 Children attend an English class at a language school. After the government announced its plan for “English-only” classes at schools, more students of various ages are finding themselves under increased pressure and seek private language schools to prepare for the new education method. / Korea Times |
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
The new government's plan to strengthen English education at public schools and decrease the dependence on private language schools has put public schools in a fix, however, it seems to be benefiting private sectors.
The new education plan aims to teach English to students, solely in English, and put an end to traditional methods of learning.
But the program poses a problem for Korean English teachers who have learned the language in Korean, focusing mainly on reading and grammar.
Skeptical and worried about the change, parents and students seem to rely more on the private sector that has already been quickly adapting to the changes.
``Actually, the new government's plan has been beneficial to us,'' Moon Sang-eun, director of Jungsang Language School, said. ``We have seen an increase in the number of enrollees as well as inquires from parents and students.''
Compared to public schools, private language schools here have teachers and facilities that enable them to conduct English classes in English. Consequently, they hail the government's move without seeing it as a setback.
``It took us about 20 years to create our curriculum and make it work. Our chains are quite small compared to the public education sector. So I think the government's immersion plans will take much longer to implement,'' Moon said.
It is easier for private schools to hire English teachers fluent in the language and introduce new programs to students, as the classes are much smaller.
Also many believe that even with the launching of the new methods, it will not be easy to decrease the reliance on the private education, simply given the size of the private English education market.
According to the Samsung Economic Research Institute, Koreans spend about 15 trillion won ($15.8 billion) on English education per year.
Enthusiasm for the language has also driven a large number of children, teenagers and even adults to leave for English-speaking countries like the United States, Australia and Britain to learn the language.
The number of students who went abroad jumped to 20,400 in 2005 from 7,944 in 2001, according to the Korea Tourism Organization.
Following the announcement of the plan, there was a rush of students to private language schools to prepare for the new system.
Students who live in remote areas or small cities temporarily move to the bigger cities to take English classes at popular language schools.
``Most of my friends are worried about the new English classes,'' Bae Gun-souk, a middle school students from Gwangju, said. ``Students like us, who do not live in Seoul, don't have the resources like the kids in Seoul do.''
During his winter vacation, the 14 year-old middle school student came to Seoul to attend a one month winter course at a private language institute.
``There are some good language schools in Gwangju. But Seoul seems to have better schools,'' Bae said.
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