I read my favorite bloggers to jump start my idle brain. They usually have a fresher take of ideas than the normal editorials on the papers. Brian in Jeolla-Namdo posted this entry, stating and i quote:
SMOE cuts tons of Native Speaker English Teacher jobs before start of theI'm not telling you my initial reaction, seeing as i'm trying to change.
Semester.
Couple weeks ago, news came out that they'd be training foreign wives to be able to work. There were no details on what kind of job. Last week, i received a newsletter, an invitation to have this "crash course" to teach English in Kindergartens, or kids up to high school level.
What's this? What is all this? If you had read my blog before, you're aware about my struggles when it came to jobhunting. 5000 jobs all over the country, and we're not allowed to fish even one, because the main reason: PHILIPPINES. They're not hiring anybody not coming from these "Native Speaking" countries.
Let's add two and three, shall we?
When the job market opened, i was one of the people who diligently searched for jobs. I searched all day, and all night. I searched online, and i did a couple of phone interviews. If i don't mention my motherland, i almost get an interview. If not, i get the "i'm sorry, we have to prioritize... blah blah blah" crap. I saw how the advertisement changed. Same benefits (house, airfare, allowance, insurance, severance pay) on top of their 1.8 million to 3 million Won salaries. It changed drastically everytime. I even remember cursing because i saw the same advertisement on three different sites... and the salary range went from 1.8 (2.2)-2.5-3 million. Eeeew.
And now they're dropping successful applicants? WHY? I don't think they planned it that way. SMOE and EPIK are working with the government, right? And right now, i'm smelling something.
The migrant wives are doing a crash course, i myself included in the program. I'm attending it because i want the certificate that they'd give right after. After being subjected to this "i can't hire you regardless" crap, i am opting to use an alternative: something offered by the government. It might make it easier to have more teaching loads. The people being trained are Filipino Women. No other nationalities. Maybe in some other parts of the country might, but Gwangju certainly has just Philippines. It's done everyday from 10 AM to 4 PM, for two weeks since monday. The crash course.. is really REALLY for anybody without teaching experiences.
reijene hypothesis: i'm not trying to insinuate anything, rather a speculation. The Korean economy, recovering as it may be, is still trying to cut costs, and hiring foreigners from another country will not help. Notice that the teachers who were dropped were on a lower position? I"m guessing, they were not dropped because of over-booking. I think they were dropped to make way for the government project of helping migrant women in korea. Of course, not to add salt to the injury, they had to say they had some "overbooking" issues. But this crash course? The training is really for kids. From kindergarten up to high school.
1 comment:
This makes a lot of sense.
I can see this happening in the public system, but it wouldn't go over too well in the hagwon system where the parents can demand their native English teachers fit their "picture"/profile of what a so-called, authentic native English teacher looks like (and where they come from).
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