Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

Just a statistic from the newspaper today that said there are about 6000 hagwons for English and 10,600 E2 holders in Korea. I would have guessed a good bit higher number for E2. And of course there do seem to be A LOT of hagwons - many not about English at all.

It was from a report about Korea starting an ESU (English-speaking Union). It was kind of interesting. It was in the Joongang Daily part of the IHT. It also mentioned that after China and India, Korea had the 3rd largest number of students studying (English mainly?) abroad. And it talks about how English learning has become pretty much an obsession here.

I wonder if all this effort is worth it? Will it pay off in the future? Will Korea join the ranks of advanced nations? (I don't believe they are there yet.)

[fidel]

I asked my students at the start of the semester whether or not they attend an English academy. Many did, however when asked whether or not their hogwan teacher was a foreigner most replied no.

One reason I suppose is that the costs of sponsoring a foreigner is prohibitative and that they can avoid all the hassle by employing a Korean with English ability.
Another reason might be that they prefer bi-lingual teachers.

Anyway it was interesting to read how many foreign teachers there are here.

[crazylemongirl]

a fair chunk of my kids go to hogwons but as they are middle school kids they tend to go to study hogwons which offer the full range of subjects. Most of those don't employ waygooks.

[shawner88]

English Speaking Union? What's that all about?

[gi66y]

Interesting stat...I imagine that 6000 would include English Hagwon's without an native English speaker as well.

The Canadian embassy mentioned in an email about there being 5000+ Canadians teaching English in Korea. I suppose some could have the E1(Professor) or F4 (Kyopo), but I would have thought there'd be a lot more than 10,600 cause it doesn't seem like 40-50% of teachers in Korea are Canadian.

[Zed]

[just because]

[paperbag princess]

zed, i couldn't agree with you more.

[phaedrus]

[jajdude]

I agree with ya Zed. I was just pointing out what the article said.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

You think 45% sounds like a high number for Canadians teaching in Korea? Have you ever been to Seoul?

[chronicpride]

40-50% Canadians does seem like a high figure. I think that we do represent the largest nationality of teachers here, but not 1/2 of all of them. Either the 10,600 teachers figure or the 5000+ cdn teachers stat has to be a very rough estimate, if not both. Not unless, the embassy is also factoring in tourist visa teachers, which would then make the 5000+ figure more realistic, but still unconfirmable.

[jajdude]

I'm from Canada, but in 5 years in Korea I am not so sure, but I believe I have met more Americans (as hagwon or University teachers) than Canadians. Though I have met a few Canadians too of course.

[kylehawkins2000]

I would not be surprised if 50% of all English teachers here were from Canada.

The Hogwan that I"m at now is employing 4 Canadians and One American. THe Hogwan that I worked at in Ulsan usually had 90% Canadian teachers. We had a few brits at various times but no Americans.
And thinking of my friends workplaces....they are also dominated by Canadians.

On my hockey team there is about 60% Canadians and 40% Americans but almost all of the Americans are soldiers and the Canadians are all teachers or professors.

Seeing as most hogwans prefer a "North American accent" and the Canadian exchange rate makes employment here much more attractive for Canadians, is this statistic really all that surprising?

[jajdude]

muggie2dammit,

This may help.