By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Seoul's education authorities plan to run programs to improve writing skills for English teachers at elementary and secondary schools. Officials of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said Monday that they would run online English writing classes during the coming winter break and were currently recruiting 100 teachers for the courses.
"It will be the pilot program. If the selected teachers are positive about the courses, we will expand the programs so that more teachers can participate in the training sessions in the future," said Yoon Ho-sang, senior supervisor at the education office.
A total of 40 million won ($34,300), 200,000 won per each trainee, has been set aside for the programs running from Dec. 28 through Feb. 6. Under the Internet-based programs, participants are able to join in 13 classes to improve their writing skills and learn about how to better manage writing classes for their students.
Several English writing organizers, including EduCherry, have made bids to operate the training courses. EduCherry imports Criterion programs that have been developed by the U.S.-based TOEFL test provider, Educational Testing Service (ETS). SMOE will announce the successful bidder Tuesday.
So far, the city authorities have focused on improving English conversation skills, as they will required all teachers to use only English in classes by 2012. In this regard, the education office has introduced the Teaching English in English (TEE) Certificate for teachers from the fall semester this year and gives incentives to those who have the certificates.
This year, SMOE has earmarked a budget of 5.5 billion won to run 12 domestic and overseas training programs for 7,432 teachers, 4,772 at elementary schools and 2,710 at secondary schools.
Lee Myung-bak's administration plans to produce 3,000 English teachers who can conduct classes in English every year. According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, more than half the English teachers across the nation are unable to conduct classes completely in English.
kswho@koreatimes.co.kr
