Requirements for the non-native teachers, however, will be much stricter than those for native speakers. Non-native speakers have to hold a bachelor's degree or above in English studies and teaching licenses from their countries. According to the education ministry, more than half of current foreign assistant teachers don't even have basic English teaching certificates such as TESOL.
Give the whole article a read. We first heard about this plan last month. Having seen the way native speakers are currently used in the schools, I have to say that having more non-native speakers isn't necessarily a bad idea. The point of having native speakers in the classroom is to give students exposure to foreign cultures and to give them a chance to use the English they've learned. However, since there is some resistance to introducing foreign cultures into the classroom, since students are reluctant to speak English in class, since productive skills are deemphasized in favor of teaching toward tests, and since foreign teachers' classes are presented as goof-off time, I'm not sure they're such a wise investment.
But what really gets me is how we've spent about the last 14 months hearing "unqualified" this, "unqualified" that, and then not only has the government gone and hired teachers who haven't even graduated college yet, but has now hired foreigners for roles previously filled by native speakers. We can debate the merits of native speakers until the cows come home, but it's inappropriate to throw around "unqualified"---as this article does---when the only qualifications for teaching English here have heretofore been a college degree and a passport from an English-speaking nation. Not only does the current system not require teacher training, but it does not reward those who have completed it or who have advanced degrees. I've often wondered how useful teacher certification back home would be to the Korean classroom anyway. Perhaps it would provide some insight into lesson planning and classroom management, but does a teacher back home have any idea about the dynamics of the Korean classroom or about the culture of English education here? Besides, qualifications or not you're only a teacher in quotation marks. Until Koreans realize that using and producing the language are important, you'll be trumped by the needs of standardized tests, and your primary role will be to supervise games and to play CD-ROMs.
What is really necessary is to not only train foreign teachers how to fit in to English education here, but also to train schools and coteachers how to use native speakers in the classroom. Dull listen-and-repeat isn't it. Unsupervised chaos isn't it. Sitting in the back of the room reading a newspaper while the students run roughshod over a foreigner whose culture they don't respect isn't it. Of greater damage to education than quote-unquote unqualified foreign teachers is the way schools mishandle them.
Give the rest of the "English in the news" category a read for more on issues like this.
11 comments:
It is true that the only thing required of the native speakers here is a Uni degree and a passport from an English-speaking country*. Having a TESOL certification or teaching experience or a BEd does make a difference when you walk into the classroom on the first day. It makes a difference when your Korean co-teachers wander through the class or look up from their cellphone and see that you really know what you are doing.
The number one thing, I think, is with the confidence factor. You know how to plan a lesson, you can time yourself better, you know how to discipline and manage the class without resorting to empty threats or having to rely on the (often absent) co-teacher. If you compare yourself now, after years of experience, with yourself from your very first lesson, I would hope that you can see a difference in yourself in the classroom. A teaching degree does not a teacher make, but wow, I wouldn't have wanted to ever teach without mine.
By and large, and even with all the extra frustrations, teaching in Korea is way easier than teaching in North America. Imagine a class of inattentive teenagers, then add in parent-teacher meetings, "real" lesson planning, more accountability to the administration and school community, and a lot more work. A lot of people "discover" teaching when they come here, and return home to the harsh reality that it is a lot tougher back in the real world.
Really, if teaching was something that anyone could do, we wouldn't need to do 4-year degrees back home to get our B.Eds.
I've compared it before to being an accountant. Yes, you can get someone with a basic knowledge of math and a calculator to do your tax return, but wouldn't you rather have a "real" accountant? This is something I've come to terms with over the past few years: That ESL teaching in Asia is seen as a sort of gap year option, something to do instead of working as a cashier back home. Until it is valued differently, things will probably continue in the same vein. I agree with you, Brian, that as Korea does not deem it necessary for the native speakers to have any sort of teaching certification, it is very unfair of journalists to throw around terms like "unqualified" in regards to people who answer to all the criteria required by those who have hired them.
*(There are plenty of French-Canadians and other people who don't necessarily count English as their first language who are teaching here, simply because they are from a country where English is an official language)
Thanks for your comments. My tenure here would have been quite different I think if I were a trained teacher. I would have had a smoother transition I think, but I also wonder if I'd have been disappointed, too. I know it's what you make of it---and that perhaps being a teacher back home would have made me more driven back home. Having grown cynical about things doesn't help either, and I wonder if being used to how teaching goes back home would have made me more even-keeled over the years.
Have you been given more respect from coworkers because you're a certified teacher at home?
I think I have, but I have to be the one who tells them that I am a "real" teacher. My co-teachers have generally had less experience than I have, but with the language barrier and such, I'm never sure if they realize that I do have the experience that fits the job.
I mean to write "would have made me more driven here."
As I'm not an english teacher I'm not overly familiar with the role of a foreign english teacher and the role of a korean english teacher. However, I do think that a non-native english speaker should be able to teach here provided they meet the qualification standards applied to korean teachers and provided they are to fulfill the same role. Theoretically, a dutch or danish speaker would make a more superior teacher than the majority of koreans (and a good number of natives) that I have come across.
Just to get an follow-ups emailed to me...
Well, like everything else each classroom will be different, but in a lot of cases I think you're right. I think a good native speaker teacher would still be preferable to a good non-NS, but if Korea's going to start looking at qualifications rather than place of birth, well, I guess there's no choice.
I always thought my chosen career (Namely ESL teaching) would be safe from being outsourced to India....
My experience of trained teachers coming to Korea is a little different.
Often their views on pedagogy are very set (especially if they are a little older) and can't reconcile the differences between elementary or middle school teaching and ESL teaching, not to mention the Korean School system.
In addition, with the racial stereotypes in all manner of literature in schools (and pointed out here) and Koreans' attitude to foreigners (who are not white) I can't imagine parents being as widely accepting of the idea as stated in the article, nor the kids in class acting in a reasonable manner toward someone they consider only worthy of doing the "Three D" jobs.
Finally, while my first comment is meant in jest, Those of us who have been here for a while, do have ESL certificates and who are like me, edging ever so closer to a Masters in the subject, might be justified in thinking their jobs are a little under threat by cheaper replacements. (cf. also TALK programme.)
The whole idea of "teaching in Korea" is still seen as a fun thing to do for a year. You know: Travel to a different country, experience a different culture, get paid, get free rent and pay off your debts (it was better a few years ago, but still...), and have a great time living a nice lifestyle. If you're unlucky enough to end up in a hogwan with 5 vacation days per year, you can sort of kiss the "travelling" aspect goodbye.
I agree with Stafford that it's hard to deal with sometimes, however nothing about teaching here is necessarily "sold" to experienced or certified teachers. I hestitated before deciding to come here because, up until about 5 years ago, teaching in Korea had been seen as something done by people who couldn't find a job elsewhere in Canada. This has since changed, but the reputation still remains: Most Canadian provinces do not recognize Korean teaching experience as actual "teaching years" (which is important as it influences how much you are paid back home).
I don't regret coming here at all: I got to meet a lot of great people and travel all over the place while paying down debts - that is what I came for, that is what was advertised to me in the job-hunt ads, and that is exactly what I (and most people, with a few exceptions) did.
The decision as to whether to keep the ESL programs here as "fun jobs for extra money" is ultimately the choice of the Korean government and education offices.
I'll send you an e-mail and let you know how things go in the UAE where I will be, hah, "under-qualified" because I don't have an MA.
Korea should just stop wasting everybody's time with this whole English thing.
This should not be an issue. MANY South Africans are not native speakers, yet we teach here. We are however, usually, highly proficient, my general spelling not being any proof of that. Maybe the only thing we have in your favour is that we might be considered to have "nice" accents, unlike, say, Indians.
That being said, I had a friend who had an Indian accent(that happens when you are from India), but I never thought there was anything wrong with it. She also has a Masters Degree in English and was therefore is much more qualified in the language than most of the people already here in Korea.
At my previous job I had to work with people from 70+ nationalities, and I can assure you that even some of the people from Thailand were very proficient in English. (I don't think that Thai English sucks. I just don't understand their accent, and they don't seem to understand mine.)
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