Topic: End of the road for teachers in Korea?

[Nemesis]

This story is over on the TEFL News Network
Koreans question teachers

Koreans question teachers

According to the Korea Times, Busan education officials are now questioning the effectiveness of foreign English teachers in the classroom. Where this will lead, one doesn’t know. Is this the beginning of the end of foreign EFL teachers in Korea? Or is this symptom of a shortage of teachers.

    “Although many schools want to hire native English-speaking teachers, they can’t afford to do so due to financial difficulties. Additionally, they are currently in need of teachers who can speak both English and Korean,” a Busan education office spokesman said Thursday.

Reading this quote, it would appear that the problem is that not enough foreign teachers are in the classroom. It looks like its not a question of the effectiveness of the teachers themselves, but a question of school financial difficulties.

    In the wake of this problem, the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education plans to employ foreign spouses of Korean nationals or Koreans fluent in English as assistant teachers at elementary and secondary schools starting next month.

I know hiring Koreans would be cheaper than hiring foreign teachers, but what about foreign spouses of Koreans? Is this limited to non-native English speakers or does it include native English speakers as well? Is it a way to reduce salaries? Surely if they are undertaking it for financial reasons, the goal would be to reduce costs.

    Some English teachers in the biggest port city welcomed the regional government’s decision. “Many children have difficulties with English native speakers as most foreigners cannot speak Korean. I think one-way classes will not work for quality English classes,” a teacher in Anrak Middle School told The Korea Times.

Maybe this quote is the key to understanding what they REALLY mean. They want bilingual speakers in the classroom. Is it that simple? What do you think? Any opinions?

[bomha]

Many of us who teach EFL were told that English-only was the best method in the classroom.  At least for Thailand, we were taught and have seen that the locally born teachers usually speak the native tongue far too much to teach English effectively. Also, if Korea is much like Thailand, most of the Korean teachers probably speak with a strong accent, poor spoken grammar, rely too much on rote memorization, lack a full understanding of cultural points or idioms, etc.  But I am not there, so may be wrong.

[wangsuda]

I'm guessing that Korean schools want bi-lingual teachers. And there's nothing wrong with that. The problem lies in testing and compensation. When I taught in California, teachers who were fluent in a second language received additional pay generally amounting to one-third of their starting salary. Example: a newly credentialed teacher who also speaks Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese), or Vietnamese would have a starting pay of $36,000/yr PLUS a second language bonus of $12,000/yr. As for the testing, teachers who claimed to be fluent in a second language had to sit an exam in that language and were tested in reading, writing, and speaing fluency. I can't see many schools in Korea willing to cough up that kind of money for a trained, bi-lingual, professional OR be filling to foot the bill to test language skills. . Hell, I can't see too many schools anywhere in Asia willing to pay that. It just isn't a priority for them.

[retiredstillteaching]

Koreans have learned the obvious: that a learner can't acquire speaking competency in a foreign language when the learner has only one class a week (almost always 1 hour or 55 minutes) even or, especially, with a native speaker only doing the teaching.

I taught in the government program that was instituted in the mid-1990s by the Korean Government to bring native speakers of English to Korea at great salary and terms and conditions to teach English in the government schools of Korea. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now---nor will it ever succeed.

Korean aducators have finally learned that fundamental fact. The Government of Japan refuses to learn it so continues to have the absurd same program (Koreans, in fact, took the Japan program as their model). Thais are too stupid ever to learn the fact.

[tob55]

Having been here for four years now in Korea, I am noticing that the rules and opinions change about as regularly as the seasons in this country. There are many rumors going around these days about the effectiveness of foreign instructors, but it revolves around a few issues:

1. The Koreans want foreign language instructors, but they give them no power or authority to do anything.
2. The system changes every time there is a  crackdown on degrees among the Koreans who have chosen to lie about their academic qualifications.
3. Specific regions of the country use misinformation to scare the foreign instructors into doing what they tell them to do.
4. Money will always be an issue, because the Koreans have a general disdain for other people earning money they feel they should be entitled to...

These are just a few of the things I have noticed while working and teaching in South Korea...Basically, until you have someone come to you and say "sorry, but your job position has been cut and you must leave" all it is is rumor and conversation used to spark negative sentiment among the foreign community...

[chuck_S]

You're talking about Koreans. Well, a Typical korean in Korea, would even question the effectiveness of their own grandmother to teach them anything.