Korean Job Discussion Forums

[World Traveler]

So many waegs express opinions like this:

[northway]

You're basically suggesting that playing the lottery is good value. Honestly, how many students see real improvement in their English skills without attending hagwon?

[World Traveler]

Don't students have English every day (with various Korean teachers) then one day a week with a native teacher? After ten years of that they don't improve? Get real.

[edwardcatflap]

[World Traveler]

The public school English classes give them a good base. Studying at home (alone or with a tutor) can help take them further.

[The Cosmic Hum]

[edwardcatflap]

[Fox]

Having taught at the same school for years, I was able to see just how much the students benefited from my presence. The sixth graders who graduated this year have been learning with me since kindergarten, and when I compare their English competency to sixth graders from my first year, there simply was no comparison. Of course the two best English users attended a hagwon as well -- I openly and happily acknowledge the value hagwon teachers provide for their students, and it is a shame when hagwon teachers are spoken of in dismissive or contemptuous terms here -- but even the students who did not had built up a solid foundation upon which to further expand, with a solid core vocabulary; good pronunciation, listening ability, and reading ability; and decent writing and speaking ability. And in my fifth grade class, the three best students are ones who did not have the chance to attend hagwons, although they did all attend my afterschool classes at some point.

EPIK is a good program, and it is worth the money. Yes, there are imperfections in the program, but cuts will exacerbate those imperfections rather than mending them.

[schwa]

Definite positive impact.

Better attitude toward the value of english, less shyness interacting with foreigners, raised awareness of other cultures, & authentic english practice. Even on a limited basis, these all add up to a huge increase in potential serious learners. I think our biggest value is simply planting the interest.

Our presence in schools also tends to influence Korean english teachers to up their game.

But our overall effect is hard to measure in stats. I just know through my own experience & observation of many other sincere epik teachers that we do make an important impression on a lot of kids. I also vote well worth the money.

[SeoulNate]

Depends on the teacher. I've observed around a dozen public school teachers over the past few years that worked at their school for 3+ years. Some of them made big impacts, others failed to teach anything.

[Chaparrastique]

[DaeguNL]

[Underwaterbob]

I was at the same public schools for seven years (until this year when they unceremoniously shuffled everyone in town around and gave them extra schools as well as different schools, let's see how that works out...) and I've noticed a significant improvement in students' English ability in that time. The same goes for my dozen or so co-teachers that I've worked with. English in Korea is probably better than it's even been. I like to think the influx of 원어민 is at least partly responsible.

The question is: does anyone care? At the end of the day, students are still evaluated on just about every facet of their English except their ability to effectively verbally communicate. Realistically, what percentage of your students are going to even need to know English by the time they hit the job market? But then, I guess you could ask that of any subject...

[Fox]

[ghostrider]