Dear editor,

I refer to the article entitled “Check your English instructor's credentials” by Lee Hyo-sik dated April 6.

Recently, I also read an article that states that some Koreans have oral surgery in order to help them speak English well. This is not logical. I know of several Koreans who grew up in the West who speak good English. So the problem is not a biological one that requires surgery. This seems to be mere exploitation of people who are desperate to speak English well.

I have also observed that the standard of English in Korea is poor, probably worse than in many other Asian countries. One reason may be the quality of some of the foreign English teachers employed in Korea. I have seen a few who appeared on Korean TV. They themselves could not speak English well. Their primary qualification seems to be that they come from English-speaking countries.

The premise that only people who are from native English-speaking countries are qualified to teach English is surely wrong.

Further, I think you need a look again at the method of learning English in Korea. The most popular seems to be the “translation’’ method, which as any good English teacher would know, is a very poor method for learning English.

Let me conclude by suggesting that since the teaching of English as a second language has not been a resounding success, Koreans could try learning English the “natural “ way, i.e. the same way they did the Korean language.