Recently, a lot of people have been calling me and emailing me, to the point where I just had to shut down my phone. Some even identify themselves as a friend of a friend of a friend of mine. That's a long social chain.
These random ``friends" who don't have a job or got fired recently have been trying to get in touch with me to ask me about teaching English in Korea. They all say in unison, as if it comes from the Holy Bible, ``I heard all you need is the 'white looks' and you are good to go." I have heard this millions of times already, but every time I hear it I can't help myself from cringing with every single muscle in my forehead. I may need Botox soon even though I'm only in my early 20s.
So why is Korea, the nation that even created a national day to celebrate the beauty and the history of the Korean language, seen as the place to go for those ``native speakers" who have no life goals? The aim of trying to learn English is healthy for the mind and soul ― it's for personal development. However, the situation here is to the point where it's almost an obsession, not to mention an embarrassing one.
Do we really want these ``white-looking" people to just stroll into Korea, who probably scored less than 500 out of 800 on their verbal portion of their SATs or don't even know what they SATs are, to be hailed as kings by Korean parents? This leads to my point: Korean parents need to change their attitudes.
Kim might be interested to know that Korea imported twinkies and this past summer to teach English in public schools. These yellow-looking people hadn't even graduated college, and probably scored, like, 12 on the verbal portion of the SATs. They scored 800 on the math part, though, because yellows are good at math. They were hired because of their Korean heritage, not because of a particularly impressive resume
Roboseyo already posted his response to Kim, a letter to the editor that I hope runs as soon as possible. It calls out the Korea Times for publishing anything having to deal with teaching English in Korea, especially if it deals with native speakers. Negativity like Kim's might not be widespread---although we hear this "unqualified" hobby horse trotted regularly, even from coworkers---but publishing her rant in a paper read mainly by Koreans trying to practice their English will speak to enough stereotypes to get those heads nodding approvingly.
15 comments:
I wish you would send in exactly what you wrote, as well. The points made about the new gyopo/TaLK regs would probably go over her head, though.
Miss Kim could use a few tips to improve her writing
I didn't have any problems with her writing, just her thinking.
--Rant warning--
Did you have to bag TaLK?
I realise there is an impression that most of the TaLK scholars are gyopo on a free ride who are completely unqualified to teach (if they even speak English). But if you apply that to all the TaLK scholars you are just presenting them the same way the Korean media presents native English teachers. Sure, there are bound to be some who are not concerned about working and who wouldn't otherwise stand a snowballs chance of being qualified. But, the majority actually enjoy there jobs and do them well enough.
Are they unqualified? They get a month of 8hrs-a-day training in classroom management and English teaching method. Some have even finished degrees and are taking time out from post-graduate study.
Are they all Gyopo? Most are..about a third aren't, and of those who are a good portion have graduated and are doing what Mummy or Daddy told them to.
In Jeonnam about half are non ethnic Korean. Many of us teach regular English classes instead of after-school as we were told we would (TIK). We get help from university student volunteers for, at most, 9hrs a week. If they turn up. TIK.
I'm not saying that there aren't problems with TaLK, I hear complaints regularly. But the majority of the teachers, like those in JLP or EPIK, do their best and do it well enough.
I'm in TaLK. I teach 400 kids in Damyang. I have my degree (in a TESOL related field). I'm a native english speaker. Am I unqualified?
Hi,
I saw your post on your blog, but I couldn't comment on it. (For some reason that happens on blogs where the comment thing doesn't open a new page).
Anyway, you're right that I haven't looked further into TaLK than what's in the media (and most of that has been glowing). I'm sure there are plenty of fine teachers, whether they're college graduates, or certificate-holders, or Master's graduates, or whatever. There ignorance is kind of the point, though, and echoes Jessica Kim's. If she's so worried about unqualified white people here, I'll bet she'd be fumed to know the government invited ethnic Koreans with even fewer qualifications.
Except, she's not really interested in improving English or having Koreans get over their obsession. She'd just like an opportunity to take some jabs at Caucasian foreigners to compensate for her own bitterness.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by and being civil. When I see rant warnings I'm usually expecting someone to bring up Crown J, or something. If you have posts on your blog about your experiences/impressions of TaLK, please link them and I and others can look through them.
Of course, I ragged on TaLK. Of course, I did the same thing Jessica did.
That was the entire point.
I actually agree with Kim on the points that Korea and Korean parents are a little too obsessed with English, and that parents are often a little too quick to enroll kids in a hagwon that has a foreigner.
I don't think that her thesis is correct about their being losers coming to Korea. Let's face it, there are a lot of people who are pretty bad who come to Korea, but I think with the recession in the U.S. the quality of applicants has been improving quite steadily. Suddenly people who had well paying jobs loose them and find teaching in Korea to be a good opportunity.
I worked at a university that had an English dormitory and about 27 foreign English instructors. Of the 27, I would say that 4 were unsavory characters that I wouldn't give a job to. Luckily, they all ended up washing out of the program, so in the end evolution won.
Her other thesis that English is unnecessary in Korea pure balderdash. Koreans who live here understand the situation well. Only 17% of Korea is good for farming and there are 45 million people who live here. Korea depends strongly on an import export economy and therefore needs to speak the language of business. People who can speak English are prized because they can help the companies that help the livelihoods of many people, and also feed virtually the whole country. In short, the country pretty much needs English to survive.
3gyupsal, no, no, haven't you heard? Because of the wildly, globally popular Korea Wave, the whole world wants to learn Korean now!
Are they unqualified? They get a month of 8hrs-a-day training in classroom management and English teaching method.
YES. This year I got a month of 8-hrs-a-day training in using technology in the classroom. This does not qualify me to become a technology resource teacher.
I have my degree (in a TESOL related field). I'm a native english speaker. Am I unqualified?
Curiously you didn't specify what field it is. Applied linguistics? English lit? Elementary education? Did you complete a supervised teaching practicum under an experienced teacher before coming to Korea?
I respect the sincerity and general professionalism that you and other ESOL teachers bring to your classrooms, but most of you would not be able to find full-time employment in the highly competitive adult education market back in the US or even in a private K-12 school, where certification is not required.
You and most other foreign assistant teachers are doing the best you can, but that does not mean that your students are getting the best instruction possible. I say this as a teacher with more than 15 years teaching experience. I am still striving to improve my performance.
Perhaps having thousands of teachers in hagwon or public schools without certification or Master's in TESOL, AL, etc., isn't ideal. All teachers should, I mean, be teachers.
But when we talk about qualifications, let's separate that from credentials for a second. We're hired not as teachers, but as native speakers. I'm a 보조 (shut up), an assistant, and my job is 원어민. Since I'm hired because I'm a native speaker, do I really need credentials beyond that? Surely some training would help me perform better in the classroom, but if my job is to repeat lines, pronounce things, or "just talk," why expect much more?
This is also why those Korean "lecturers" may be perfectly qualified for their jobs, even if they don't have teaching credentials. They're hired to teach "practical English," and certainly they're more "qualified" than a lot of the Koreans currently "teaching" in public schools or even hagwon.
When we talk about "qualified" we need to figure out what we're talking about: credentials, proper documentation for a visa, ability, nationality, etc. The papers routinely blur those lines, so when we defend ourselves against one charge, it's easy to flip things to another.
Brian: I honestly haven't written about my experiences but this might give me the urge to do so. Besides I have no classes all of a sudden so why not..
ROK Hound: Nicely done.
Sonagi92: I'll agree with what Brian has just written about qualified..and admit that perhaps I should have clarified what I meant. Regardless, 1 month of the training TaLK scholars get is better than what many get before teaching for the first time in Korea.
Ah..I didn't specify what my major was because honestly it sounds ridiculous...Linguistics and English Language Teaching. One paper of that was practical English teaching, the rest theory. So, you could say, in theory I canteach English. I know enough to know my classes will always have room for improvement, one of the reasons I enjoy this job so much.
Most teachers here might not be able to get work back in our home countries as teachers in a 'very' competitive market, but I am not sure that is the point. For me, at least, that is not the aim. My aim is convince the kids to want to learn English. That's more or less the point of the exercise.
Sonagi92
Well of course if all ESL teachers went back to native English speaking counties, we'd all find it tough to find a job.
But that's the point. We don't go and teach ESL in native English speaking countries so much as we do it in non-native English speaking countries.
Get it?
I don't think teaching ESL is rocket science.. and there's something to said for experience and passions vs qualifications.
That said, most ESL teachers here are doing a good job, yet the more qualified often do a better job.
But for fucks sake, at 2.whatever, coupled with all the rest of the shit we have to deal with, they get what they pay for.
Money talks. Period.
(PS aka James... changed it to my regular blogging name)
@Brian:
I agree with you that "qualified" means different things to different people. Notice that I did NOT mention teacher certification or licensure. I talked only of training and supervised experience, both of which are necessary to become a competent teacher.
The media blurs the lines between "qualified" and "unqualified," but some foreign teachers in Korea blur the lines themselves by insisting that they are "real teachers." What is a "real teacher"? I think it is someone who can demonstrate effective teaching skills through documented student achievement.
Someone like yourself can be a "real teacher" if you have clearly defined standards, appropriate materials and activities for teaching those standards, formative assessments to guide instruction, and summative assessments to measure achievement. No matter how smart and dedicated you are, you obviously can't accomplish these things without collaboration with peers and supervisors. I don't think that is really happening anywhere in Korea, at least not with foreign assistant teachers. I don't think most universities fully utilize their foreign language instructors either. At least that was not my experience.
In plain English, I don't think there are many "real" foreign teachers in Korea because they are not supported, and they are not supported because Korean schools are reluctant to invest a lot in professional development on a temporary human resource. Back to the OP, give the Ministry of Education official credit for being honest. You weren't hired to teach. You were hired to speak English, a job that all foreign assistant teachers and TaLK teachers are fully qualified to do.
But that's the point. We don't go and teach ESL in native English speaking countries so much as we do it in non-native English speaking countries.
Get it?
Having taught ESOL overseas and in the US, I understand the differences. Teaching English as a foreign language to Korean kids being educated in their native language is not rocket science. Teaching English as an additional language to US schoolchildren not literate in their first language and who NEED full proficiency in English in order to learn math, science, and social studies is rocket science.
@ sonagi92
I have no business whatsoever with English teaching here in ROK, and going over your posts/comments i think you nailed it well almost perfectly to my taste. I agree with most (if not all) of your explanations. Its basically the same idea that i want people from my country (who are eager to come here as an ESL teacher, or those holding spouse visa) to realize, which i think the majority fails to do so.
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