Korean Job Discussion Forums

[winterfall]

To all you Doomsayers.

No matter what the government says, Foreign teachers will be in Korean public schools forever. Maybe not to the same scale it is now but I don't expect much of a cut. In the worse case scenario, they get rid of the program for a few years. They re-realize the problems and start it up again.

Here's why:

1. The Korean Teacher Re-training programs have no impact whatsoever. The education offices are sincerely, and earnestly trying to re certify all of the Korean English Teachers. By teaching them how to teach via student centered learning and western based teaching methods. (My teachers routinely ask me to check their homework and everything they're studying is the latest in TESOL methodology). The problem with this is, teachers study hard and pass their assessments with high marks but it has no impact whatsoever in how they conduct their classes.

2. This leads to point 2. Why aren't they changing their teaching practices? This isn't just a generational problem, old teachers are particularly resistant to change but even young fresh out of teachers college English teachers act the same exact way.

Because the way the education system is set up, that is the feeding programs that provide the pools of Korean English Teachers focus exclusively on formal grammar NOT fluency. This is a continuation of how these teachers have been studying their entire lives. On top of that, the official public school certification exam tests the same thing.

So in effect, the only thing these feeding programs are doing is providing a vast pool of teachers who quite simply aren't capable of independently creating student centered activities unless it's provided for them in a how to book.

In the best case scenario they can add some creativity to something a Foreign teacher already made but, they can't make them on their own.

Now there are exceptions to the rule but these exceptions are exceptionally rare. The most qualified teachers who are familiar with things like a Corpus, Frequency lists, etc wind up in universities or are in very high level, elite private schools. (This doesn't count Foreign Language High schools)

So at the end of the day, we will never be "Phased Out"

[hondaicivic]

[jonbowman88]

The real reason we will be here for the foreseeable future is because the teachers, (at least elementary) always change from year to year. For example one year they may teach 5th grade, then the next year they'll be n English teacher, then 6th grade, and so on.

If the Korean teachers would just permanently become English teachers, they would be able to really practice their English and excel at teaching it. However the other teachers feel it is unfair that they don't get the easier job, and so in fairness the position keeps changing hands. As a result Korea is left with a multitude of teachers with little to no skill at English and how to teach it.

[winterfall]

[nathanrutledge]

I've got to disagree with you on this.

MY personal experience has been that with the new guidelines coming up, the older teachers have been retiring as opposed to trying to pass the test and the younger teachers are much better. The younger teachers have spent time overseas, more and more of them are going for their M.A. in English Education and TESOL, and it shows. At my current school, the conversation class is taught by me and two other teachers, both of whom have their masters in English education. The OTHER classes are taught by the older, more rigid grammar based teachers, but the conversation classes are completely different.

The writing is on the wall. Korea has had some money for some time. Korean's have been traveling and studying abroad for some time. The newer, younger teachers are a very real threat to native speakers, and rightly so.

Just my two cents.

[winterfall]

[whiteshoes]

I appreciate what you're saying. But I completely disagree.

I attended a local MATESOL with a lot of public school teachers. I also worked at a public school with a teacher who was in a different MATESOL program. So I have a fair bit of perspective here, just like you do.

You make a great point, "Why aren't they changing their teaching practices?" Well, they aren't really in school to change them. They're there for a piece of paper.

The thing you're not addressing is the fact that Koreans make the rules.

What the reason for so many teachers getting certified for TEE? It's so they won't need us.

Add to that, with the new free lunch program English teachers are losing their jobs. I was just talking to a Korean public school teacher with GEPIK. She told me that a huge amount of schools have been told their funding for their native speaker is gone. Many will not be renewed. She was asking my advice for what's the best way for these Korean teachers to break it to their native teacher.

I really agree with the idea that they should keep us. But there they won't.

[nathanrutledge]

[Fishead soup]

I have several co-teachers who's English is damn near fluent. I can talk to them as easily as another Waygook. The problem is they don't teach like that. Once they get into the classroom they revert back to Korean. This influences their students. There's a myriad of problems here but follow any problem with the education here and it always leads back to the test. They don't want to change the test the demand for us will always be here.

[winterfall]

I appreciate the opposing views. One perk of dave's. I just wanted to head this off early before this becomes a problem.

Let me clarify. I'm talking solely based on ability. I'm not trying to teacher bash here. We all know Korean public school teachers work twice as hard as American public school teachers. In America your not expected to give students counseling, talk them out of their problems, pick them up from jail, fill out welfare applications for them or be their guidance counselor on how to get to college and what schools you should apply to. Unless of course your particularly dedicated teacher. American public schools have tons of auxiliary departments to deal with these things, no matter how ineffective they are. It generally is not considered the teacher's primary responsible, unless it's a charter school. And that's still a big maybe.

[winterfall]

[winterfall]

[nathanrutledge]

[winterfall]

[Otherside]

OP, your argument about Korean teachers not running student-centered classes, teaching for the test rather than skills etc are all valid, BUT, the problem is, the average NT doesn't have these skills. He has BA and a pulse.

In order for Korea to properly solve this problem they'd need to recruit quality teachers from abroad, (experienced, qualified teachers), however, with salaries in the region of 2mill and going nowhere this is not likely to happen.

In a few years time, what the average NT brings to the table in public schools will be obsolete, and Korea will find itself facing a couple of choices.
1. Get rid of the NTs, they don't offer much anyways.
2. Hire better NTs, and offer salaries consummate with their qualifications/experience (look at the NET program in HK as an example).
3. Keep the status quo as is, having an NT in every class is good for PR, and would you want to be the politician who "robbed" a generation of their education?

My guess is, they'll try no. 1, then move on to to no. 2. When they realise the budget doesn't allow them to hire half as many teachers with their new standards, they'll decide that quantity is better than quality (lots of the voters in the countryside too), and revert back to 3. This probably won't be a nationwide thing, but you'll definitely start seeing some experimentation among the different BoEs in the next few years.