Teach English in ErwangzhuAng Zhen - Tianjin

Problems for Learners in South KoreaFor almost the past two years, Ive been an assistant english conversation teacher at the American Language Institute in San Diego, california. About four years ago, the institute saw a great influx of students coming from South Korea. On the first day of arrival, the students attend orientation at the institute and are tested on their reading and writing skills, as well as their oral speaking skills. From there, the students are placed accordingly to their level of skill. After multiple semesters and sessions, we began to notice a trend: the Korean students reading and writing skills were at a completely different level than their speaking skills. Students that were in an Oral Communications level of 103, had reading and writing skills that were at a comparable level of 110 (whereas students from other countries had about the same general and speaking level). Initially the institutes staff was puzzled. But then we started asking the students about their english education, and found a plethora of interesting information that allowed us to get a better understanding of how Korean students learn and how we should change our curriculum to better suit them. After talking to a number of students over the summer, winter, and spring (which is actually the time of the year that most Korean students come to study abroad), we learned that Korean students lack developed oral communication skills for 3 reasons: University entrance exam focus, teaching inconsistencies, and a lack of confidence. The University Entrance Exam is the main focus for all the students in high school in South Korea. Many students in their sophomore and junior year, go to school from 7 AM until Midnight, six days a week. Their time is spent between their own high school and private cram schools. There when they study english, they are drilled repeatedly to an almost overkill level of grammar and vocabulary exercises. To Koreans, the score is everything, and actual fluency or competency is less important. jobs in korea give priority to graduates from top level universities, not students who already have experience in a field, or who have demonstrated tremendous knowledge of the field. Because of this, students focus solely on grades. Also, since speaking isnt able to be graded at as a consistent and fast level as multiple choice answers are, speaking sections in the university entrance exams are left out entirely. So for most students, speaking becomes the lowest priority when learning english. Another complaint we heard form Korean students was that while learning english in middle and high school, students were never exposed to one consistent english accent. They would initially learn english from a Korean teacher who had a Masters degree in english (but had maybe never studied or worked abroad in an english speaking country), and then be shuffled to an American teacher one year, a South African teacher the next, and then an australian teacher the year after that. While some might think it would be good to be exposed to all the various english accents, we must also realize that South Africans, Americans, and the British a lot of times even have trouble understanding each other! So one only has to imagine what its like for someone just beginning to learn english! The third problem we learned that Korean students commonly encounter when learning english, is their lack of confidence. East Asian countries like japan, Taiwan, and Korea all are considered to be very low-key and shy when it comes to leading discussions or openly sharing their opinion. They do not want to break the harmony in the classroom and are afraid of being called stupid when they make mistakes speaking to foreigners. However when learning a language, I believe one of the most important things is to make mistakes, and then learn from them. Koreans however are so afraid to make the mistake, that they dont put themselves in situations to try, and therefore never get the chance to learn from their mistakes.