Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Lawmaker Urges Stricter English Teacher Evaluation Program
Lee Joo-ho said, "Simply speaking, how are you going to expect students to speak English fluently if their teachers cannot speak English well?"

There are 32,500 English teachers nationwide including some 6,700 for elementary schools, 11,400 for middle schools, 14,400 for high schools.

According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development in March last year, an average TOEIC score of 272 English teachers participating in the program stood at only 718 points out of a top score of 990, far lower than that of the 841 of new employees at conglomerates and public offices during the same period.

"Because of the lack of teachers' English ability, schools have to hire native English teachers as assistant language trainers," Lee said. "It is kind of a vicious cycle. The language level of Korean teachers remains stagnant while schools spend a high portion of their budget on foreign teachers." Of the ministry's total budget of 682 billion won (some $710 million) last year, about 340 billion won was spent in hiring English-speaking native teachers, while only 6.3 billion won, or 9.25 percent of the budget, was used for training Korean teachers, said the lawmaker.

Government data also showed that English teachers able to teach a class only in English accounted for 22.3 percent of the total in 2003. The figure decreased to 19.9 percent in 2004 and 17.6 percent in 2005, while students' English skills are getting better.

The vice schoolmaster said it is too difficult for native Korean teachers to have an excellent command of all four English sectors -- listening, reading, writing and speaking. He proposed that schools assign English teachers to class in accordance with their special quality in English skills and stressed the need to increase English classes to more than three hours per week from the current one or two hours.

According to ETS, the organizer of Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), South Korea ranks 93rd out of 226 countries in the world for TOEFL score and 16th among Asian nations though the country has the largest number of TOEFL exam takers. In the test of spoken English, however, Korea placed 105th out of 108 countries.
by Jung Sung-ki, Korea Times (August 28, 2006)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200608/kt2006082817051811990.htm

Teachers in Korea have guaranteed tenure until they reach the mandatory retirement age.
Annual teacher salaries, public schools (with minimum training) (US$)
Starting Salary: 25,177
After 15 years: 42,845
Top of Scale: 68,581
Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers
Country Note: Korea
John Coolahan, Paulo Santiago, Rowena Phair and Akira Ninomiya
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Directorate for Education, Education and Training Policy Division
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/26/49/31690991.pdf

[Cheonmunka]

Likely that 340 Billion won also included all the money spent on constructing those stupid worthless English villages popping up like mushrooms all over Kyongi-Do.
For example the new complex together with an 8 story building, 30 miles from anywhere in DaeBu-Do, that sits empty.
Likely that money also does include the admin. cost, and the feeding of, an inefficient Gepik.

As for 'assistant' teaching, good God I feel sorry for those whose teaching credentials and qualifications bear more quality than those they are required to be subservient to.

[lastat06513]

What's the use in complaining about something if they can't find a good solution to it?

I can see that one of the underlining issues here is the fact that they have to import teachers from overseas to do work that they failed to learn.

The problem is not the foreign teachers, it is with the education system- ever since they introduced English as a part of the regular curriculum, they failed to produce and even find qualified local people to teach English, thus making them bring in people from abroad.

Now that they find fault with the people brought to Korea to help them, they complain that they need better trained local teachers who would someday replace the foreigners coming to Korea to teach.

Which will not happen...

[kimchi_pizza]

Had this discussion with several adult students of mine who are Junior High English Teachers.
They feel (and fear) any evaluation of their English levels is unfair since there isn't a fair way to evaluate them.

The way I see it, the MOE is testing/evaluating teachers based on TODAY'S testing methods and expected levels of English while a great number of teachers were taught English themselves 5, 10, 15 years ago. While some teachers, like my students, still try to continue to improve their English but c'mon...they work all day, have families and have to move to different schools after so many years. They have enough on their plate as it is.

[Real Reality]

[chronicpride]

[cdninkorea]

[rothkowitz]

They make way more in public schools and they wonder why native speakers don't want to stay.Guaranteed bonuses,raises,tenure...

I often get the feeling that introducing westerners into schools is something that they can't fully comprehend.They simply are not willing as yet to embrace foreigners into a school on an equal footing.

This is why all the programmes are related to nothing in terms of effectiveness.

[lastat06513]

Then it comes down to 2 things;

1. Bureaucracy
2. Tradition



Related to #1; The education system in Korea is so bureaucratic, that there is so much redtape to even make the most miniscule of changes. Once a teacher or professor is appointed to a job, they are virtually in that job for life with no fear of being removed. While in the US, for example, they have to go through workshops, training seminars and getting work published in the hopes of renewing their contracts for the next school year.

Related to #2; If there is a major shift in the education policy, it would mean that the old policy-makers failed and that would make them lose face and it would show Korean parents and the world how bad the system is. And show the incmpetence of those making decisions for the future of the country, which is what Korea is trying bitterly to hide.

It is time for Korea to actually get away from teaching English for test purposes and start teaching English for real-world usage if the country truly wants to be part of the global community.

But change is needed to improve the system, if things are to move forward, to say the least...

[rothkowitz]

Looked over a chicks shoulder on the train to see her verb vocabulary list she was memorising.

Cleave,circumvent,cerebrum,centrifuge.....et al.

Stuff all useful.

Spoken and written English are totally different.It is so painful when Korean won't acknowledge the difference.

"My husband contacted me by cellular phone..."He called you?

"My husband contacted me by cellular ....."Stuff it,do it yourself.

However,they can't and they have no idea how awkward they sound and why its such an ordeal for non-Koreans to talk to them,be they western,Oriental,whatever.

[jaganath69]

Since when has a high Toiec score meant anything other than an ability to parrot and rote learn something from an automaton of a teacher? Case in point, whilst working for one of the nation's top defence academies, a student who gained exemption from my class owing to his stellar performance on that very test could barely express this to me in his broken English.

[kermo]

When I worked in the GEPIK system, two of my co-teachers were English enthusiasts, and the third (though an excellent classroom teacher) was a computer teacher whose low seniority made it impossible for him to refuse the principal's order. We had to stick pretty closely to the textbook, since his English was so limited.

[lastat06513]

I worked at one of the best hogwons in Korea for 2 and half years until 2003.
There, I was the only foreign teacher in the English department, but what I loved about it was that the teachers I worked with were the best of the best, they were able to hold a converstion on their own in English without any limitations on grammar or vocabulary. And were able to professionally pass their knowledge on to their students- that inspired me to do more to improve my teaching ability.

When I started there as a part time teacher before becoming their full-time English instructor, the head teacher, who was physically handicapped, was considered the best teacher and English speaker in Korea asides from Lee Bo Young and he was so sought after that even Korea University tried to lure him away, but he stayed there because of his love for his students, the dedication he had for the school and the love of his job. I asked him why he didn't go and he told me "I would never have the professional feeling I get at a university than I get from working here.."

Sadly, he moved to Canada for his children's education. And I was cut because of downsizing and the school eventually closed in 2004.

But whenever I went to a school and worked along side alleged "teachers" who got high TOEIC scores and lived briefly in Canada or the U.S. but can't speak a word of English, I can't help but remember the good days when I was actually working along side professionals.