TAG : Teaching In Korea

Determine your own significance

The true value of an English teacher

In Blogs: Steve Schertzer - 11th January 2010

Native English teachers incompetent in the classroom? Of course they're incompetent. Many of them, anyway. Then again, many of the Korean English teachers are incompetent as well.

Tags: teacher problems teacher roles teacher opinions teacher values teaching in asia teaching in korea korean culture korean education system korea times

When in Rome

Definitely don't do as the Romans do

In Blogs: Steve Schertzer - 1st March 2009

With the school year just beginning, at least the public schools here in South Korea, this is as good an opportunity as ever to discuss the teacher-training workshop that is offered twice a year to native English speakers by the various Offices of Education. I've had the misfortune of attending two of them in my three years with the program, both presented in the exact same fashion.

Tags: teaching methodology teaching in asia teaching principles teaching in korea training culture course

A philosophical dilemma

Should getting a job be given precedence over pursuit of social justice?

In Blogs Archived: Matt Smith - 1st May 2008

I guess the more conservative the society in general, the more left-wingers there are that originate from it that are not in fact left-wingers at all, but who are in fact right-wingers masequerading as left-wingers to make themselves look good.

Tags: teaching in korea korean culture feminism imperialism korean society steve schertzer colonisation modern anthropology racial ties feminist writing

Bananas and condoms

How some EFL teachers are attempting to proselytize the flock

In Blogs: Steve Schertzer - 1st May 2008

Every now and then we come across ethnocentric people who believe that their culture and society are vastly superior to anything the "socially depraved" West has ever produced. There are two sides to this debate. This is the other side.

Tags: culture teaching in korea asian culture western culture british culture pusanweb feminism imperialism feminist literature economic imperialism

Understanding culture

Or the culture of understanding?

In Blogs: Steve Schertzer - 1st April 2008

If knowing more about a specific culture can make me a better teacher while I'm living there, then I'd be more than happy to sign up and pay for some culture course. But keep the "My Culture Is Better Than Your Culture" crap out of it

Tags: ministry of education culture teaching in korea training teaching licences culture course teachers council south korea petitions

Outsourcing in the TEFL industry

It's not just for blond-haired blue-eyed wonders anymore.

In Blogs: Steve Schertzer - 1st March 2008

no one bitches and moans like foreign English teachers. Especially the foreign English teachers with blond hair and blue eyes. Especially the foreign English teachers who have been spoiled over the last three plus decades with free airline tickets to and from home and rent-free apartments

Tags: teacher recruitment teacher salaries unqualified teachers teaching in korea tefl certificates korean education system korean students teaching regulations background checks tesol certificates

The perfect storm

Dopey foreigners and mentally deficient Koreans part one

In Blogs: Steve Schertzer - 1st October 2007

So Korea, go ahead and continue to hire unqualified native English teachers. You know exactly what you're doing. You're hardly walking and talking testaments to your own good judgement. A plague on all your houses!

Tags: teacher recruitment classroom management ministry of education student discipline culture unqualified teachers teaching in korea training korean culture korean students

You are the solution

what foreign teachers don't want to hear

In Blogs: Steve Schertzer - 1st August 2007

Many foreign teachers forget that they're not in Kansas anymore, and demand that their hosts adapt to them rather than trying to find a middle-ground where a reasonable compromise can be reached. If many foreign teachers are the problem, (and they are), then they are also the solution.

Tags: teacher problems ministry of education teacher salaries teaching in korea teacher contracts training complaints aua co-teachers epik

Agreeing with Alison Empey

The downsides of teaching in Korea

In Blogs Archived: Matt Smith - 1st July 2007

What exactly is it that I don’t like about Korea, or that made me finally spit the dummy? In as objective tone as I can muster, and in no partcular order, here’s the nature of my gripes.

Tags: teaching in thailand student discipline culture teaching in korea teacher contracts korean culture korean students xenophobia south korea orientalism

TEFL’s number one enemy

Losers to the right of me, morons to my left

In Blogs: Steve Schertzer - 1st July 2007

There are many successful teachers here in Korea and elsewhere. I have been lucky enough to work with many great teachers. But they are a rare breed, indeed. Successful teachers don't allow the system to beat them down. They rise up to answer the call again and again.

Tags: teacher problems teaching in korea complaints teaching websites korean students education programs adapting to thailand epik new teachers expat forums