“A majority of the rest “will continue to study Englishee more harder” to be “more better ”

No, it’s “more gooder”….

Great post, btw.

The interview reflected speaking ability , and their opinions on education related trends, policies and classroom practices.

I would recommend 5 of those to be teachers . Those who’s fluency is high enough to conduct a class completely in English, a level I would be comfortable exposing my children to.

A majority of the rest “will continue to study Englishee more harder” to be “more better ” teachers, as they responded, when asked what their strengths as teachers were.

Clearly they have a long ways to go. Especially if teaching of other subjects in the second language is to occur as the new government hopes- a practice which is needed for proper language education. The government’s aims are fair enough , but unrealistic. Where are these domestic , near native fluency English teachers going to come from?

Furthermore, many of the candidates believed that the domestic educational resources would be able to produce enough skilled English speakers to curb some of the overseas educational travel ,which some didn’t fail to mention ,exposes delicate Korean youths to harmful cultural differences like drug abuse etc…

Granted, the candidates were verrrry nervous being interviewed by foreigners in their second language,in general their responses were very nationalistic, shallow and unoriginal.

I don’t know other school boards conduct interviews or retraining, but I wouldn’t expect the results to be much better. It will take another generation or more to get to an efficient nation wide ESL level.

But to Koreans really want it? I don’t think so. I think the nation’s leaders say they need to, so everyone follows suit. It’s part of a greater, more complex situation based on cultural and economic values and desires, one which blogs like this continue to explore.

Does Korea have a clearly defined or realistic vision for itself in the world community?

And people with a drawl, a brogue, or who speak like GWB need not apply, either.

In the latter case, that is a good thing. A principal reason for hiring native speaker teachers is to put good language models into the classroom.

Wow, what’s that? One more thing that the Korean education officials could have done 10 years ago if they had any sense but will now awkwardly enforce it? Sounds ’bout right.

Actually the MoE started more than 10 years ago. Threw a whole lot of money at a let’s-perfect-the-teachers-during-winter-vacation-cuz-the president-said-so “program”. Produced a mistake-riddled booklet that appeared to have been pasted together by 4-month-old chimps playing in a wind tunnel. Paid the foreigner 70,000 won per hour when the won was 800:1 - everyone was hot to suck on the gov’t teat, including the wife of the then Kiwi ambassador.

Presidential initiatives + bureaucratic procrastination x incompetence = money in someone’s pocket. May it be yours.

If you had a thick cockney accent, would they pass the test?

Given the obsession with ‘proper’, American English, I would think not. And people with a drawl, a brogue, or who speak like GWB need not apply, either.

Is there not one soul who would be willing to record a clandestine video of one of these English Exams? Then please post it to YouTube!

With the Won rate like it is these days, we could all use a good laugh!

But I’m used to that. I’ll never get used to the seeming majority of English hogwon owners who speak little to no English. How do they stay in business? Would you buy a car from a guy who can’t drive?