Korean Job Discussion Forums

[garykasparov]

English Teachers to Go Through Quality Training



By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

The government plans to strengthen the existing training of Korean teachers of English at primary and secondary schools as part of its plan to upgrade the nation's English education. Teachers will get more opportunities to study teaching methodologies during overseas training programs under the project drawn up by the Lee Myung-bak administration.

It believes higher quality teachers will help reduce the number of students going abroad to study English. Korea has seen a more than 11-fold increase in the number of primary and secondary students going overseas to study over the last eight years. According to the Education Ministry, a total of 29,511 students under the age of 19 went overseas to study in 2006, up from 1,562 in 1998.

Among them were 13,814 elementary school students, 9,246 middle school students and 6,451 high schools students.

The administration has made stopping this exodus its top education priority.

Teaching Certificates

President Lee has vowed to produce 3,000 English teachers who can conduct classes in English every year. According to the Education Ministry as of 2005, more than half of English teachers were unable to conduct classes in English among 32,482 teachers at elementary and secondary schools.

In line with Lee's pledge, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) plans to introduce certificates of English teaching ability for teachers.

Kim Sung-gi, an SMOE official, said that teachers in Seoul will be evaluated with their classes in front of native English speakers for the certificates as soon as next year. Although the official said it would not influence teachers' careers, it is obvious that the evaluation will divide teachers into those who are and those who are not.

In addition, the education authority will make it necessary for teachers participating in training programs to improve their conversation skills in English. Through these programs, education authorities plan to force ``incompetent teachers'' out of schools.

In November 2006, Education Minister Kim Shin-il also announced a plan to make it mandatory for all English teachers to conduct classes in English by 2015 after intensive training.

The ministry has increased the budget for the project by almost 10 times over the last few years. Currently, each school is running immersion-training courses for teachers and nearly 1,000 English teachers attend a 6-month course every year ― teachers also have the opportunity to stay overseas for a month. Additionally, the ministry has tried to push universities to teach students studying to be English teachers in English.

English Immersion Program

Some schools are running English immersion programs that teach other subjects such as mathematics, science and even history in English. Kwangnam Elementary School in Seoul this year has been selected to run pilot programs and a state-run Global High School, slated to open this March, will operate the programs.

President Lee has often said that English education cannot succeed by just using English for a few hours in English classes.

Government officials believe that more competitive educational courses in foreign languages will help normalize public education and help parents reduce their private education expenses.

Negative Response

Many teachers are skeptical over the efficiency of new government's English education renovation. ``Lee's English education project has a high possibility of increasing private education costs. It is very hard even for university students to have English-only classes so how could elementary and secondary school students adapt to those classes?'' said Chung Jin-hwa, president of The Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union.

The Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) also disagrees with the English immersion programs, which conduct non-English classes in English. KFTA has only conditionally accepted the plan to produce 3,000 English teachers who can conduct classes only in English.

``The new government should prepare the infrastructure and systems to practice the aggressive plan,'' said Lee Myung-gyun of the policy development and research team at the KFTA.

``It is inefficient to conduct classes only in English. There are only a few students who can catch what I say and other students feel easily frustrated. I think classes mixed in Korean and English are more efficient,'' said Jung Ji-yong of Hwajeong Middle School in Gyeonggi Province.

``There would be no problem if we can speak English in English classes. But I have another role; I need to instruct students with other matters beyond classes. In this case, I cannot speak in English. This situation make my students confused,'' said Ha Gyeong-hwa, an English teacher in Busan City.

[email protected]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2008/03/139_21005.html

[marlow]

Ha! The negative responses. Boo hoo. Whining.

Just open the field to any qualified people and pay them well. Increase foreigners' pay. Fire the teachers who can't do it.

[maingman]

...Id go with increasing the salaries/remuneration for qualified and experienced teachers (Native English teachrs)

improve ( immediately !!) the current structure for Korean teachers
( not Native speakers ) : to improve and develop their skills/aptitude
when in their class with co-teacher - their USE of the english language

- train, test... and re-train

[Yu_Bum_suk]

One middle school teacher noted, through his translator, a second-year university student who lived for three years in the Philippines, "I feel so uncomfortable with students addressing me as 'Mr' and 'Sir'; it doesn't seem right in a Korean school. It does severe damage to my ego not to see all the students line up and bow, call me 'Seonsaengniiiim!' in however an annoying voice, and talk to me in a language that doesn't have a clear honorific form."

His thoughts were echoed by a high school teacher who replied "Korean students have great trouble understanding instruction in English. For instance, if I tell them 'we arl hab to listen DBweeD apta pinishee wakshit' none of them can understand what I'm saying."

Indeed many high school teachers expressed concern over what would happen if the current format of the CSAT were to form. "Test them on writing?" one asked. "Why do they need to be tested on writing when I can't write in English myself?" Teaching students to respond orally to simple English questions was another 'superficial' communication skill the teachers quickly rejected. "When will Korean students ever have a need to do that?" many wondered.

[marlow]

[spyro25]

ridiculous.

i just got fired from a TESOL training program after just two weeks because what i did in class was 'too hard' for these poor newbie MA TESOL students (I thought you had to be able to communicate in English to do an MA TESOL???).

I hold an MA TESOL myself, and i took the crappy subject I was given to teach called 'communication' (which isn't even part of an MA TESOL might I add) and turned it into a conversation class where teachers used their English ability to teach simple stuff in English like visual organisers for writing planning and conjunctions like 'and' and 'so'. They failed miserably, complained to the director of the course (who didn't direct or assist me in anyway with planning this module) and got me replaced.

the funny thing is now they can't find anyone qualified to replace me, and even if they do, the exact same thing will only happen again to the new guy.

I was also told I couldn't fail them as well

[Snowkr]

I work as a teacher trainer also for one of the 7 government sponsored training programs in Korea. This one was around years before LMB came into office.

It's pretty intense and the Korean teachers who come are experiencing a total immersion environment where they are not allowed to speak in Korean. They are away from their homes and schools for 6 months... five here at the training center, and the last month will be in the U.S.

I think it's great that the government is paying for these kinds of programs. Most of the teachers I teach feel that programs placing NET's into public schools are a waste of money.

It's time to invest in the Korean teachers. They're going in the right direction too. The standards for working here are very high, as are the standards for teacher admission into the six month program.

I wouldn't be surprised to see more of these kinds of programs being developed in the near future and less of this hiring of anyone and everyone who can speak English and managed to get through university...

I almost left this country due to the low standards but have now happily discovered that the bar is being raised. Thank the Lord...

[Snowkr]

Spyro25...

I just sent you a pm. Please check!!

[DrunkenMaster]