Comments on: Education Ministry to expand English education

By: june

june — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 12:18:16 +0000

This is good news. I learned my first English from junior high school in Korea; the timing was a bit late. Having said that, I strongly believe that my English (esp. pronunciation) would be better if I started earlier.

But since living in California, I have been learning another language. �Hablemos Espanol!

By: East Asia Watch

East Asia Watch — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 08:35:42 +0000

South Korean educational reforms

The Marmot notes a piece in the Korea Times about the Souths planned reforms of the school calendar and foreign language curriculum.
Under the project, elementary schools are to expand regular English classes to the lower grades from the secon…

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 05:28:47 +0000

Hear, hear, Ul. The story was probably a translation of a poorly worded Korean text. Poor writing in Korean is a common complaint of translators.

By: ul

ul — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 00:57:47 +0000

This is all nice and everything.

But they should seriously also get back to the basics. Teaching proper Korean writing skills. Students often appear to lack the concept of how to write essays or write critical essays - university professors who publish in international journals often complain about this from their students. They feel that they have to practically rewrite what students put together.

By: jodi

jodi — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:11:17 +0000

Students living in Pusan adjacent to Japan, for example, are likely to be required to take Japanese, while students living in Inchon near China will likely learn Chinese.

I’m not sure if this statement is in reference to the Free Economic Zones which have already been designated as zones where English will be the official langauge.

If it is in reference to these areas, then I don’t think it has been confirmed yet that this indeed will be the case.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 21:50:13 +0000

The “kids in Gangneung should learn Russian” was a joke–I should have put a smiley thing after it.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 20:20:40 +0000

Several years ago, I taught listening and speaking skills to Korean elementary teachers in a university program to prepare the teachers to carry out the MOE directive introducing English in elementary schools. Many of the teachers had decent English, but some of the older ones especially were frustrated and angry at being forced to teach a subject they were not qualified to teach. And they were being asked to teach basic English to 9-12 year olds.

It is just unrealistic for the MOE to expect schools to find enough teachers who 1) have a strong background in math and science, 2) are proficient in English; and 3) have knowledge of sheltered instruction teaching methods. Schools here in the US, an English-speaking country, have a hard enough time finding teachers who meet all these qualifications.

Moreover, switching to English will require the import of expensive teaching materials. Teaching science in English would enable students to acquire academic vocabulary, but teaching math in English makes no sense. Apart from math professors and engineers, Koreans don’t need to know words like “integer” and “polynomial.”

I don’t understand why the MOE needs to push even more English into the schools. Among the newcomers to my elementary school here in the US, the Koreans have the highest English skills overall. They far excel their Asian neighbors, thanks to early English education funded by their parents. Whenever I hear we are getting a new Korean student, I’m always happy because the kid will be easier to place in classes since they aren’t walking in with zero English.

Korean teachers must be groaning at this latest brainchild of the MOE.

By: kushibo

kushibo — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 20:09:41 +0000

The pragmatists have won out over the nationalists.

Michael wrote:
So by that “logic,” kids in Gangneung should learn Russian.

Not necessarily. I realize it didn’t go into detail much, but I think they were referring to certain economic free zones in that requirement (iirc, the sentence about Japanese and Chinese were right after the part about English immersion courses in those areas): Pusan, which is oriented toward Japan, and Inchon, which is oriented toward China.

Kangn?ng is not a free trade zone oriented toward Russia. Plus, it doesn’t have anything like the Russia-oriented trade or tourism that Pusan has with Japan or Inchon has with China. It’s not merely geographical proximity.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 19:04:30 +0000

I don’t really follow this topic, but the story didn’t make sense in a lot of ways–it talks about English, but then drops this in the middle: “Students living in Pusan adjacent to Japan, for example, are likely to be required to take Japanese, while students living in Inchon near China will likely learn Chinese.” So by that “logic,” kids in Gangneung should learn Russian. There’s no explanation beyond this.

When you read press reports in Korea you usually wind up knowing less than before you began….

By: R. Elgin

R. Elgin — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 18:43:31 +0000

It is not quite clear in the Times article but does this mean that elementary school kids will get *real* English teachers or just Korean teachers who can speak a little English or have problems with syntax and pronounciation skills?