David Carruth of 10 Magazine told me last month about the English Fair 2010 (대한민국영어교육박람회) at Gwangju's Kim Dae-jung Convention Center from June 4th through 6th. Attractions include an English job fair, speeches by celebrities in the English racket, and a Dokdo Love Photo Exhibition.
If it sounds lame, don't worry, it's not for you. I know English in Korea is almost entirely for domestic purposes, taught almost entirely by Koreans, but it still irks me that the festival's website---like most English meetings, English tests, and English textbooks in Korea---is entirely in Korean. When you visit other pages on the site you'll notice an English tab in the top-right corner, but it doesn't work and doesn't lead to English-language information
Celebrity English teacher and buffoon Isaac Durst was there last year.
6 comments:
Well here's to hoping he won't be around this year. Maybe they'll keep him properly locked up in his cage inside his clown car...
I like Issac. He makes the coin, people like him (well, the locals), and he provides for his family. He knows whatsup.
I never respond, but I have to ask why you are hating on Isaac? The guy is a ham, not a buffoon. He provides quality, memorable demonstrations to back up rather sad stand and deliver teaching common on educational TV shows.
It's not like he's one of those guys playing drug dealers and rapists on the dramas and reenactment shows. He clowns it up for entertainment's sake and, beyond that, he is portrayed as the holder of knowledge in most of these roles...not the buffoon.
You might as well bash most Kindergarten teachers (around the world) because they tend to put on the same show.
Thanks for the comment, Dan. I don't hate on Isaac for being cartoonish all the time. I used to teach kindergarten in Korea, and know what you gotta do. Elementary school teachers all over the world know the value of being friendly and entertaining.
And you're right, he thankfully doesn't portray drug dealers, rapists, unruly soldiers, or unqualified English teachers. Then again, the people who often play "Americans" or "English teachers" aren't Americans or native English speakers.
But Isaac---or maybe the producers who employ him---play a big role in defining how native speaker English teachers are supposed to act. Contrast how NSETs are on TV with Korean English teachers. While the Korean English teachers explain everything and do the heavy lifting---often incorrectly---it's the white people making the funny faces, funny voices, and exaggerated gesticulations.
That informs how a good many (pardon the loaded generalization) co-teachers, in my experience, think NSETs ought to behave in the classroom. We're told that English must be fun, that the teacher has to be entertaining . . . certainly doesn't hold true for the math teacher, the history teacher, the gym teacher, or the Korean English teacher.
On some shows, sure, the Korean host defers to the white guy for explanation, but in my limited experience watching Korean TV, that is usually not the case. It's the Korean who does all the explaining and serious teaching---either paired with a NSET or alone---while the NSET is there for a few lighthearted moments of pronunciation and relief. The Korean English teacher is the authority figure, and Isaac, being the most famous foreign English teacher in the country, is the face of it.
English and its speakers are often rendered ridiculous, and for better or worse Isaac is the face of that trend. Some people like him because he makes money, while others think he's been in Korea long enough to decide for himself how to carry himself. (I can understand that, but he's not only carrying and representing himself he's representing his language and, even further, the image of foreign English teachers). But, I think his act does a disservice to the English education industry and would like to see less clowning from a person who should know better.
Thanks for the response, Brian. I understand your point of view. I still have to disagree. I just don't see what he is doing as wrong.
I see entertainers/teachers like Isaac and Bo as positive influences (for foreigner representation) on Korean TV. They are fluent in Korean and knowledgeable about the culture. The roles that they play are never ones of the fool, but rather a character than provides information, even if the character is clownish.
This is where we must agree to disagree :)
Of course, I still appreciate your writing and contribution to discourse on the ROK.
err...
went there with a couple of Korean colleagues. They had fun.
there wasn't anything interesting in it, i mean the job fair could have been interesting IF ANYBODY would have been there.
Post a Comment