes a library and a daycare center. Think they'll just ignore us?

[RMNC]

Kids that can barely speak Korean won't learn anything be spending 4 hours a week in a building where they can understand even less of the foreign language anyways. English pre-school and Kindergartens always seemed ridiculous to me.

I went to a Spanish-speaking Kindergarten back in the states in the early 90's and I didn't learn any functional Spanish until 5th grade or so, and that was after spending 6 hours a day, 5 days a week in "Spanish Immersion".

[PastorYoon]

I'm so happy when I hear how much Koreans spend on their kids' educations. I hope the prices keep rising.

[interestedinhanguk]

Isn't kindergarten optional?

[PastorYoon]