Korean Job Discussion Forums

[crazy teacher]

So many Koreans learn English here, how many use that English to study abroad?

How does their education system work? Do they apply to university straight out of high school? Would they study in Korea before going abroad?

Anywhere that could give me stats on this?

thanks

[Gopher]

There was one Korean graduate student in my first year historiography seminar in grad school.

He had to drop out of the program and do remedial EFL work for a year before they let him back in as he could not keep up with the readings and, when pressed, spoke very little, other than to say that the English was difficult.

He had passed the TOEFL, for whatever that's worth.

[Lieflike]

Many Korean go study to abroad because the Englishy is bery good.

Actually, I've only ever come across one or two instances where I've met Koreans who have studied abroad.

Leave the Korea? Why would I do that?

[Ya-ta Boy]

The number 20,000 comes to mind, but I don't know why.

[skinhead]

http://www.aiu.school.tc/internationalfaq.html

[Son Deureo!]

I remember seeing a figure once that something like 1/3 of all Korean uni students study abroad at one point or another. I teach at an adult hogwon that mostly caters to uni students, and a lot of them do go abroad to study. Most of them, however, only study ESL.

[rapier]

[taobenli]

Where did that comment about prostitution come from???

I don't know where you guys did your undergrad and grad study, but at my school there are TONS of Koreans, and not just Korean Americans (though tons of those too), and while these students may have studied ESL in the past, now they are in regular classes. I guess it makes sense that my M.A. program would have a lot of Koreans (as it's Korean Studies), but there is nothing lacking with these students' English skills (and they're very sharp, motivated people ). Most of them studied in the U.S. for at least some of their undergrad years, too, and had to work very hard- one friend of mine said that her English wasn't good enough when she came and so a lot of English-speaking classmates didn't have the patience to listen to her...so she watched TV (making vocab lists and taking notes!) in all her spare time outside of class in the beginning...and is now competely fluent.

I knew Koreans in Anthro and Political Science PhD programs who had only been in the U.S. a few years and still had trouble speaking confidently and naturally in English, but they are very bright people and so the departments gave them full fellowships for their potential, rather than their TOEFL score (which is B.S. as an indicator of performance).

Tons of Koreans studied abroad at my high school, too and worked very hard, and while some only socialized with other Koreans, plenty had close American friends, too.

So, I know it's easy to become dismissive of all Koreans' English ability when working as an English teacher in Korea, but most Koreans I know have been very successful abroad. Contrast this with many Americans I know who have never learned a foreign language and see no point in studying abroad in a country where a foreign language would be necessary...

[thatGirl23]

I don't know any numbers, but 1/3 of all college/university students studying abroad sounds kinda high to me, but I could be wrong so don't hold me to any of this. The thing about studying abroad is that it costs MONEY and usually LOTS of money. Think about it, if you want to study abroad in the states, for example, you most likely will have to pay full tuition at the school you are attending because the U.S. gov't doesn't give you financial aid since you're not a citizen (ok, I don't know the details about this and I'm sure there are ways to get money from someone, some organization, somehow), but on top of that you have to pay for plane tickets, housing, shipping stuff back and forth, etc. It all adds up to an expensive endeavor. I went to a private liberal arts college and we had many uhaksaengs (Korean international students) and from what I know they all paid FULL tuition. Dood, that's about a 40,000 a year expense when you include plane tickets and all other expenses. Of course, I say all of this, but I don't know if the Korean gov't helps to fund study abroad opportunities for college students or how they fund their trips or if it all comes out of mommy and daddy's wallets. I'd be interested in finding out if the Korean gov't helps out or not.

[ed4444]

The Korean government is helping financially in a program to get recent graduates into Internship programs abroad to get them some experience. I haven't heard of them helping pay student fees though.

[jajdude]

Someone told me that back in 1998 there were approx. 25,000 Koreans in Vancouver. A lot were at language schools.

[ajuma]

I know LOTS of students who either have studied, are currently studying or will study abroad in the near future. Some of them go to language schools/unis on their own, but there are a few unis (mine included) with reciprocal study-abroad-tuition programs. I also know of a middle school that does the same thing. Sure, they have to foot the flight bill, and probably money for living expenses, but most of them come back...if not fluent, then GREATLY improved!!

The number, according to this article is 187,683.

http://english.seoul.go.kr/today/news/newsclip/1215596_3675.html

[Gopher]

My language institute in southern California had many students, primarily from Brazil, Japan, China, France, Germany, Swiss Germany, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.

Don't recall any Korean students at all. One of the Japanese guys was extremely eccentric, got busted all the time for trying to smuggle things into and out of TJ. Had bright red hair. No Koreans there, though.

I agree that there must be a lot of Koreans studying abroad (they come all the way to the U.S. to major in Korean or Asian Studies?), but I disagree with "taobenli's" commentary about "many Americans I know who have never learned a foreign language and see no point in studying abroad in a country where a foreign language would be necessary."

In my last teaching post in a Chilean high school, there were approximately five North American exchange students (one from New Zealand and two from Germany, too, and none from Korea) in our academic year. And I'm talking about a high school just outside of the capital, not in the capital.

When I went there my first year to study abroad myself, I was in the company of, I estimate, approximately fifty other North Americans at my university -- and we linked up with at least one hundred others in other universities in Santiago for that single academic year. That was just in Chile, not Brazil, Argentina, or Mexico, and not including the people who were studying in non-English speaking countries like China, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy.

There are many U.S. students studying abroad and acquiring foreign languages. Check with the University Studies Abroad Consortium for their numbers, for example, if available.

I agree that we tend to be overly critical and dismissive of the Koreans and their English ability on this board -- some of it is just blowing off steam, although most of it is true or at least plausible to me. But let's not "right the wrong" by hurling the pendulum to the other side...I mean, for example, my grad. division offers a $20K per year fellowship to people with demonstrated foreign language skills, area studies, and experience studying abroad. The reason that it's so highly competitive is because there are so many qualified applicants. "Most Koreans," then, do not study abroad, no matter how you look at it, just as "most North Americans" don't study abroad either. Indeed, most people do not leave their countries in their lifetimes.

[billybrobby]

In my college at the ESL institute, about 50% of the incoming students were Korean and all other nationalities combined made up the other 50%. I dunno why though.

[Gopher]

I believe you, but where were you? Northern Cal?