Koreans demand better English teachers
By Melissa Walker
New requirements from
the Korean government seek to improve the quality of language teaching;
hopes to ‘weed out’ poor or unqualified EFL teachers.
Just a few years ago, all one needed to get a posh, rent free and low tax job as an English teacher in South Korea was a university degree, and to be from a country where English is the native language. It also helped if you were under 30, North American, Caucasian and willing to teach children. Recently, a spate of scams and scandals have helped to shake up the EFL community and break down long-held assumptions that anyone that speaks English can, of course, teach it, and show Koreans that though the package may be pleasing, it may also be misleading.
One of the biggest scams came to light when, around September 2005, a local Korean company was found to be printing fake diplomas for teachers who had no University degree. By the end of the month, their files were confiscated and some say that hundreds of foreign teachers around the peninsula were rounded up, many spending at least a few nights in immigration detention centers before being deported. Now the Korean government, to stop this practice, accepts only original University degrees, and also requires sealed copies of original transcripts from the University.
But Korean parents, notorious for being overly protective and indulgent of their
children, felt this wasn’t enough. As of 2008, all applicants for the E-2 visa
(for English teachers) must provide proof of a clean criminal record. Also, according
to the non-profit website for EFL teachers, www.efl-law.com, starting in 2009
teachers will need to have some sort of TEFL qualification before applying for
a teaching job in Korea.
Never heard of a TEFL certificate before? A great place to start is at www.intesol-prague.com. Their accredited courses for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language are practical and world recognized, and their staff has several years of personal experience and contacts in the Korean TEFL market.
Getting a teaching job in Korea may not be as simple as it once was, but these are standards which are common practice in many places, such as North America and Europe. The sooner Koreans demand, and get, better English teachers, like the graduates of INTESOL Prague, the sooner their English will rise to meet the international standard.
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