tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post2888394481257886974..comments2024-02-23T23:53:54.842+09:00Comments on Gusts Of Popular Feeling: "Placing native speaking teachers in schools should be re-examined"matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-19574900126174806702010-12-05T01:36:55.429+09:002010-12-05T01:36:55.429+09:00It doesn't seem to me like it would be that ha...It doesn't seem to me like it would be that hard to find some sort of pseudo-objective measurement. Have they tried comparing scores from schools that don't have foreign teachers to otherwise similar schools that do? The countryside pretty spotty and must have tons of natural experimental data.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03670942813673233406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-19642443392636695132010-12-04T11:25:57.967+09:002010-12-04T11:25:57.967+09:00Those levels are BS as a means to evaluate NETs. ...Those levels are BS as a means to evaluate NETs. They're the EPIK salary levels, nothing more.<br /><br />Because I have a linguistics BA, I started at the second lowest level, Level 2. It doesn't matter that I taught for a test prep company in the States or that I have experience teaching and tutoring ESL students in afterschool programs. It doesn't matter than I'm working my butt off to learn Korean. Except for officially working at a public school, any experience doesn't affect your salary (and therefore your 'level'). Korean language ability doesn't affect your level.<br /><br />Having a TEFL certificate can affect it, but my understanding is since I already have a boost from my Linguistics degree, other than that, there's nothing I can do but wait. You go up one level every year (or in some cases, every two years I think), period. It's worth noting that student test scores and performance have absolutely no bearing on your level.<br /><br />So for me to be a level S, I'll have to have been working here for 4 years at the same POE. The majority of applicants will have to have been here for 5 years. Considering the nature of the NET position (one-year contracts, little training, no formal curriculum, etc.) and the fact that, as someone mentioned, schools aren't going to want to pay the higher salaries for higher 'level' teachers, is it any surprise that we're not swimming in Level S's??<br /><br />The absolute dumbest thing they could do is get rid of NETs. I love my co-teachers, but even the best of them do not speak English fluently, and some of them I barely speak to because they don't understand anything I say. And these are licensed, educated teachers. What do you think will happen when you start shoveling in 'instructors'??<br /><br />Almost as dumb as the robot fiasco. Seriously.CeilingofStarshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05110238349397590911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-88684289982867283092010-12-04T09:52:46.160+09:002010-12-04T09:52:46.160+09:00I was one of the 4 level S teachers in Bucheon.
I...I was one of the 4 level S teachers in Bucheon.<br /><br />I know that that article is garbage.None of the public schools in the city will hire a level S teacher because they now have to pay a percentage out of their own budget to hire them. Before, they were practically given to the school as around 90% of their expenses were covered by the board of education subsidies. <br /><br />The new principal at my school told my co-teachers that she wanted to get rid of me because I was too formal and serious.<br /><br />They replaced me with a 22 year old level 3.<br /><br />I work at a very good private high school in a rural area now. The working conditions are infinitely better than anything I worked under with the board of education.Stuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17356521193425548627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-63293554474662353402010-11-30T22:36:52.104+09:002010-11-30T22:36:52.104+09:00These are the levels based on what, exactly? Exper...These are the levels based on what, exactly? Experience, education, what? If you're not doing the things to keep the qualified / exceptional teachers, whose fault is it that they're leaving?<br /><br />If you're a good teacher, you'll be able to find a job most anywhere you like in Korea - plenty of hagwon will still be around. If you're a crappy teacher just skating by on someone else's dime and not really working... well, you'll get what's coming to you.Chris in South Koreahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07114300133329984235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-39007673041843192502010-11-30T21:55:52.740+09:002010-11-30T21:55:52.740+09:00I'm going to go out on a long, thin limb here....I'm going to go out on a long, thin limb here.<br /><br />Having worked in a program that train the Korean specialist English teachers, I think this is actually heading down the right track. <br /><br />There are many problems with the current system of hiring fresh-out-of-college native English speakers and putting them in classrooms in Korea. On the teacher's side, many are untrained, inexperienced, and lack the commitment to truly do much. Note, I said many, not all. Out of the 2200 Gyeonggi NETs mentioned in the article, how many of them have a degree in education, early childhood education, teaching, or TESOL? How many have a TESOL certificate (or a TESOL certificate the specializes in YL)?<br /><br />On the schools' end, when a school is lucky enough to have a truly qualified teacher, how many of them know how to utilize them? How many Korean teachers that are partnered with a NET are taught how to utilize them? <br />On the systemic side of things, the teachers that they hire are qualified--in that they meet the requirements set out by the ministry of education, not to mention immigration. The school pay for airfare, accommodations, and about 2.2mil or so per month for the teachers' salary. All together, that isn't bad really. <br />(add it up: 2.2mil salary + 300k housing + 100k insurance/expenses per month + 1.2 mil for airfare = more than 33 mil per year, which was about what I earned as a licensed high school teacher in the US with an MAT degree) <br /><br />The EPIC and GEPIC programs were band aids meant as temporary solutions until the Korean teachers could get proficient enough to hold classes entirely in English. The amount of time and money being spent on the teacher-training programs is amazing. The teachers take 9-5 classes in English for 20 weeks, and then spend a month in an English-speaking country doing home stays with teachers and actually being part of the schools there. During their 20 weeks of classes, they transform into people who are afraid to speak English to teachers who do so willingly even when they are eating lunch together. <br /><br />There is a whole generation of teachers coming up who can and will be able to take over their own classes in English. There are a lot of sedentary teachers still there; those that don't want to change the way they do things and do not have the ability to conduct even parts of single lessons in English. Anyone who has been here for an extended period of time can think back to how things were a decade ago, and compare them to today will see that it won't really be that long until the EFL world in public schools is unrecognizable yet again. <br /><br />The NETs should not worry though. The parents will still be competitive and want more for their kids. The private hogwans will continue to thrive and the divide between the rich and poor will only continue to grow.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15673778203788557804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-74768150709399977092010-11-30T20:57:45.819+09:002010-11-30T20:57:45.819+09:00Picasso,
You'll never see the papers report o...Picasso,<br /><br />You'll never see the papers report on what a disaster they are. They are better than NETs just by being Korean. No possibility of molesting or AIDS, either.Darth Babaganooshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03292625818454308095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-16539570057059056342010-11-30T19:07:28.670+09:002010-11-30T19:07:28.670+09:00Considering how pleased my co-teachers have been w...Considering how pleased my co-teachers have been with the instructors at our school (not at all), I see this plan falling apart quickly. The foreign teachers may very well be crap, but the instructors, by and large, are certainly no better. And they have more opportunities to fuck things up for the other teachers by not understanding what's going on. <br /><br />One of ours ruined the exam last semester by giving out the exam questions to all her students. Two more severely fucked up the behavioral part of the grade by not keeping marks throughout the semester and not remembering who all their students were when it came time to give them. <br /><br />Absolutely every last one of them is being skated over by the students in the classroom management department. It's been basically nothing but an all-around unmitigated disaster. <br /><br />But they come cheaper. Wahey!I'm no Picassohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06516337555349888808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-61107658835562174722010-11-30T17:28:11.240+09:002010-11-30T17:28:11.240+09:00The POEs have their budgets they have to meet and ...The POEs have their budgets they have to meet and they're getting what they can in the budget. If these papers want every school to have a native English speaker with certification in English Education, they're going to have to start coughing up some serious money, because not a whole lot of people are willing to travel 10000 miles to make less.Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15189565114656401244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-60389645213047566982010-11-30T16:18:50.157+09:002010-11-30T16:18:50.157+09:00It's funny that none of those qualifications a...It's funny that none of those qualifications are actually offered to take inside the country (other than online). What do you need a teaching certificate for to be an "assistant teacher"? If I have a teaching certificate will I have a guaranteed contract and have classes on my own? No? Okay then, let's move on.brenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00698523053889263665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-27508339801412137402010-11-30T14:55:16.584+09:002010-11-30T14:55:16.584+09:00South Korea, The Land of We're Just Not That S...South Korea, The Land of We're Just Not That Serious:<br /><br />http://www.asianoffbeat.com/Oddnews/Anti-English-Spectrum-Declares-War-on-English-Teachers.jpgKing Baeksuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15106210206814275410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-46008094253034324292010-11-30T13:16:03.705+09:002010-11-30T13:16:03.705+09:00Like a penny-pinching housewife who buys a fake Lo...Like a penny-pinching housewife who buys a fake Louis Vuitton handbag that soon starts to fall apart at the seams, and then complains to all her friends and neighbors that it is "not as good as the real thing," some of these fools really need to wake the fuck up.<br /><br />Seriously.King Baeksuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15106210206814275410noreply@blogger.com