Korean Job Discussion Forums

[marlow]

What should be done with Korean English teachers at public schools if they can't meet a certain standard of English ability?

I think we can imagine what their English ability should be-- near fluent, but we don't need to necessarily quantify it for this discussion.

[yingwenlaoshi]

We have a new director and a new Korean teacher. Before, the owner taught and his English is better than these two. I told some of my students today that their English is probably better than the new teacher's. Maybe it is. People that have a hard time speaking English while at the same time being English teachers really makes me laugh.

I'm out of this academy at the end of the month and I'm glad. Bunch of ass clowns.

But anyway, who cares? These schools can do whatever they like, I suppose.

[marlow]

[R. S. Refugee]

I liked your early retirement option on another thread best, but you didn't include it on this poll.

I don't believe in firing people who've met the expectations of the system that they've been working in just because some overlords come along and decide the system will be changed. Do you think LMB is more deserving of a decent living than a public school teacher? I don't.

[nomad-ish]

for me it was between salary penalties or more training, but in the end i voted for salary penalties. mostly because the training would be expensive and if they didn't want to improve, they wouldn't. i think the salary penalty would force them to improve/practice their English more. a school teacher should be knowledgable about the subject they teach.

Korean English teachers don't necessarily need to be fluent, but they should be able to understand simple spoken sentences and be able to answer in a sentence. i have two co-teachers currently that can hardly understand anything i say, when i talk to them i just get "ok. ok. ok".... and they're not yes/no questions either

[boyne11]

They should all be required to speak only in English while in the school.

[jvalmer]

Who determines who's incompetent?
Us? Students? Parents? Other Korean english teachers? Grades?

[iiicalypso]

I thought carefully about this but in the end I voted to fire them. I think it ought to be a last resort, but if there are teachers who have spent ten, fifteen twenty years sitting around collecting a salary without managing to achieve a reasonable level of competence, what reason is there to think they will improve now?

nobody expects fluency, but I don't think competence is too much to ask for. It seems that there is a double standard regarding teachers, and that Korean English teachers have had it way too easy for way too long, and it shows in the student performance. I challenge anybody to name one discipline where such inept skill levels would be acceptable. A computer science teacher who works in BASIC and MS DOS? A math teacher who cannot count? A chemistry teacher who cannot use the periodic table?

It is only in English that "good enough" is good enough. In the US teachers are constantly required to upgrade their skills in light of new methodology and knowledge, so frankly the "When I started teaching English we only needed to know grammar" argument holds no water. The world changes, and the teachers need to be ahead of the curve, not chasing it. If the schools in Korea honestly believe that the ability to communicate in English is important, it is time to act accordingly, and that means making dramatic changes to the qualifications needed for a teacher to succeed, so be it. Let the bodies fall.

[marlow]

[I-am-me]

English just isn't that important in korean education yet. Math and Science subjects require more skills from its teachers. This is korea and English is just not their language. Chinese or Japanese would be the more useful language for them to learn here as spanish would be for americans.

[Privateer]

Have you guys not read the news? Lee Myoung Park is planning to introduce English classes only in English starting from 2009, recruit new teachers and send off a lot of Korean English teachers for re-training.

[waynehead]

According to my co-teachers, to pass the english teachers' exam next year test-takers will have to pass an oral section and demonstrate they can communicate effectively in english. Of course, why this has never been a requirement before is a bit bewildering, but better late than never...

[marlow]

[some waygug-in]

Despite all the hooplah (?) in the news about what the new government is going to do, I think a lot of it is just empty rhetoric. There may be some minor changes but I suspect the Korean English education will continue bumbling along as it has in the past without any substantive improvements.

[oldfatfarang]

My experience is that many Korean teachers (and co-teachers) can speak English well. They just don't want to. Case in point - When first introducing myself to a co-teacher, she said, "Many Koreans don't like English." "Many Koreans don't like speaking English." "And I'm one of those Koreans."

It was a tough year 'co-teaching' with this lady. She understood every word I said, spoke near perfect English - but only when I explicitely asked her questions in class.

Same same my Korean colleagues - near perfect English in our 'Teachers Class' - but too shy to speak English to me (or scared of showing off in front of their peers).

So it's not always about ability. Many Korean teachers don't/won't speak English because their culture discourages it.