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Sun, August 14, 2022 | 03:15
Filipino English teacher challenges visa rules
Posted : 2010-06-07 19:00
Updated : 2010-06-07 19:00
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By Kang Shin-who, Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff reporters

With a degree in education, a teaching license and years of experience teaching English to Korean students in her homeland, Filipino teacher Angelie Sawyer thought it would be easy to find a job in Korea, the country where demand for English teachers outruns supply.

Sawyer came to Seoul last February, joining her husband, American lawyer Michael Sawyer, but has not been able to find a teaching job purely because of her nationality. She had applied for teaching positions at the programs run by education authorities in Seoul and Gyeonggi, but was rejected.

``When I saw some ads, I would send my resume. But they would call me and ask about my nationality, and if I said I’m Filipino, they would say it’s hard to get a visa,” Sawyer told The Korea Times. “I feel really bad about it. It’s unfair. Koreans go to the Philippines to learn English, but here in Korea, Filipinos can’t teach English.’’

Sawyer has yet to get a teaching job. She and her husband are volunteering at the Seoul Global Center to teach English to underprivileged kids.

She says it’s obviously “racial discrimination” issuing English teaching (E-2) visas for the mere reason people are white rather than verifying their qualifications as a teacher.

After The Korea Times reported in 2008 that foreign envoys and English teachers whose countries adopt English as an official language had criticized the E-2 visa regulations, immigration authorities revised the rules so that English teachers from India, Singapore and the Philippines are able to come to Korea.

However, there is one precondition ㅡ countries must sign a trade contract with Korea, containing clauses on employment as English teachers, government officials said. Korea and the Philippines have not signed the needed contract as yet.

According to Korean government officials, the Indian government was very positive about exporting its English teachers, so the two countries inked a deal last year enabling Indian nationals to teach English in Korea.

However, the Philippine government has remained lukewarm about sending its English teachers here.

Kuem Yong-han, director at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST), said “we once talked to the Filipino embassy in order to invite English teachers from the country, but they were afraid of a brain drain of talented teachers.”

‘Have to be white’

On top of the regulatory hurdles, many experts point out that non-white English teachers have to overcome bias and unfavorable views of parents against them.

Yoon Ho-sang, senior supervisor at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SOME) also said Korean parents and students want to learn English from native speakers, adding that schools might not want to hire Filipino teachers.

Reflecting this sentiment, if applicants are from America and other nations where English is the mother tongue, schools here don’t require work experience or a relevant university major to be able to teach English in Korea.

Sawyer and her husband Michael last month filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea against SMOE, Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education and MEST agency recruiting foreign English teachers. She says the complaint deals specifically with her case, not all Asian English teachers.

Mr. Sawyer, a lawyer teaching at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said in the complaint, ``The current language teacher visa regulations in Korea discriminatorily violate World Trade Organization rules. Why then does Korea so blatantly choose to violate this provision of the OECD rules? If Korea is going to talk the talk, then it follows that it should walk the walk, not simply pick and choose the rules which it likes.”

The Sawyers are hoping the Commission will act on the complaint, but Michael admitted they just wanted to get more public awareness about the matter.

``I hope something happens. But I’m not sure if Koreans can actually accept darker skinned people as their equals. To be a teacher here, you have to be white. It’s discriminatory. People here only prefer to be taught by whites,’’ Mr. Sawyer said.

“I thought her case would be a great test case on the issue for the agency,” he added.



[단독] 필리핀 영어 교사 한국인들의 편견에 맞서다

'인종 아닌 실력으로 평가해주세요'
소이어씨 국가 인권위원회에 진정


지난 2월 미국인 남편을 따라 한국에 온 필리핀 영어교사 안젤리 소이어 (Angelie Sawyer)씨는 초중등 학교 영어 회화 보조 강사로 지원했지만 번번히 퇴짜를 맞았다. 안젤리씨는 교사자격증도 땄고, 필리핀 현지 한국학교에서 영어를 가르친 경험도 있지만 한국에서는 "단지 필리핀 사람이라는 이유로 교사가 될 수 없다" 며 하소연 했다.

"교사 모집 광고를 보고 지원을 하면, 제 국적이 필리핀이라 비자를 받기가 힘들겠다는 답변이 와요. 한국 학생들은 영어를 배우러 필리핀으로 유학을 오는데도 필리핀 교사는 한국에서 가르칠 수 없어요. 이건 너무 불공평해요."

그는 또 "교사로서의 자질보다는 단순히 백인이라는 이유로 영어 강사 비자를 발급해주는 것은 인종 차별" 이라고 강조했다. "저는 저소득층 자녀들에게 영어를 가르쳐주는 자원 봉사도 하고 있는데 왜 학교에서는 학생들을 가르칠 수 없는지 모르겠어요."

현재 출입국 관리법 규정상으로는 한국과 영어 보조교사에 관한 통상 협정을 맺은 영어 공용어국가들의 국민들도 영어회화 강사(E-2) 비자를 받을 수는 있다. 공용어 국가 중 인도의 경우 지난해 이런 협약을 맺어 이곳 출신 영어교사가 한국에서 가르칠 수 있게 되었다. 하지만 필리핀의 경우는 "아직 협상 중이다" 라는 것이 정부 관계자의 설명이다.

그러나 더 큰 문제는 동남아 사람들에 대한 곱지 않은 시선과 편견이다. 교육과학기술부의 금용한 영어교육 강화 팀장은 "한국 학부모들이 백인교사들을 지나치게 선호하는 현상도 고려하지 않을 수 없다"며 동남아 영어교사 채용에는 좀 더 시간이 필요하다고 말했다.

서울시 교육청 윤호상 영어교육 활성화 추진 장학관 역시 "학부모들과 아이들은 정통 미국, 영국 영어를 배우고 싶어 한다" 며 "학교에서 필리핀 영어교사를 원하지 않을 것"이라고 말했다.

하지만 안젤리씨는 이는 국가간의 통상문제나 한국의 정서 문제가 아닌 개인의 인권문제라며 그의 남편 마이클씨를 통해 지난 5월 외국인 영어 보조 교사 채용을 담당하는 서울과 경기도 교육청 및 국립국제교육원을 상대로 인권위에 진정서를 제출했다.

현재 한국외국어대학에서 법학을 가르치고 마이클씨는 "아내의 영어교사로서의 자질만 놓고 볼 때, 인권위에서 적절한 조치를 취할 것"이라고 기대했다.

"한국 사람들이 거무스레한 영어 교사를 받아들일지는 모르겠어요. 하지만 저희의 진정이 한국에서 백인만 선호하는 인종차별 문제에 대해 고민해 볼 수 있는 계기가 되었으면 하는 바람입니다."

강신후, 캐시 가르시아 기자
Emailkswho@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
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