Lately I have been finding myself feeling rather frustrated
with the English education system in Korea.
Working at a public school for the last nine and a half months has
taught me a bit about the government funded English education system here. During this time I have also begun to feel
like my job is increasingly pointless and useless.
For comparison purposes, when I was working at a private
academy (hagwon) last year, we had an English only rule. During class time all of the students,
kindergarten through middle school, were allowed to speak only English. Even the Korean teachers only spoke English
(with the exception of some higher level grammar classes). As a result, the students were basically
forced to just “figure it out” in a sense.
Their grammar wasn’t usually ever perfect but they were forced to try to
tell me things in English and have a conversation with me. So many of them did have conversations with
me because they simply kept trying and trying, practicing and practicing their
English every day. Several of my
kindergartners were able to go from not knowing a single word in English to speaking
in full sentences and reading and writing more than just phonetic words in one year’s
time.
Then I found out what it was like in a public school. There are no expectations for them to speak
English whatsoever, thus they don’t even have a reason to try. I am the only native English teacher (NET) at
my school but I only teach third and fourth grade, the first two years of
English education in public school. I
have a Korean co-teacher with me at all times who may speak a sentence or two
of English during the 40 minute class period.
Everything I say in English is translated into Korean almost immediately
after I say it. This, of course, means
the students have no need to listen to what I am saying in English because they
will hear it in a language they understand in five seconds. So my question is, what is really the purpose
of my job as a “native English teacher?”
Yes, I have the students listen
and repeat the key language we are learning over and over and practice with games and activities, but overall they are not at all motivated to learn from me when they have someone else who will speak in a language they don't have to think to understand. Not to mention when they hear it
and say it for less than 80 minutes a week it doesn’t take long for it to be
gone from their minds for good.
The government is in the process of drastically reducing
and, I think, eliminating just about all of the NET jobs and replacing them with
all Korean English teachers. For the
2014 school year the budget for NET funding will be cut by 50%. The official budget will be released this
Friday to know exactly which schools will still have their NETs funded by
either City Hall or the Government Provincial Office of Education and which won’t. I realize that NETs are very expensive to
fund and there are plenty of Korean teachers out there who can speak English
well enough to teach it. But unless
something changes, I don’t see this increasing the country’s English ability at
all. At my school, two out of the three
English teachers can have only a very simple conversation with me. Their “English” classes are conducted all in
Korean. Even my classes are conducted
mostly in Korean since the only thing the students learn from me is
pronunciation of the two or three key sentences from each lesson, which as I
said before, they will quickly forget.
If the country is serious about having their people continue
to be competitive in the global world they need to drastically step up their
public English education. I don’t see
how it’s at all possible for a student to be successful in English with only a
public school education. Right now it
seems to involve spending thousands of dollars on a private academy for most
students to become successful in reading and writing and maybe speaking. The huge push for native English speakers to
come teach English in Korea has been going on for a good fifteen years or so
but from what I’ve seen, it hasn’t done nearly as much as one would think, in
my opinion. Maybe it’s that people aren’t
confident enough to use the skills they really do have. Maybe it’s because not everyone can afford to
send their child to a private academy from age three through high school. Maybe it’s because the curriculum used in
public schools is totally useless or because such little English is actually spoken
in English class in these public schools.
Whatever the reason, will getting rid of the native English speakers and
replacing them with Korean teachers who may or may not speak English well make a
difference? I guess in time we will find
out.
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