Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ladyandthetramp]

Intended mainly for those who criticize unqualified English teachers (I assume this means no B.A. in Education or TESOL certification)...

You do realize that Koreans working at hagwons don't need a teaching degree either, right? And that they don't need to have a degree in the subject that they're teaching, right?

Not saying whether you should think it's ok or not, but it's not just foreign teachers who benefit from it.

[some waygug-in]

I'm confused. (nothing new there )

but were you talking about unqualified foreign teachers or Koreans?

or both?


The new Korean teacher where I'm at is just a university student and this is her part-time job........... at least that's what she told me.

She is absolutely horrible. The last teacher had the students speaking English in class, reading books, doing dialogues, as well as learning vocabulary. She was great, but she left because the boss didn't pay her.

This girl has the students learning lists of vocabulary (that I assume are for some school test or other) The vocabulary is way over their heads, but besides that she speaks to them almost exclusively in Korean, has them working on nursery songs "the wheels on the bus".
And to add to all that, she has no idea how to control the kids. They talk back to her, swear, yell and scream........... you'd think she was a waygug-in or something.

I can see the students English level falling by the week as she continues.

The previous teacher would come in sometimes during my classes and calm the kids down when they got too rambunctious, this one just stands outside looking through the window laughing.

Glad it's my last week.

[ladyandthetramp]

[dreamscape]

Yeah, the "qualifications" to teach at a hagwon don't mean a thing when it comes to actual teaching ability. Someone with a 3 year early childhood education diploma isn't qualified while someone with an engineering degree is. I've helped engineers with their papers, when it comes to English, that degree don't mean sh*t. And teaching a kindie class? I'd want the ECE diploma (who can't legally teach here) over the engineer (who can) any day.

The key to teaching is personality, unfortunately there's no quantitative way to measure that in a potential candidate (or visa applicant for that matter).

[wild sphere]

it's not so much that they're unqualified to teach as much as it is how tacky they dress!

[lastat06513]

I had an assistant teacher working with me only because she stayed in the US for 10 days to visit her b/f and then had another co-worker who couldn't speak, write nor read English, yet swears she lived in New Zealand for 2 years.

Alot of people don't realize that an everyday common Joe, if they study English thru EBS or claim to have been some place impressive where English is spoken, that is qualification enough to work in an institute.

We always harp on our fellow teachers for not having any qualifications or not enough, but this is also the same on the Korean side of the house too.

Thats why people never take teachers seriously in this country, if a person can't get a good job at a company, they might as well teach, thats the mentality here.

We might throw all these unqualified foreign English teachers out of the country, but if the education ministry can clean up the Korean scammers, then people will continue to view education in a bad light. That is something that will never change

It is embedded in social mentality.

[Kimchieluver]

Do you like aphels or affles... My current KT co-teacher teaches this still after I have corrected her 20 times that it is apples with a P sound.

She has a degree in German society.

[Derrek]

[Apple Scruff]

Ask yourself if you are handsome/pretty. If the answer is yes, you're qualified to teach in Korea.

Ask yourself if you have a BEd and a TESL certificate. If the anser is yes, that's great, but a final evaluation will be made after we get a good look atcha.

[I_Am_Wrong]

[itaewonguy]

two people get off a plane..

one holds a degree in marketing!
the other a high school diploma!

both go to MR KIMS ACE ENGLISH Hakwon

they are both in the same boat!!

now it comes down to your character, personality, dealing with stress, relating to children(if a kiddie school) etc..
traits that are not taught to you in a uni classroom!!

bascially what I have found here with the unqualified teachers is one thing!
JEALOUSY! uni grads are jealous of teachers with no degree..
they managed to get here and get a job without having to go through UNI while others did..
if you ask me.. thats just stupid! SO WHAT! are we using our degrees to our full potential here at ACE HAKWON!!???
so who gives a flying a *beep* if an unqualified native is working with us..
we are both here doing nothing with our lives!!!

[paperbag princess]

i don't care if someone has a degree from a uni or not, but i do care if someone teaches their students to speak incorrectly. for example, a former coworker of mine was from canada. he had a degree in english and yet, he still said things like "hey yous guys". guess what his kids picked up.

[Manner of Speaking]

[rok_the-boat]

My guess is there are far more Koreans with dodgy qualifications / credentials than foreingers. And, at least those foreigners (no, not me) with dodgy or no credentials can actually speak the language they are teaching, unlike some of the so called highly qualified Korean teachers I have met. Makes me wonder which is worse:

1 An unqualified native speaker.
2 The most qualified non-native who can't even pronounce basic words properly.

Let's reverse it: If you were learning Korean, which would you go for?

[Kimchieluver]

Don't forget that elementary school teachers in the west don't have a degree in all the things they teach, so why should Korean teachers be singled out. It's so easy to teach math to elementary kids that you don't need a degree in math to do it. A good text book and lots of prep should do the trick.
As for English, it's hard to find a qualified teacher.