Korea cuts 2,500 native-English teachers in public schools

[aki-san.livejournal.com]

By Lee Tae-hoon

Native English speakers are facing a tough competition in the Korean job market as the government continues to slash the number of foreign teachers in public schools.

The number of native teachers in Korean public schools dropped to 6,785 as of April this year, down from 9,320 in 2011, according to figures that The Korea Observer exclusively obtained from the Ministry of Education.

A senior official said the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has stopped hiring native teachers for secondary schools in the capital since 2013.

“We now only hire native English teachers for elementary schools,” she said, noting that the Seoul Metropolitan Government is pushing to replace native English teachers with Korean instructors fluent in English.

“The Seoul City plans to enhance the English proficiency of Korean English teachers to a level that it no longer needs to hire native English teachers.”




A senior official at the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education also confirmed that the country’s third largest city has stopped renewing contracts for native-English teachers working in secondary schools.

“We have to slash the number of native English teachers due to budget constraints,” she said.

“On average, we spend about 37 million won ($36,300) a year to keep a native English teacher, whereas it costs only 32 million won to hire a Korean instructor specialized in English conversation skills.”

Joseph Hwang, a recruiter at Star Teachers, claims that native English teachers are facing a tougher competition both in the public and private sectors.

“There is more competition even for hagwon (private academy) jobs,” he said, noting that foreigners now have to compete with Korean teachers who are not only fluent in English but also willing to work harder for less money.

“Korean teachers don’t need housing and plane tickets. But they work more. They sometimes work Saturdays and do a lot of overtime.”

Hwang noted that many native-English teachers prefer to teach in public schools in Korea, but there are not enough jobs for all.



Figures show the number of E-2 visa holders, including native-English teachers in public schools, is also dwindling.

According to data from the Korea Immigration Service, the number of E-2 visa holders, who are qualified to teach conversation in Korea, fell to 20,030 in 2013, compared to 21,603 in 2012 and 22,541 in 2011.

The Korea Observer

Wasn't sure how to tag this.  Language teaching discussion post? Have you taught English or thought about teaching in a foreign country?  Does this crush your dreams?  If you're not from a native English-speaking country, what was your learning experience like?

Comments

[hyotness.livejournal.com]

I'm from Argentina, and English in our schools IS REALLY BAD. People that speak good English learned in private academies (the vast majority).

Anyway, our English teachers are argentinian. There are also native speakers teaching but they're a really tiny minority, at least in my hometown. From what I heard from people studying with them, they were not very good at teaching actually, and argentinian teachers were better at explaining things.

[sutorng-baiby.livejournal.com]

I think the problem with just getting any native speaker to teach their language is that often they only know what sounds right but not why. People who have studied a second language usually have a better idea of the language's rules etc., because they had to learn it that way. Having said that, if you're qualified to teach your native language then should know how to explain these things...

[yuukihitohira.livejournal.com]

Also an EPIK teacher (I'm here in Busan though) and man...basically everything you said I agree. Especially the textbooks and your last point about hiring like...

I graduated with a linguisitics degree and a minor in Korean and when I mentioned that at my orientation last year, the other nets were like "Wait...you like language? You actually want to teach?" and I was so shocked that they barely cared about teaching or their students and were only here for $$$/a "paid vacation".

[sutorng-baiby.livejournal.com]

Ok, I am lucky enough to speak 3 languages and have gone to school in a foreign country. In high school, I was taught my own native language by a non-native teacher and it was a fucking joke, they were awful. But that's just my experience and doesn't mean that non-native teachers are a generally terrible idea. Learning proper pronunciation is one of the main benefits of having a native teacher imo. They can also tell when something sounds awkward and would not be used irl, because sometimes things that are grammatically correct sound very wrong to a native ear.

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

yeah i notice quite a bit of stuff in kpop and especially translated kpop news that's like... okay that technically follows the rules of english, but no native speaker would ever phrase it like that

[cimelleh.livejournal.com]

good.

[adlyeith.livejournal.com]

Don't let it discourage you! I have a good friend that is currently employed in Japan as an English teacher through the JET program and he is loving it! The kids and faculty adore him, and his contract keeps getting renewed. Then again, it seems like Japanese schools actually WANT foreign English speakers to teach in their schools, vs SK which apparently is actively trying to remove them from their system.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Seems right, I've read a lot of criticism about Japan importing a lot of English speakers and yet not managing to teach more than a handful of students English beyond a really, really basic level

[koushiba.livejournal.com]

Japan isn't doing it right tbh. When I shadowed my home stay sister in Japan their class was usually only taught by a native speaker once/twice a month. Their classes were all grammar and taught in Japanese, not English. They were also taught mostly from the book and there didn't seem to be a while lot of practice going on, just teacher lecturing students. There's no way the students could really immerse themselves in English and actually be good at it if they don't have a tutor or spend time in an English speaking country.
Granted this was just one class, in one high school but I've read and been told similar stories from friends.
It's all nice and dandy if youve got native English speakers but if you aren't utilizing them and just having them teach by the book then might as well just get a Japanese teacher to teach it instead tbh.

[deftbones.livejournal.com]

i'm thinking about teaching english in china but not sk. it's too much of a hassle, and i already speak a good amount of Mandarin anyway.

[yuukihitohira.livejournal.com]

I know here in Busan they cut a bunch of middle school NETs this school year, but honestly, it's probably a good thing.

While the methods of teaching English aren't the best, the textbooks are only part of the problem. There are so many native English teachers I've met that are only here for the money and to party every weekend because they see this job as a "paid vacation" (literal quote from someone I met).

I honestly would have no problem with them doing that if they actually cared about their classes, but after a few conversations of complaining/making fun of students and coteachers, as well as their classes, I really didn't get that impression. So, there's been more than a few times that I wanted to yell "THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE????" at them because really...why stay if you're miserable? It's just making them more unhappy, as well as the people around them.

That said, I love my elementary school and feel really lucky to be here teaching, because it's seriously a very nice job (considering our benefits). It's not something that I take advantage of or shrug off as nothing considering it's actually letting me put my bachelor's in linguistics to good use and has been something that I've wanted to do since my junior year of college three years ago :(

[koushiba.livejournal.com]

I'm not a teacher in SK but when I visited for a bit I stayed with my mom's friend who is a teacher somewhere in the sticks near-ish Seoul. I was really shocked with how much she complained/bitched about her students and SK. Especially since I wanted her opinion on teaching in SK since it was something I've been considering (but I'd probably want to be a elementary or kindergarten teacher and she was teaching university.) I kind of understood why she complained about some students because a lot of them didn't even know where California was and thought South America was Africa... But she also seemed so disinterested in SK apart from the booze and food. There was also her Canadian friend who was also a teach and his main goal was to hook up with as many Korean Air flight attendant students as he could.

[awsteven.livejournal.com]

good tbh. i know so many people who want to teach english solely for travel and probs won't take their job seriously. it's upsetting since there are native teachers who would be way more passionate about their job yet don't get that opportunity due to those shitty foreign teachers. hopefully the cut will give priority to those who really want to teach english.

[modernelegance.livejournal.com]

I have kept this under wraps because of my current job/I don't want people blabbing; but I'm actually in the process now of getting everything together to apply in February to teach in SK next fall. I don't think this necessarily cuts any dreams (because from my research this is unsurprising) but keeps everything realistic as far as how competitive it's going to be and for me to have my stuff together. It's just now I've got to figure out how to stand out in the sea of applications...

I do find the vacation/party attitude appalling and completely selfish. It really is sickening to me that people would not take something like this seriously and screw over schools/kids in the process.

[simprov.livejournal.com]

i'm aiming for next fall as well and i feel pretty similar to you. i'm just worried that with stricter guidelines i won't be accepted or whatever, which is kind of stupid on my part because my minor is in education, i've always planned on being a teacher, i've got my tefl certification, etc but i just don't think very highly of my qualifications lol.

[diplodorkus.livejournal.com]

I'm actually heading to China on Sunday to teach English for a year and I was hoping that if I managed to stick it out, I'd head to SK or Japan to carry on teaching (diabetic so I kinda need better health benefits). I've almost finished my TEFL and I just... I think if you're gonna go teach, you should -as a native speaker- learn why your language works as well as the how.
Because that needs explaining, and students really need immersing in it.

idk. seems kind of silly to cut native speakers when I imagine it's probably the courses themselves and the materials that need to change somewhat. that and actually hire teachers serious about it.

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

[torontok.livejournal.com]

I actually did want to be an english teacher but it also conflicts me because of my feelinds on English imperialism and idk if I want to be part of perpetuating that. If I do go through with it, I plan on doing it properly, by getting the right qualifications not just skipping over for a paid vacation.

I grew up in Pakistan with two english speaking parents (although Urdu was spoken at home) and was sent to British private schools till grade 6.My base in English was really well developed to the point where when I moved to Canada, I tested in the highest percentile in my grade (and to think they were going to put me in ESL....). I'd wager the english education I got in Pakistan (with Pakistani teachers) is far superior to the one I got in Canada.We were made to focus on grammar and punctuation and general expressions more than pronounciation and reading was heavily emphasized

The one drawback is that because my private schools had us immersed in english my Urdu skills are weak tot he point where my vocabulary in english is around 3000 words more than in Urdu and it's kinda sad to me.

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

is it really too late for Urdu? like if you read literature maybe?

[embroideredkiss.livejournal.com]

EPIK teacher for over two years here, and I pretty much just popped in to say....the Korean girl in the picture is in fact one of my former coteachers and a friend! Never thought I'd see her on OMTD haha!

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

They need to be more selective in some areas about the teachers they want to hire. Just look for people who studied education, language, and who have worked with children. Chances are they will actually be interested in teaching, instead of going on a paid vacation. And they should also consider hiring people from non-English speaking countries. Some might be more qualified to teach than a native speaker.

And it goes without saying that they need better teaching materials and methods, and I wonder if teachers also bring other books and work sheets to use alongside the required textbook. And a teacher who is aware of different teaching methods should try and use them (bless pedagogy tbh).

People think teaching is just sitting in front of a classroom and talking, but there's a lot of work that goes into it and planning lessons takes up a lot of time. I had a feeling some were just interested in going on a paid vacation, and it sucks for those who came to SK to actually teach.

*goes back to bed*

[uguukawaii.livejournal.com]

im in korea rn going to school and a guy came up to me today and asked if i would ever be interested in teaching english (he said he worked for an agency or s/t) but like.... i dont even speak korean they need to maybe be more selective that just like 'white girl'

[cotxpaxi.livejournal.com]

haha you dont need to know a lick of korean or korean culture or anything. yep the selection process can really boil down to 'pretty white girl' . the required paperwork/minimum of a bachelor's degree is just a technicality.

soooo i mean don't blame the folk who go to korea to party. not much is expected from them anyway. or put it this way, they went over to be serious teachers and the system sucked and they thought fuck it for the remainder of their contracts. i know teachers who wanna change their public school's entire curriculum so kids can actually learn~ but cmon the administration rarely does something to support their input.

[la-geni.livejournal.com]

Yeah cuz they get rando people who don't know how to speak various languages themselves, and expect them to know the skillset required. Even if you have an English degree, the nuisances that you overcome as a bilingual /trilingual individual go over your head if you have never been there. Also, I know people that never wanted to teach, they just go to Korea/Japan for their kpop/jpop whatver, and cry later cuz they live in two feet of space and could give a rats ass about the kids.

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

well, the best would be a native speaker, fluent in Korean and who learnt how to teach English to foreigners.

in other cases, benefits are different. a native speaker can teach you the proper pronunciation (even if that differs from where he comes from), or what you can say depending on the situation (some expressions in textbooks are not used in real life) but if this person can't communicate with his students what's the point?
moreover when you speak your mother language you know by instinct how the language works. of course you know grammar rules but you don't always know why. especially if those people don't even speak another language. English speakers are sometimes pretty intolerant but they don't know what it is to be obliged to learn another language. being the best scientist doesn't mean you will be the best science teacher.

If they want to teach standard English I don't understand why they don't hire people of other nationalities. Of all exchange students I met, Malaysian and Dutch people were the best at English. my Dutch friend was speaking like in a textbook. English becoming the exchange language, "international English" is sometimes different from the English spoken in English countries. ironic, I admit...

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

mte to everything

They can teach pronunciation, but with all sorts of multimedia tools so widely available, you might not even need a native speaker.

[bishieaddict.livejournal.com]

I think this is also political. If I were Korean and fluent in English I would be angry that they would not hire me just because I was not a foreigner. They probably want to retain jobs for their people, which I understand since at work I get annoyed at the out sourcing we are facing.

I was taught 2 languages when I was growing up. Full immersion was the key . I was taught mandarin by taiwanese teachers in elementary... I still prefer that accent....and later in high school, I was taught by a Cantonese speaker (her cantonese accent was so heavy that I couldn't understand some words) and then someone from Beijing (that was ok... ).
Accents may confuse them. If I was taught by the cantonese speaker in elementary school... Then I probably would be worse off.
But if a Korean speaker was fluent, I dont see an issue.

[miamaimi.livejournal.com]

i dont see anything wrong with it, tbh. It may suck for native english speakers who want to travel the world but I'm sure there are lots of korean teachers who can do as well as them

[snowmog.livejournal.com]

That's part of the problem, there are a hell of a lot of Korean-born English teachers who are being passed and accepted (because of pressure from higher ups in the government to 'pass' people' so their programmes look good and they have justification to cut the native English teachers they introduced to improve speaking levels) as qualified to teach, but their level isn't good enough to teach it. And then, a lot of them give into pressure from their students and teach the whole of their lessons in Korean, so they don't get classroom exposure to English beyond a few sentences per lesson in a really badly written textbook.

The whole thing is a mess, and has been from the beginning.

[urbandrive.livejournal.com]

I'm actually glad they're doing this because I've seen way too many people going to Korea just to make loads of money or see Kpop celebrities and not caring enough about the kids / teaching. It sucks for the few who actually do want to teach and who have a genuine interest in Korea, but there are also English-speaking Koreans who are just as qualified.

[cotxpaxi.livejournal.com]

i worked at 2 hagwons in seoul. i didn't want to go through epik because i didn't want to be placed in a rural town. just my preference. anyway most hagwons have korean english teachers as well as native speakers. the korean english teachers taught grammar structure and native speakers like me taught reading comprehension, writing.

hagwon quality varies too. it's impt. to note that. the first hagwon had an amazing curriculum (and expected way too much from us teachers so the contract retention rate was low, people pulled midnight runs) the second hagwon i worked at was terrible. i replaced this middle aged american woman who had worked there for 3 years, she straight up disrespected the kids, threw notebooks across the room at them, called them names etc. wtf . the korean co-teachers had weaker english skills too. but weirdly, it paid more than the first gig soooo i took it.
////
“There is more competition even for hagwon (private academy) jobs,” he said, noting that foreigners now have to compete with Korean teachers who are not only fluent in English but also willing to work harder for less money.

“Korean teachers don’t need housing and plane tickets. But they work more. They sometimes work Saturdays and do a lot of overtime.”

lmao and that doesn't make them better employees, just masochists! my korean co-teachers at the first reputable hagwon were so damn overworked and i felt bad for them! i mean i was overworked too but i wouldn't have minded sharing a bit more of the responsibility. too bad the system didn't allow it at all.

so in summary ~~~ you can go to korea to teach with different intentions and the outcomes vary. it's all up to individual institutions and unless you got a friend already working there, you won't know til you walk through the doors.

maybe public schools are the lesser of two evils, too bad i didn't choose to work in one!

[e-bone (from livejournal.com)]

TBH I think the entire industry needs an overhaul. Also the people genuinely interested in teaching with a passion for language and proper qualifications should be first pick, if anyone. Even then, they reach their host country only to be disappointed by the lack of support/opportunities for mobility (although it's pretty obvious the system is built in part based on the belief that foreign teachers have no intention of staying more than a few years).

Hagwons will always be there; the business pulls in too much money to stamp them out but I'd at least like to see some structure/recourse for teachers whose rights are abused in these places (but it sounds like even they are just being replaced by Korean teachers). And idk, I just feel for these kids who have to attend language schools in addition to their already grueling schedules...

I can't say that resistance to foreign influence didn't cross my mind learning about this, but I've never heard of an ESL teacher getting their asses whooped for "taking" the jobs of citizens like in the good ole USA.

[redhandedjilll.livejournal.com]

I agree. I'm an English major with a heavy interest in linguistics and a general passion for language and I would be pissed if I was overlooked for a English teaching job by someone in with a degree outside the field who, while is a native speaker, probably doesn't have the knowledge to truly teach it.

[belintuchiha.livejournal.com]

I was in a private school in Paraguay, all my teachers were always English native. Most of them from the U.S. some from Canada and others from the U.K. as well as Europe. And to be honest, they were perfectly good in their job lol

The thing is in my school, English wasn't taught as a subject but we had different subjects in English like Grammar, Language Arts, Chemistry, etc etc from 1st grade to 12th grade, so a bilingual school. And we weren't allowed to speak our native language (Spanish) during the English classes.

I think that works better than learning it as a subject BUT of course it also depends on the student.
If you're in class but you don't give a shit about what your teacher is doing, then you'll never learn, period.
Same thing if you don't practice. If you just do what you do in school and not help your English outside of it.. then you'll never really do good on the language.

I remember being like 10 years old and I wanted to practice my fluency by memorizing and rapping to Eminem songs lmao it totally worked. Nowadays when I got to the US people always ask why my English is so good. I have to thank my great teachers and also because I wanted to learn. It really depends on various factors.

This was long, I'm sorry ;;

TL;DR I think learning a language well-- or any other subject depends on various factors. The teacher, the material, the student, etc. Not only how fluent the teacher is or how good they are at what they do.

[undeniablysarah.livejournal.com]

I am currently getting my certificate in teaching English as a foreign language as well a a BS in International and Global Studies with a minor in Asian Studies. I was planning on trying to get a teaching job in S.Korea/China/Japan after I graduated to get some experience in these countries and really have an impact on how these countries view westerners as well as give the students more perspective than the texts give them. However these numbers scare me. I was hoping that the opportunity to teach would still be there once I graduate as a steady/reliable way to earn some income after college and pay off student debt. But this has me worried.

Many of you are teaching English in S.Korea. How did you get these positions. What did you graduate in and how was the process to get these jobs? What can I do now to get into these positions? Any advise would help me out a lot :)

[sayitisso.livejournal.com]

i'm trying to find a job as an english teacher in taiwan next year and tbh i'm not particularly interested in teaching, but my major is language related and it's the best opportunity i have at getting a working visa. i'm not a native tho, and that pisses me off, bc when i was studying there a lot of ppl came up to ask me if i wanted a job teaching english, but when i told them i didn't have american/english nationality, they all turned me down, even tho english is the language i speak best. natives often don't know shit about teaching their own language and i hate the ease with which they can score a teaching job in comparison to ppl like me.

but tbh i think korea is oversaturated right now, i myself personally know a lot of people who wanted to live in korea bc of their interest in kpop and just resorted to teaching bc it was the easiest choice, i've been expecting this for a long time.