Brian in Jeollanam-do

Great work in the community this Christmas.

2009-12-09T11:00:00.005+09:00

Plenty of expats in North and South Jeolla provinces are helping out their communities this Christmas with fundraising and gift drives organized in Mokpo, Gwangju, Suncheon, and Jeonju. This isn't the only time teachers are giving back to their neighbors, but this season is a good a time as any to highlight the great work they do, and to show how you can help.

I'll mention Gwangju first simply because they've got an event coming up this weekend. On December 12th from 1:00 to 4:00 pm at the Gwangju International Center, there will be the annual Sungbin Bake Sale, with all profits going to the Sungbin Educational Endowment Fund, a collection "that assists students in attending university or voacational training" according to the Facebook group page. Specifically, time and money is spent helping Sungbin Home for Girls in Gwangju.

This is the third year for the Christmas bake sale, but expats are active throughout the year volunteering to help. In a Facebook conversation with Michael Simning, currently with 98.7 GFN FM and active in organizing local volunteer activities in the past, he told me a little about what goes on throughout the year:

Over the past few years we have had a fairly active charity drive for the girls. We have had various events involving the Gwangju Inter FC, The Underground Grocers and Speakeasy. We would hold soccer tournaments open to both Korean and foreign teams. Donations would be collected in addition to food sales at the events. Due to difficulties involving marriages and children we haven't done that for almost a year.

Ther was a Love Auction held at Speakeasy which was an event that sold some of Gwangju's most eligible/infamous singles. We had a proffesional caterer from home put together a meal and made it a pretty upscale event. There was a huge amount of volunteers at this event.

Volunteers also visit the home on Saturdays to teach. "Now that some of the girls that I began working with are leaving high school and getting ready to make their own way in the world," Simning wrote, "we are trying to help them prepare to get some type of practical vocational education."

Sara Fladmo, a local teacher, is in charge of a lot of the volunteer efforts in Gwangju. Simning says: "She has led the organization of western food stalls at GIC events plus masterminded the last two bake sales. She is invaluable and should be mentioned by name."

There is more information about the bake sale on Facebook. In addition to cookies, brownies, cakes, and other food baked by and donated people in the area---take a look at the list---there are also donated books for sale. It starts at one. The Gwangju International Center (광주국제교류센테) is located on the 5th floor of the Jeonil Building (제일빌딩)---the white one with the KEB---and is nearest exit 1 of Culture Complex subway station.

Looking now at Mokpo, as a member of the Mokpo Facebook group I get regular updates about what's going there. This month there's an Orphan Christmas Gift Drive through the 13th.

The Mokpo orphans are generally well taken care of, but it is an extremely special event for them to receive something just for them, not given as a "group home" item.

This year we have 73 participants from age 4/5 to university students, who are all deserving of something to bring a smile to their faces and lift their spirits.

If you are interested in donating, I will set you up with a orphan profile that will include some background info about their age and interests, as well as their 3 item gift wish list. It is up to you which items you buy, but we request that you provide at least one of the items listed.

I exchanged messages with Shanna Marie Howse on Facebook, and she told me a little more about what's going on in Mokpo. First, a little about last year's party:

At last year’s party we really had a special time. The Sisters invited all of the teachers to join them for a meal before the party, to show their gratitude for all we do. We had a volunteer dress as Santa to hand out the gifts, which of course the students were thrilled to receive. Watching the joy on their faces as they open the gifts was really memorable for everyone present. The kids then put on a talent show; many of them are learning to play instruments, or are just interested in singing and dancing. I’m not sure of the exact numbers but I believe we had around 40 individual gifts and then another 5 to 10 “house” gifts, for the kids who don’t attend the English classes, plus monetary gifts for the university students. The gifts were mostly donated by teachers from Mokpo and surrounding areas, and the rest were bought with the money we raised earlier in the year through fundraising.

Christmas isn't the only time they do things, though. She continues:

Some other fundraising events that we run are the annual Halloween Monster Mash party, our biggest and most successful of the year, occasional sporting events such as an ultimate Frisbee tournament, the pub quiz happens usually once a month, this year there will be a Christmas party with perhaps a bit of fundraising going on, and in the spring we host a BBQ party for the kids. At the Halloween party we decorate one of our local bars who are kind enough to lend us the space for free and donate 1,000 from ever drink sale to our cause, we have a 50/50 draw and a bake sale, this year we added jello shooters and pizza slices, there is a costume contest with prizes and also a pumpkin carving contest. Last year’s party also had the “dungeon” activity (it’s a mystery) and this year briefly we had tarot readings. The Pub Quiz is being held about once a month at Moe’s, the new foreigner-run bar in Hadang. The entrance is 5,000 won which is donated to the orphan fund each time, and they usually run a 50/50 draw. The next one is Quizmas on Dec. 17th. And finally the BBQ party, was a first last year but it was successful and much enjoyed by the kids, so we hope to continue this event annually. We had a huge BBQ picnic at their main building in Mokpo, with hot dogs, chips, cola, cookies, (all big treats for them) and fruit. All of the food was donated by teachers in Mokpo. We then played some games such as tug of war, water balloon fight and three-legged race.

She was kind enough to tell me a little more about the Mokpo Orphan English Program which she coordinates:

Our program has 15 wonderful teachers who volunteer once a week for an hour to teach English, very casually, to the students. In total there are around 73 students that the Sisters take care of and currently around 45 of them are in the English classes. We have two locations, one is the Mokpo main building and the other is outside of town in a small village called Illo. We run our program from March to July and then September to December. We have to supply all of our own materials for these classes; there is no funding from the government or from the Sisters for it.

If you're in the area and are interested in participating in the Orphan Christmas Quiz Drive, see the Facebook group for more info, though it might be a little late to be matched up with a child.

Across the province, McCarthy's Bar in Suncheon, the Suncheon International Football Club, and the Jeonnam Rugby Football Club are holding a donation drive to raise funds for the SOS Orphanage in Suncheon (순천SOS어린이마을), funds that will go toward buying things like school supplies for children there. Exchanging Facebook messages with Harold Lear, owner of McCarthy's, he tells me the goal is "to raise awareness and money for the children of the SOS Children's Village (orphanage) and to give them a little Christmas cheer," and he says the SIFC has been involved with the orphanage for three years. Last Christmas the football club raised 1,200,000 won themselves and through donations from friends. That's not including the money and presents collected in a separate drive at the Suncheon Christmas party. Those interested in giving this year can visit McCarthy's in Jorye-dong

or can transfer funds to their Industrial Bank of Korea (기업은행) account:

McCarthy's
322-033220-01-011

Finally, though it was my intention to just focus on Jeollanam-do, I came across a post on The Jeonju Hub out of North Jeolla province worth sharing. An excerpt:

Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa Claus is coming to town. This is a time when the word 'charity' often comes up in Jeonju's English speaking community, when are hearts warm up in the season, and we think about giving. It is a great balm for homesickness, to give to someone who has less than you.

Here's an updated post:

It looks as though things will be taking shape this way: We will try to make 200 gift bags. Each one containing a toothbrush, some candy, pad and colored pencils, sheet of stickers, those little hand-warmer things, etc. You can give cash or donate material (pls check first with material to avoid too much duplication). Deepin, DeepInto, RadioStar can receive donations. Or call/write me personally. Here are the needs that are clear so far:

•200 brown bags (or better colors)

•200 toothbrushes

•200 candies

•200 vitamin C candies

•200 sheets of stickers (Power Rangers, Hello Kitty are hot)

•Box(es) of wet-tissues

•200 toys, rubecubes, tops, pogs...)

•more suggestions

•money (you will be told where each won went)

KEB 620-161824-953 also send email to i.d. donation.

I wish we could get rich sponsors and give a cool toy to each kid. Please mention it to anyone you may know. I will order 200 ramien, which was a HUGE hit last year (these kids are not rich hagwan kids, they don't get much pocket money to go to the store.) Teachers, please... remember, did you ask Santa for a notepad and eraser set when you were a kid? I have candy-canes and chocolate coins covered. Thanks and Merry Christmas.

Expats doing good work in Jeollanam-do is nothing new. In fact the first foreign residents of the area were missionaries who set up schools, hospitals, and tuberculosis clinics (a history still visible today), and their legacy continues in cites like Suncheon and Gwangju, Seoul and Pyeongyang. But it's not all about trying to fit into some larger picture. Today there are scores perhaps hundreds of foreigners helping out their communities not because they want to challenge stereotypes of teachers and expats, but because they think it's the right thing to do. The people named here, and the hundreds of volunteers who weren't, are doing an excellent job making their cities a little bit nicer for those less fortunate than us.

Blue House tour policy makes the papers.

2009-12-09T08:47:00.005+09:00

Well, the Blue House's policy of temporarily excluding foreign tourists and children under 18 from tours due to swine flu makes Korea's English-language papers, anyway. An article by Adam Walsh appeared on the Korea Herald website last night, and in the paper today; an excerpt:

Cheong Wa Dae has been taking heat for its ongoing barring of foreigners and children from daily tours over fears of swine flu.

The policy has been in place for over three months, even though medical experts say banning foreign tourists and children, but not Koreans, makes little medical sense.

A Blue House representative told The Korea Herald the policy of banning foreigners and children is for their own protection. "The policy was made to prevent foreigners from contracting the illness considering that they would have difficulties dealing with the illness in a foreign country."

The English page on the Blue House's website says all tours are canceled for the time being because of the H1N1 flu, but the Korean-language site states tours are canceled only for children and foreigners. It also mentions the increased alert level from the World Health Organization. "Cheong Wa Dae tours are temporarily closed. South Korea has been relatively safe from the pandemic, but infections are worried to accelerate as people getting together like group tour. Sorry for this inconvenience."

The Korean site, however, has a different message. Though it is in the same format pop-up as on the English page, it states that Cheong Wa Dae is closed to children under 18 years of age and foreigners. Korean adults are still allowed to make reservations, but have to wear face masks for tours and if they have any flu symptoms it is recommended that they stay home.

A teacher in Suwon wrote into the Joongang Ilbo on the 8th about those who still consider swine flu a foreigner's disease:

Thus I find it very odd (and a sign of backward xenophobic thinking) that, in their fear of the virus, many people in Korea erroneously believe that one should be extra suspicious of foreigners, as if we are more likely to have it than Koreans. Perhaps that was justified when the virus first appeared in Korea earlier this year, but there is no longer any reason for that kind of thinking. Anyone who rode the Seoul metro or entered a classroom today is just as likely to have H1N1 as any foreigner here.

I was especially appalled to learn today that this backward thinking can be found even at the highest level of Korean society - the president’s own house. According to the Web site of Cheong Wa Dae (the Blue House), foreigners are being temporarily banned from joining tours of the building due to fear of H1N1. So now my students can tour the Blue House, but I cannot because I might have H1N1. This makes no sense.

Of course the denial about the reality of H1N1 in Korea does not help. Korea.net, a Web site run by the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOIS), made the incredible claim in a posting dated Nov. 27 that “most of the South Korean [H1N1] patients were infected with the virus outside of the country”. I guess that means that more than half of my previously-infected students have been traveling abroad on the weekends and in between classes!

As I wrote on Twitter last night, I'm not sure how often newspapers cite bloggers for breaking news, but credit must be given to Gusts of Popular Feeling for first writing about this on Saturday. It's thus no coincidence that the story made the papers today.

Inspired by Gusts of Popular Feeling's post, I wrote about the policy a little on Sunday, looking at other cases of biased measures. The point is not to make a fuss for the sake of making a fuss---I never had any plans to tour the Blue House---or to suggest that it's not the government's prerogative to regulate tours as it sees fit. But, to do so ostensibly to protect against swine flu---or, in the representative's words to protect foreigners against getting swine flu---by excluding all foreigners and visitors under 18 is too limited. From Sunday's post:

The problem with considering swine flu a foreigners' disease and directing measures only at them is at this point, as I think most Koreans will tell you, you run the risk of getting it anywhere and from anyone . . . As far as foreign teachers go, since the summer there's been more a risk of getting sick from their students---especially since students weren't staying home when sick---than from the other way around.

I think rather than being xenophobic or "backward," as the letter-writer put it in the Joongang Ilbo (unfairly, I think), I suspect this might have been due to bureaucratic simplicity. My conclusion on Sunday:

It would be reasonable to exclude foreigners who have arrived in-country within the past week. Rather than prohibiting all foreigners, why not simply make it a requirement to bring a passport with you when visiting and barring entry to those without it or to those, Korean or foreign, who have come to Korea within the past week or ten days? It sounds like somebody decided it would just be easier to keep out all the foreigners rather than checking documents and having to deal with foreign-language conversations.

For what it's worth, here's an article in the Maeil Shinmun from August saying the policy of denying admittance to those with a high fever, those under 18, and foreigners would begin on September 1st.

Skywalkers go to school.

2009-12-08T16:30:00.002+09:00

Saw on the news this morning that members of the Hyundai Capital Skywalkers (현대캐피탈 스카이워커스) men's pro volleyball team visited Bokja Girls' High School in Cheonan on Monday morning. You can find a short news clip here from MBC, and more photos from the Skywalkers' homepage. The man of the hour, pictured above and featured heavily in the MBC clip was 22-year-old Matthew John Anderson out of Penn State University, who held down a "Funny English Class."

In Busan Haps writing about kimchi.

2009-12-08T17:00:00.000+09:00

This textbook takes kimchi seriously.

Bobby McGill of the Busan-based English-language magazine Busan Haps asked me a little while ago to write about the myth of kimchi after, I guess, hearing one too many times that kimchi prevents swine flu or that kimchi will save you money on auto insurance. It appeared in this month's issue in the form of "Kimchi: Is it really all that?" To do a full write-up on that would take 800 paragraphs, not 800 words, and efforts are also hampered by most old articles being subscription only. Nonetheless, it was interesting to look at older descriptions of kimchi by westerners, and I couldn't help but coming to this conclusion:

I don't think it's a coincidence that the myth of kimchi grew at the same time South Korea did---back when it became more than just a country where people were stationed.

Earlier in the article I wrote, looking at earlier descriptions of kimchi by Americans:

Perhaps today's intense pride is an effort to counter how poorly-received it was by foreigners during an era of Korean poverty three generations ago. A 1953 article from the Associated Press said: "Kimchi is something that smells good to Koreans. To Americans, it just smells."

A US army captain was quoted in the piece: "Try to imagine Limburger cheese several stages decayed - and you'll get the idea." Other decades-old articles call kimchi "Korean sauerkraut," "spoiled cabbage," or "jellied, rotten cabbage," and describe it as "highly aromatic" or "pungent." An edition of Lonely Planet not too long ago called it "a reasonable substitute for tear gas."

A quick look at trying to retrieve those articles in a Google archive search shows me they're pay-per-view, nonetheless people with enough time, and ideally with access to articles via a university library, might be interested in tracing descriptions of kimchi in English and noting how kimchi went from merely being a staple of Korean meals to the cultural icon it is among Koreans today. One article I do mention by title in Busan Haps, and one article you should take a look at, is a 1987 New York Times piece, "No Two Kimchis Taste Alike," which should have some familiar-sounding passages; an excerpt:

Culinary authorities hail kimchi as king of the pickles, because it ferments of its own accord, without vinegar. Its fiery juices carry the nation's ''lifeblood,'' cultural historians say. Its glory was certified when the South Korean Government designated kimchi a national treasure. And now, in downtown Seoul, a whimsical 41-year-old scholar named Lee Moon Suk has opened the world's first museum devoted to kimchi - its meaning, its making and, especially, its tasting.

Any way you slice it - and there are hundreds - kimchi is fundamentally cabbage plus a handful of equally humble vegetables, seasoned with red peppers, garlic and ginger. But to people who say that cabbage is cabbage and wonder why this one deserves a museum, Mr. Lee offers only empathy and, perhaps, a sample from the museum's kitchen.

''As a young man,'' he said in a recent interview, ''I was blind to the secrets of kimchi. For years, I studied to be a Presbyterian minister until kimchi changed my life. Today, I am not a reverend but I am still reverent. I carry my gospel to the people in the form of fermented cabbage.''

I don't think it's a coincidence, I'll say again, that we're hearing more about kimchi and it's miraculous powers because we're hearing more about Korea. And I think "foreigners" started to hear more about kimchi and its powers from Koreans around the time Koreans started talking more about their kimchi: right before the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

In the Gwangju News writing about my site.

2009-12-08T16:00:00.000+09:00

KoreaMaria asked me to put together some Top-5 lists about 2009. You can read the piece on page 9---click here and click again to get the .pdf file---but here's a taste of one:

Brian’s Top five personal favorite posts:
5) “McRefugees in Korea.” Looking at the differences between fast food cultures in Asia and the west.
4) “Another ‘ Foreigner’ fail.” One of the most commented-on posts of the year, looked at the use of the word “foreigner” by Koreans to refer to all non-Koreans,
even when those non-Koreans are actually in their native countries.
3) “Lee Charm being blamed for KTO’S old failures.” Two of my favorite topics: motels and bad journalism.
2) “Korean language evolves into Konglish?” Arguing that the overuse of English in Korea is a domestic phenomenon, and that, no, bad English is not an evolution.
1) “Watching test day.” Standing outside a local high school, watching as teachers and family cheer on students before they took the college entrance examination in
November.

I've had 1,145 posts this year, and it's hard to pick just five, but that's what I came up with. Actually, I was asked about maybe doing my five most-popular posts, but I don't really have a way of keeping track. Google Analytics does tell me what my most-visited posts of 2009 were, but not only do I think the numbers aren't accurate---the most-viewed page only had 6,173 visits in 2009?---but I don't really want to share with the fine citizens of Gwangju what my most-popular posts actually were:

1) my main page
2) "Google Korea is upsetting Victorian sensibilities again." - about Google making porn available to innocent Korean youths.
3) "Naked News anchors crying, still not naked."
4) The archive of August, 2008 posts.
5) "Table tennis not sexy enough." - I'm the #4 result for a Google image "table tennis upskirt" search (don't run that search at work).
6) "This delicious snack treat is a Korean-hater's wet dream." - The post about "Ricetard."
7) "'Boys Over Flowers' actress Jang Ja-yeon commits suicide." - The first English-language post on the news, I believe, so it was until that point my most-viewed post ever.
8) "Pretty hot Korean-American actress to star in ABC Family's 'Samurai Girl.'"
9) "'Naked News Korea' under review by standards council."
10) "Wonder Girls and Soulja Boy." - A post from December, 2007, is among my most-popular for two reasons: it was the first, I think, to be linked to by The Marmot's Hole, and it has a picture of the Wonder Girls wearing skirts.

I'm sure most bloggers in Korea find that their most-popular posts are ones with dirty language or sexy pictures, whether that's what their blog's about or not. On the topic of stats, I'll say that most of my hits come off Google searches for "Brian in Jeollanam-do" or something Jeolla- or Korea-related, so that's good. But if I check my stats when I wake up, when about the only visitors are people stateside, I see that most of my hits come off image searches that lead them to pictures of the Wonder Girls, or beach volleyball players, or upskirt table tennis players, or whatever.

In the Joongang Ilbo writing about Misuda's losers.

2009-12-08T15:58:00.000+09:00

"Frankly speaking, short guy is the rujeojeu," she say like that. "I'm preety gull."

Today's piece in the Joongang Ilbo is compiled from comments to the November 12th post "Insecurity makes headlines again as short men are called "losers" on "Misuda" and a July 8th post about an episode bashing foreign guys, "Since those foreign girls put out so much, they might as well go fuck themselves."

This whole issue is, as I see it, less about women speaking up for themselves, and more about insecurity making headlines. It’s a show that’s been built on beautiful foreign women flattering Korean men over the years, yet a few words of criticism are what everyone’s talking about.

Deskwarming coming to Jeollanam-do public schools this winter.

2009-12-08T12:40:00.008+09:00

Here's a bit of news from the NSET coordinator in Jeollanam-do, via Dave's ESL Cafe and a reader:

Last Friday there were meetings in Seoul with the national office discussing winter vacation and for once in Korea they have planned to do the same thing across the entire country. At least that's what the national office directed each provincial office to do.

For you this is not good as our province has always been the best in terms of vacation. You are still entitled to your 26 days vacation so don't worry about that. Where the change is, is when you are not on the 26 days vacation. They will ask you to attend your school to do English camps, extra classes or possibly even sit in your office for lesson prep, professional development (reading a book and sleeping). Thier goal is for you to do camps or high level classes but I'm sure there will be many cases where no students will be available and you may be stuck sitting around.

This is the really bad part. These camps or extra classes you work will not be extra pay as in the past. They feel this is within the contract 22 hours a week you are required to work when not on your 26 days vacation. If you work more than 22 hours you will be paid for the extra time.

Remarkable that when schools finally agree on something, it's this.

Public schools are closed for roughly two months in January and February, save for a few days for graduation. Teachers have often had this time to themselves, but were required to be in Korea when they weren't using the international travel time alloted to them by the contract. Some schools---and EPIK and GEPIK were notorious for this---made their teachers "deskwarm" (that is, come in to an empty school and sit at their desk for eight hours), though as the coordinator points out, Jeollanam-do and other provinces have generally been better about this.

In the past, too, you were generally paid extra for camps. My school in Gangjin never paid me for my three-week camp in 2007, but in Suncheon I was surprised to receive a nice bit of money for a week-long camp.

Teachers used to be able to get out of deskwarming by filling out a form that said professional development would be done at home. As I mentioned in the October thread on contract funny business in public schools---in which we learned schools were deducting pay from previous years---Korean teachers are expected to get work done over the breaks, so it's not unreasonable to expect foreign teachers to do the same: the difference is, of course, Korean teachers can get their work done from the comfort of their own homes. As a native speaker English teacher, though, it's difficult to get too much work done for the next semester, because teachers often don't know who their co-teachers will be and what classes they'll be teaching. Last March I was surprised to find a few new co-teachers on my first day, and the textbook wasn't chosen until a week after the start of the semester.

This latest decision is due in part, as far as I can tell, from schools having inconsistent policies on vacations. Some principals used to insist on deskwarming while others let their teachers have six weeks off. By mandating deskwarming and busy work, in cases where there often isn't anything to be done and where nothing has even been planned yet, places like Jeollanam-do are going to make it harder to attract applicants to rural areas, since that's been one advantage they've had over urban districts. They're also going to upset the teachers they already have by deciding they ought to come into work just in case somebody throws together a last-minute thing. This isn't done to get the most out of teachers, or to put them to work on well-developed programs, it's a knee-jerk reaction by schools who have no idea what to do with their NSETs, a problem that spawned the inconsistencies in the first place. It's hard to believe consistency and efficiency are important when it's decided only three weeks in advance.

Of course lengthy vacations oughtn't be the main selling-point of a teaching job, but this is just further evidence---along with the earlier contract funny business, the SMOE hiring/firing debacle, and salaries that haven't changed much in six years---that's it's no longer a native speaker English teacher's market.

Anti-English Spectrum makes Canadian news.

2009-12-07T13:30:00.003+09:00

I should preface this, a few hours after it was initially posted, by picking up on something my commenters have said. Though I have objections to the way this article was written, credit must be given to the paper for picking up the story. I wish they would have done a little more homework, but now, thanks to them plenty of Canadians will learn about Anti-English Spectrum for the first time, and who knows, maybe other papers will have a look at the little Naver online cafe that, well, isn't so little anymore.

A reader tells me the Naver online cafe Anti-English Spectrum has attracted the attention of Canada's National Post; an excerpt from an article on the 6th:

A group in Korea is taking aim at Canadians and other foreigners teaching English in the country, claiming a high percentage of them have no morals, abuse drugs, rape Korean girls, molest children and spread AIDS.

Robert Brydon, a former Port Moody, B.C., resident who is married to a Korean and has taught in the country since 2005, said he's been stunned by the rhetoric coming from the Anti-English Spectrum Group that targets the 2,000 foreign English teachers in the country.

"I think a lot of Canadians do come to Korea and don't have any idea about the level of influence this group has in Korea," Mr. Brydon, 33, said in a phone interview.

And there isn't much the teachers can do about it: The claims aren't being challenged by the Korean government.

As much as I despite the group and what they do, this article is, unfortunately, another example of how incomplete or just plain wrong people can be when writing about South Korea from overseas. In fact, a little bit of time in front of Google will tell you more about the club and it's activities than two Canadian journalists, a random teacher in Korea, and an ATEK guy can. Just as Kang Shin-who, the worst journalist in Korea's English-language press, was wrong two weeks ago when he wrote there are 43,000 teachers with E-2 visas this year, so too are these journalists wrong when they write there are 2,000 foreign English teachers in the country.

It continues:

In fact, the Korean government recently imposed drug testing and criminal-record checks of foreign English teachers, including those who have lived in Korea for years.

The Korea Times reported that prosecutors are launching a special unit staffed by immigration officials and police detectives, which will specialize in foreigners' crimes.

Those measures started in late-2007, so perhaps recent for foreign observers, but not knew for "generations," so to speak, of teachers coming here. The National Post article doesn't make clear which Korea Times article it's talking about, though presumably it's this one from October 27th; an excerpt:

The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said Tuesday it has launched a new investigation unit specializing in organized crime committed by foreign gangs.

The unit is to collect intelligence on ethnic gangs and other organized foreigners engaged in illegal activities, that have sprouted up around the country in recent years, and take countermeasures in cooperation with the police, tax agency and immigration office, it said in a statement.

The unit had its first meeting at the prosecution headquarters in Seoul, Tuesday morning, with senior officers from the Ministry of Justice, National Police Agency, Tax Agency and provincial prosecutors’ offices participating.

“This is a response to growing calls to make a unit against foreign offenders whose number is on the rise,” said Cho Young-gon, the senior prosecutor commanding the unit.

The Korea Times has essentially become a tabloid with noticably poor standards of journalism and editing, but it's worth nothing that while articles often take the opportunity to bash foreign teachers when crime comes up, this one doesn't. In fact the article was pretty clear it's not looking at teachers:

A source from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said those from Nigeria, Pakistan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh account for the majority of foreign criminal groups. The source added they collect funds by running illegal casinos and brothels, and by engaging in the drug trade and loan sharking.

The article continues:

The group's members recently started making death threats to teachers; he said he went to the police earlier this week to report a threat.

"It's getting a little ridiculous," Mr. Wurth said. "They're giving out a lot of bad information about foreign teachers. It's going to be a long fight."

It hasn't been made clear, however, that the death threats came from a member of Anti-English Spectrum. The group denies it, of course, and the original email refers to the group "Kill White in Korea." I'm not disputing that ATEK members actually received them, but I do question whether they actually came from a Korean or from another foreigner upset with both groups.

The Anti-English Spectrum is driven by hate and xenophobia, and is clearly not committed to raising the quality of education in South Korea. I don't follow the Canadian media and don't know what kind of reputation or influence the National Post has (Wikipedia makes it seem not much better than a tabloid). It's just a shame such an opportunity to introduce this group to Western media was hampered by lazy reporting in an article that doesn't even say what "the level of influence this group has in Korea" actually is.

I'll recommend these posts from the blog Gusts of Popular Feeling for background:

* "The achievements of Anti-English Spectrum"
* "How to make foreign English teachers an AIDS threat in 5 easy steps"
* "The 'undisclosed crimes' of potential child molesting foreign English teachers"
* "Puff piece about Anti-English Spectrum"

I provided my own summary in September. Here's another piece from Gusts of Popular Feeling providing supplemental information to the piece he wrote in the Korea Herald last month. Both that article and Adam Walsh's "Blurring line between hate, free speech," which ran in the Herald on the same day, would be good places to start for any overseas journalist looking for some background.

Assemblyman Hwang Woo yea on the cost of native speaker English teachers.

2009-12-07T11:25:00.000+09:00

The other day Robert Koehler sent me an article from the local paper Gwangju Dream (광주드림) talking about the high cost, as one lawmaker sees it, of native speaker English teachers. Assemblyman Hwang Woo yea (lol, 황우여), the Secretary-General of the Grand National Party (한나라당) objects to native speaker English teachers taking up so much of the education budget:

영어 원어민보조교사 확보를 위해 쓰이는 비용이 영어교육관련 예산의 60%를 차지하는 등 원어민 보조교사 채용에 문제가 있다는 비판이 제기됐다.

He also goes on to say that there is the problem of them committing crimes after hired.

국회 교육과학기술위원회 소속 한나라당 황우여 의원은 1일 보도자료(2010년도 교육예산안 심의)를 내고 “현재 영어보조교사 확보에서 EPIK(교과부 산하 국립국제교육원)를 이용해 확보한 영어보조 교사는 18.8%에 불과하다”며 “이에 자질이 부족한 원어민 보조교사가 선발되거나 선발 후 범법행위를 하는 등 문제가 되고 있다”고 지적했다.

The Gwangju paper goes on to talk about Gwangju, saying there are 130 NSETs in Gwangju's public schools, among whom 89 are hired through EPIK. The ratio of native speakers to schools is 44.2%, much lower than other areas such as Seoul (101.3%), Gyeonggi-do (98.2%) and Busan (91.7%), though of course many teachers in Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, and elsewhere work at two or more schools. Statistics we saw in October said Jeollanam-do---not including Gwangju---has the fewest number of NSETs in the country, though we saw those stats were wrong.

The expense of using so many native speaker English teachers is a great burden on local education offices, the article says.

문제는 특정 지역에 원어민들이 몰려 있는데다 원어민 확보를 위한 교육청 비용 부담이 크다는 점이다.

　광주시교육청은 원어민 영어보조교사 한 명당 연 4000만~4500만 원가량 지원하고 있다. 여기에는 입·출국 지원금, 퇴직금, 주거비 등이 포함된다. 시교육청은 원어민 등급을 1+에서 3등급까지 등급을 나누는데 1+ 등급 원어민 영어보조교사는 한 달에 260만 원, 3등급은 190만 원 가량 받고 있다.

The yearly cost is 40,000,000 won to 45,000,000 won, according to the Gwangju Office of Education, with monthly salaries being between 1.9 million won and 2.6 million won. The article closes with Hwang talking about using Korean English teachers proficient in spoken English instead of NSETs because the latter have not fulfilled expectations:

황 의원은 “지역 교육청별로 영어교육 편차가 크고 원어민 보조교사 교육 형태와 기간도 달라 효과적인 연수가 이뤄지지 못하고 있다”면서 “원어민 강사 대안으로 영어회화에 능한 한국교사들을 확보해 활용하자는 의견이 대두되고 있다”고 주장했다.

Talking about native speaker English teachers in Korea requires more sophistication than is often shown by those who do the talking on the subject. For instance, the remarks on native speaker English teachers by Seoul National University of Education's Lee WonKey at the 2009 Global English Teachers Association International Conference last month---some of which I've typed out on the post "Are native speakers part of English here?"---bothered a lot of people, me included. The post has 46 good comments so far, objecting to Lee calling English an American language, to him talking about "unqualified" NSETs, to him saying NSETs don't want to go to rural areas, and to him wanting to replace NSETs with Korean English teachers.

He also brought up the expense of hiring so many, saying in the plenary session:

Employing native-speaking English teachers who are not sufficiently qualified to teach English in Korea is a lot more costly than training Korean English teachers to be competent in English and English teaching methodology. To employ one foreign teacher we need to pay expenses twice more than employing two new Korean teachers. In addition, to employ foreign teachers is a yearly task, because once they finish their contracts many go home (and some even do so before they finish!). In contrast, once Korean teachers are trained and qualified with some initial investment, they will not incur extra cost until they retire. Training Korean teachers is more economical. And well-trained Korean teachers can do better in ELT than most foreign teachers.

Lee didn't cite his source for that information, and in a discussion on English in general I don't think he should be expected to. However, talking about money vis-a-vis native speaker English teachers is a little tricky, and one that doesn't boil down to simply numbers.

In November 2007, in probably my first lengthy rant on this blog, I loooked at a letter to the Korea Times that was full of misinformation on NSETs. Kang Eun-hee*, a teacher at a middle school and at the time a student at Korea National University of Education---wrote a piece "Korean English Teachers" which spouted all kinds of bullshit and which demonstrates the profound ignorance many have of who NSETs are and what we do. Read the whole thing if you'd like---and my follow-up in the Times as well as my more explicit blog post---but here's the excerpt relevant for today's post:

In the long run, the expansion of intensive training programs for Korean English teachers is more urgent financially, than the employment of native English teachers.

Additionally, Korean English teachers are aware of the importance of the quality of English education and the emotional effect it has on the students.

We will probably waste the national treasury in the long term, unless the government invests a lot more in training Korean English teachers rather than depending on the temporarily employed native English teachers.

The yearly cost for employing one native English teacher is approximately 45 million won in our school. The amount is almost as much as the gross income of a 25-year veteran Korean teacher (excluding the pension).

American English teachers accept many financial preferences. They are exempted from income taxes for two years and the rate of the pension and the health insurance is lower than ours.

Even the overtime pay is different. While they earn 20,000 won per teaching session, we get only 6,000 won. This is comparable to the 13.5 million won a trainee at the Korea National University of Education (KNUE) gets for six months.

One year intensive English training programs seem to be enough because we've already learned a lot about the methodology, grammar and reading from our former education. That means only two-thirds of the expenses for one native English teacher can create high value.

Going tit-for-tat is a bad idea because there's really no comparison. From my blog post in November, 2007, which responds to Kang:

One day I started to wonder if the temporary employment of native English teachers could fulfill our expectations: I have arrived at the conclusion based on my experiences.

In the long run, the expansion of intensive training programs for Korean English teachers is more urgent financially, than the employment of native English teachers.
Yes, training Korean English teachers does make sense. Though I do work with some wonderful people this year, I have encountered my fair share of dumb-fuck English teachers in the past two years, and am convinced that these unqualified teachers---who do the lion's share of English teaching anyway---do much more damage than the comparatively few inexperienced foreigners.
Based on what one of my coteachers has told me, it looks like there will be more opportunities for Korean English teachers to have intensive language and education training. According to him (so not sure how true it is), teachers have the choice to spend a semester studying at a university in Seoul, or spending a semester abroad. For teachers in Jeollanam-do, they have the opportunity twice a year to spend a month attending a training seminar in Damyang county.
Additionally, Korean English teachers are aware of the importance of the quality of English education and the emotional effect it has on the students.

Oh shit, she all done up and done it. If I may be so bold, I will suggest that a vigorous public smear campaign against foreigners and foreign English teachers has been more detrimental to the emotional well-being of Korean students than any of their imagined offenses. Based on what follows in Kang's piece, I would also suggest that "emotional effect" is another way of saying "kids are afraid to speak English (because I will hit them) so don't make them talk."

We will probably waste the national treasury in the long term, unless the government invests a lot more in training Korean English teachers rather than depending on the temporarily employed native English teachers.

The yearly cost for employing one native English teacher is approximately 45 million won in our school. The amount is almost as much as the gross income of a 25-year veteran Korean teacher (excluding the pension).
*Sigh* No need for hyperbole. Hiring white people will not waste the national treasury. Building a cross-country canal will do that. Relocating the capital from Seoul to Chungcheongnam-do will do that. Hell, ridiculous and misguided spending on poorly planned English Towns will do that. A foreigner in every school probably won't do that.
I dislike talking about money and salaries, especially when it comes to comparing mine to my Korean counterparts. There are too many factors worth considering. I get free airfare. They get holiday and performance bonuses. I get accommodation. They sometimes do, too, and they earn a higher salary. I have less work (sometimes), but they have more vacation time. I don't know what she's talking about with the 45 million figure, but I'm almost positive it's wrong. Even if my apartment were to cost a staggering million a month---which it doesn't, thanks to 전세---and even if you factor in the cost of a round-trip ticket, that hypothetical foreigner would still earn $200 more per month than me, and $600 more than a rookie. (I didn't figure in deductions like health care.)
I suspect what happened is she included other aspects of the budget, including the cost of creating and maintaining a "language lab," into that figure. Every school I've been in has had a fancy language lab, filled with computers, books, different listening devices, and a big TV. (In all of my schools, though, the equipment in the lab has been inferior to that found in other rooms). Anyway, it's unfair to include the cost of a language lab or an English Camp when calculating salary, especially when so many contributors to a Korean teacher's salary are left out. I hate pissing contests like that, and I really wish it weren't such an interesting topic of conversation for some.
American English teachers accept many financial preferences. They are exempted from income taxes for two years and the rate of the pension and the health insurance is lower than ours.
Again, she has her wires crossed. I think any minor financial advantages are offset by things like not receiving performance bonuses, or adequate yearly salary increases, or not getting bribes, etc. And I'm not sure why she singles out American teachers. I have no idea about the pension or health care figures, though.
Even the overtime pay is different. While they earn 20,000 won per teaching session, we get only 6,000 won. This is comparable to the 13.5 million won a trainee at the Korea National University of Education (KNUE) gets for six months.
The 6,000 won figure is wrong. The 13,500,000 figure, when divided by six, is comparable to what a foreign teacher receives each month. At just over 2.2 million per month, that's more, in fact, than many experienced teachers stand to earn.
One year intensive English training programs seem to be enough because we've already learned a lot about the methodology, grammar and reading from our former education. That means only two-thirds of the expenses for one native English teacher can create high value.
Again, I agree that training Korean teachers is a smart idea. I'm not sure we can talk about value, yet, because it will be necessary to hire foreign teachers for these Korean trainees. What she's talking about sounds similar to what's already in place. Some foreign teachers in Jeollanam-do, for instance, spend 9 or 10 months a year teaching in a public school, then spend a month or two training teachers in Damyang county.
I don't want to be (too) mean, but let's not overvalue the training in methodology, grammar, and reading the Korean teachers have already received. I don't deny that some are very enthusiastic about their subject. But, with few exceptions, the methodology consists of reading aloud from a textbook, of translating the day's lesson into Korean, and of punishing students who happen to get in the teacher's way. The myth of the Asian grammar expert is unfounded, in my experience. It's true that Asians study grammar throughout their school years, but do they actually learn it? I have a decent understanding of grammar---I've forgotten a lot since college---and I've never met a Korean teacher who has stumped me or who has known something I have not. Hell, some of them have been studying English longer than I've been alive. Moreover, how many Koreans have you met that could produce even the simplest grammatically-correct sentence?

To get back to today's post, just looking at numbers is a bad idea, especially when they're incomplete. There are high costs associated with hiring native speaker English teachers, and when they're not used to their fullest potential they are inefficient. Moreover, if you ignore what supply-and-demand means to the business, it's easy to forget why the cost are what they are. But when talking about these high costs, if you're going to include airfare, housing, and severance when talking about NSETs, you'd also better include the costs of regular training programs, English-Only rooms, textbooks, and expensive toys like the eAMS-200** when talking about Koreans.

Discussions about training opportunities, as alluded to by Hwang, Lee, and Kang, came up in page four of this Dave's thread on the GETA International Conference. I mentioned, like I did in response to Kang, that in Jeollanam-do Korean English teachers do attend month-long intensive English sessions at the Jeollanam-do Educational Training Institute in Damyang county, and are able to attend sessions over winter and summer breaks. Moreover, teachers are able to do a half-year intensive program at Korea National University of Education, with a month of study at a university overseas. All of my former coteachers attended camps in Damyang, and one of my co-teachers capped a half-year session in Chungcheongbuk-do with a month at Michigan State University. I was also told that if teachers would like to obtain a Master's degree from a university in an English-speaking country, the government will pay half the cost.

When I posted about Damyang in December, 2007, I liked this quotation from another teacher down here:

So my last week of school and first week of holidays, I was at a camp teaching Korean English teachers how to teach English. Rather ironic considering they have had 4 years of Uni to learn how to do this and I have had none... but anyway.

I talked with coworkers about these Damyang sessions several times. It was a convenient discussion topic because sometimes these mandatory month-long sessions toook place in the middle of the semester. Anyway, though they found the training a bit inconvenient since they were away from their families five days a week, the teachers generally had a good time. However, everyone I talked to came to the same conclusion: the lessons weren't practical for their own classes because

1) Their students aren't interested in speaking English.
2) Their students' English levels aren't good enough to understand spoken English.
3) The activities they learned in Damyang can't be applied to large class sizes like those in public schools.
4) Teachers must follow and complete the textbooks and teach toward standardized tests, and don't have time to waste on speaking English.

That I heard the same thing so many times ought to tell you that if spoken English is to be taught in public schools, they need native speaker English teachers to do it.

Again, the biggest source of the challenges faced by NSETs and by those who hire them is the lack of planning and support that accompanies them, and a lack of vision for their success. It sure is inconvenient to import teachers every year with no idea what to do with them and no intention of using them to their fullest potential. Eventually it would make sense, as Lee suggested in his speech, to use NSETs mostly as teacher-trainers while Korean English teachers do the bulk of the work, but clearly we're not ready for that yet. Hell, don't forget Korean English teachers do the bulk of the work already: in Suncheon I saw each class once or twice a month. But just as it's bad to write-off NSETs based on ignorance and misinformation, so too is it wrong to champion these training sessions that haven't yet provided results. If you talk frankly with teachers you'll find they think these intensive programs neither convenient nor useful and that boils down to the same issues that plague the native speaker English teacher experiment: no planning, no support, no direction, and no vision.

* An example of a Korean with an unprofessional email address. If you're a Korean English teacher trying to argue that native speaker English teachers aren't effective, please don't use an email address like "fungus55."

** Not sure how much this costs when new, but I've found used versions for 400,000 won and 700,000 won while searching Naver. Not terribly expensive, but a lot to play for something that never gets used.

Korean champion weightlifter wants tall man, big fucking deal.

2009-12-06T14:40:00.001+09:00

Looks like the Korea Times is trying to start shit by focusing on some comments made by Jang Miran (장미란), an Olympic gold medalist and multiple world record holder. Here are four out of the six paragraphs in a Korea Times article today:

Jang, who is a single, currently doesn't have a boyfriend. She attributes it to the lack of opportunity to mingle with people. Her daily training regime is very tight. But then, another culprit, she pointed out, is people's tendency to regard her as a "female weightlifter" first, and a woman second.

Jang, who is a pious Christian, wants to find a man who is a Christian as well. "Hopefully, he is taller than me," she said.

Jang's remark in the interview that she prefers a tall man, while otherwise a common sentiment expressed by females, comes at a sensitive time in Korea. Recently, a female college student made a guest appearance on the KBS2 TV talk show, ``Misuda,'' (Beauties' Chatterbox). She dropped a bombshell by calling short men ``losers,'' adding she would date one.

A torrent of furious letters stormed the broadcaster that aired the popular TV show. The Internet forums were full of enraged males.

According to Naver, she's 170 cm tall, 115 kilograms, or 5'8" 253 lbs. Hardly surprising that she'd want somebody taller, considering she's taller than most Korean men as it is.

Looks like the Korea Times, which I've noticed lately hasn't had the balls to put names to many of their articles, is trying to start controversy where there isn't any. For what it's worth, here's the Dong-A Ilbo article in question, and clearly the Times is cherry-picking with their headline "Jang Says Her Ideal Man Should Be Tall." The Times is of course refering to the thing last month where some random Korean college student called short guys "rujawjeu," thereby spawning a word sure to make my list of most-hated English words in Korea this year. While it is a little strange that Koreans obsess over height so much considering they've been historically short, I think most women you'd ask would like a man who is relatively tall. Regarding the "sensitive time" and "bombshell" mentioned in the Korea Times article, I don't want to waste much space here on the bullshit that has been the Misuda episode---more on that coming Tuesday---but I will just quote from another Times article last week:

In a popular television talk show, a tall college coed said, "Height is a measure of competitiveness. I think a man who is short is a loser." She added that a man must stand at least 180 centimeters in order to be a potential date for her.

As a result, short men walked with their heads bowed in shame.

Fuck that, I go about 5'8" 150, and am not going to be bowing my head in shame because of a no-name Korean woman using unnecessary English. The reaction to that episode says more about insecurity of the men who like the program, men who are used to being flattered by beautiful foreign women, than it does about women being more outspoken. I'm just waiting for the day when a white guy goes on TV and says he doesn't date Korean women without curves. I wonder if that'd require a warning to Americans from the US Embassy this time around:

Recently, inflammatory sexual content was posted to a website for English language teachers in Korea. That posting together with subsequent postings were taken by some to demean Korean women. We have noted recently, strong reaction in the form of web postings threatening attacks in the vicinity of Hongik University and the Sinchon area against Americans and other foreigners who speak English. All Americans and their families (especially young adults) are encouraged to exercise prudence and caution when visiting these neighborhoods. The Embassy advises that inappropriate social behavior in public may be seen as provocative by Korean nationals.

Foreigners excluded from Blue House tours because of swine flu.

2009-12-06T13:25:00.002+09:00

An interesting post on Gusts of Popular Feeling, which shows that although the Blue House's English-language page says tours of South Korea's executive office are temporarily closed, the Korean-language page says the tours are still on but that children under the age of 18 and foreigners are not permitted to take it.

I've said elsewhere that I think South Korea has done a pretty good job of responding to swine flu. In April, when the Korean Centers for Disease Control announced preventative measures

The best method is prevention. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.

Also, try to avoid close contact with sick people. If you feel sick, the government recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

I joked that there were no preventative measures available to Koreans since they never cover their mouths, never wash their hands, and never stay home when they're sick.

I quoted the blogger Places and Words in September about some "insanity" at her school which typified the scene in lots of places:

I'm not so sure what the feel is back in the states, but all of the Koreans around me are acting I-N-S-A-N-E. They are constantly worried about swine flue, but they aren't actively doing anything to prevent the spread of it, or even the spread of any other virus such as the common cold. There's still no adequate soap in bathrooms, none in the bathroom at my school. No one covers their mouths to sneeze or cough. I've never ever seen any of my students wash their hands at any time throughout the day. They brush their teeth at least ten times but never wash their hands. They share everything- lollipops, chopsticks, apples-which isn't a bad thing but when you're worried about a pandemic, well, I guess you should practice a bit more caution. There is mandatory quarantine for anyone who's left the country. That's 7 days one is supposed to stay confined to their homes. However, in my city at least, myself and all of my friends have confirmed that none of the Koreans have taken the quarantine and showed up to work the very next day after they returned from a trip abroad. My own co-teacher told me they don't have to worry as much because it is a virus from the Mexicans and not from Koreans. And she's an 'educated' woman! A friend emailed today to say they are temperature checking all of the students that walk through the front gate at his school, but they are not changing the cover on the thermometer.

In my experience people are still coughing on each other and occassionally still coming to work when sick, but there are hand sanitizers everywhere, signs encouraging people to wash hands, and public awareness campaigns about handwashing and staying home when sick. A big improvement of hygeine in a short time, and it's kept the number of deaths at a fraction of that in North America.

I've said that I think Korea has done a good job of responding to swine flu, but the catch is Koreans have done a poor job of responding to the threat of swine flu. It was at first treated as a foreigners' disease, as were the preventative measures aimed at them: a large hagwon chain wanted to take the passports away from its foreign teachers, another chain announced it didn't hire infected foreign teachers (yeah no shit), foreign teachers were considered swine flu targets, foreign teachers were being quarantined while Koreans were not, and in May I collected some responses from teachers asked about flu by their schools. From commentor Robot Mike:

Apparently some of the parents at my hagwon have been phoning up enquiring about us and swine flu even though we have been in the country for 11 months.
Then my really nice former workmate joked something about my love of Kimchi being the reason why I haven't got the flu yet.
It's like they think Korean people are naturally immune to it or something.

And from commenter Stuart:

I was also quizzed over the phone yesterday,They asked me if I had been out of the country recently.

They only asked me, not any Korean person in my school.

I have to seriously question the logic behind these checks.

I read on Facebook about a friend's school that let a Korean teacher come to work and teach even though his son was home sick with swine flu, and we read this story on Dave's:

My friend went to Thailand for summer vacation. Upon his return he was given a 3 day quarantine period by his principal. During the 3 days he was supposed to watch videos at home and make question sheets and tests for the teachers to use in class. Well, the principal didn't trust him to do the work at home, so she told him he had to come to school and do the work in one of the classsrooms. Then, while he was at the school working on these resources, he noticed one of the Korean teachers was there teaching her classes. He thought this was odd because he had seen her in Thailand when he was on vacation. He asked the principal why he had a "quarantine" and she did not need one. The answer; because she is Korean and ate Kimchi on her vacation, she can not be sick.

Be sure to read through all the comments on those earlier threads and to browse through the "Swine flu in Korea" category for more.

In November I posted about Chonnam National University posting this sign on their Language Education Center

barring entrance to people who had been overseas within the week. An understandable concern perhaps, though the sign was posted only on the Language Education Center building, one used most frequently by foreigners. I looked at follow-up preventative measures at the university, including use of an Automatic Thermal Imaging Camera and locking all other entrances to the building in order to require visitors to use the main entrance.

A measure not only dangerous but found only in this particular building, not in other high-traffic areas such as dorms, cafeterias, or the library.

The problem with considering swine flu a foreigners' disease and directing measures only at them is at this point, as I think most Koreans will tell you, you run the risk of getting it anywhere and from anyone. Many fall festivals were cancelled because the government encouraged organizers to cancel events that were to attract more than 1,000 visitors over two or more days, and posters all over the place encourage people to avoid crowds (ironic, of course, when you see the signs on city buses). As far as foreign teachers go, since the summer there's been more a risk of getting sick from their students---especially since students weren't staying home when sick---than from the other way around.

It would be reasonable to exclude foreigners who have arrived in-country within the past week. Rather than prohibiting all foreigners, why not simply make it a requirement to bring a passport with you when visiting and barring entry to those without it or to those, Korean or foreign, who have come to Korea within the past week or ten days? It sounds like somebody decided it would just be easier to keep out all the foreigners rather than checking documents and having to deal with foreign-language conversations.

Korean Google Korea is here.

2009-12-06T09:37:00.002+09:00

The "more Korean Google Korea" is here, at Google.co.kr.

Rubber Seoul 2009 concerts on December 5th to mark World AIDS Day.

2009-12-04T15:51:00.002+09:00

2009 Rubber Seoul promotional poster, from the official blog.

Jason of Kimchi Icecream tells me about Rubber Seoul 2009 happening at three Hongdae clubs in Seoul tomorrow, December 5th, to mark World AIDS Day. Below you'll find a Rubber Seoul press release and the musician line-up, but first is a short introduction from Paul Kerry's Korea Herald article:

To mark World AIDS Day, Little Travellers and Medi peace are holding three simultaneous rock concerts in Seoul tomorrow to spread awareness about the illness.

Last year saw a similar event. More than 1,000 people attended, raising 12 million won ($10,000) for the Little Travellers organization.

The event will be held at Jane's Groove, FF and DGBD, in Hongdae. The EV Boys, Rock Tigers, Gogo Star and Sotto Gamba will be among the dozen or so bands performing. Wristbands are 10,000 won.

The money will go to the Hillcrest Foundation, which helps women affected by AIDS in South Africa.

You'll find more information about the events, including a speech by Benjamin Wagner, in that article. The Rubber Seoul 2009 Facebook group has information about the performers:

10,000 Won will get you a Little Traveller doll as well as unlimited access to the clubs until the wee hours of the morning. ALL proceeds from the cover charge will go to support the Hillcrest AIDS Center in South Africa.

So, save the date on Saturday, December 5, 2009. It's gonna be an awesome night.

We have three clubs lined up, and here's the band line up:

JANE’S GROOVE (Doors open at 8:30 pm)

9:00 pm Brick Slipper
9:45 pm Bridget and the Puppycats
10:30 pm EV Boyz (Minus One)
11:00 pm Sotto Gamba

CLUB FF (Doors open at 9:00 pm)

9:15 pm The Koxx
10:00 pm Pony
10:45 pm Gogo Star
11:30 pm No.1 Korean
12:15 am U R Seoul
1:00 am - 6:00 am DJ Eddie's Super-Fun Rockin' Dance Party!

DGBD (Doors open at 11:00 pm)

11:15 pm Solitaire Love Affair
12:00 am Tacopy
12:45 am Rock Tigers

Get ready for a great time and to help some people out!
Don't forget to invite all of your friends.

And now an excerpt from the November 26th press release:

On the evening of December 5th the event “Rubber Seoul” will be taking place in Hongdae for its second year running. As well as to raise money the event is being held to remind people to have safe sex. This is a very important issue since the Korea Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 99% of the new cases of HIV/AIDS found in 2008 were transmitted sexually.

What Rubber Seoul is offering is access into three of Hongdae’s most vibrant clubs: Janes Groove, FF and DGBD and be able to see some of Seoul’s hottest bands, all for a tiny 10,000 won. If that’s not enough, you will also receive a Little Travellers doll to take home with you. Last year over 1000 people came out in Hongdae to join in Rubber Seoul and we raised an astonishing 12 million Won. Which really helped improve women’s lives in Africa. So don’t miss out on this years event, come along have fun and help us to help others.

Also on December 5th Medi peace are offering an interactive discussion with expert opinions. Not only will they address the dangers and medical facts surrounding AIDS but also the wider social issues such as the discrimination that people with AIDS live with and how we can change the stigmas attached with AIDS. It is of pivotal importance that AIDS ceases to be ignored and viewed as an irrelevant problem in Korea if the steady spread of the disease is to be halted. So come along and join in the discussions.

Boseong Tea Plantation Light Festival, December 11th - January 31st.

2009-12-03T16:30:00.001+09:00

The Boseong Tea Plantation Light Festival (보성차밭 빛의 축제) will run from December 11th, 2009 through January 31st, 2010. Here's a picture from the fields in December, 2005:

And another look at the fields covered in snow:

You'll find plenty more pictures here, though the ones from the 2010 festival are of course done on a computer. The fields will be lit up from 5:30 pm to midnight each day. According to the Gwangju bus terminal site, buses run frequently to Boseong:

6:10 6:40 7:15 7:50 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:15 20:00 20:40 21:40

If you live in Suncheon, you can use the same website but select 순천 from the drop-down menu. Buses run to nearby Boseong county pretty often. There are then buses from the Boseong-eup terminal, and from Boseong Station, to the tea fields, though the Boseong county website doesn't provide a timetable.

I saw Korea.net put something up on this a couple days ago---before I published this, but after I post-dated it---so let's see what wonderful news they bring:

Boseong, the green tea capital, will present the nation's largest green tea field tree, which will strike a beautiful image of Boseong into the hearts of all its winter guests. Those who visit the festival will wish to stay longer in Boseong and participate in all the events, rather than merely passing through.

I'll reuse last year's post and write that should the image of a tree strike your heart in some way, and should you want to spend the night and see the tea fields again in the day, there are a few motels in town, as well as a ton of more expensive pensions.

GFN looking for input.

2009-12-04T15:45:00.000+09:00

I'm posting this on behalf of Lee Joohyun with GFN 98.7FM, Gwangju's English-language radio station, who's looking for interesting people to talk to on her "City of Light" segment. She's looking for expats in the area "closely working with non-governmental organizations" or with experience working with and organizing with human rights organizations or community service programs. She invites you to email reporterj at gfn.or.kr or to call 010-6202-9799 if you're interested.

I'll open it up and add that GFN would like to hear from any expats doing interesting things in their community. I've made fun of GFN in the past for being more an English-practice station than an English-language one, working more toward making Gwangju look international than toward actually reaching out to an English-speaking audience. Hell, remember their slogan contest? But one way to combat that is to get more involved and make GFN more relevant to the community. A radio station won't be the main source of information for expats here, but that doesn't mean it can't be used to its fullest potential by gaining more participants.

Are native speakers part of English here? Your thoughts on the 2009 GETA International Conference.

2009-12-03T16:00:00.002+09:00

I saw this post on Dave's ESL Cafe last month, refering to the 2009 GETA International Conference held at Honam University in Gwangju on November 21, 2009:

Yesterday in Gwangju I attended the Global English Teachers Association (GETA) symposium. The title was 'Transforming Learners, Teachers, and the English Classroom.

This was recommended to me as a professional development conference. For Native English Teachers it was anything but.

From the first presentation to the last NETs were bashed. Within the first hour a reference was made to crimes being commited by NETs. There were a few laughs during the day at our expense, and the overall purpose of the day seems to be to make the argument that monies would be better spent training Korean teacher's rather than recruiting and hiring NETs.

One discussion group was held entirely in Korea (although it was an English conference.) The topic of that presentation? 'Transforming ELT in Korea.'

This was not a small break out group - this was one of two late morning discussion groups. Native English speakers who were already seated in the auditorium were told to attend the 'Transforming ELT in Asia' discussion panel.

The fact that the Transforming ELT in Korea panel was held in Korean shows exactly how much input NETs have in the discussion.

There were a few interesting presentation in the afternoon during the break out sessions. These were mostly by grad students presenting their research. But the overall theme for the day was that NETs are bad for the development of teaching English in Korea.

The original poster mailed the conference's booklet to me, and I've typed out the first part of the plenary session below. Titled "Transforming ELT in Korea" by WonKey Lee (이완기) of Seoul National University of Education, this portion is called "Transform, Transcend, and Reform":

A former head of the Samsung Group remarked that one should transform everything except one's wife and one's children. But today I wish to go one step further than he did. I will leave my wife alone, but I will argue that we do need to transform our children and their English learning, because English learning is going to be a more and more important part of transforming them.

Why transform our children? Briefly, because the world that our children will grow up in is growing up too. Like our children, the world is no longer stable, but rather meta-stable, like a bicycle in which every working part has been replaced many times, or like the human body itself. The body only remains what it is through a process of constant transformation. This constant transformation necessarily changes every cell of the body not once but many times. Similarly, in a meta-stable world, only constant transformation can ensure survival. Staying put, or hanging around, means decay and disappearance. As Dewey said, if we go on teaching today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of their tomorrows. I will talk about this somewhat less briefly below.

But why transform English learning? Briefly, because learning English as a FOREIGN language in a world which is using English as an international language means staying put and hanging around, decay and disappearance. If we go on learning English as a FOREIGN language in a world where it no longer plays the role of a language spoken by American and British people in faraway places, then we rob our children of their tomorrows.

But what exactly does "transform" mean? As every English teacher knows, meanings are only exact in exact contexts. But exact contexts can be very hard to explain. This is why, of course, our teachers find it generally easier to replace an English word with a Korean one rather than to define an English word in English. The dictionary meaning of 'transform' is 'to change completely in form, appearance, or nature.'

Here I'm going to use my English word "transform" to mean both of the two other English words: "transcend" and "reform."

By "transcend", I really mean to totally demolish the existing system and make another different system by going beyond the limits of the current system.

For example, I mean teaching English as a global language and not as a FOREIGN language at all. Now, in our context, in the Korean context, that means that we need to think of English as a new Asian language, a trans-Asian lingua franca, and not as an American one. After all, English was not originally American either! But English was transformed from a European language into an American one, and now it is being transformed again. This transformation will mean demolishing the existing system of English, and of English teaching, and making a very different system.

And the word 'reform' is defined as 'to improve by changing or removing undesirable quantities. By "reform" I mean to partially add something new or change some parts of the existing system so that it can be regarded as different or improved from the previous system, like replacing the parts of a bicycle or replacing old cells with new ones.

For example, I mean that we need to replace "native-speaking English teachers" with Korean bilingual teachers. After all, we can't depend forever on those expatriate native- speaking English teachers for English teaching in Korea. When we replace "native-speaking English teachers" with bilingual Korean natives we will have teachers we can count on for life.

He mentions native speakers again, a few pages later:

As English becomes a lingua franca, or an international language, the status of English as a foreign language, that is, as the native language of a group of foreigners, will also diminish. That is, the status of English as a second language, or lingua franca, may keep increasing. As a result, "nativeness" in English accents may also decrease, and also the native English speaker as a model may also decrease in importance or status. That means competence in English is likely to be favored over nativeness. Thus, it becomes not important or necessary to try hard to resemble English native speakers in speaking English. Meaning-deliverability in a reasonably intelligible pronunciation, and meaning understandability will be essential for the use of English language for communicative purposes.

A variety of local accents in using English may be appreciated, and will be no problem if meaning delivery and meaning-getting take place successfully. Thus, competent bilingual speakers of English will probably increase, as more and more young learners start to learn English at their early ages. People may not need to go to English speaking Western countries to learn English, because they can have easier access to English and more opportunities to learn English in their own country or in their neighbouring countries.

And again a few more pages later:

There are a great number of native-speaking English teachers in all levels of schools as well as in private sector institutes across all Korea. Most of them have been doing a great job in teaching English in Korea, but some of them clearly have not met our initial expectations. Many, for example, do not want to go to provincial areas where they are really wanted because of the inconveniences of life there and the lack of cultural benefits. Chasing money or seeking pleasure in Korea instead of being dedicated to ELT is undoubtedly a problem. So now, it's getting more and more difficult to employ well-qualified teachers.

Employing native-speaking English teachers who are not sufficiently qualified to teach English in Korea is a lot more costly than training Korean English teachers to be competent in English and English teaching methodology. To employ one foreign teacher we need to pay expenses twice more than employing two new Korean teachers. In addition, to employ foreign teachers is a yearly task, because once they finish their contracts many go home (and some even do so before they finish!). In contrast, once Korean teachers are trained and qualified with some initial investment, they will not incur extra cost until they retire. Training Korean teachers is more economical. And well-trained Korean teachers can do better in ELT than most foreign teachers.

So, it is necessary and desirable to reduce the number of foreign teachers every year, and to invest more budgets in training Korean teachers in improving English proficiency and teaching methodology. We can't rely on native-speaking English teachers forever. We are planning to replace native-speaking English teachers with competent, bilingual Korean teachers of English in the long run. Then, only highly qualified native-speaking English teachers could be invited in a smaller number, and be used as teacher trainers of Korean English teachers.

Certainly it makes more sense to simply train local teachers rather than import thousands. And, if spoken English is to take a backseat to grammar and reading---which it does---if the skills NSETs are brought in to teach aren't considered important or highly-regarded---and they aren't---and if NSETs aren't respected and appreciated as professionals---'cause they aren't---then yes, it's simply more efficient to train Korean English teachers. Though I hate to see that conclusion arrived at by misinformation and distortions.

I will say again, not for my longtime readers but for the benefit of any Koreans who come here, that the biggest reason some teachers "clearly have not met our initial expectations" is because of the lack of planning and support that has accompanied them. Schools and co-teachers, now several years removed from the introduction of native speaker English teachers, still do not know what to do with them. I recall asking a co-teacher at the beginning of the semester what she would like me to teach, and she said "[the previous teacher] gave them candy." It's true that many NSETs are new and inexperienced, but remember that we are hired as native speaker assistant teachers, and are supposed to work in tandem with experienced Korean teachers. Then consider that these teachers are often not proficient or even basically competent in the language, and that some shirk their duties by not attending class with their assistant teacher and not attending the mandatory teachers' workshops.

Regarding attracting teachers to rural areas, as a person who spent a year in Gangjin county, I can attest that not even Korean teachers were happy about being there. In fact, when I was there the school chose not to use me, because it was phasing out native speakers in favor of using homeroom teachers to teach English, even though these teachers knew nothing of the language. And in some rural areas, there aren't even English teachers at all, and another subject teacher has to cover the English classes. The difficulties of attracting foreign teachers to rural areas has more to do with bureaucratic ineptitude than with the challenges of rural Korea.

For the benefit of Korean readers who have not visited my site before, I'll direct you to some links here where I've written more about the challenges native speaker English teachers face.

* (12/2/2009) In the Korea Herald, writing about mandatory culture classes for foreign teachers.
* (6/26/2009) Korea Herald: Just what makes a teacher "qualified"?
* (6/15/2009) Not enough applicants for those "English Lecturer" jobs.
* (6/5/2009) Seoul wants English classes to be taught in English, will give TEE certs out.
* (5/13/2009) Korea Herald: The media bias against foreign teachers.
* (5/6/2009) 12% of native speaker teachers in Ulsan not retained.
* (5/1/2009) Korea Times: Foreign teachers wrongly portrayed in Korea.
* (4/7/2009) Korea Herald: Stop the scatter-shot approach to English.
* (12/30/2008) Half of foreign teachers leave after one year? GREAT! That's an article that should be brought up every now and again, because a MOE official in charge of native speaker English teachers says
``They are neither regular teachers nor lecturers who can conduct classes independently. They are `assistant teachers,' hence their teaching experience doesn't matter much,'' he said. ``Rather, it's better for students to have more new teachers so that they can meet various kinds of foreigners,'' he added.

* (12/10/2008): Poor guy.
* (11/24/2008): EPIK in the news some more.
* (11/21/2008): 4,000 "English Lecturers" coming in 2010.
* (11/14/2008): A must-read: an account of teaching English in South Korea in the sixties.
* (10/6/2008): More money going into English education next year.
* (9/11/2008): More English-Only classrooms, more gimmicks.
* (6/23/2008): Pronunciation matters.
* (11/28/2007) A reaction to Kang-Eun-hee's "Korean English Teachers."

You'll find links to other articles within those posts. And that's without addressing schools who don't honor contracts.

I've exchanged a few emails with the original poster, and I quote, with permission, part of the reply:

It was as bad as I posted. The written stuff is tame. I am not exaggerating when I say that by the end of the first session a presenter had made reference to NETs committing criminal acts.

When the last presenter said, 'We shouldn't be so hard on the native English teachers, some of them are doing a good job.' I knew I had missed a bunch of NET slamming. Also, the break out session on improving ESL teaching in Korea was held in Korean - I wonder why?

I have never felt so uncomfortable at a gathering of academics in my life. And I have 10 years of working in a research environment under my belt.

It's been en vogue for a while to discuss the "myth of the native speaker" in literature on second-language acquisition, so I'm aware of the arguments against using native speaker English teachers. Indeed, at the TESOL Conference last month the plenary speaker there, too, referenced native speakers backpacking across Asia. The author makes a good point that English is a global language, and shouldn't be treated as a foreign one---thus one only studied as a subject not a language---but I don't like divorcing English from its speakers. I wonder if the "myth of the native speaker" turns up in literature on teaching other languages, or if it's written by "foreigners" that, say, disregarding polite speech in Korean or Japanese is appropriate.

Teachers here soon learn that English as we know it isn't taught in South Korea, but rather English is studied as a subject. It's a rude awakening to see just how separated English is from its speakers in Korea, and that native speakers in the schools seem more tolerated than valued. I can't say I'm surprised to see Koreans speaking out for the need to replace native speakers---after all, with the new tests, the new lecturers, and the Indians, the writing's on the wall---but I think it's inappropriate for an "academic" conference that, although I put it in quotation marks, had Korean professors from all over the country. Just as foreign attendees question "why am I here?" at discussion panel conducted in Korean, so too might native speaker English teachers as "why am I here?" in a system that doesn't seem to want them.

More hubs coming to Jeollanam-do.

2009-12-03T13:00:00.000+09:00

"The southern coast of the Korean Peninsula will be developed into marine resorts and health hubs," writes the Joongang Ilbo.

Hallyeo Haesang National Park will gain an international resort complex, while Dadohae National Park will host a marine sports center, the ministry said. The two marine parks account for a fourth of the entire southern coastal area.

Gangjin, Boseong and Wando in South Jeolla will be developed into health and retreat centers, it said.

The article continues with plans for many other spots in the country.

There are a lot of plans in the works for the area---building a new capital in Muan, a "Tourism and Leisure City" in Haenam, Formula One racing in Yeongam county, the Expo in Yeosu, the International Garden Expo coming to Suncheon, Naju becoming an "Innovation City," 등---and all of the titles seem like a way to spread the development around. And in the spring the government said it will allow hotels to be built inside these national parks. Of course, the purpose of developing those island parks is to increase eco-tourism, something diminshed by increased development. Indeed, the development seems to run counter to the aims of the 2012 Yeosu Expo; from Korea.net last year:

The main reasons Yeosu's theme and bid appealed to judges is the growing sense that we humans are depleting the ocean's resources and causing rising sea levels and coastal disasters. Yeosu itself embodies harmony between development and conservation -- a beautiful port city surrounded by some 300 beautiful islands and the miles upon miles of picturesque coastline and seas within the vast National Hallyeosudo and National Archipelago marine parks.

I wrote "more" hubs in the title because not only is "hub" a popular buzzword in Korea, but Gwangju already calls itself the "Hub City of Asian Culture" and was designated the Global Hub of Kimchi Research (believe it or not there was some competition). Last September we read about another plan to separate the country into various hubs, each with its own specialty:

According to the Korea Times last year,

Southwestern Jeolla Province is to be developed as a center for culture as well as renewable energy development and other green growth-based businesses[.]

And before that there was talk of a "mega economic zone" down here; From the Chosun Ilbo last May:

The government will start building a mega economic zone on the south coast later this year by grouping Mokpo in South Jeolla Province, Busan and other southern cities. Tentatively named the Sun Belt economic zone, it will have as big a population and economic power as the Seoul metropolitan area. The government will subdivide the area into three zones: Busan, Mokpo and southern central zone, which clusters together six cities and counties in South Jeolla Province and South Gyeongsang Province. The economic zone will house industrial complexes and research and development parks.

And before that, seven development zones; from the Chosun Ilbo in January, 2008:

The plan is to group 16 large cities and provinces into five economic zones -- a central metropolitan zone (Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province), a Chungcheong zone (Daejeon and the Chungcheong provinces), a Jeolla zone (Gwangju and Jeolla provinces), a Daegu-North Gyeongsang zone (Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province) and a southeastern zone (Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province) -- plus two special zones for Gangwon Province and Jeju Island.

Each zone will be managed by a headquarters with planning, coordination and financial supervisory authority and will get receive subsidies from central government for management of various projects and coordination of policies and programs with cities and provinces under its jurisdiction. This will create separate local economic municipalities.

The committee is thinking of making the central metropolitan zone a hub of international finance and state-of-the-art industries. The Jeolla zone would link the Saemangeum project with tourist, leisure and corporate cities on the southwestern coast, such as Gwangyang and Yeosu. The Chungcheong zone would become a science-technology-education-R&D-bio belt. The Daegu-North Gyeongsang zone would become an energy, electronic and textile industries hub, the southeastern zone a shipbuilding-machinery-maritime-cultural industrial area; the Gangwon zone a tourist and medical hub; and the Jeju zone a tourism hub.

Meanwhile, the committee said construction of the Jeolla regional section of the KTX bullet train line will be completed by 2012, a year earlier than previously scheduled, to galvanize the economy in this part of the country, and to start construction of a new international airport in the southeast, either in Milyang, South Gyeongsang Province or in Busan, as early as 2009. New third-generation ports will be built in Saemangeum, Gwangyang and Busan, together with highways linking the economic zones and highway belts around large cities.

High school junior's cleavage attracts attention.

2009-12-03T09:30:00.002+09:00

The Korea Times writes on some controversy around a website using a busty high school junior as a model.

The decision to cast an 18 year old high school girl to appear in a collection of sexually-suggestive photographs has caused a dispute on the Internet over the suitability of using a teenager in these images.

Applemilk Communications (www.hellokind.co.kr), a publisher well-known for collections of photos of amateur models, announced Monday that it has selected Choi Eun-jung, a high school junior, as one of two models who will be featured in the third edition of its ``Kind Glamour'' photo series.

I checked and Naver lists her date of birth as 1991; often in Korean papers the age listed will be two years higher---18 in Choi's case---because of the Asian age-reckoning system. The HelloKind page doesn't seem to be working now and instead just has these two pictures (Choi is on the right).

Googling around shows its specialty is busty women in bikinis and lingerie, and I wonder if it's any coincidence that "Kind"---in addition to being an English adjective" also means child in German. The article continues:

``The domestic photo collection market has been growing fast but the quality of models has been sliding, failing to meet public expectations,'' said Shim Young-gyu, president of Applemilk Communications. ``We focused on young models this time.''

It is the first time in three years that a high school girl has been picked as a model for the collection of photos in which models pose in revealing attire. In 2006, Lee Ji-yeon modeled for a collection of sexually-suggestive photos at the age of then 17.

The selection of Choi is drawing criticism from some netizens on Web sites. ``It's not right to pick a teenager for these types of pictures,'' said a netizen with the username ``muse.''

However, Shim said current laws do not ban high school girls from appearing in these shoots.

Well, in spite of the headline "Selection of Highschooler for Glamour Model Causes Stir," it looks like the Korea Times is merely advertising for the site. After all, the "stir" comes from one lone netizen, expressing a fairly generic opinion.

James Turnbull of The Grand Narrative last night on Twitter reminded me of the story from January of semi-nude photographs of a 14-year-old model and the controversy it caused in Korea. As a language aside, "glamour" (글래머) in Korean means busty, but has a different meaning in English.

And on Chosun.com last week, pictures of Chinese high school girls in bikinis.

Koreans marrying foreigners more often.

2009-12-02T07:54:00.003+09:00

The article "More Koreans seek foreign spouse for 2nd marriage" was in the Korea Herald last week, citing statistics that show marriages between Koreans and foreigners are becoming more common, especially among those Koreans marrying for the first time.

More Koreans opted for foreign spouses when marrying for the second time, the national statistical office said yesterday.

According to Statistics Korea, the number of Korean men who married foreign women stood at 28,163 last year, more than quadruple the number nine years ago. Of them, 9,930, or 35 percent, were remarried, up from 24.6 percent back in 2000.

The percentage of Korean women remarrying foreign husbands also increased from 36.4 percent in 2000 to 41.5 percent last year. In 2008, a total of 8,041 Korean women married foreign men, up 72.6 percent over the cited period.

The article goes on to say the number of Korean men married to foreign women is seven times the number of Korean women married to foreign men.

On Twitter a couple days ago I wrote

Great. Leftovers.

Which in hindsight was kind of mean. But, I wasn't thinking about the change in attitudes toward divorce---which in September was 58% higher than last September---or to greater tolerance of foreign men with Korean women, but I was instead reminded that many of these "international" marriages are unhappy. The Herald article continues:

"Korean men preferred women from China or other Southeast Asian countries after their failed first marriage, while Korean women chose men from developed countries such as Japan and the United States," said an official at the agency.

Say what you want about a "failed" marriage, but I'm reminded that mail-order marriages are increasingly popular in rural areas among men who are otherwise unmarriable: men living in sparsely populated areas, men in undesirable industries, older men, men with physical disabilities or mental handicaps. It would be interesting to look at why Korean men are turning to foreign women from China and Southeast Asia. Is it because they're, for a number of reasons, easier?

In April we read that divorce rates around the country are decreasing, in part because of

a mandatory system under which couples are required to take a one- to three-month cooling off period.

(what?), but divorces among Koreans and foreigners are up. The Hankyoreh writes:

Experts are interpreting the rapid rise in divorces among international couples as having a direct correlation with the large increase since the 1980s in rural South Korean men’s rate of international marriage. The number of marriages between South Korean men and foreign women, which was 6,945 in 2000, roughly quadrupled to 28,163 marriages last year. During the same period, South Korean women’s rate of international marriage nearly doubled as well, increasing from 4,660 marriages to 8,041.

An article from 2008 says that the divorce rate among interracial marriages is 41%, and says that four out of five couples were married less than four years.

I'm reminded of numbers that say 46% of foreign women in Jeollanam-do want to divorce their Korean husbands, or that 80% of foreign women surveyed in 2005 said they wouldn't marry a Korean again:

A survey by the Corea Image Communication Institute released yesterday has some interesting observations on cross-cultural communications and romance. Perhaps the most eye-opening was that eight out of 10 foreign women with Korean spouses said that they would not marry a Korean again, while over half the foreign men said they would go looking for another Korean woman to marry.

Browse the rest of the "International marriage" category for more articles.

In the Korea Herald, writing about mandatory culture classes for foreign teachers.

2009-12-02T08:37:00.003+09:00

In the Korea Herald today writing about a proposal by a politician to make culture courses mandatory for foreign English teachers. An excerpt:

When Cho talks about "better knowledge of Korea" and "Korea's culture and practices" what does he mean? He might be surprised to learn that public school teachers often undergo mandatory orientation sessions and seminars already, though unfortunately for them they focus not on teacher training but rather, well, on "Korea's culture and practices." When I attended a week-long orientation in 2006, I sat through many lengthy presentations on topics such as musical instruments, holidays, and funerals, and through several redundant talks on "Korean culture" reminding me that kimchi is spicy and that Korea has four distinct seasons. There was nothing, though, on lesson planning, classroom management, or on the expectations of NSETs. Anecdotal evidence shows my experience is not unique, and that teachers consider sessions poorly-planned, impractical, and condescending.

A lot has been written about these courses already. I did a post on November 26th

However, that "most foreign teachers in the nation do not have enough of an understanding about Korea's culture and practices"---if you want to even say that's the case---is due, I think, to the ambiguous role native speaker English teachers play in Korea. No planning has gone into how we are used, there is no curriculum in place for us to follow, little to no cooperation with and from Korean English teachers, no ultimate goals or vision of success. It's easy for things to be chalked up to misunderstandings, but that neglects to account for schools having no idea what to do with us, and with coteachers often not understanding how to use a native speaker English teacher. Differences in culture and teaching styles need to be approached from both sides. A classroom where students are talkative---if a little boisterous---might be considered poor classroom management by a Korean teacher or administrator, while a teacher-centered classroom that is quiet through the use of corporal punishment might be considered a success.

and there are threads on Dave's ESL Cafe and ExpatKorea. Both those threads will given an overview of teacher opinion to the plan, which, truth be told, was only reported by KBS. Kang Shin-who, the worst journalist in Korea's English-language media, covered it the next day, writing that "Foreign Teachers Unenthusiastic Over Culture Course," even though the president of ATEK says right there in the goddamn article

"This is a great idea, if it's done right."

Here is a quick overview of comments to Dave's; from isthisreally:

I think they'd be better off providing actual teacher training than teaching me how to pour a drink for my boss.

from thefarns:

I think that most newbies would volunteer for the courses if they were offered. However, I don't have confidence they would be practical, and it sounds to me like a money grab for somebody.

From VanIslander:

Most times I speak to my coworkers or korean adult students about some aspect of korean history I learned about in my travels (e.g., the Japanese forts on the east coast, some with stone walls mostly intact going down to the sea) or some place I visited (e.g., Bogildo where a famous artist spent 10 years and wrote poetry on stone or the village near Hadong where the great Korean novel Toji/Land was written and a yearly festival honors) I CONSTANTLY GET BLANK STARES AND COMMENTS LIKE 'I DON'T KNOW'.

From JohnFlory, referring to Kang's incorrect statistic about E-2 visa holders:

If they're free and convenient why not? But I think Kang sabotaged this article, trying cause outrage among the Korean readership, first with the bogus statistic, and second, with the supposed cultural hostility of English teachers, quoted by exactly one teacher who was opposed to the idea.

From Cerberus:

Almost everyone here that works in a Korean public school for e.g. picks up on various aspects of Korean culture much faster and more in depth than anything that could be explained by a course. Besides, the so called "traditional Korean culture" that is always talked about by the older set and in such courses bears little relevance to today's younger Korea which is all about bbali, bbali, plastic surgery, K-pop, and other aspects of a modernistic and consumerist/materialistic society with a healthy touch of group think and tribalism mixed in.

And fermentation:

This wouldn't be a bad idea if it wasn't run the Korean government.

Browse the rest on your own.

There are many points I couldn't get to in today's Herald piece, and Ulsan Online hit on one of them:

A good number of foreigners I’ve met during my tenure here, some I even call friends, have desperately needed some form of cultural training. Or at the very least some manners classes.

That is a good point. I won't say "a good number" or "most" English teachers do one thing or another, but we've all met people who lack the maturity or professionalism to be a teacher. But would week-long culture courses do anything for these people? I'll just quote my comment to his post:

When the bulk of the NSETs you hire are fresh out of college and don’t have much job experience, let alone teaching experience, the potential for moronic behavior and insensitivity is high. But then again, some of the worst teachers I’ve met here haven’t been 22-year-olds, but have been in their thirties, forties, and above, some even with the advanced “qualifications” so touted.

I think a lot of this needs to start during the hiring process. If you’re interviewing somebody on the phone—if you even bother interviewing them at all—and they don’t display any eagerness to teach in Korea and work in the system, then don’t hire them. More importantly, if they don’t display any eagerness to LEARN, then don’t hire them. Perhaps it’s time for the industry to grow up beyond being a place for a year of “cultural experiences,” or whatever, as most recruiters currently advertise.

That goes back to the quality versus quantity dichotomy, and of course Korea has opted for quantity. It has nothing to do with "qualifications" or an understanding of culture, but with maturity and a fitness for the job. A lot of bad apples could be weeded out, excuse the mixed metaphors, by a more stringent interview process. I'm not talking about a five-minute interview in broken English at the embassy before getting a visa, I'm talking about employers finding candidates ready to teach, learn, and live in Korea.

In that comment and in the Herald article I made reference to how recruiters advertise for jobs, and I make the connection between their considering Korea to be a place to travel, and the treatment of teachers as tourists by administrators. Looko at the recruiter Park English, for example, as I did in May; here's how they advertise:

Why Korea?
-Annual salary of US $24-35K at 30 hrs/wk
-Renewable 12-month contract
-Gain international experience while enriching students lives
-Safe, modern country with the highest investment in private education in the world
-Intriguing language, rich culture and central location for continued travel in Asia
-Great ongoing positions available year-round
-FREE furnished housing, FREE round-trip airfare, paid holidays, health insurance coverage, etc.
-Save up to $15K/year

I get that not everybody comes to Korea simply to teach, but when twentysomethings are attracted with ads like this, can you really bitch and moan about "qualifications"?

Another point I left on the cutting room floor was to question who would be organizing these sessions, and who would decide what's taught? Because if it's anything like the meetings I've sat through, it would be thrown together last-minute, with a Korean English teacher forced to read off the powerpoint for forty-minutes. And seeing the "cultural tips" that have come out so far, I'm not encouraged. These sessions must be organized by, and organized for, native speaker English teachers, and must be led almost entirely by experienced teachers who know the NSET experience.

Theh original KBS article on Cho's plan was only five sentences long, so there's a lot left to the imagination. I suspect what may be motivating Cho is foreigners not understanding Korea's education culture, and how to behave in school. We commonly make fun of "misunderstandings" that arise when contracts are changed or ignored, or get bent out of shape with last-minute changes, or are outspoken about overtime or our apartments, and so forth. We also struggle with making ourselves relevant and useful in school, trying to teach spoken English to a class of 40, trying to cope with co-teachers who don't come to class, and trying to deal with a reality different from our expectations based on the job ads. Forget about kimchi, this is the stuff we need to learn about. Walter Foreman brought up some good points in a comment on Monday:

With all the discussion that's been going on surrounding the proposed mandatory Korean culture classes for English instructors, I've started revisiting some of the cultural awareness information already available for English teachers in Korea. One area that struck me as being of particular importance is the low context/high context difference between the two languages (and thereby cultures).

As an example of this difference, ATEK's "The English Teacher's Guide to Korea" recounts the story of the teacher coming to Korea who didn't know enough to actually get a visa with his visa issuance number. Said teacher was then upset with the employer for not passing on sufficient information when he arrived in Korea without a visa. Said employer was upset with the teacher for not having sufficient information.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons for a perceived failure by NESTs in the Korean public school system. The schools/school boards expect the incoming teachers to know what to do without being told and the incoming teachers expect to be told what to do.

Which is why I wrote, revisiting in today's Herald piece a theme I bring up all the time:

The word he uses in his title is "practical," and the orientation sessions mandated thus far have been anything but. And what's "practical," what's vital for native-speaker English teachers, is an understanding of the Korean classroom and how they fit into it. I've written numerous times that most of the challenges that accompany NSETs are due to the lack of planning and support they receive and to the ambiguous role they fill in the system, and any new training session needs to address these concerns.

2009-12-02T07:47:00.003+09:00

A 20-meter-high Christmas tree tower went up in Gwangju's Yangrim-dong last night, near the dormitories of Honam Theological University. Nice picture by the Kwangju Ilbo.

Christmas Nanta Performance in Suncheon.

2009-12-02T07:15:00.000+09:00

From 10 Magazine's Jeolla event calendar comes news of a Christmas Nanta Performance coming to Suncheon. It will be held at the Suncheon Culture Arts Center (순천문화예술회관), with one performance on December 24th at 8:00 pm, and performances on Christmas at 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm. Tickets are 44,000 and 55,000 won, and there's a little more information here, in Korean. Here's how the Korea Tourism Organization introduces Nanta:

'NANTA' figuratively refers to reckless punching as in a boxing match. 'NANTA' is a non-verbal performance of free rhythmical movements that dramatize customary Korean percussions in a strikingly comedic stage show. Integrating unique Korean traditional drumbeats in a western performance style, NANTA storms into a huge kitchen where four capricious cooks are preparing a wedding banquet. While cooking, they turn all kinds of kitchen items - pots, pans, dishes, knives, chopping boards, water bottles, brooms and even each other- into percussion instruments.

Here's the official site, and Google will be your friend for more information.

The M-word

2009-06-30T20:34:00.010+09:00

I collect uses of "the _________ of Korea" on this thread---Tongyeong is the Naples of Korea, for example---and we've all witnessed the overuse of the word "hub." But in reading up on Jeju's new English education city, I realized there's another word to keep an eye on, a synonym people sometimes use here to give the h-word a break. What follows is a list, by no means exhaustive, of the various meccas of and for certain things in Korea, planned, imagined, or implemented.

* Apgujeong-dong - Mecca for fortune-tellers' cafes (1)
* Apgujeong-dong - mecca for young trend-setters (1)
* Bucheon - comic book mecca (1)
* Busan - Asia's movie mecca (1)
* Busan - ocean tourism mecca for Northeast Asia (1)
* Changwon - Mecca for eco-tourism (1)
* Changwon - Mecca for science and culture (1)
* Changwon - Mecca of bicycle (1)
* Cheonan - mecca of contemporary art (1)
* Cheongdam-dong - Seoul's mecca for fashion-savvy hipsters (1)
* Chuncheon - animation Mecca (1)
* Chungmuro - Mecca of movie making in Korea (1)
* Daechi-dong - mecca of private education in Korea (1)
* Daegu - Mecca of Asian musical industry (1)
* Daegu - Mecca of knowledge-based industries (1)
* Daehangno - theater mecca, underground culture mecca (1)
* Daejeon - mecca of call centers (1)
* Daejeon - Mecca of space industry (1)
* Dongdaemun - Fashion mecca (1)
* Dongdaemun Stadium - Mecca for high school baseball (1)
* Edae-ap - mecca for beauty salons (1)
* Gangnam - Mecca for real estate speculation (1)
* Gimpo Airport - Kimchi mecca (1)
* Gimpo Airport - shopping mecca (1) (2)
* Gocheong-dong domed stadium - new baseball mecca (1)
* Gumi - Mecca for cell phone production (1)
* Gunsan - mecca for migratory bird watching (1)
* Gwanghwamun - Mecca for Korean soccer (1)
* Gwangju - Asian mecca for culture and arts (1)
* Gwangju - World Mecca of kimchi (1)
* Gyeonggi-do - a Mecca of cutting-edge industries second only to Silicon Valley (1)
* Hallyuwood - Asian entertainment mecca (1)
* Hantaek Botanical Garden - Yongin's horticultural mecca (1)
* Hoehyeon stamp shopping center - mecca for stamp collectors (1)
* Hongdae - mecca for clubbers (1)
Now, at 10 clubs in the area that play hip-hop or techno dance music, if you look like you may be a GI you must show identification to prove that you're not one before you can enter. And some other bars in Hongdae -- such as "Elvis" and "Doors," ironically -- have even banned all foreigners.

* Hongdae - mecca for tattoo artists who majored in fine art (1)
* Hong-ik University - the mecca of avant garde art in Korea (1)
* Icheon - Mecca of Korean ceramics (1)
* Insa-dong - a mecca for tourists seeking a taste of traditional Korea (1)
* Insa-dong - Seoul's cultural mecca (1)
* Itaewon - Seoul's restaurant mecca (1)
* Itaewon, alley behind Hamilton Hotel - mecca of fine-dining (1)
* IT Venture Tower - mecca for information security and non-memory semiconductors in Korea (1)
* Jangheung - Mecca of Korean Literature (1)
* Jara-do - Korea's camping mecca (1)
* Jeju - East Asian mecca of medical tourism (1)
* Jeju - Mecca for world peace (1)
* Jeju - Mecca of English education (1), (2)
* Jeju National Museum - the Mecca of research on island cultures (1)
* Jeonju - mecca of Korean cuisine (1)
* Jongno - mecca of jewelry industry of Korea (1)
* Kongju - Education mecca for ethnic Koreans (1)
* Korea - Mecca of cosmetic surgery (1)
* Korea Maritime University - Mecca for mariners (1)

* Milyang - Mecca of the arts (1)
* Muju - mecca of sports and scenic settings for the global community (1)
* Muju - Mecca of Taekwondo (1)
* Myeongdong - mecca for luxury items (1)
* Myeongdong - tourist mecca (1)
Min Byung-hwa, design manager for Koolhaas, said, "The common belief about their being a relationship between the skirt length and the economy seems to be true," adding that, "people tend to go for cute and active styles that take their minds off the faltering economy."

Min continued by saying that, "the 'school girl' look, which cropped up last Fall, has also fueled the popularity for the mini-skirt boom."

* Namhae - sports Mecca (1)
* Naro Space Center - Mecca for Korea's rocket development and space exploration program (1)
* New York City - a Mecca for the Dokdo campaign (1)
* Nonhyeon-dong - mecca for stylish furniture (1)
* Osong Complex - Mecca of Asia's biotech industry (1)
* Pagoda Cinema - mecca for the gay community (1)
* Pyeongchang - mecca for local skiiers (1)
* Pyeongchang - Winter sports mecca, and hub (1)
* Pyeongchang - Winter sports mecca of Asia (1)
* Pusan International Film Festival - mecca of film (1)
Calling any cultural event a “Mecca” for its fans is one of the more tired cliches in journalism. However, for PIFF, the cliche has often been strangely appropriate.

* Rodeo Street in Munjeong-dong - hot shopping mecca for Southeast Asian tourists (1)
* Seogwipo - sports Mecca (1)
* Seoul - cultural mecca (1)
* Seoul - design Mecca (1)
* Seoul - Mecca for Oriental Medicine (1)
* Seoul, between Gyeongbokgung and the Han River - Mecca of culture (1)
* Seoul Plaza - Mecca for candlelit rallies (1)
* Seoul's convention belt - convention Mecca (1)
* Seoul's gallery belt - Mecca of culture and art (1)
* Seoul's waterfront towns - Mecca for business and tourism (1)
* Seoul's World Cup Stadium - shopping mecca (1)
* Seun Sagga and Cheonggyecheo 8-ga - shopping Mecca for porno from 1970s to mid-1990s (1)
* Songdo - mecca for knowledge and information-based industries (1)
* Sookmyung Women's University - world Mecca to train English teachers and experts (1)
* South Korea - e-sports Mecca (1)
* South Korea - Mecca for internet gaming elite (1)
* South Korea - mecca of the semi-conductor industry (1)
* South Korea - mecca for young Koreans (1)
* Suwon - mecca of Korea's electronics industry (1)
* Teheran-no - mecca for high-tech start-ups (1)
* Wondang Ranch - mecca of milk cows (1)
* Yeoju - mecca for product distribution (1)
* Yong-In University - mecca for Taekwon-do education in Korea (1)
* Yongsan - electronics Mecca (1)

Yes, I did LOL at some of these, and I nearly pooped my pants when I found this article, about the Business Mecca Advisory Group warning that Korea has a ways to go before becoming a "hub":

Foreign chamber of commerce officials and Korean officials involved in investment promotion work issued a warning yesterday that Korea’s vision of becoming a “Northeast Asian business hub” faces some daunting obstacles.
The group put out a statement under the rubric of the Business Mecca Advisory Group, a body set up by the JoongAng Ilbo, the parent paper of the JoongAng Daily.
“We send our support for the vision of the Korean government and the efforts of the Koreans to make Korea a Northeast Asia’s Business Hub,” the group said, adding that there had been “remarkable improvements in the business environments” since the financial meltdown of 1997-98.
But to get there, the group said, a lot of work was necessary. Leaders of the American, EU, Japanese, Australia-New Zealand and Canadian chambers of commerce, Korea’s investment ombudsman and the head of an investment promotion agency are among the group; it also includes a former Korean ambassador to the OECD and the chief executive of Owens Corning Korea.
The group dismissed, as part of its “friendly suggestions,” the concept that Korea could succeed in becoming a regional hub by being “as good as” its competitors. Capitalizing frequently for emphasis, the group’s report said, “Only when Korea provides significantly better conditions so that as a New Business Mecca, it could rechannel the flow of foreign investments toward itself.
“Among others,” the group said, “Korea should be made the Most Open; the Least Taxed; and Financially the Most Deregulated; and the Most Transparent.”

12/01/2009 Odds and ends.

2009-12-01T12:00:00.003+09:00

I'm not crazy about link lists, but hey, whatareyougonnado? I don't feel like writing a bunch of different posts:

** A family of four was found dead in their Gwangsan-gu apartment last night, looks to be a murder-suicide.

** The Kosin University Christmas Tree Festival opened last night, and the Chosun Ilbo has a picture.

** Yesterday a Shinsegye Department Store in Seoul was promoting "opposite Christmas."

The theme was “opposite Christmas” - hence the upside-down Christmas tree and green Santa Claus outfits. The event was cohosted by Good Neighbors, an international humanitarian organization, and the American clothing retailer Gap.

You don't get it: Korean Christmas is "opposite Christmas."

Choi Yeo-jin and some children, from Newsen.

** James Turnbull at The Grand Narrative writes about Korean women's backsides. I was this close [indicates with fingers] to writing "looks at Korean women's backsides." I'll repost an excerpt of my comment:

I’ve always wondered—but haven’t paid enough attention to—how the backside is used in Korea, and whether it’s considered something attractive or comical . . . In all seriousness, it’s an interesting topic, the way the rump is viewed in Korea, and whether it’s considered something capable of being sexual, or if people here are just imitating that rendering from stuff they’ve seen coming out of the west.

Definitely deserves more attention.

** In probably unrelated news, there's a SexyBack phone (섹시백폰). South Korea's random tagline generator spat out "New Sexy Trend."

** @koreangov, the second-best writer of 2009 behind Gusts of Popular Feeling, recently started a blog. His latest entry is a tour de force listing many of the English slogans used by Korean cities and townships. The English name is help forigner understand about Korean place ,and other countrys people's can
get interest about there. Jangheung-gun is have POWERFUL JUMPING GREEN JANGHEUNG Have you ever heard about Janhueng-kun? you can enjoy many beautiful things in there.

** subfluent has a different take on the "Re-Education Camps" one lawmaker has proposed for foreign teachers here. I'll be writing more on that topic tonight.

** Shanghai is "wiping out 'Chinglish'" ahead of the 2010 Expo. Jeollanam-do's Yeosu is getting the Expo in 2012, and I wonder if such efforts will ~~be able to be finished in only two years~~ take place there. It's not news, but I just saw it on Aruba2Korea yesterday.

** 2010 is the "Year of Kazakhstan" in Korea. Just stop.

** There's a limited-edition Hines Ward laptop being auctioned on eBay, with all proceeds going to Hines Ward's Helping Hands Foundation. I love Ward, but I chuckled at this comment:

Does the Hines laptop criticize your anti-virus hard drive every time you get a virus, noting that other hard drives play through malware, trojans, and viruses all the time?

That Korean Hines Ward helmet.

2009-12-01T11:35:00.002+09:00

In a post on November 16th about Hines Ward's charitable work in Pittsburgh and for biracial Koreans, I mentioned that a line in a local write-up caught my eye. Regarding a piece going up for auction last week in the Deshea Townshend Black & Gold Art Show:

Hines Ward had his South Korean kids, who visited a few weeks ago, paint Korean words on his helmet.

Here are a couple pictures of the helmet from Steelers.com under "2009 Deshea Black & Gold Art Show," although they're hard to see:

Though he's in the news now for maybe suggesting starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ~~not teach Dennis Dixon how to throw back-breaking interceptions~~ play on Sunday instead of sitting out because of a concussion, he recently went to school with an eighth-grader and wrapped-up a Thanksgiving dinner in Pittsburgh. There's a write-up here

Tyler was among the families from the Salvation Army Homeless Family Crisis Center and Steel Valley Corps who were treated to dinner by Ward at his restaurant, South Side 86, on Thanksgiving Day.

“They are all so excited,” said Salvation Army Major Asenath Clark. “It’s an opportunity of a lifetime for them. This is a time when they can come face-to-face with the Steelers. They will never forget this experience. This is a real blessing.”

This is the second year that Ward has served up Thanksgiving dinner for families, providing the meals which were cooked by Big Mamma’s House of Soul. And there was plenty to go around, as everyone had full stomachs and smiles on their faces as the plates were cleared.

“I have a lot to be thankful for,” said Ward. “I have been here for 12 years. I enjoy doing it, just giving back. Being in a position to give back is great. It gives you a sense of feel good to do something positive for people who may not be in the best position to do it themselves. It’s special to sit down and enjoy it with them, and enjoy everything about Thanksgiving.”

. . .

“Hopefully we bring a little enjoyment to their Thanksgiving,” said Ward. “Pittsburgh has given me so much. I can’t repay everyone back, but this is my way of helping, bringing excitement to them on Thanksgiving.

and you can find pictures of the event here on Steelers.com.