Korean Job Discussion Forums

[luckylady]

Chronicle of Edu often posts core and other subjects positions at Korean Unis - is anyone here teaching something other than English at a Korean uni?

I do know there was a mandate that all Korean unis would be all-English all-the-time by 2015 or something like that - any word on how that's going?

[thrylos]

We have a few foreigners teaching 'content' classes at our uni-- They all have PhD's in their field. Only exception are folks in the Business/Advertising/Marketing depts. They have MBA's with relevant experience.

Once and a while, we are asked to teach English Lit classes-- Pronunciation, Drama, Debate etc. Much more trouble than they're worth, compared to the regular 'conversation' classes IMHO.

As far as being 'English only', that's a pipe dream, at least where I am. The profs all complain they end up teaching ESL, no matter what they're supposed to be doing.

[YTMND]

I am sorry, I can't read any posts on this thread. thrylos' member picture is distracting me

[EDIT: Ok, I put my left hand over it, now I can read and type with my right hand.]

I think they might have business classes, but I find it hard to believe unis will be all in English.

[luckylady]

[YTMND]

[Swampfox10mm]

We have some foreign teachers teaching business courses, and now fashion, to name a few. These are not English courses... merely taught in English. We will be teaching camps this summer involving multiple disciplines that are content-related, and taught by all levels of us here. Some of the Korean professors in other disciplines, from Engineering to Computer-related, to Fashion, are also teaching in English now, and I hear the students aren't particularly thrilled with it.

[hogwonguy1979]

we have several teachers teaching content courses at my univ. Most have a PhD but a couple have MA's in their field.

There has been a huge push lately for more content courses in English. In fact some schools require students take at least one course in their major to be entirely in English. Thats causing a sh*tstorm amongst the students as 1) their English level isnt good enough to handle it or 2) The Korea profs doing it English is so bad nobody understands it

[luckylady]

would that be mostly undergrad, grad or both?

[luckylady]

[YTMND]

[Jimskins]

I teach law content courses and am a member of the Law Department at my university (I was initially recruited in the English Department). I do teach a conversation class as well.

I have a law degree but no PHD or MA (in law).

[luckylady]

[luckylady]

[YTMND]

[hogwonguy1979]

at my univ and at Kodae where some friends teach, I know for a fact that undergrads are being required to take at least one course in their majors thats entirely in English.

They are not happy about it to say the least, there have been protests on campuses about it and the student newspapers are griping about it. Their biggest concerns (and rightly so IMHO) are like I said before 1) Their English isn't good enough to handle even the textbooks let alone a lecture in an upper level course if its being taught by a foreigner and 2) If they get a Korean prof for the course, his/hers English is so bad they cant understand what is being said. At least they aren't grading these course on the mandatory curve most of us deal with because of the fallout of what happened at KAIST last fall with all the suicides.

Right now the idea is a total waste of time the students are stressed out and aren't learning squat, it needs to be thought out more.

TBPH, I'd say maybe 1 in 10 of the students I've seen at the freshmen level could handle it and thats a reach and I'm at a decent level school.