Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cubanlord]

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/archives/result_contents.asp?id=200606210057&query=foreign



Tap almost any native English-speaking foreigner on the shoulder here in Seoul, and the chances are you will have tagged an English teacher. They are everywhere. And they certainly do have a reputation for being the most discontented and whining sector of the foreign community.
The Seoul Help Center told The Korea Herald that the majority of complaints and calls for assistance they receive come from disgruntled or troubled English teachers. Or perhaps that should be English teachers in trouble.

Contributor Craig White admits that up to 15 percent of English teachers here are essentially unqualified troublemakers.

A browse through ESL message boards on the internet would leave one with the impression that English teachers do not come here by choice, but are here as a punishment for some misdeeds in a previous life.

But are the contributors to ESL message boards or the callers to Seoul Help Center really representative of the English-teaching community as a whole?

I was reminded of a survey conducted about 20 years ago that revealed an increasing number of Britons were being injured while driving imported Japanese cars. The point of the rather biased survey was to paint a grim picture of the safety standards of Japanese cars. What the survey tried to disguise was the fact that Japanese imports were growing at a tremendous rate so statistically, of course, an increasing number of Britons would likely be injured in a Japanese auto.

English teachers are a bit like those Japanese cars: The numbers are growing and there are concerns about their quality.

So are teachers as a whole getting a bad rap because of the misdeeds of a few? Or are they really just a bunch of malcontents who are here because they would have trouble getting a job back home - a charge they so often level at native English-speaking people who are not working as teachers?

no

2006.06.21

[Juregen]

Probably because teachers have so much time, the chances are higher for them to walk the street, compared to anyone working for a firm .....

I whish they would get better statistics before saying stupid things like that.

[SPINOZA]

Do these people wanna learn English or don't they? Do you wanna learn how to say 'f' correctly, or do you wanna carry on saying 'epper'? English teachers in Korea don't hire themselves. And if the quality's poor then that reflects badly on Korea. It's like a coach who buys crap players - whose fault is that? When you point out a problem, find a solution I say. Else, spare us all the unpleasantries of being soiled by intellectual malfeasance!

[Yu_Bum_suk]

And not for one moment does the article consider that most of the calls to the help centre concern shady Korean business practices. Perhaps if Korean hogwan owners had to have some qualifications there wouldn't be so many problems?

[rocklee]

It goes both ways.

Inexperience in both camps make up for sucky, low quality businesses in any shape or forms.

It would be a good idea to train new teachers with quality trainers

[Free World]

[cubanlord]

[Pyongshin Sangja]

[seoulsucker]

Of course this is recycled, but...

If English conversation is in such high demand in the private sector, where most of the "miscreants" dwell, it only goes to show that Koran public education is not keeping up with the demands of the people in this country.

This is the best way I can put it; find ways to incorporate practical English (pronunciation and conversation vs. grammar and vocabulary) into the public school system, and perhaps parents will be less likely to feed the hogwan monster that brings in the undesirables.

I hope someone from the Herald reads this.

[periwinkle]

The writer has zero journalistic ability. He doesn't substantiate anything he says, nor does he/ she provide examples. If the help center is getting complaints that people can't find a taco bell, that's one thing. However, like yu-bum-suk says, the majority are calls from people who were (in all likelihood) screwed by their school and can't get any help. That's what the help center is there for. To help.

Back to the *cough* journalist. Who wrote this piece of crap, anyway? Someone with a chip on the shoulder, but then you get this confusing and all too abrupt finish:

So are teachers as a whole getting a bad rap because of the misdeeds of a few? Or are they really just a bunch of malcontents who are here because they would have trouble getting a job back home - a charge they so often level at native English-speaking people who are not working as teachers?

no

Brilliant finish. Just brilliant. I'd love to give that to a high school journalism teacher and see all the red marklings all over the page. "F" material, that is. Ijit needs to go back to school.

Anyway, this appeared in the Korea Herald, right? Well, how many Koreans read the Korea Herald? Not enough for me to worry that people will think we're all a bunch of malcontents. Maybe tomorrow he will write an article thanking all the good teachers (85%, then?) for their commitment and hard work. On second thought, I won't hold my breath for any sort of balance from Mr. Jack A s s.

Articles like these make all of us look like a bunch of whiners. He should've consulted the archives which give numerous examples of the status of foreigners living in Korea and the things we deal with. He should've consulted those first before invalidating our experiences and dismissing us as a bunch of whiners.

[periwinkle]

[Homer]

The problem is two-fold.

On one side you have some badly run hakwons and an industry (ESL) that is still in the growing stages. You ad to that lax rules and low requirement for obtaining a visa (this si changing slowly) and you have element "a" of the problem.

On the other side you have some low brow, unqualified people sliding through the cracks and low requirement and working here which is element "b" of the problem.

Solution: enforce stricted selection rules for teachers and offer a better organized teaching industry.

You do have bad schools out there but you also have bad teachers and not just one or two....

Fixing this will take time and it will not happen overnight....

[I_Am_Wrong]

[StAxX SOuL]

LOL.. English teachers would be second only to the above journalist...

It's partly true... a lot of undesirables are brought here with teaching... a lot don't have paticularly good job prospects back home, and are in some way socially inept... hell, it's why I don't hang out with all too many teachers

On the other hand there are some well qualified people who come here for a year out, and hagwon owners treat them with such discontent that they do whine about things... I'd say there whines are justified, as long as they don't take every opportunity to tell you about how bad their situation is...

[Qinella]