Comments on: It’s Tough Being a Korean English Teacher

By: David

David — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:22:39 +0000

My question is: how well did the parents speak English? I suppose well enough to make an assumption of the instructor’s abilities? Hmm.. I also have to agree with #21 to a point. Koreans have the hardest time communicating amongst themselves in Korean. They expect to learn enough English by attending the hagwon a few times a week and being “immersed” in the English language “culture” an hour a day with their foreign instructor to attend Harvard or something? Something isn’t right with that… #27…Korea was ranked near the bottom of the proverbial barrel of the worst English speakers in the world…barely topping out the Japanese.

By: Zen

Zen — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:55:47 +0000

#21 is a good example of the quality of discourse coming from native English speakers, including English, um, teachers. #27, right on. Which brings up this issue: If there were tests for native English teachers in Korea like there are for incoming English teachers who are Korean, how many native speakers would actually pass?

By: MrMao

MrMao — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:57:52 +0000

S.Africa is back in the Commonwealth? Well, blow me down!

By: The Goat

The Goat — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:57:03 +0000

@38

I find that whole situation hilarious. One possible reason why many Korean students suck so bad is their fear of making mistakes. They are simply unwilling to try.

(yeah yeah…there are reasons behind those fears but that is another issue)

By: Zhang Fei

Zhang Fei — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:29:28 +0000

Can you imagine what would happen if a Korean was visiting the Middle East and asked where the zoo was?

The singular “zoo” is probably accurate for most Middle Eastern neighborhoods. The rest of the “zoos” have left for Israel.

By: Bipolar Mindscrew

Bipolar Mindscrew — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:06:24 +0000

Oh poop, who wrote the blog “Teacher, ’saving face’ is pronounced with an F not a P” or something like that… damn memory.

I often stumble on spelling myself, never could be arsed to memorize the ‘I before E’ rule properly so I usually write words down and see if it just ‘looks right.’ Snickers of “you are Englishee teacha?” from the students…

Apparently in Korea, mistakes are for the weak and teachers and other role models simply get disregarded if they make mistakes.

I find the more ‘mistakes’ I make in class, the more students I end up punishing…

By: Maximus

Maximus — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:58:59 +0000

“Can you imagine what would happen if a Korean was visiting the Middle East and asked where the zoo was?”

I’m still laughing !

Yep: with a bad pronunciation, how can we differentiate fan, van, pan and ban, when a korean is talking??? Need a good work on it.

By: nickknows

nickknows — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:11:26 +0000

I feel awkward when I have to tutor English teachers that have been teaching English for years… it should be embarrassing when you go to the same hogwon as your students (but at least those are the ones trying to improve..I guess).

By: keith

keith — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:49:15 +0000

The probable reason why the old bloke was replaced by a younger female was that a lot of the younger teachers here are very good at speaking English. The younger teachers (especially female) nowadays tend to be excellent at speaking English, this is the situation in many schools in Seoul in other areas of Korea it might be different.

Many young teachers have studied abroad for several years, in fact most of my Korean female colleagues have studied either in the US, Australia, Canada or Britain for several years. The ‘dinosaur’ guys, as I affectionately refer to them conduct 90% of the class in Korean. I have a colleague who teaches business English but can barely speak it at all.

I teach in 3 different high schools and the difference in speaking ability between the old teachers and young teachers is incredible. Strangely I have no young Korean male colleagues. The only thing the old guys seem to excel at is disciplining rowdy students with sticks! The younger teachers aren’t so good at that.

Accent is not a really big issue, clarity is. Koreans tend to have a big problem with speaking clearly in English. Many have a tendency to add syllables to soft ‘j’ or ‘g’ endings, have problems with ‘BPV’ sounds and other issues that affect the clarity of their speech.

Things are improving here, but at a snail’s pace.

By: JohnT

JohnT — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 05:46:57 +0000

Pretty sad stuff. They should be respected as human beings and then teachers instead of being dissed.

Koreans can no longer say it only happens in the West. I’m sure they’ll blame everyone, but themselves for it. American culture did this.

Glad I never taught kids in schools here. I’m not qualified anyway, what with actually having an education degree and all. Yup, hagwon teachers aren’t real teachers.