By Yun Suh-young
Kim Dong-hyun heads to an English-speaking kindergarten with his father every morning where he goes by the name “Sam.”
Five-year-old Sam began attending the kindergarten in Gangbuk-gu, northern Seoul, only a few months ago. He is rather “old” compared to the age at which the average child starts English education.
Many children these days begin taking classes as early as three, according to a recent survey.
Out of 1,200 parents who had children in the first or second grade, 92.7 percent said their children began studying English between the ages of three and five, a survey by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education (KICCE) showed.
English at 3.7
The average age of a child receiving English education in pre-school was 3.7, according to the survey of parents living in the Seoul and Gyeonggi regions from June to July last year.
An employee at an English-language kindergarten in Hannam-dong, Seoul, said, “The largest age group at our kindergarten is four-year-olds.”
Affluent parents tend to send their offspring to English-language institutes as early as possible.
The biggest reason parents push for early English-language education is so their children can quickly get comfortable speaking in English.
“Originally I sent my son to an ordinary preschool but he didn’t seem to learn much there, so I decided to send him to an English kindergarten,” said Sam’s father, who is in his late 30s.
“I don’t expect him to learn much from there either, but I’m sending him there because I want him to become familiar with English.”
The majority of private kindergartens, and even public ones, have English education programs as part of their curriculum.
“We have a separate English-language kindergarten within our institute for parents who wish to send their children to an all-day English program,” said an employee at a private kindergarten in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
The exposure to English increases with the age of the students.
Whereas 69.4 percent of three-year-olds received English education in the morning, 83.4 of four-year-olds and 84.6 percent of five-year-olds received English education before lunch in regular kindergartens, KICCE said.
This shows, according to Lee Yoon-jin, vice researcher at the KICCE, that many local kindergartens and day-care centers teach English when they should be teaching the regular curriculum.
“The reason many of the kindergartens and child-care facilities teach English is, according to the facilities, to meet the high demand of parents,” Lee said.
Mixed up
There are, however, parents who worry that sending their children to English-speaking kindergartens will set back their Korean-language skills.
“My daughter was stressed out by the curriculum. They taught writing at such an early age. I didn’t think that was necessary,” said a parent in his mid-30s, who used to send his six-year-old to an English-speaking kindergarten.
“I now send her to a local Korean-speaking kindergarten. I was worried that she wouldn’t learn Korean as much as she should be learning at her age. I heard that kids attending English kindergartens end up not speaking Korean well.”
Another parent in his 40s said, “My daughter mixes up Korean and English when she speaks. I heard that children who go to more expensive kindergartens in Gangnam don’t know how to speak Korean. I’m considering whether or not to send her to a Korean-speaking kindergarten because it’s cheaper and the government provides us with subsidies if we do.”