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Oh no, I wouldn't say it's ironic at all. I'd say it's pretty bang on. The further out of Seoul you go, the more desperate hagwon teachers you meet.

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Are these boys still in the Big House?

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poker player · Joined: 27 Sep 2004 Location: On the river

The Man known as The Man · Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 10:53 am Post subject:

dogbert · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Location: Killbox 90210

Fracas turns critical Korean eye on Tefl community

Liz Ford
Monday April 11, 2005

Two English language teachers from Canada are due to appear in court in South Korea tomorrow in connection with an incident outside a bar in Seoul in which a local man was hospitalised with facial injuries.

The arrests have added to an already tense situation for the country's foreign workers, after a disparaging television documentary and a salacious website posting sparked a backlash against EFL teachers.

Jason Beaton and Scott Thompson, from Nova Scotia, were arrested and jailed on March 11. It is unclear whether they have been charged.

Both had been working as English conversation teachers in a hagwon - a privately run college - just outside the city since 2003. One of the men is believed to have been working illegally on a tourist visa. The hagwon owner was understood to have been arrested after the incident, but was released without charge.

The men claim they were provoked, but provocation and self-defence are not recognised under Korean law. It is the person with the least number of injuries, or no injuries at all, that is charged with any crime.

To secure their release from jail, the men have to pay the victim compensation, or "blood money" as it is known locally, of $30,000 (£15,000). Family and friends have raised $15,000 (£7,500), but their lawyers hope to reach a compromise with the victim during tomorrow's court hearing. If the court agrees to release the men, they are likely to be deported.

The arrests have divided the Tefl community, which has begun to take a dim view of teachers working in the country illegally, and comes on the back of a documentary shown on Korean television last month that painted a picture of foreign teachers as unqualified and unprofessional. As a result, the authorities have begun investigating the authenticity of workers' qualifications and the practices of the hagwon owners who employ them. A number of teachers have since been deported and fines of up to $4,000 (£2,000) have been issued against employers.

The documentary was immediately condemned by EFL teachers as evidence of increasing government xenophobia against English teachers.

Further misery came with the discovery of an online forum on the EnglishSpectrum.com website discussing where foreign workers could go to meet Korean women. The posting brought a torrent of protest from locals and calls for street protests against foreigners. The site was temporarily shut down and those responsible for the posting were reportedly advised to leave the country for their own safety.

The Korean government is now preparing for a June crackdown on illegal workers, and on those hiring them.

However, Tom Davidson, a former lawyer who established the EFL-law.org website, which offers legal advice to teachers working in Asia, is not confident that much will change, although routing out illegal workers could create more opportunities for qualified teachers.

"They've been talking about this for the past seven years," said Mr Davidson. "The business is totally unregulated, that's the problem. Anyone can set up a school. The owner doesn't have to know anything about teaching, he just needs a licence. It's definitely an industry that needs a lot of work."

He added that teacher numbers in the country have dropped from 13,000 in 1997 to little over 5,000 in 2005 because of a tightening of immigration laws.

The future of the Tefl industry in Korea is due to be discussed at a conference organised by the Asian EFL Journal next month. The conference will include a session on legal issues, such as unfair dismissal, visas, labour law and criminal court procedures.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/tefl/story/0,5500,1457114,00.html