Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TECO]

The recent tv program that aired showing TEFL'ers in a bad light has lead to many English teachers quitting their jobs in Korea and, for example, going over to Japan. Does anyone have a copy of this TV program?

Classes cancelled? Contracts offers made and then taken away?

Is this article accurate?

Teachers quit Korean crisis

By John Scott Marchant,13/04/2005
FOREIGN ENGLISH teachers are weighing up their options in Korea following what many feel are unwarranted attacks on their profession in the media.Tired of being portrayed as academically unqualified, substance abusers and sexual predators preying upon naive Korean women and children, many English teachers are trying to find work in other countries.

멗뭭e had enough,?said a male English instructor with Sookmyung Women뭩 University who wished to remain anonymous. 멛ast year I felt that English teachers were respected but after all this rubbish in the media I뭢 now having classes cancelled because students don뭪 want to be taught by a foreigner. As soon as my contract뭩 done I뭢 out of here for Japan.?

Margo Hansen, an academic supervisor with Sogang University Language Program (SLP) ?a high-profile nationally franchised English institute ?claimed that it is nearly impossible to find teachers willing to come to Korea following the attacks in the local press. 멗뭭e had nine applicants verbally accept offers to work at our school and then back out after discovering what was going on in the Korean press,?she said.

For many foreigners the fallout following exposure of recruiting website English Spectrum in the Korean media as a haven for anti-Korean sentiment, sexually degrading comments about Korean women and advice on paedophilia was bad enough, but after SBS (one of Korea뭩 most watched broadcasters) ran an investigative programme in which

English teachers were reported to be engaging in sex with underage local girls, offering drugs to students and faking qualifications, life on the peninsula became unbearable. [color=blue]멗 had a job offer with an elementary school cancelled because of that show,?/color] said Stephen Smith, a 44-year-old from Canada. According to Smith he received an email from his recruiter an hour before he had to go in and sign his contract advising him that the school뭩 parents?association had decided not to proceed with the offer because of allegations aired during the show. And Smith is not alone.

Several foreigners who spoke to the Gazette related similar stories after the SBS documentary ?entitled Is Korea their Paradise? Report on the Real Conditions of Blonde-haired, Blue-eyed Teachers, ?alleged that teachers at some language institutes engage in sexual relations with middle and high school students and offer their students marijuana. The programme also accused some teachers of using fraudulent academic records to get jobs with local private language institutes, universities and businesses.

Comments by foreign teachers such as: 멗 think only five per cent of foreign English teachers in Korea are qualified,?멚orean women are the easiest women to get into bed,?and 멗 think of Korea as a big cash machine?were also made. With these comments inciting Korean netizens to flood internet bulletin boards with anti-foreigner posts, fears are rising for the safety of foreign residents in Korea.


Meanwhile, China is cracking down onforeign students who give English tuition without work permits, according to the Guangzhou Daily.

Students in China can obtain work through tutor agents. One agent, named 멒ao?told the paper that part-time tutoring is not formal employment and should not be treated as illegal. Tutors can charge anything between 80 Yuan (?.50) and 150 Yuan (?.50) per hour, which is more expensive than local tutors, though parents have long preferred their children to be taught by native speakers, believing they teach a higher quality of spoken English.

One parent, 멬u? who hired a foreign student to improve her daughter뭩 English, said that the 멹oreign students outgoing character could help the children뭩 development?She went on to say that her daughter had received excellent English tuition and that she had won awards in several English contests. Under current Chinese regulations, foreign students are not allowed to work in term time.

All foreigners working in the country must hold a work permit and residence certificates.

[TECO]

article found here:

http://www.elgazette.com/ELNews/NewsStory.asp?SubTitle=Rest%20of%20world&Special=Rest%20of%20world&StoryID=703

[ulsanchris]

I think this was covered awhile ago.

[TECO]

the article or the topic?

[Homer]

[just because]

I'll admit though......it was very hard for my school to find two new teachers, even with a recruiter.

Half the problem is i don't live in a major city but it was never as much as a problem as this year...

All the better for me i suppose.

[TECO]

Sorry 'bout that!

Didn't notice the date on the article - thought it was a new one.

[Saxiif]

[rapier]

It won't make any diff.

Sure, people leave. but they are quickly replaced by newbies who don't care and are willing to find out for themself.

There will never be a shortage of teachers coming out here. Not unless Kim drops the bomb on seoul.

[chronicpride]

[prosodic]

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Well, the Itaewon summer part season has officially begun. There are packs of people from parts unknown drinking on the corner till dawn. I should know, I can still hear them singing. A shortage? I'd love a shortage.

[just because]

[TECO]

Here's another perspective from a Chinese English teacher from Singapore who can't get a job in Seoul teaching because she isn't a 'native speaker.'

Weighing into the English Debate

05-05-2005 16:20
By Carita MacGregor
I find the two recent articles written about native English speakers in Korea highly interesting, with viewpoints from a local and a native English speaker. Therein, I feel, lay a fundamental imbalance in opinions and observations offered by both parties.

As Mr. Grubbs has astutely pointed out regarding the extent of Mr. Lee��s travels, I too do not know the extent of Mr. Grubbs��s experience with Asian culture apart from Korea. How about considering the opinion and experience of an Asian who speaks fluent English without any distinct accent (American, British or Australian), traveled extensively, and is now residing in Seoul?

I come from Singapore, where English is the primary language for education and business. It is a well known fact that Singaporeans have our own brand of English affectionately termed ``Singlish.���� It is a genre of English that has emerged due to the diversity and congenial mix of different cultures and dialects that make Singapore so unique. The point is, no doubt Singlish is far from being perfect English, it can be understood by most who speak English, regardless of where one comes from.

At the airport, in a restaurant, in a taxi or a public bus or to a man on the street, a westerner could ask for directions, time, low fat milk in his cappuccino, be understood and given what he asks. My experience in Seoul has taught me never to deviate from what is on the menu, and unless it is a Starbucks or Coffee Bean outlet, or somewhere in Itaewon, do not even attempt to ask for skim or low fat milk in your coffee. You might not even get your coffee.

I choose to disagree with Mr. Grubbs when he said ``Korea is one of the least welcoming places in Asia to Westerners, unless the Westerners are tourists.���� In my opinion, it is one of the least welcoming places in Asia for anyone who does not speak Korean. Perhaps Korea does not depend on tourism for its economy but it is an open economy that welcomes foreign investments, isn��t it? Just take a look around the city and you will find a Burger King, McDonald��s, Starbucks, KFC, or Dunkin�� Donuts outlet situated strategically at almost every other block. It is rather dismal when you imagine that the English vocabulary is a limited to ``hamburger,���� ``French fries���� or ``Happy Meal.����

My question is, is it cultural superiority that is preventing a greater emphasis on English in schools and businesses here in Korea or is it a case of a lack of opportunity and confidence to speak the language? My understanding is English is being taught in schools. However, my guess is, and I could be wrong, that the rules of the language have been taught and duly mastered but there is no emphasis on being conversant in it. Language is alive and interactive. It extends beyond putting the correct verb-to-be after a noun. As the familiar adage goes, ``If you don��t use it, you lose it.���� Then again, even if only grammar were taught, wouldn��t simple words like ``low,���� ``fat���� and ``milk���� be picked up in the process?

When I first arrived in Seoul, I too took Korean lessons, attending 2-hour sessions from Monday to Friday for about eight weeks. I learned the alphabet, Korean grammar and I could complete my homework quite effortlessly as there were many examples in the textbooks for reference and I could definitely memorize common phrases. But to say anything that is not a commonly used phrase or to pose a question to a local is an entirely different ballgame.

Perhaps I am not linguistically inclined nor am I a 5 year-old who has the advantage of dexterity of mind (4-6 years of age are the perfect ages to teach children languages) to learn a new language; nonetheless, as much as we, foreigners, make the effort to learn the local language, so too should a similar effort be made by the locals to learn English, even if it comes out of a phrase book. I am a foreigner living in Seoul temporarily. The Korean language is not going to be of any use to me as soon as I am outside of this country. On the other hand, Korea cannot live in isolation expecting international success when the universal language is English.

My husband and I were exploring Insa-dong one Sunday and we had a vague idea that where we were was not too far away from the Presidential Residence, or The Blue House. All we needed was a landmark, which we couldn��t find, or someone to point us in the right direction. Thinking that we would have a better chance of getting help from a young person who might just possess a reasonable command of English, we approached a group of teenagers standing outside Anguk Station.

Experience has taught me to keep it simple and to the point, hence, I rattled off ``Excuse me, Blue House? Where?���� The response I received was one of bewilderment followed by the shaking of heads. Please help me to understand the difficulty or complexity of the question that was not only as simple as it could get but it pertained to the residence of their country��s leader. Tourist friendly? I beg to differ. Koreans cannot accuse others of not paying enough attention to or underestimating their culture when so little information is disseminated in English.

Korea is a great place for native English speakers to work. I cannot agree more with this statement nor can I be more infuriated by it and by the superiority that the locals have bestowed upon the native English speakers.

I have lived in Seoul for about 18 months now and have been unable to apply for a teaching position, let alone get one, simply because I am not a native English speaker. Who should I blame? The cultural superiority of Westerners as perceived by many Asians? The narrow and uneducated minds of the locals? Or should I blame my misfortune of not being born of western descent?

All of the advertisements in the various English newspapers, as well as the ones posted on the Web pages I have seen so far, except for one, have one similar and very distinct requirement _ NATIVE SPEAKERS ONLY. If this is not discrimination, I do not know what is. Please do not be mistaken, I have nothing against adventurous people, young and mature, seeking a different experience outside of their home country.

I am sure there are many native English speakers who are bona fide teachers with qualifications and training. However, I am also aware of the ease with which many Westerners are able to get teaching jobs simply because they are native English speakers, and there have been a few I have met and spoken to who were backpackers on a 6-month tourist visa, working as English teachers, legally and illegally, to earn the expenses for their next leg of travel.

If I had merely used my married name ``MacGregor,���� omitted the fact that I were a Singaporean Chinese or failed to indicate anywhere in the article that I might be Asian, would it be an immediate assumption that I would be a native English speaker? I am very proud to be a Singaporean Chinese, to be able to speak and write better than functional English, to travel and converse with people from all over the world where English is spoken, no matter how little.

I spent three months staying at a friend��s home in the United States. On one occasion, my friend, Nancy, introduced me to someone we ran into at the grocery store. This lady was obviously surprised by my ability to speak English and went on to ask me where I had learned to speak it. And the same lady was completely knocked off her socks when she heard that I had brought a Barbie doll with me for Nancy��s 8-year-old daughter. ``You know Barbie?���� she asked. As a matter of fact, I do, and I know Ken as well. Yes, undoubtedly, this lady is a native English speaker. She is, after all, American. However, I do question her intelligence, or lack thereof, regarding anything that is outside of the U.S.

For argument��s sake, would you hire this native English speaker whose only qualifying factor is her ability to speak the language, or would you hire a non-native English speaker who has more to offer in terms of range of interests, breadth of experience and knowledge and cultural empathy? I rest my case.

Carita MacGregor is a qualified counselor now living in Seoul

[JacktheCat]