Ministry of Education looking for volunteers to "teacher" summer camps.

Recently came across this article from the Korea Times last week. It reads in part:

Although it will not be pay-based work, Lee expects that many native English speakers will join the program as a way to contribute to the local community.

They will co-teach English classes with Korean teachers.

``The programs will run for four weeks and about 40,000 or 50,000 student are expected to benefit from the program annually,'' Lee said. ``We will expand the program depending on the results from this year.''

The education ministry is in discussion with U.S. army camps, expatriate communities and people from multi-national families for the recruitment of the volunteers.

Part of me really loves the idea of giving rural students opportunities to play English with foreigners, because they really don't get too many breaks in life. I've heard of some teachers having really great experiences holding classes and camps with biracial children, with orphans, and with other students in remote rural areas.

But I've grown understandably cynical of late, and am curious how many foreigners will be eager to "contribute to the local community" after that local community has spent so much time stoking moral panics against us. And, to name just one other example, how community-minded can you expect foreigners to be when there are so many bullshit banking restrictions on what we can do with our money, both in Korea and out? Nothing wrong with trying to give back to those who need it, but I always marvel at the naivete of people who can't imagine why we wouldn't jump at the chance. I'm not money-grubbing by any means, but I'll just point out that each camp season I get several offers a week in my inbox for paid opportunities, so somebody interested in trying out rural Jeollanam-do could go that route, although openings go pretty fast.