A pop-up on the EPIK website.
An announcement on the EPIK website on June 1st:
EPIK is looking to recruit 12 Indian Guest English Teachers (GETs) this term.
The tentative timeline for the recruitment of Indian GETs is as follows:
- Application deadline: June 20, 2010
- Interviews conducted: second week of July
- Final result notification to EdCIL: last week of July
- Successful Indian teachers' entry into Korea: August 16~17
The Fall 2010 EPIK Application is available on the "Apply by Email" section of our website. Please use the Application Instructions provided to help you complete the form.
All applications and questions should be directed to EdCIL and not EPIK. Please visit the EdCIL website (http://www.edcilindia.co.in) for more information regarding the positions available.
"Guest English Teacher" [GET] is what EPIK calls the role filled by native speaker English teachers [NSETs]. I posted about this development in November 2009 when it was announced that the government may experiment with hiring Indian English teachers. The JoongAng Daily wrote then:
Starting in the fall semester next year, around 100 teachers from India will be teaching English at elementary, middle and high schools nationwide, a high-ranking official with the Education Ministry said yesterday.
The ministry has recently confirmed a plan to “improve the system for assistant native teachers of English,” including hiring English-speaking Indians.
“The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed between Korea and India last Friday has opened a 1.2 billion-strong Indian market. We expect a number of qualified English teachers from India will come here,” said the source.
With my post addressing the problematic quote-unquote qualification angle. EdCIL currently provides no information about these openings, but commenter Stuart pointed out last fall when looking at another recruiter that the "qualifications" being asked of the Indian teachers were no different than those asked of native speaker English teachers from the "Big 7."
I've felt for at least the past year that the native speaker English teacher experiment is on its way out of the public schools. In a post on Dave's ESL Cafe on May 26th I gave a few reasons, including but not limited to the inability and unwillingness of public schools to pay for experienced foreign teachers, the insistence on teaching for tests and the limited role NSETs can play, the hiring of thousands of Korean "lecturers," the continued media bias against foreign English teachers, the growth of cheaply teaching English via videophone, the phasing out of NSETs going on in Jeollanam-do since 2006, and the potential availability of teachers from countries like India and Singapore. A complete lack of planning has accompanied the introduction of foreign English teachers into South Korea, and there remains no standard for integrating and evaluating them, thus it's no surprise they are misused and misunderstood.
12 comments:
I've met and worked with plenty of very educated and very able Indian English teachers. They tend to be more "qualified" to teach English than, say, a 22-year old Geography major who can't differentiate "your" and "you're".
I can see problems arising with racist attitudes towards Indians. The assumption is, unfortunately, that they are menial labourers, not teachers. My friends Priya and Joel can attest to this ~ when they arrive at a school, they are sometimes taken to be the driver/maid, and not the English consultant!
Accents are generally not a big problem, especially for those who are graduates of the British system.
I love how commenters like Ms Parker assume that any other teacher that is not a white male from the "big 7" is somehow inherently more "qualified" to teach English. Yes, perhaps a 22-year old Geography major who can't differentiate "your' and "you're" has a problem teaching English but to assume that the population of current native English teachers fits that stereotype is insulting.
I have no problem with Indian teachers coming to Korea, that is not the problem here. The problem is the attitude towards the current group of teachers. They are treated like "a problem" and rather than blaming a failed system, they are blaming the products of that poorly organized system (the foreign teachers).
It would be like taking a person that has been driving for many years, giving them an '82 sonata and expecting them to win the indy 500. When they inevitably lose, instead of blaming to people responsible, you blame the driver.
If the problem is "qualifications" then simply increase the requirements or *ahem* train your teachers to do their job. If you are hiring "highly-qualified" teachers from India, why not hire "highly-qualified" teachers from elsewhere too?
I don't care where the teachers are from as long as they can do their job well. If they can't then they should be let go and that includes the Korean English teachers. The current English System is built around band-aid solutions to make the parents happy.
As for the question of "qualifications" out of the teachers that I have met, a great many come from various backgrounds and all could handle the basics of their spoken language. Many exceeded the basic requirements of their job, regardless of where they are from.
I think it doesnt really matter. Itll just be another sore spot for the undoctrinated locals to misunderstand something else foreign. Thats not the problem. Brian, permit me to quote something, I said elsewhere. :)
"Am I part of what they do? Maybe. The kids need to have listening in their studies. Im a hell of a storyteller, and I can shred on guitar, so that entertains for hours. I also know a good bit of grammar. Do they ask me about it? Not much. Hardly. I dont teach it either, thats the KT's job. OK. They also dont want to embarrass themselves. Sometimes, when I do answer them, they dont believe me, but luckily the couple of times that happened, I have super fast internet, and they dont argue with the almighty internet. Mostly, they leave me be. Actually, most dont talk to me, and I use Korean in the teachers room, anyway. No biggie.
K-guys arent taught alot about ambitions and goals. Theyre taught rules, and what to do. I hear Epik High talk about how the young kids have no dreams now in Korea. I agree with that. Dreams are part of developing yourself, making yourself an individual. So is language. Language is a means to express yourself. If you have nothing to say of value. Well...thats not for me to judge.
Another important thing is Korean culture is very strict. We all know that. The language is very rigid,a s well. Not very expressive at all. Most of the time, its a set question and a set answer. Little self expression. I think people who stay here will get what i mean. So, KT's speak to students like that, even when they speak English. When I speak, as an American NT, I express many ideas, to try to make my students interested. Ive always said (mostly to myself, not to the KT's) that the problem the the locals experience in not learning English to a decent level of fluency is, #1 they dont have a need to interact with someone who is not from Korea on a meaningful basis (not everyone, but I feel most) and theres not really a way for them to reach outside of their rigid social structure/langauge construct. This is also why I think most NTs here dont learn Korean. Me, as an American, as well as an expressive artist (ha!), found it very difficult to kind of "dumb myself down" cut back on my expressiveness. Question? Answer. Not opinion or answer. I think thats why many foreigners dont learn Korean beyond basic words/intermediate. I leanred for my old job, and I didnt mind. I also speak Japanese rather well, so I felt it was easy-ish to pick up.
Its the emperor's new clothes situation. They dont know the daehanminguk/kimchi pride thing is also the reason they cant advance in English. I think all of this is also the reason the Kyopo population has so many problems. They can see both sides, but they cant assimilate in to Korean side so well. They know too much."
maybe a tad out of context in some places, but what Im saying is it doesnt really matter who is there in the classroom. Im guessing its about paying less for an English speaker. BUT the rick ajummas dont bend their thinking.. India isnt the land of opportunityfor the locals, the west is. So..
thanks, Brian.
To any person or group of people who honestly feel they have solutions rather than just complaints about the system, I encourage you to put together a pilot teaching program for how you would use NSETs and Korean English teachers to (a) address the current required curriculum and (b) build on that toward what you think would be an improvement.
Write it down, get input from administrators you know, and then shop it around as the "Kwangju System" or whatever you want to call it. It will take a lot of door-knocking and shopping around, but if you're serious about making a difference and you truly have some good ideas, your pilot program might eventually be given a chance to take root.
I think alot of good hearted NSET's teachers have done many things like that. I just dont think it can happen. The people who were in charge 10 years ago are still in charge, and I doubt if they will listen. Hell,go to any school. All of the Koreans teachers, too, have tons of ideas but ive found the "gyojang", who is usually about 60 or so, will just ignore the ideas, and do what he wants (probably the easiest way).
Ideas from the bottom just dont get listened too, in a hierarchial society. I just teach the best I can, and try to use my ideas under the radar. I think its the most efficient way to work here.
I wonder whether the pay and benefits of GETs are equal to NSETs. Samsung used to pay its language teachers differently. English and Japanese teachers were paid W3 million and lived in 3-bedroom apartments in Bundang. Chinese and Spanish teachers earned much less and were housed in older accommodation. They protested and were replaced.
Kushibo, your suggestion sounds good and is worth a try, but NSETs shouldn't get their hopes up. My consistent experience in Korea showed that Koreans regarded foreign teachers as hired help. We were given a fair amount of autonomy within the classroom but outside the classroom, there was little collaboration in program planning. Honestly, professional teachers committed to their careers outgrow Korea very quickly and should move elsewhere for the sake of continued professional growth and development.
Jason, Ms Parker
I'd grant that Parker was writing quickly and off the cuff. I think we'd all admit the Korean school system isn't going to hire qualified, degree'd teachers from the West. It's a matter of economics and Klogic: the teachers would want a certain level of pay/benefits/standing/control over the curriculum/union membership/might actually go "you know you guys have been doing it wrong for a long time".
Conversely, schools are willing to pay for a white person who speaks the Sacred TV-Movie English accent and can help kids 1) not take dumps in their pants when they're in a room with a white person 2) give them that most cherished TV-Movie English accent without having to split up the family and send the kiddies to Illinois. Parents are content to get that so everyone is happy.
What falls out, of course, is being a NET in the Korean system truly is no guarantee of a certain level of ability. Young, white, beautiful is a poor predictor of teaching ability. It's a good predictor of your success at getting hired in Korea.
It's hardly the fault of the Geography major who was offered decent money and a free apartment by a school that barely cares if he has any skill. The job "pilot" is a pretty alluring job for a drunk. I wouldn't fault a drunk who got such a job. I would fault the airline company for not weeding out drunks.
That said, and no doubt I'm committing the fallacy of selection bias, but every ESL teacher I know in Korea is a serious, dedicated teacher truly concerned about the lives of his/her students and ensuring they're getting exactly what the parents think they're paying for. I wrestled with it myself every day I was on the job.
Turning to GETs: GETs overcome, in theory, the economic/klogic roadblocks: I'm sure the perception is they'll be so grateful they'll know their place, they'll work harder/longer for less, and since you're hand picking 12 out of 14 million qualified, eager, well trained teachers, you're going to get a great cohort.
I wouldn't doubt it's also a political move. India buys a lot of stuff from SK. SK is so greedy it can't take on a few highly qualified Indian teachers? There had to be a huge lobbying effort on the part of India.
I think Joe on the SeoulPodcast noted the Indian government, unlike our governments, also tends to take an active interest on the well being of its guest workers around the world. They're a source of remittances.
The net effect of GETs and NETs working together in bigger numbers in future might be the GETs help improve conditions. The 3D workers have impressively wrestled certain rights from the Korean government. But then maybe I'm commit the error that "brown people are all the same, they'll take a nightstick to the head with the best of them".
It is top down direction here. The poor Korean Chinese subject teachers just got royally screwed by Gyeonggi province. Their subject is now not a core subject and the students next year will only take 8 classes a semester. Basically, they will mostly all have to take a year off because the grade 1 students already all took Chinese. Some might look to change subjects if they can (or they might lobby to get it changed).
The school boards aren't so swift because they won't have half of a grade do a subject in opposite semesters. All the classes in the grade take the same class in the same semester. How stupid!
oh my god. 12 Indian teachers. What will you do!
"oh my god. 12 Indian teachers. What will you do!"
Who is the "you"?
If you mean the Korean educational system, I would imagine the Indian teachers experience will be little different from that of any E2 holder. The Koreans given these teachers won't have much of a plan, run around like chickens with their heads cut off when some mysterious teacher shows up at their school, and the Indian teachers will need to have patience and senses of humor.
If you mean existing E2 teachers, I think they would welcome them, befriend them, teach them the ropes, and learn something from them in return.
Outside of their fellow E2 coworkers, I think most would welcome the wash of an idea that Korea is testing the waters of non-white, non-Tom Cruise in the classroom. I would think most would view that as a positive move.
Anyway, Gary, I've tried to guess what answer you're looking for. If you could clarify, that would be helpful.
Sorry to see you missed the point, Gary.
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