Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

[peppermint]

In an ideal world the OP might have a point, but from what I've seen at the elementary school level, the administration is often unable to judge wether a Korean teacher can speak English well enough to teach it.

Perhaps if Unis developed courses geared towards teaching English specifically, or school boards required that teachers at least have a minor in English language with their education degree- some way to ensure that the K-teachers had a baseline level of competency with the language. That's a long way off though.

I think native teachers do bring something to the table that Korean people simply can't. A lot of Korean people are very shy about speaking to non Koreans for whatever reason.

Kids today are getting used to seeing foreigners in their schools, hagwons and in their neighborhoods, and I think maybe, when these kids grow up- maybe that social awkwardness won't be so prevalent. I think international relations, business and tourism here will benefit from that.
Who knows, Korea might even become the hub of Northeast Asia then.

[bosintang]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I don't see how it could hurt to have more foreigners. If I stay in Korea next year it will only be if I'm in a uni or public school. The unprofessionalism of hogwans is just unbelievable in some cases. From the point of educating kids it's very hit and miss. There are some classes that are so great where we can learn so much that the parents should be paying a premium. Then there are parents who should be getting their money back. I would think that in a larger class the best way would be a KT and FT co-teaching together - expensive but the best way to ensure proper learning. Fund the ESL programmes in the public schools properly and millions of parents wouldn't be wasting millions of won for very marginal hogwan educations.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

To add a point about 'exposure' to foreigners - in some cases, all hogwans do is teach kids that it's fun to and they can get away with being totally disrespectful to foreigners. A lot of kids just hate being there and associated foreigners with their hatred of being forced to learn English. By no means is this universally the case, but with some kids I'm sure that we just contribute to the development of racist attitudes. In public schools where the pupils have to be there for so many hours anyways, and where there's a bit more semblance of discipline, I would only hope that exposure to foreigners would have a much better effect, especially exposing foreigners to the ones who aren't rich, spoiled brats.

[Grotto]

bosintang wrote

[Derrek]

Fidel, don't you realize that students spend nearly all of their time memorizing vocabulary and drilling grammar points in Korean teacher classes... yet cannot speak a simple sentence?

Your theory makes sense, but given the Korean mindset of studying grammar for TOEIC, few, if any Korean teachers are ever trained to actually teach students to speak English in a useful manner. You want to change that? Great... but what about the social issues that cause ineffective teaching?

The problem is more than qualification and speaking ability -- it's a societal/cultural one. What really needs to be done is to fire all of the ajosshis/ajummas that speak NO english, yet teach grammar rule memorization. We have at least 3 of them at my school. Nice people -- but I can't even talk to them. And they are seniors in the department.

The young bucks you'd be training would instantly "give in" to the older (and that's about it) teachers who are superior to them on the Korean hierarchal ladder.

We've got teachers working here who absolutely suck at what they teach, and I'm not talking about just English (the students whine to me about this constantly) and only have their jobs because their father is a principal at another school, etc. Nepotism and the "old buddy" system is a big thing in Korea.

Things like grading systems where no grade is below XX%, entrance tests that rely on grammar rather than speaking, etc. must all be changed to bring about the results you (and all of us, really) are seeking.

And lastly, the students should be allowed more sleep and learn to spend 2 to 3 hours max per day on QUALITY study time -- not 6 hours where they're dinking around on handphones and chasing their friends down the hallways.

[fidel]

[rok_the-boat]

I agree with the gist of the original post - I taught at a high school for one year and had zero effect in my 20 classes of 50 kids each (meeting 1000 per week). Now if they had given me one class twenty times a week, that would have been a different story ...

You have to match resources to needs to get results. The situation I was in was a complete waste of time.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Grotto]

very elitist Ya Ta Boy

Why stop there? Why not test every child and put them in the areas that they show an aptitude for.

Ahhh you did not show an aptitude for English. We will not waste time or money trying to train you. No it does not matter how badly you want to learn English. You showed an aptitude for math so we will make you study more math. Oh whats that? You hate math and love English...well that is just too bad for you isnt it?


I have yet to meet a Korean teacher who speaks English anywhere near the fluency of a native speaker.

One major fact that people seem to be missing out on is that English is a global language. Anywhere you go in the world you can find someone that speaks some English.

English is the language of business, travel and communication. The vast majority of the world wide web is in English. All airline pilots and air traffic controllers must be fluent in English. When dealing internationally business contracts are written in English almost exclusively.

People also need to admit that no matter how extensively trained a Korean is their comprehension of English will not approach the level of a native speaker. A properly trained Korean might be able to disect the English language better but a native speaker inherently knows more.

[fidel]

Just to add my two cents

I teach 5 different classes a week three times a week each, with an average of 19 students per class. It's an elective subject, they can choose reading if they wish which the majority do because the SATs aren't conversation based. My students definitely improve over the year. The 15 minute oral test done 4 times a year makes them study or they fail. 40% of the class grade is on participation which is a definite motivation factor. I have to give an average grade of 75% which means I have leeway to fail those who don't study and reward those that do.

We have 16 Korean English teachers which the majority are near fluent. I've seen them teach though and they speak Korean 80% of the time during class.

In my case its definitely worth having a FT on board. They would have more but they are fighting with the government to become fully independent. Therefore they won't fund extra teacher's out of their own pocket as a kind of protest. They don't want any public funding, not a cent but the GOV won't allow them to break away. They feel it would lead to elitist schools.

[manlyboy]

[Len8]

There are numerous complaints by Korean teachers about the poor teaching of the many expats who get into Korea via the Gepik or whatever it's called programe. There is always an artcle or two in the papers by irate Korean teachers. All I can say to that though is tough. if the Ministry of education wants to fork out the money the way they do then more power to anyone who wants to come here and get it. Take the frigging money. If by chance you happen to be somebody who really wants to help the poor s.o.bs then great. You stand to get and give a lot to the system. If on the other hand you aren't in the least interested in the culture or teaching then you got a free trip and a chance to see another part of the world.

That's the way it works. Maybe the few that do want to teach and who do pull their weight make up for the many who come to bludge.

Maybe the Ministry of Education has done a statistical analysis of the whole shemozzle and decided that the benefits more than outweigh the costs

[Ya-ta Boy]