164 days

Looks like I may have decided to leave Korea at the same time that my welcome could be expiring anyway. Reports are coming from multiple sources in my life that 2010 was the year with the most Native Speaking English Teachers (NSETs) in public schools in Korea, and that from now the number of NSETs will be gradually reduced.

Which is not to say that there won't still be a huge market for untrained, inexperienced native English speakers to get jobs in the private teaching sector in Korea. English fever is not over here. But the new Education Minister doesn't seem to think that untrained, inexperienced NSETs are very effective in the classroom, and I can't say I disagree (though I do disagree with some of the new Minister's educational philosophies). The "Native Speaker" requirement is overvalued in many countries in my opinion, and many people don't seem to realize that a highly-trained, fluent or near-fluent non-native speaker would be a far more effective teacher than a just-graduated, untrained native English speaker looking for a gap year.

The old Education Minister had some progressive ideas (which may or may not have been effective had they been given proper funding and the chance to play out in the long-term). He wanted more English teachers (including NSETs) and smaller, level-based classes. The new Minister, Lee Ju-Ho, thinks small, level-based classes are ineffective, and also it's totally fine to just increase teacher workloads instead of hiring more teachers. As though Korean teachers aren't already overworked enough. Interestingly, he's also in favor of "art-focused" after school classes, which may result in me teaching an after school knitting class this semester. The man is a mystery.

But I can't say I disapprove of his decision to oust NSETs. I hope I've become an effective teacher over the course of these 2 years, but I definitely wasn't to begin with. Besides that, even NSETs who are effective aren't able (or willing) to cater to the Korean educational system, which doesn't value actual communication in English - only values high test scores. The motivation of even my most motivated students is not to become fluent in English, but to get a high 수능 score so they can go to a 4-year university. How can I help them with that? It's impossible for me to teach a 수능 prep class, I'll never be qualified for that. And if I can't help them with their purpose for learning English, what's the point of them taking my class?

I've never felt very useful at my high school (though I have loved it, and it has loved me back), and now the Education Minister doesn't think I'm useful either. I will never have the power to change the test-based motivations of the entire Korean educational system. Time to try something new. Time to teach adults in a mining town in Northern Chile.