The increase of 3,000 people in two years is part of the rapid expansion policy, but there continue to be cases of native-speaker teachers who have poor credentials or characters.
Yonhap News learned from parents and teachers of middle school D in Jangan-gu, Suwon, where a native-speaker teacher from the United Kingdom came to school drunk and caused a disturbance.
The drunken teacher began teaching sex education to the students in words they could not understand, saying “the reason I’m not married is I don’t want to have kids like you,” and “Dokdo is Japanese.”
An English teacher named Choi who works at a high school in Jeollanam-do said, “they don’t know the basic purpose of education. During lesson song times they just sing songs over and over, 10 or 20 times. I totally fail to see how you can learn English through pop songs.”
English teachers who have to conduct lessons with native-speaker teachers say the biggest problem with them is lack of attention to lesson planning.
One teacher who was worked with a native-speaker teacher for 18 months said, “because elementary school students must be made interested in English, lesson preparation is the most important thing. But native-speaker teachers will prepare just two lessons in a year. Even that is for demonstration lessons.”
One elementary school teacher in Seoul said, “last year a native-speaker teacher who was at school for the first time was gone for a month claiming illness. Then for two weeks the teacher worked, then quit saying it was hard. Finally we went a semester with no native-speaker teacher.”
The Ministry says such native-speaker teachers are a minority, but statistics say otherwise.
Ministry statistics show that from January to April of last year 54 native-speaker teachers quit without notice or resigned for reasons including inability to fit in, work, and illness. That was the number for four months, and is equivalent to 160 in a year. Last year there were over 5,000 native-speaker teachers, a number that indicates a serious problem.
There are also not a few native-speaker teachers who have been caught with insufficient or forged credentials.
If stories about teachers who don't lesson plan or who come to work drunk are national news, then Yonhap better park a van outside each and every school to deal with its domestic teachers. Speaking of not knowing the basic purpose of education, let's make a contest of spending five minutes and finding as many stories as we can about Korean teachers abusing and harassing their students, or driving their students to suicide, or forcing them to cram material all day long for tests.
I can count on one hand the number of times a co-teacher has lesson planned with me in my three years in public schools. And that hand has zero fingers. If we're talking about elementary school teachers and lesson planning, like that one teacher is, let's not forget that there is a goddamn national curriculum with a CD-ROM and teachers' guide---in Korean, not English---with worksheets and cut-outs that means, wait for it, these Korean teachers do not have to lesson plan for the entire year except for demonstration classes.
Hell, given the rash of academic dishonesty we saw in 2007 alone, if we're talking about forged credentials we might as well subject our Korean counterparts to redundant checks. Fuck you. Put that in your goddamn paper. And after they're finished with it, some of the readers will use it as a pillow while they nap in the teachers' office.
22 comments:
"national curriculum with a CD-ROM and teachers' guide---in Korean, not English"
There is an English teacher's guide on the internet. I have downloaded and printed out grades 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Yes, I know, I downloaded it as well when I was in elementary school. It says a lot, though, that it isn't standard issue in the schools. Hell, I didn't even find out about the English-language version until I was pretty far into the contract.
This isn't to become an us versus them thing, and I will try and do a longer write-up about the media bias later. But, suffice it to say this garbage needs to stop.
To be fair, I work a public school gig and I meet with my coteachers twice a week to make our lessons together. I realize, my situation isn't the rule. It's probably the exception. We use the book when it's not awful, but most of the ideas used in our class come from us. I'm lucky to have two bright, enthusiastic coworkers.
But this shit does need to stop. I guarantee that 90% of that article came from the author's imagination.
Wait, there's an English language version of the teacher's guide? I'm two years in at the same school and I didn't know that.
It makes me sad when I read crap like this. Korea makes it really easy to hate it sometimes...
Yeah, there's a guide online. You can download them here (.hwp files):
http://cge.ken.go.kr/contents/tbl_e_04_02/main_pds_list.asp
The link seems to change quite a bit, so you may have to do some digging. There are other things there, too, including lesson plans for team teaching.
If you go to the Korean side of the site here: http://cge.ken.go.kr/index.asp (I've been able to do it this way since January)
Look at the links at the top and mouse-over the second last one, cho deung hakyo sah gwan, then click on the first link on the line that comes up. On the side under center for elementary teachers, click the second link that has the numbers 3, 4, 5, 6.
Then you'll see a table, and a little drop down menu above it. Click on the number for the corresponding grade, and search for your lesson plan. You'll have to go over a few pages to get to the English ones sometimes.
"Ministry statistics show that from January to April of last year 54 native-speaker teachers quit without notice or resigned... That was the number for four months, and is equivalent to 160 in a year."
Sure it does... if roughly 54 keep quitting every 4 months or so. Clearly he had access to the statistics, which were last year's from what the article said, so why not state the yearly average? Maybe it didn't sound as good.
And look at the 'sources':
“parents and teachers of middle school D”
“A teacher at S high school”
“An English teacher named Choi who works at a high school in Jeollanam-do”
“One teacher who was worked with a native-speaker teacher for 18 months”
“One elementary school teacher in Seoul”
“A teacher at an elementary school in Mokdong”
It seems to me that he’s pulling this out of his arse.
Honestly, the low, low standards and lack of professionalism within the Korean media never fail to amuse, entertain and disgust me.
Shame on you Yonhap.
People never seam to tire of reading and watching this garbage in the Korean media.
I got my first taste of this trash in 2005 with the "I want to know" documentary, which basically labeled foreign English teachers and sex fiends with fake degrees.
Following that I noticed that a few Korean women as they passed would very visibly cover their chest.
It was so obvious the first time as she even turned her back to me and walk backwards as she got to around 2 meters from me and then went back to walking normally after she had passed me.
I witnessed this quite a number of times in the area I live in and it went on for almost a year till they got bored of their little game.
Since then, I've noticed so much trash in the Korean media I've ceased to use it as any source of credible information.
Last year I was at a monthly party, arranged by a Korean acquaintance of mine, where we hire a bar and foreigners and Koreans can meet and get to know each other.
The final time I went there a KBS camera crew were there and I was followed by a reporter who claimed he was a student.
The first question he asked me was if I had many Korean girlfriends, I rolled my eyes, said no and shrugged him off.
Later that night, I had lit up a cigar and was smoking it. He was sat next to me and he told me that it smelt like marijuana.
I told him that I wouldn't know, because I don't smoke marijuana and I asked him how he knows what it smells like.
To that he spluttered something about him living with some foreigners that smoked it when he was a student.
ten minutes later, as I was getting up to leave he stopped me and asked again, what was in my cigar. I told him again it was just tobacco and left.
I have nothing left to say about Korean "reporters" that hasn't been said before.
I've met some grade A imbeciles teaching here. But I've also met an equal proportion of Koreans teaching here that I can say the same thing about.
This isn't news it's trash, made by dumb ******s, for dumb ******s
This kind of crap is the reason why I generally am warning people against teaching in Korea these days. I wish I could recommend Korea, but I can't really do so in good conscience anymore. This mud-slinging really has to stop.
The drunken teacher began teaching sex education to the students in words they could not understand, saying “the reason I’m not married is I don’t want to have kids like you,” and “Dokdo is Japanese.”
Question: if the peckerheads couldn't understand his words, then how does the reporter know what the teacher said?
Nice work Brian! I was pissed enough to write about it too: http://web.me.com/superacidjax/Sparkling_Chaos/Welcome/Entries/2009/6/11_Racist_yellow-journalism_should_serve_as_a_rallying_cry_for_English_instructors.html
I received this message in my email in-box today from ATEP:
Dear member,
As you may be aware, media organizations here in Korea sometimes
attack the professionalism and good will of teachers on visas (for a
recent example, see http://koreabeat.com/?p=4944).
We hope that members will contact Yonhap to express their
disappointment, but we also want you to help with an organized
counter-attack. Since the Korean government is currently fixated on
"national branding" and "international image," we want to frame
discrimination in the media, and government policy, in this context.
The message is: International image building starts at home.
Foreigners in Korea, particularly foreign English teachers, present an
enormous opportunity -- and liability, if not treated with respect.
With all the recent talk of investing enormous amounts of money
overseas in promoting Korea's brand and image abroad, it's surprising
that the cheap, local and effective method is overlooked.
For better or for worse, foreign English teachers are Korea's de facto
cultural ambassadors. Koreans, having invited ex-pats in the thousands
to come to their country, must consider what years of experience in
the country will translate into when these ex-pats (who are often
highly qualified and well-educated, despite media reports) transition
from from the "hagwon gangsa" to the academic (University of Texas,
Journal Asian studies, Cambridge University Korea expert, Robert
Oppenheim, University of Texas, Austin) the politician, the diplomat
(US Amb. Kathleen Stephens, second secretary to the embassy), the
businessperson, the artist, the journalists, etc.
If you know of former teachers who are succeeding in new professions
elsewhere, please complete this short survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2foQ0BxoflspJIzsxm74IyA_3d_3d
This information will be shared in a media presentation on
discriminatory treatment of teachers on visas. For details, see
http://www.koreasparkle.com/2009/06/call-to-action-on-koreas-yellow-journalism/#content
We hope to collect a couple hundred names. During the presentation, a
powerpoint slide will show names coming out of Korea floating across a
world globe and settling in one of the 7 English majority countries
leaving behind a thin red line. We've got it together and it looks
pretty slick. The result is, at the end of this section (one of
several), there is a huge network of lines stretching from Korea to
the world (like a airline's flight map). The final message is, the
network is already there: what message do you want Korea to be sending
to the world?
As ever, thank you for your support.
--
Association for Teachers of English in Korea
한국영어강사협회
That these clowns are hired by careless officials on behalf of public schools and are then accommodated and paid with public money is quite rightly national news.
The message is that too many incompetent people are being hired and are susbequently doing a disgracefully bad job. And when such employees behave as poorly as this the result is not so trivial as a faulty product or a poor service.
Yes, articles like this shame the 'teachers' in question and can cause some negative feeling among those readers who don't mind painting a whole breed with the same brush. But most acknowledge the cause as poor recruiting and demand that be addressed.
I'd just like to point out that a lot a numbers of countries have laws which make this sort of "journalism" illegal.
In the UK it's called the Incitement to Racial Hatred Law.
I'll just borrow a snippet from wikipedia to show what this law covers.
"This offence refers to:
* deliberately provoking hatred of a racial group
* distributing racist material to the public
* making inflammatory public speeches
* creating racist websites on the Internet
* inciting inflammatory rumours about an individual or an ethnic group, for the purpose of spreading racial discontent."
It's also a quite serious and arrestable offense.
Many of these guys would find themselves out of jobs or lamenting in Jail cells if a similar law was to be passed in Korea.
Interesting comments.
I have a question for those of you who are native English teachers in Korea. How does this media bias affect your daily life? Obviously it's upsetting to read. But do people mention it to you or ask you about it often? Coworkers? I'm just wondering how much (if any) of this angst could be ameliorated by not reading this junk from the media.
As I mentioned in my earlier posts.
Back in 2005. After the documentary in January, the open hostility shown in the street was rather upsetting.
That was followed later in the year by immigration making every foreign teacher go to immigration so that they could verify their degree.
The reasoning behind this was because of the media claiming that many foreign teachers had fake degrees. since then I've had to have my degree verified at least once a year.
I've also had Korean "friends" tell me that they don't trust me. When I asked them why, they said that it was because I was a foreigner.
I've also been asked by a number of Koreans if I have ever tried marijuana.
After the new drug tests and criminal back ground checks came into the new regulations I was almost deported because I couldn't get my criminal background check in time.
I told immigration that I had lived in Korea for the last 4 years, and in that time I have only spent 8 days in the UK. I had also submitted a clean background check to the board of education in 2005. I also said that a Korean criminal background check would be more appropriate.
The senior officer said that he didn't care and refused to give me an extension and that If I didn't submit the document by tomorrow then I would have to immediately leave the country.
I still had 2 months left of my current contract at that time, If I lost my visa, I would have lost my job, my apartment and my last 2 months salary plus my severance, but this guy didn't give a damn.
I pleaded with a younger immigration officer who actually had a heart and they gave me an extension, so I could finish my contract and get the documents.
It was a rather stressful day and to think it was all because some new government regulation, based upon some retarded trash in the Korean media.
Then, last year as I was going to quit my job because of unfair changes to my working conditions, the vice principle folded and gave me what I wanted.
He said that he was happy to have me here because I was a good foreign teacher, because I don't take drugs, get drunk and I prepare for my classes.
Then recently, there was the KBS reporter who tried to set me up as a drug user and a womanizer, which I mentioned in my previous post.
Kyle-
For me, it's the general feelings of mutual mistrust and paranoia that are the most bothersome. I had a rant about one such situation the other week (http://dancingbearsblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/ass-hattery.html) that I found really upsetting.
The Korean media does such a huge disservice not only to us but to those we work with on a day-to-day basis. I work at a small school and I’m the 1st foreigner most have met, let alone worked with. It can’t be easy for them (in the above situation) if they’re constantly worried that I’m going to run away because of my bad character.
Also, when I questioned my co-teacher on why the Education office required that I have HIV/AIDS & drug tests when my Korean counterparts don’t have to, her response was the stock standard “Many foreigners come to Korea to do drugs and have diseases.” When I asked how she knew this, she cited the media. And it makes me wonder “Is this how my co-workers, people I’m friends with, view me?”
Had I not read media reports, I’d probably be all the more frustrated because I’d be in the dark as to where their misconceptions come from.
The frustrating thing for me is that it doesn’t matter how well I conduct myself, there’s always that suspicion on their part and, at times, paranoia on my part. It can make the work environment pretty tense.
Dancing Bear--
I appreciate your perspective. Your comment to the effect that had you not read the media reports, you'd probably be more frustrated was interesting to me. I rarely read the media reports, and when I do, it's usually because lots of people are discussing something on their blogs. When I get busy with other stuff and don't read the blogs, I'm not even aware of this stuff. I'll come back after a couple weeks "away" an realize that there was a big to-do about something I wasn't even aware of. Maybe I'm the poster child for the "ignorace is bliss" cliche.
I've never asked my coworkers about their suspicions or preconceptions of my character. They've never probed. Maybe I'm just lucky. If they do harbor negatve suspicions, which may well be the case, there's nothing I can do about that other than be the best techer I can be and show a positive, enthusiastic attitude. They'll know they're wrong. Kill 'em with kindness, as someone once said.
Just today, I was on a full bus, sitting in one of the front seats, although it wasn't one of the officially designated seats for old or weak people. Anyway, an ajumma got on carrying some bulky parcels. She had to stand. After a minute or so, I got up and insisted she took my seat. Everyone in the bus saw that only the foreigner was kind enough to offer a seat. Maybe only a dozen people noticed, but hopefully a simple but concrte act like that will do more to leave a positive impression on peoples' minds than some abstract media report. Maybe not. But I do know this -- the ajumma on the bus with no seat is a situation where I can make a difference. A reporter writing sensational stoies about foreigner English techers is not.
Finally, as far as the media goes, remember -- people have no interest in reading about planes that land safely. The media isn't going to write an article about an English teacher doing his/her job well. People just don't care. And that's not a comment on Koreans. It's human nature.
Kyle
Kyle
You're right about no one wanting to read about planes that land; it doesn't sell papers. But do you think Korean parents want to read about the 'foreign menace' teaching their kids? Like I said, the media does a huge disservice not only to us but to Korea in general – all to sell some papers.
But my real issue with this kind of 'reporting' is that it leaches into government policies and becomes institutionalized.
It's easy to shrug off someone looking at you and thinking you're a child-fiddling/drug-user/ex-con. I consider such crazy stereotypes part of the 'joys' of traveling.
It's not so easy to shrug it off when government policies actively discriminate against you by making you have medical tests that have nothing to do with teaching (I consider them to be more of a f**ked up character check) or make you jump through hoops as per Stuart's immigration experience.
Sure, I can turn off my computer and choose not to read this stuff but, in the end, discriminatory policies that were put in place after irresponsible reporting are still there.
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