Whoever talks to the cafeteria lady? Korea, and specifically Gyeonggi Schools want exactly that.They want highly competent Filipinos, which even the United States is running after, to serve kimchi during lunchtime? Are you kidding me? At what? 600,000 Won? That's just like 600 USD and with rent in an ugly apartment in a city in Gyeonggi about 300 USD/month ++ bills, does Korea think that we are some kind of slaves?
Since "Non-native English Speakers" cannot teach English in Korea (Only citizens of the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa are allowed to teach in Korea and I have met some of them personally.) so definitely- Filipinos can't teach there unless they are married to some uneducated Korean farmer. Filipino teachers which are highly prized even by native-English speaking countries like the United States can't teach in Korea while 111,000 Koreans went to the Philippines last year to study English. Stupid you think? Me thinks so too.
English Education in Korea is totally fucked. How can you learn English when all your TV Stations on Cable are basically Korean? All the newspapers are in Korean?? It's hard to get around because most of the maps are in Korean! Even the damn computer programs are in freaking Korean? And you hire a country boy from a countrytown in the US or Canada who spells pagoda as "pogoda" and says he is "hurted" (based on true experience) just because he is a native English Speaker? English speaking is not English teaching.
Apparently, South Korean officials are in deep shit now for signing the FTA with the US over beef imports (haha- US sent them beef with Mad Cow Disease) - and their President who champions English instruction apparently can't read English and the stipulations of the agreement.
I have met some nice people in Korea during my stay but I think the country is totally screwed when it comes to this department. The people are just not ready for a global culture. On one of my nights I stayed in Korea, I was passing through a hair salon in Icheon (Gyeonggi-do) one night and saw this sign "Live Hair Salon" and me and my hunny thought that was funny - so I snapped a photo of the sign. Out came this hairstylist about to go home, demanding why was I taking photos of the place (in Korean) and since I don't know how to speak in Korean - she launched into a tirade - "These fucking foreigners who comes to Korea and not speaking in Korean." Emphasis on "fucking"- she used the "shibalo"- a very bad curse in Korea. I got my revenge the next time we passed through that place. I'll post the video.
"Live Hair Salon"That's Korea for you folks.
Read on.
Gyeeonggi Schools to Hire English-Speaking Workers
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
The Gyeeonggi Provincial Office of Education said it will encourage schools to hire English-speaking Indians and Filipinos for jobs at cafeterias or stores within schools to give students more chances to speak English.
``We will encourage schools to hire Indians and Filipinos for English zones and school stores to give students opportunities to use English during lunch and break times,’’ it said in a statement. It expects schools to hire them at relatively lower costs than native English speakers. About 50 schools in the province will initially test run the scheme.
However, the statement of the education agency has invited criticism from embassies and civic organizations as well as other education offices.
``Cheap doesn’t mean low quality. We have many high-quality English teachers in the Philippines,’’ said Jed Dayang, spokesman of the Philippine Embassy to Seoul.
A source from Indian embassy also said that Indians will not come to Korea to work at stores at schools, mentioning that there are many high-quality English teachers working in the U.S., Japan and China.
A supervisor from Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education also pointed out it is discriminative. ``So Americans are not allowed to work at English zones and stores?’’ she said.
Regarding this, Hwang Ik-joong, senior supervisor of the Gyeonggi Education Office told The Korea Times, ``We meant to use foreigners who can speak English well but cannot teach English in Korea due to immigration regulations that only allow foreign teachers by nationality.’’
Additionally, the education office plans to increase the number of native English-speaking teachers from 1,272 to 1,952 by 2010 so that all schools will have at least one native English teacher, at a cost of 24 billion won ($24 million).
The education authorities will also strengthen training programs for foreign teachers. Under the plan, supervisors from the education office will monitor and assist foreign English teachers during the classes to help improve their teaching skills.
Meanwhile, the education office plans to increase the number of Korean English teachers who can conduct classes only in English from current 56 percent to 70 percent through traininig programs by the end of the year. It will ultimately make all English teachers teach only in Enlgish by 2011.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/03/113_21557.html
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^^ They can't even spell 'English' right.
"The entire Korean peninsula is like a human appendix (interestingly it looks like that too), you are not sure why it is there since it serves no purpose other than potentially killing you when your appendix bursts (sic Nuclear instability)."
