By Ines Min
Contributing Writer
INCHEON - More than 650 native English speakers arrived at Incheon International Airport, Wednesday and Thursday, joining the ranks of teachers in South Korea through the government-sponsored English Program in Korea (EPIK).
The initiative, run by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, recruits twice a year and sends teachers with diverse backgrounds to public schools across the country.
On top of wanting to gain valuable experiences here, some of the teachers said difficulty finding jobs in the United States following the recent financial meltdown affected their decision to join the EPIK program.
Sengathi Lavanh, a 32-year-old architect from Dallas, Texas, is hoping to integrate his knowledge of design and urban planning into his conversational English classes. One possibility he's looking into is teaching Adobe Photoshop and other design programs to bring in more exciting elements to the classroom.
Unlike in private English-teaching institutions, teachers at EPIK are not required to stick to a rigid curriculum, but must work in a more proactive setting and provide ideas.
"I was thinking (of teaching) high school, because that'll probably be more effective," Lavanh said. "It'll give them an idea of what they want to do after high school."
The teachers will be assigned to a school at the end of the orientation period, a 10-day intensive crash course on Korean culture, daily life and teaching basics.
Shabana Lakdawala, 22, decided to apply to EPIK with a friend so they could teach and travel together. The recent graduate in sociology already knows basic Korean, such as counting, days of the week, and months. She will be stationed in Gwangju, in the southwestern part of the country.
Kim Dong-hee, the director of EPIK, said the teachers came from seven nations: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Some 2,543 applications were received and more than 2,200 interviews were held for the current round of recruitment, she said.
"The numbers increase every year," Kim said. The application for next year will open Oct. 1.
Although many of the new teachers have no ties to Korea, other applicants, such as 23-year-old Mark Duckett from Boston, sought an English-teaching program specifically to come here.
The recent graduate found out about EPIK through a recruiter, who arranged the details with him by e-mail.
Duckett is an ethnic Korean born in Seoul, but moved to the United States when he was an infant. He recently visited the country to connect with his lost culture and now he's back to stay. "I knew I wanted to come back here after I graduated to teach English," he said. "Probably to live here for the rest of my life."
Duckett, a finance graduate, also plans to take Korean lessons to gain fluency in a language he only partially knows. He's a little nervous, but mostly excited about the upcoming year. "I hope the orientation's informative," he added. "Because I haven't taught before."
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