And, I would add jobs to that list. There aren’t enough jobs because the private sector is composed of the large corporations and subsidiaries, not independent small and medium sized firms. Those large corporations are trying to move off shore to avoid the labor unions. So, these college grads are fighting for ways to stand out on a resume, not be globalized or actually learn about English.

Anyways, criminal background checks are a fact of life no matter what culture/country you are in. You couldn’t be hired as a teacher in the states with a record so why should it be different here?

Being able to speak English does not make you a qualified teacher. It bothers me that people believe that teaching English is a right…not a privilege.

If the Korean government wants to check their teachers more closely then let them. It’s their future.

Boy did you miss the boat on that one.

There are French speakers all over Canada (what, you thought Canadian francophones had to live in Quebec? How quaint). French is one of the two official languages of the Canadian government.
Quebec, as a province, only has French as its official language. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province, not Quebec.

BTW, after English, French is the third most spoken language in the US after Chinese and Spanish and the second most spoken language in Maine, Louisiana, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Do I need to mention Fifa, the EU, the IOC, and the UN?

English teachers in Korea should be thanked profusely, if it weren’t for their pot-smoking and borderline criminal behavior by the few. They will be recognized eventually as having given Koreans the skills to communicate with the world paved out by the British and the Americans.

and ADD English,

man, you’ve covered pretty much more than 1/3 of the world.

see, I reiterate again that English is THE language.

Not French. By a long shot.

I had no utility what so ever with French. Until pretty much recently, picking up a local female who spent 6 months as an exhchange student in France.

In reality, English is THE language.

Learn English, Korea. You don’t really need to learn Japanese, although it’s probably easier. English still tops. Although I don’t like them, probably Chinese next. Japanese 3rd in utility, but important because of proximity. Japanese probably easier to learn than Chinese, for a Korean. Spanish next. French is a distant fourth, assuming a tie somewhere above.

2MB is right. Everyone and anyone going to university in Korea should come out speaking English, writing English, etc.

and that would be a clear edge over say, our neighbors, Japan, and China, PRC and Taiwan included.

The government has always wanted to reduce the number of hagwons here rather than fix the education problem that fosters the need for after school education.

Here’s the thing — I actually think the new administration is TRYING to fix that problem by taking English education out of the hagwon and putting it in the public schools. Fine, I say. But it really doesn’t fix the fundamental problem, which is why there is such high demand for English education in the first place, which is the excessive emphasis placed on English on the university entrance exam and high TOEIC scores in securing employment.

Demand, not need.