By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

The education office in Incheon City is conducting an experiment to fill the jobs meant for native English teachers with Korean teachers amid the difficulty hiring native speakers.

It is the first time that a local education office has decided to fill the gap with Korean teachers since 1995, when the government started recruiting English native speakers from abroad.

Currently, some 5,500 foreigners from seven Western countries, including the U.S., Canada and Australia, are teaching English at elementary and secondary schools across the nation.

The Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education has selected 11 Korean English teachers from schools in the western coastal city to substitute for native speakers for English conversation classes. The selected teachers have studied overseas extensively and are highly capable of conducting English classes in English, according to the education office.

``Speaking English fluently doesn't necessarily mean they can teach English well. Many foreign teachers lack teaching methodology and some of them are not ethically qualified to treat children. Also, children have difficulties learning from them, as they cannot speak Korean,'' said Koo Young-sun, supervisor of the education office. ``The problem in securing foreign teachers is another reason we have to work with Korean teachers for English conversation classes,'' she added.

The selected teachers will conduct English-only programs during regular and after school classes and the regional education office plans to acknowledge teachers' performances in terms of advancement opportunities and choose more Korean teachers for the positions.

While hiring more foreign teachers, the education ministry also plans to use more Korean teachers at the same time. ``We need more foreign teachers in this transition period. But on a longer-term perspective, Korean teachers will replace them in the end,'' said Oh Seok-hwan, an official of the ministry.

The central government spends about 30 million won ($20,000) annually per native English speaker. The budget for foreign teachers rose to 147 billion won last year from 105 billion won in 2007 and 69 billion won in 2006. This year, the government is expected to spend some 180 billion won.

A native English speaker who has just started to teach English in Korea can receive a salary equivalent to that paid to a Korean teacher with five years of experience.

Some experts say the question of having native English speaking teachers should not be a ``foreigner or Korean'' question, but a choice based on the curriculum.

``Native-speaker of English teachers bring motivation and excitement to learners because of their exoticness. They bring foreign cultures and international stories to Korean learners,'' said Robert Dickey, a professor at Gyeongju University in North Gyeongsang Province. ``Expatriate teachers can share new ideas with the Korean faculty, and be helpful colleagues in the staff room. They are an asset for learning, but only if the schools want them,''

The professor said there have been many reports of schools being ordered to accept foreign teachers when the principal or teachers were not prepared to incorporate such instruction.

``Those native-speaker classes were not integrated into the overall English learning experience, and Korean teachers of English thought the new foreigner classes were cutting into real learning time,'' he said. ``And there have been cases of native-speakers with no idea how to teach and no support from their supposed colleagues on campus. In these situations, the foreigner classes are bound to fail.''

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr