Buhay sa Korea

Be careful of those private tutoring jobs. The $25-100 you earn per hour may not be worth the one year you’ll have to spend in prison once caught. Private tutoring is illegal and punishable by law. It’s not that difficult to register yourself as a private tutor. Just do it at the regionable education office and the tax office as well. The pay may not be big once you registered but at least you’re legal.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/02/117_19296.html

Illegal Tutors Face 1-Year Jail Term

According to the law, those offering private education should report their teaching activity to the regional educational office and tax authority. Those violating the rule will be subject to one year in prison or a 5 million won fine. Previously, the punishment was up to a 1 million won fine.

From answers.com, one of the definitions of this word is… A source of nourishment. I guess the owners of this bakery took the definition to heart and named their bakery… Breast!

While at a gasoline station in Icheon city, I saw this sign and thought that it probably was an Altavista translation. What do you think?

“it visits and it gives from thank you”

Here’s a news article from Korea Times. Hopefully, South Korea will soon open its doors to qualified English teachers from the Philippines. I’ve been reading some comments (mostly from native teachers) on the net demeaning the non-native English teachers. While most Filipino English teachers I had in the past didn’t have the standard American accent that Koreans like, I wouldn’t say that they were bad or didn’t know what they were teaching. My high school english teachers in Sta. Catalina College (Mrs. Bello and Mrs. Alice Reyes, the wife of director Tony Reyes) were the best I’d had. How I wish I’d pay more attention to their lessons and attended my classes diligently.

There are lots of English language schools in the Philippines. During the summer and winter vacations, thousands of Korean students travel to the country to study and immerse themselves in English. My husband’s niece who traveled to the country for a week October of last year really enjoyed her stay. When she came back to Korea, she had more confidence speaking in English. Back in Korea, she hated her English classes and often call me to complain.

I really hope that the Korean government would open their doors to highly qualified Filipino English teachers. It’s about time!

Seoul’s top educator said he will take diverse steps to upgrade English classes at schools. Kong Jeong-taek, superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE), said primary and secondary schools in Seoul will have at least an assistant teacher specialized in helping students improve English communication in two or three years.

Under the plan, the top educator will invite more foreign teachers, not only native English speakers but also foreigners who are skilled in the use of English.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2008/01/181_17379.html

From the Korea Herald:

Racism in hagwon: business is business

She explained that when she originally opened the school, she had employed one foreign teacher, a Filipino. She went on, claiming that whenever parents went to her school and saw the non white Filipino teacher, they simply turned around and left. Even though she admitted that some parents told her their children’s teachers were black, she came to the conclusion that “people in Korea prefer native white (English) speakers … When I tried to advertise again I wrote ‘white or blond,’ I had to meet many black people even though I did not want those teachers. I wasted my time interviewing them.

Yikes! Filipinos are not legally allowed to teach English in Korea. There are some who do teach, but they’re doing it either illegally or they’ve acquired Korean citizenship. The article above could come as a shock to some. We all know that thousands of Koreans flock to the Philippines, specially during the winter vacation, to study English. So why not allow Philippine-passport holders to teach English in Korea? I’ve met a lot of Koreans and they think that our pronunciation (or accent) is not desirable. I know even native English speakers, who are not from the USA or Canada, are forced to change their accent to American when they teach. There are also those who think that only “white” people could speak the language properly.

There are times when I talk to Koreans in English and they are a little bit surprised that I talk the way I do. (FYI, I worked in a call center before and enjoyed my job there. I thought it was challenging but less stressful than my previous jobs. I’m just not a writer nor a grammar guru.) I just tell them that a lot of Filipinos can speak English well, specially those who’ve been to college. It’s just a matter of exposure, I guess. When you’re brown-skinned or from southeast asia, they usually think that you could’nt be any better than a factory worker. It’s rather frustrating since I know a lot of Filipinos here who are professionals and are accomplished in their fields.

First of all, I’m not an English teacher. And as you can read from my posts, I don’t write (nor speak) perfect English. I make a lot of grammatical errors for me to qualify as a teacher, but then even Pres. George Bush who’s a native speaker and has a lot of degrees under his belt also makes mistakes.

So why the heck am I writing about teaching English in Korea? It’s because I have friends who’ve been asking me about teaching opportunitites here. You see, a lot of Koreans go to the Philippines to study English. They pay as much as if they’re enroled in an English-learning institute here. The only difference is that they have their own teachers instead of being in a class of ten or more students. And also, being in a foreign country may force them to speak the language more. Not to mention that they can experience the “beautiful” weather that we have back home and the friendliness of the people.

One of my friend’s sister majored in English and she has been tutoring since she was a junior in college. Her Korean employer offered to take her to Korea for one summer and pay her $500 a month. Whoa!!! I told her not to accept it because she won’t be compensated as much as she deserves and it’s illegal for a Filipino to teach English here. The Korean government only recognizes teachers from six native English speaking nations. These are the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. If you’re not a citizen of those countries, then you cannot teach English legally in South Korea. In addition, those people get a monthly compensation of at least $1,800 plus a lot of perks for less than a 40-hour job. And private teaching is also illegal if you don’t have a permit. Would you believe that private tutors receive as much as $40 per hour?

Some Filipinos here do work as English teachers, but not legally. They cannot be granted an E-2 visa which is the foreign language teacher’s visa. It’s not even legal for a foreign wife of a Korean to teach English, unless she has been granted Korean citizenship. And that is the reason why foreign wives are forced to abandon their nationality and acquire their husband’s. If I meet a foreign wife who is not an English teacher, I would be surprised. So far, I’ve known four people who are not English teachers here: Ate Rowena (the organizer of ISKA) works for KOIS (publisher of Korea.Net); Katie is a reporter for the Korea Times; Malou works for the local Metrobank branch in Seoul; while Anna is an administrative assistant at an architectural firm. So if you meet a Filipina who had renounced her Filipino nationality, she did it mainly because she needed to rather than her wanting to. I would do the same in the near future because I won’t be able to be of help financially if I don’t. I hope to be able to find a non-teaching job but that’s a longgggggggggggggggggggg shot!

In case you get offered an English-teaching job here in Korea, keep in mind that you’ll have to do it illegally.