A news report that Seoul plans to gradually reduce the number of Native Speakers in their Public Schools to zero by 2014. Apparently parents would rather have Koreans who are fluent in English teach their kids. My only question is where all these fluent Koreans will come from?
Anyway, I'm interested to see if this all pans out since the obsession with/hatred of Native English Speakers in Korea seems to change month by month.
Perhaps China is looking better and better all the time?
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The Korean admin are asking the wrong questions. It is not Koran vs. native speaker or fluent vs. not fluent - it should be qualified vs. not qualified. Koreans have been loathe to hire qualified teachers,.notes they wonder went the system failed.
The Koreans are asking the wrong questions. It is not about Koreans vs. native-speakers or fluent vs. not fluent. It is about qualified vs. not qualified.
The Koreans have made it the de facto policy to hire young, inexperienced teachers with no training, and notes they wonder why the program failed. Koreans fluent in English will fare no better without proper training. All those Koreans graduating with MAs in TESOL? Unless their program had a strong practical component, with observed teaching, they will fail too.
Jackie, will you write more about this situation when you get a chance? It seems odd they want to learn a language of people they don't like. If Koreans are anything like Japanese, it took several months to adjust to their "English". Good luck with the tests-- are you seeing if your students have found your blog? Thanks! Merry Xmas!
Hi Joy....it's bizarre sometimes in Korea with regard to English. The tides seems to change all the time and I have a feeling this new thing won't actually pan out. There will be an outcry or protest or something and things will continue on as normal.
My students try to do as little in English as is humanly possible so I very much doubt that they've found my blog. Haha! And if they have, I'm sure they couldn't be bothered to figure out my posts :)
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