Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TECO]

Taken from the Korea Times.

By the way, what happened to Mr. Lee Deok-won's original article that I posted last week?

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200504/kt2005041917111654070.htm

Thought on Native English Speakers

By Mark A. Grubbs
My fellow English professors from the United States, Canada and Australia (three men and one woman) and I just read and discussed the article ``Native English Speakers in Korea���� in The Korea Times, April 14, 2005, written by Mr. Lee Deok-won. We found some of his assumptions about native English speakers to be questionable. I want to point out some of these and offer alternate perspectives about native English speakers in Korea.

From what I can tell, Mr. Lee seemed to want to inform his readers about native English speakers as teachers. I am unclear as to his exact purpose in doing this. However, some of his observations were clear, and I agree with many of them. However, there are some with which I take issue.

First, I agree with him when he wrote, ``The largest group of Westerners [in Korea] is native English speakers and they are usually English teachers from English-speaking countries.���� Being an American myself, and having worked in a hagwon for one year, I concur that Koreans seem to prefer American and Canadian English speakers as English teachers. Since jobs are offered primarily to these two groups, that they dominate the English-teaching workforce is obvious. This would be similar, I suppose, for the factories in Korea that hire only certain other nationalities to work in factories.

Mr. Lee��s assumption that ``Koreans don��t know the true worth and attraction of British English yet���� however, is unsubstantiated. I think Korean��s are smarter than this statement implies. I hear in this quote an implication that British English is superior to other forms. In my office of English professors, we agree that all forms of ``native English���� have equal value.

In another part of his article, Mr. Lee calls out that ``Westerners don��t pay enough attention to other cultures and have a tendency to underestimate different cultures.���� He followed this by saying, in concession, that we Westerners are unaware of this in ourselves, but that Koreans can ``feel it promptly.���� I must protest this overgeneralization. In my opinion, Westerners, who interact with many cultures on a daily basis in their own countries, are at least as aware of other cultures as Koreans are. Out of a population of about 50 million people in Korea, less than 500,000 (1 percent) are foreigners. Other than leisure trips out of Korea, most Koreans seldom interact with cultures other than their own. We Westerners feel this quite ``promptly���� as soon as we get off the airplane. What is lacking is not foreigners�� awareness of local customs, but the willingness of the Korean public to realize the time and effort required for foreigners to adapt and adjust to this very opposite culture.

While many Koreans in restaurants are kind to Westerners, elsewhere we are met with quick impatience when we are trying to understand how Koreans think and act. When we arrive in Korea to teach in a hagwon (at least 50–70 percent of them), we are presented with contracts that promise much, but deliver little. Teachers are often not paid without a protest from the teacher, and living conditions provided by many hagwons are near-third-world quality, not to mention extremely small. These are among the top reasons some teachers arrive and leave within two months. This kind of work environment and betrayal of trust makes working here intolerable. The Korean employers do little to nothing to help the new Western employer enculturate. Often schools expect us to instantly adjust to their every demand, whether it is a contracted duty or not. In the West, we do not do work we are not paid for. This is not an acceptable work standard for anyone, I would argue. We are not slaves, but employees.

Mr. Lee also asserts that ``Westerners are not interested in learning Korean and communicating in Korean with local people��Some are trying to learn Korean but they stop when they can barely read the Korean alphabet.���� Did someone say ``cutural superiority����? My goodness! Here is the Western perspective. I learned the Korean alphabet and pronunciation of the characters from a good Korean teacher in about six weeks. Then I started learning Korean vocabulary. As I learned, I became eager to test what I knew in public, little by little. I found that when I spoke what little I knew to 10 different people, they each told me I was wrong. I would learn from them, and then speak to someone else, and they would tell me that way was wrong. This went on and on for nearly two years. I found out later, from other Koreans, that often the problem was not so much my pronunciation, but that the Korean listening to me was afraid of speaking English and making a mistake.

As the foreigner experiences these kinds of situations, he/she starts to feel very ``outside���� the culture. He/she feels an impenetrable social barrier that then leads him/her to retreat to places like Itaewon. Often, Westerners go there to find Koreans with whom to interact. While Itaewon is a place Westerners can interact with each other, often we do not go to Itaewon to see other foreigners. Sometimes we find it refreshing to find Koreans who can relate to us without fear. I find this sad.

Yes, Korea is a great place for native English speakers to work, but, for Westerners, 2 million won is not a ``high���� salary. This amount is low-level middle class income in the U.S. Seoul��s university graduates readily start their jobs with this income. To say that 2 million per month is ``high���� pay is a bit overstated. Oh, and those who make ``7 million won per month���� are making it illegally from company employees and foreigners who break Korean law. This is not legitimate income.

The final flashpoint of Mr. Lee��s opinion is his statement that ``In no other country are Westerners so valued than in Korea.���� Did someone say ``cultural superiority����? I do not know the extent of Mr. Lee��s travels, but I can testify that Korea is one of the least welcoming places in Asia to Westerners, unless the Westerners are tourists. In business dealings, we are often lied to, cheated, charged higher prices at markets (if we are unaware of this practice), and sometime denied taxi rides. I have seldom been invited into a Korean family��s home. If I go out on a date with a Korean woman, the public treats her as if she is a prostitute and I get ugly stares from disapproving eyes.

One final comment about English teachers in Korea. There seems to be an implied criticism that we are not trained well enough to be here teaching English in Korea. Well, if this is public opinion, then why do the schools keep hiring us who are ``not well-qualified����? If the businesses here started hiring only ``qualified���� teachers, then this would no longer be a problem. I often wonder why schools here hire with the policies they have. Could it be that ``well-qualified���� teachers would seek a more adaptable environment and better pay? Certainly not.

The pay for teaching English in Korea is the best in Asia for sure. Korean students of English often have great ability to learn English and a wonderful propensity to aid Westerners. What I want to say to Koreans is that Westerners long for Koreans to stop being afraid of us. We are not ``bad���� just because we are foreign. However difficult Koreans and foreigners getting along might be, our time to get to know each other is valuable.

I do not think Mr. Lee intended to do this, and neither do I intend to do this. I offer these comments to try to help the readers of this paper to see at least one other perspective of Western English teachers in Korea. If others write in, both Koreans and Westerners, then we can have a more informed understanding of one another. Then perhaps neither of us would be tempted to see anyone as superior or inferior, but as equals, anxious to help each other in the struggle of coming together from different cultures. To this end, I teach English and live in Korea. Let��s keep the dialogue going, okay?

The writer is an English professor at a university in Seoul.

[Homer]

TECO,

Good response. Fair minded and well constructed.

[TECO]

Homer,

I thought it was a good response also. It was a good idea for them to reply to the original article and offer another perspective - getting ripped off and screwed over by business owners, poor housing conditions and guys having their dates/wives/girlfriends scowled at in disgust. I could relate to many of his comments from past experience.

[Homer]

Well I thought you stated your opinion clearly and that you presented your arguments in a reasonable manner.

I may not agree with the whole thing but at least you presented your case rationally.

Well done.

[mindmetoo]

If I was a Korean parent and it was my dream that my child would go to North America, I would have him learn English with a British accent. The language isn't superior, but I think the majority of North Americans are generally much more favorably disposed to someone who speaks English with a British accent. It could only help one's career and prospects.

[redbird]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Your response makes a lot of good points. One that it doesn't really address, however, is that many Westerners are failing to make much progress at hogwans because children are treated like customers and parents are thoroughly deceieved into thinking their kids are learning well when in fact they just come to hogwans to act like animals. Hogwans are run by businessmen who often cheat not only their staff but also the parents. Many, if not most, lie outright on report cards, and learning is little but a facade. Unbelievably disrespectful children who know they can get away with anything, and Korean staff who are unsupportive, lead to teachers doing nothing but playing games and avoiding any of the hard work needed to teach bored children who have already sat through classes all day long at school. Immature Koreans feel scandalised by Western teachers walking around with Korean women when the real scandal is the teaching environment into which they are thrust and, admittly, which many Westerners help to create. Faced with the lack of transparency and maturity in my place of work, I find little to motivate me to take my job seriously. If Mr Lee were to spend a week as a fly on the wall at ten different hogwans, I suspect that even such a pompous Korean as him would have trouble saving face.

[taejonguy]

[mindmetoo]

[tommynomad]

Good on ye for replying, TECO.
Did your letter make it into the TIMES proper, or online only?

[redbird]

[harixseldon]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[redd]

TECO, well done!!

Thank you for writing your response. I read Mr Lee's original article the other day and it really angered me. I thought you argued diplomatically and much better than I might have.

[Len8]

Great response TECO. Korean Times fortunately isn't as biased as the Korean Herald, and they wil print almost any article that is well writen.

Might be good if others on Daves wrote to the same paper. Might even be able to get a regular ESL forum going.