Seoul to Phase Out Native English Teachers [HERE]
Most native English-speaking teachers in about 300 high schools in Seoul could lose their jobs next year. In its budget for 2012, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education cut about W4 billion (US$1=W1,126) for 225 native speakers teaching at high schools.
If the budget is approved by the city council, most of the high schools in Seoul except for 30 English "immersion" and international schools, can no longer afford a native speaker.
Currently 1,245 native speakers teach English conversation at primary and secondary schools in Seoul, 895 of them subsidized by the city office of education and the rest by the city government or district offices.
"A native speaker earns on average W42 million a year, and we concluded that they are not effective enough to justify the cost," a spokesman for the city office of education said. "A survey conducted for us showed that Korean teachers with outstanding English and teaching skills are more effective in the long term."
The office also plans to reduce the number of native speakers teaching at elementary and middle schools from 2013.
Students from low-income families will likely bear the brunt of the policy. "Students from well-to-do families may find lessons from native English-speakers dull because they've been attending private tutoring institutes since they were young," an education official said. "But those from poor families should be given the opportunity to learn English with native speakers at school." He added it is "too early to reduce the number of native speakers as long as Korean teachers aren't good enough to replace them."
Students Prefer Korean English Teachers to Native Speakers [Nov 30th 2011]
Korean students prefer to be taught English by Korean teachers with outstanding English conversation and teaching skills, even though they are more satisfied with the lessons of native English-speaking teaching assistants than of their Korean counterparts, according to a survey.
The survey released Sunday by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education was conducted among 28,761 students, 11,980 parents, 2,406 Korean English teachers, and 595 native English-speaking teaching assistants at 1,282 primary and secondary schools in Seoul.
Some 62.2 percent of parents and 53.7 percent of students wanted Korean teachers with good English skills. Only 26.9 percent of parents and 29.7 percent of students preferred native speakers.
Yet in practice parents and pupils were more satisfied with the lessons of native speakers than with Korean English teachers'. Some 54.2 percent of parents said native speakers are more helpful in improving their children's English skills, as against 39 percent who were happy with the lessons of Korean English teachers.
Likewise, 60 percent of students were happy with native speakers' lessons, compared to 55.3 percent said for Korean English teachers.
Native English Teachers to Face Tougher Evaluations [Dec 2009]
Native English language instructors in Korea will soon be required to undergo stricter screening to validate their teaching skills.
The education ministry says it will utilize the National Institute for International Education to boost the number of English teachers selected for individual assessment next year from the current 1,300 to 2,000.
The increased figure will allow the institute to closely monitor and better allocate English instructors to schools throughout the country.
A mandatory 10-day training program will be provided for new instructors on teaching techniques, class management and Korean culture.
Foreign Teaching Pool Expanded to Include More Countries [Dec 2008]
The Ministry of Justice announced Sunday it will allow only nationals of countries including English as an official language that have signed an agreement with Korea to work as assistant English teachers from next year.
The Justice Ministry is currently working on the agreement with India and expects it to be signed next year. So far, only the nationals of seven countries whose mother tongue is English -- Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, and the United States -- have been eligible to work as native English teachers.
With the new measure, member countries will be expanded to include the likes of India, the Philippines and Singapore, where English is one of their many official languages. Currently, there are 4,332 native English assistant teachers in elementary, middle and high schools nationwide.
However, nationals of such countries will have to meet tougher qualification requirements than those from the countries where the mother tongue is English. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has decided to make both a teacher's license and a bachelor's degree in an English-related major as prerequisites. Nationals of the seven countries whose mother tongue is English have much more lenient requirement of having graduated from a two-year community college or having finished at least two years of a four-year university course.
A qualification to teach in private English institutes will continue to be limited to nationals of the seven countries.
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Old stories, I know, what what do you think of the issues that these news items touch upon?
First of all, i think it has very interesting survey result. From the survey we can know that most of the Korean students and parents were satisfied and happy with their academic development while being taught by native English Teacher. But in the other hand, most of the students and parents preferred Korean to teach their English rather than the Native one. From this result, i am confused to be honest. Because if the students and parents wanted to being taught by Korean teachers, the most likely reason was the way that Native teachers teach were not good enough.
ReplyDeleteHere is the interesting part. Koreans were more satisfied with the Native teachers. If many Koreans wanted Korean English teachers to teach them because they could be satisfied by the way that teachers lecturing, i can understand that. But in the reality they were more satisfied with Native teachers. What was their main reason for preferring Korean Teacher? Considering students and parents liked all academic aspects of Native teachers and they did not have any monetary problem to think about! I think there is no any reason for that. I am ended up confusing myself.
In my opinion, learning English with a native speaker is essential. Many people from a non-speaking English country don’t realise this. In Indonesia, students are used to being taught by non-native English teachers, and most students at high schools entirely learn English just to get good grades without developing much skills in especially writing and speaking. The method of teaching English applied in most public schools in Indonesia is not helpful for students to learn English. Students are given questions of multiple choices at schools, not to have activities or games at class to develop other skills such as writing and speaking. The benefits of having native English teachers are that it’s their own language, and students will learn the right way of English because many non-native English teachers often use words which are out of context. However, native English teachers tend to be more expensive, as said in this article. If a country can’t pay for native English teachers, they should provide exchange programs for English teachers to English-speaking countries. Exchange programs or similar ones are very useful for teachers, as these are already applied in countries like Australia. My mother was a part-time Indonesian teacher at Sydney five years ago, and all non-native Indonesian teachers must experience to live in Indonesia for a couple of months. This is to study and compare themselves with native speakers.
ReplyDeleteIn any way possible, I would most preferably like it if I were taught English by a native speaker he/she would know how words are pronounced, spelled and spoken properly with a standardized English accent be it British, American, etc. I personally think that the Korean government should try to consider more of the effects of dropping out native English teachers because most native English speakers should be more capable in teaching English than Korean teachers that learnt English in their previous years. It is a fact that English has become one of the most important language used around the world and needs a capable teacher to master technicalities such as grammar and tenses. It is actually sad to know that many Korean families prefer Korean teachers teaching English rather than with native speakers because I personally think that students would learn English better with native speakers as I am one of those students taught by a native speaker for 6 years in an international school and can say am quite fluent in English.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to this issue, I personally would prefer the Korean English teachers to teach children who are in the elementary and middle school while having the native English teachers teach the high school students. The reason why they should have Korean English teachers teach elementary and middle school students are, so the students would be able to learn and memorize the basic grammar tenses as well as other necessities that would help these young students master basic English. After mastering the basic English language, these students can now be taught by the native English teachers that would their English skill reach intermediate or expert level. This included English writing skills, improved English conversation, and other intermediate or expert level of English. By doing so, the Korean government could lessen their budget for native English teachers since they only taught high-school students and also given a fair opportunity for the Korean English teachers to teach the students.
ReplyDeleteI think language could be teach by anyone not limited only to the native speaker, though I think that native teachers are better than local teachers. Language is a culture, and the more people is able to teach it the better. For instance just imagine if English only be taught by native speaker, I don’t believe that English able to become an international language like today. My second point is to emphasize the importance of spreading out culture by the help of non-native speaker. Such in Indonesia, many Indonesian actually thought Korean, and for me that’s really helping the country itself to introduce their culture to the world. Thus right now many Korean pop culture are well introduced in Indonesia such as K-pop. So it us justifiable to give opportunity to the non-native speaker to be able to teach language, and by the help of the non-native speaker, culture could be more inclusive.
ReplyDeleteI think rather than reducing the amount of native English teachers, the Korean government should just readjust the proportion of native English teachers according to the level of education. In pre-elementary school, where students study basic English from scratch, it would be better to have Korean English teacher because it will be easier to teach them. The teacher could tell basic word like Apple, Egg, Sleep,etc and give them the meaning of the word in Korean language. In elementary school, where the students study the uses of verb, noun and adjective, it is also better to have Korean teacher because they will understand the concept easier by describing it using the language that they familiar with which is Korean language. In middle school, schools can combine the use of native and Korean teacher so that they can compare how the native and non-native speak. In high school, it would be better to have native speaker to teach English so that they can prepare the readiness of the Korean students to compete in the future working environment that requires good understanding of English.
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