By Lee Hyon-chol

My students have occasionally attended some unusual English classes.

A guy from England helped the class last year. His English is fluent with the refined accent of England, authentic English. The municipal assembly has provided the students a native speaker teacher of English since 2002.

Because of a tight budget, however, one native teacher is responsible for two schools. That means half the weekdays were available for teaching in the two schools.

On Mondays and Tuesdays, he went to another middle school and on Thursdays and Fridays to my school. He got paid more than $2,000 plus accommodation and extra money for his extracurricular activities. Some Koreans invited him to free lunches out of the curiosity that speaking with native English speakers would upgrade their status.

This year the students were unable to listen to the authentic English until a guy from England arrived in late May. He was somewhere in India when he found himself without any money at all. He heard from a traveler there about a story of how easily a native speaker of English could earn a fortune in Korea. That is how he decided to visit Korea to teach English or to make money.

He had a beard when he arrived. Being asked why he had a beard, he answered he would not like to seem too young. He said he was just 26 years old. He did not have much experience in teaching. Curiosity made the students concentrate on his classes for a while.

Many trials and errors took place in the class. This makes his classes a fuss. Strangely enough, I later found that he was reluctant to write on the blackboard. I did not know why. His reluctance was attributable to his bad spelling and grammar on the blackboard several times, which he quickly erased.

Late in December, he left Korea for India to retrieve the motorbike. He asked his friend to keep it until he returned. He said he will continue his travels around Southeast Asia and Australia that he could not finish when he first started.

Now he could afford to resume the trip with the money he earned and saved in Korea. He left a few weeks ago for India. I think he is somewhere near Indonesia or Australia. He left an impression of how easy it is to get a job in Korea only if from England, America or Canada, and countries where they speak English as a native language.

I think we cannot be too careful to seek and invite native speakers of English. Sometimes unqualified native English speakers teach in Korean schools. My suggestion is they take a test to distinguish whether or not they can write the correct sentences and spellings.

If he finds himself again someday without any money during his travels, please do not visit this country again before he can correctly write sentences and spell in his own language.

He needed to learn basic English grammar. He should know that the right spelling and grammar are two common areas through which learners can access English.

The writer is teaching in Changwon, South Geyongsang Province. Contact him at eleichc@hanmail.net.