Foreign teachers told 'Don't molest students'

Attendees of a mandatory seminar for foreign English teachers in Gyeonggi Province on Oct. 20 stand for the Korean national anthem. / Courtesy of Joe McPherson

By Ko Dong-hwan and Jon Dunbar

Foreign English teachers across Gyeonggi Province woke up extra early on Saturday, Oct. 20, many before sunrise, to attend a seminar they were told was mandatory. The seminar, held in the remote provincial town Icheon, started at 8:30 a.m., requiring many teachers from the far-flung corners of the province to find their own way there, as they had to leave before public transportation opened.

Joe McPherson, a longtime resident of Korea on an F-5 permanent resident visa, was up at 6 a.m., leaving behind his Korean wife and children in Gimpo and driving his car to what he called the "Dirty Foreigner Seminar."

"This isn't about career enrichment," said McPherson, a restaurateur and owner of a successful tourism company who teaches on the side to make ends meet. "It's because of the stereotype that we're all sexual deviants."

Ji-young Kim, an F-4 visa holder based in Paju, was up at 5 a.m.

"It's as though they simply didn't care about having to get us up at 5 a.m. and for most, find our own transportation. Luckily for my hagwon, the director rented us a bus."

Attendees arriving at Icheon Art Hall signed in for the event to verify their attendance.

The schedule started with a video inviting them to the Icheon Rice Festival afterwards happening nearby, then they stood for the Korean national anthem. Then, they sat through Korean-language speeches by various dignitaries including Icheon Mayor Um Tae-jun who even sang a song, cultural performances, and lectures on immigration law, Korean culture and teaching. Everything wrapped up by 11:45 a.m., which McPherson suspects was so they wouldn't have to provide food.

Icheon Mayor Eam Tae-jun greets foreign teachers at a seminar in Icheon Art Hall on Oct. 20. / Courtesy of Joe McPherson

"We don't have the budget for preparing snacks or meals," said the Gyeonggi Foreign Hagwon Association (GFHA) chairwoman, who has overseen these seminars since 2014. She withheld her name. "In a previous year, because our association is not rich, hagwon principals chipped in some money to prepare sandwiches for those who came to the seminar early. But we saw many of the teachers throwing out leftovers. We are not going to prepare foods for the teachers to their tastes."

The cultural education included materials presented by the Korean Spirit and Culture Promotion Project (KSCPP) on Korean brass bowls said to kill E. coli, King Sejong's inventions which were juxtaposed with modern digital technology and drones, and Japan's claimed zero scientific achievements before 1500. There was also a percussion performance and a performance of the folk song "Arirang."

"Some of my co-workers commented on how nice the performances were," Kim said. "In the end though, most of them said it was a complete waste of time. I've seen enough Nanta performances to do it myself, and I've been here for 12 years, so if I wanted to go to the Rice Festival I would have gone by now."

Throughout the talks, attendees were reminded numerous times not to sexually harass students, although little instruction was given on what sexual harassment was and how to avoid it.

"This reinforces the stereotype that foreigners are by nature potential sexual predators and drug fiends," McPherson said. "Do teachers really need to be told that molesting children is wrong?"

"We sometimes teach things they already know by reminding them again and again. That's our job. If we don't inform them what they need to know, we commit crimes of false charge," the GFHA chairwoman said. "In Korea, sexual harassment is a grave crime, and we are responsible for teaching foreign instructors to abide by Korean law. Some foreign teachers, not aware of local sensitivity, had unintentionally caused some kids to feel sexually molested. We are responsible for informing the teachers about such incidents."

One speaker giving a talk on "Learn how to be a good teacher" shared a story about his youth, being inspired to learn English because his teacher wore short skirts.

"I didn't appreciate the last presenter starting his story off by saying how he and his friends went up to the board to write an answer just to look at their thin, pretty teacher's legs because she was wearing a short skirt," Kim said. "And that's how they were motivated to learn English."

"I had 200 hagwon principals sitting next to me in the seminar and none of them had anything to say about that bit," the GFHA chairwoman said. "Should I buy an opinion of a person who happened to dislike that part of the story? A good educator knows how to deeply reflect on what others say and ponder about applying them to himnself. All the presenters in the seminar were certified. We even contacted foreign affairs bureau at police stations in the province to select the most eligible speakers for the foreign instructors."

A seminar on Oct. 20 in Icheon Art Hall for foreign teachers in Gyeonggi Province offers "Tips to Successful Life in Korea." / Courtesy of Joe McPherson

A representative from Suwon Immigration Office spoke reminding those present not to sexually harass students, and spoke about E-2 visa rules, irritating those in the audience with longer-term visas. The immigration officer also got a strong reaction when he said the teachers weren't mandated by law to be there.

"My employer told me that by law we were required to attend, then the immigration officer said that it was not law, so everyone lost their cool," Kim said. "I trust my managers so either they were misinformed or the government lied."

The KFHA head explained, "Whether the teachers attended the Saturday's seminar had no effect on their immigration status. Hearing this from the immigration officer, some teachers later complained to me. I explained that this is for their employers, the hagwon principals, to abide by the bylaw by having them attend this seminar."

An invitation shared on social media cited "Article 15 Subsection 4 of the law governing academy foundation, management and extracurricular work." But this passage is irrelevant to the mandatory seminar.

The letter probably meant to cite Article 13 Paragraph 3 of the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Teaching Institutes and Extracurricular Lessons, or "Hagwon Bill," which states: "In the case of foreign instructors… training will be conducted more than once after entering the country to improve their skills as those responsible for social education and aid them in adapting to Korean culture."

According to Matt VanVolkenburg, a Canadian researcher of Korean history, the seminars are the result of media bias against foreigners. The amendment to the relevant law was first suggested in 2009 and made legal in 2011, mandating the seminars as well as drug tests for foreign instructors.

"As the number of foreign teachers rose, peaking in 2011, fears of foreign teachers committing crimes, especially sex crimes against children, were stoked by journalists and politicians," VanVolkenburg said.

The seminar itself repeated some of these sensational stories, including the 2007 arrest of Canadian pedophile Christopher Paul Neil who had worked in Korea, as well as cases of drug smuggling.

"In 2013, the story of a foreign teacher suspected of having sexually assaulted a minor who was extradited to the U.S. was covered by 80 news articles ― half of them TV news reports," VanVolkenburg said. "In contrast, the case of a Korean elementary school vice principal who was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting nine elementary school students appeared in only 14 news reports ― none of which were on TV."

While the number of crimes committed by foreigners has been increasing, it has stayed in proportion with the increasing foreign population, VanVolkenburg claims, citing his research. What's more, he adds, the foreign crime rate is markedly lower than the Korean crime rate.

According to the GFHA chairwoman, the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education (GPOE) established its own bylaw on Sept. 1, 2017, obligating principals of English academies to send their foreign teachers to the seminar. However, it is unclear how the employers are punished for their teachers' nonattendance.

She said Gyeonggi Province has about 3,500 foreign instructors, and around 1,800 were required to attend the seminar. Icheon Art Hall was chosen simply for its availability and seating capacity of 1,200. She said foreign teachers who can prove they took the seminar since 2014 didn't have to attend, unless they left the country and returned with a new visa.

"Regarding the Saturday seminar, I got calls from about 100 foreign teachers who claimed they had already attended a seminar and wondered whether they had to take this year's seminar as well," she said. "I tried to allow them all not to come, once I confirmed whether they attended any past seminar ― within the four years."

The chairwoman took her position in 2014, back when the seminars were not mandatory. She said foreign teachers who don't attend won't face disadvantages such as with immigration, but their employers will face unspecified disadvantages. As a result, most employment contracts foreign instructors sign will stipulate attendance in the seminars.

"No disrespect to the people who put this together. I'm sure it wasn't easy. But it was a waste of everyone's time," Kim said. "I do believe they were trying to make this useful while appeasing...whomever they are working for. They just did a very poor job making it useful."

She and McPherson both admit the potential for these seminars to be useful.

"Since most of the teachers don't have teaching degrees, true teacher training is crucial. It's a crime that nothing is being done to help them proper teaching techniques. Basic child psychology would be useful. Tips for how to positively control a class, how to make a class plan, even giving examples of silly songs and games would be useful," McPherson said. "A lot of problems with English teachers happen because they don't know that they can get in trouble for things like libel or working in locations that aren't on their visas. They also don't know what their legal rights are in Korean labor law and in human rights laws. I doubt the Hagwon Association would want them to know that anyway."

A handout offering tips for foreign English teachers tells them "Nobody cares about your own loneliness. / Courtesy of Joe McPherson

Kim said, "As if any of us had any intentions of smuggling drugs, molesting kids and the like. Tell us something useful like how do we protect ourselves against unjust directors. Show that you are on our side and stop with this 'You are in Korea' nonsense. That because we are in Korea, we should be...more understanding? C'mon. Hogwash. How to be a good teacher could have been a great presentation but he didn't mention anything all that useful. Play board games? Okay, how do you incorporate that in your lesson when your hagwon wants you to finish 20 pages each class? With 12 students?"

VanVolkenburg said, "Overall it sounds like a pro-forma attempt to follow a rule seen as annoying by both those subject to it and those tasked with implementing it. The half-assed, ill-thought-out program which was interpreted by many attendees as 'please love Korean culture, you potential child-molesting drug addicts' may have indeed taught the foreign instructors something about Korea, but it probably was not the lesson the education authorities were hoping for."

The GFHA chairwoman said she will take the complaints she received to a Nov. 8 meeting of the GPOE to improve future seminars.

"One of the words the foreign teachers seem to like is different, as in 'we are different from you,'" she said. "That, in turn, means we also need to let them know things about Korea that are different from their countries. Some people might already know about those disparities but there are also those who don't."