Korean English Teachers
By Kang Eun-hee
Last year one native English teacher was assigned to our school. Our school became livelier than before. Especially on Halloween the students made much ado about candies.
Our satisfied principal publicized it to the parents on a gigantic scale, but after a few months we returned to the daily routine.
One day I started to wonder if the temporary employment of native English teachers could fulfill our expectations: I have arrived at the conclusion based on my experiences.
In the long run, the expansion of intensive training programs for Korean English teachers is more urgent financially, than the employment of native English teachers.
Additionally, Korean English teachers are aware of the importance of the quality of English education and the emotional effect it has on the students.
We will probably waste the national treasury in the long term, unless the government invests a lot more in training Korean English teachers rather than depending on the temporarily employed native English teachers.
The yearly cost for employing one native English teacher is approximately 45 million won in our school. The amount is almost as much as the gross income of a 25-year veteran Korean teacher (excluding the pension).
American English teachers accept many financial preferences. They are exempted from income taxes for two years and the rate of the pension and the health insurance is lower than ours.
Even the overtime pay is different. While they earn 20,000 won per teaching session, we get only 6,000 won. This is comparable to the 13.5 million won a trainee at the Korea National University of Education (KNUE) gets for six months.
One year intensive English training programs seem to be enough because we've already learned a lot about the methodology, grammar and reading from our former education. That means only two-thirds of the expenses for one native English teacher can create high value.
It's not easy for the native English teachers to understand the student's personality or his or her level of former learning achievement. One of the most important effects on the students through education is in the emotional aspect.
The teachers have to take into consideration the background or the character of each student. However this is difficult for our native English teacher, because she teaches more than 800 students, i.e. twenty-one classes each week.
One day she asked a student who couldn't read or write to the front of the class to do some activities. The abashed student cried.
Additionally, if the native English teacher does not have any background knowledge of the Korean culture, they have difficulty relating to the students.
Most of our students enjoyed the class with the native English teacher because many of them rarely had the chance to talk with foreigners; also the class structure allowed them move around freely compared to the formal grammar classes.
However, to their grief, they soon ran out of English words they knew and started to lose interest and in turn became stressed.
The effect of the native English teacher employment is noteworthy in the short term.
Though we are not sure if the native English teachers help us curb soaring private education expenses as the government asserted, we can't deny that many Korean English teachers are motivated to improve and many students share in the benefits of having opportunities to acquire live language.
Education issues and decisions should be dealt with considering the long-term outcomes. The government must make investments ― with long-term plans ― in the training programs, and create highly qualified Korean English teachers who can keep up with the requirements of the times.
Kang Eun-hee is presently studying in the intensive English teacher training program at the Korea National University of Education in Seoul. She has been teaching English in middle schools for thirty years. She is now an English teacher in Bongwon Middle School in Seoul. She can be reached at fungus55@hanmail.net.