National (as of 11:52 PM)
S. Korea Calls on Pinoy Teachers With American Twang
By LOUI GALICIA
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
South Korea is considering opening its market to Filipino English-language teachers. But first, applicants need to pass a pronunciation test, with an American accent.
Congressman Chung Bong-Ju, a member of the education committee of South Korea’s National Assembly, said there is a huge shortage of English teachers in South Korea as Koreans have become increasingly interested in learning the language. He added that more parents now want their children to learn English.
Chung said he has been pushing for the hiring of English-language teachers from the Philippines for about one year now.
“These days, Filipinos can’t get a visa to go to Korea as English instructor. But your country has university graduate people. They can speak English well and they are well educated. I think the person who graduated from the university in the Philippines have lots of ability to teach English, so you deserve to get a visa from Korea,” Chung, who was in The Hague recently, told ABS-CBN.
Presently, there are around 10,000 English teachers in South Korea mainly from the US, Canada and Australia. They earn an equivalent of US$3,000 a month, Chung said.
He added that competition has become stiff that some educational institutions have been paying as much as $5,000 dollars per month.
The idea of importing Filipino teachers came from former South Korean Ambassador to the UN Wonil Cho who visited a call center in Tagaytay City in the Philippines last year.
He said that at the call center, he thought that he was in America because the call-center agents all spoke in American English.
“If you think about it, why should we look far for English teachers. The Philippines is only four hours away [from South Korean] and Filipinos speak good English,” Wonil said.
"I think we can facilitate Philippine English teachers to go to Korea for certain period of three years to teach Korean children.”
However, some Koreans who went to the Philippines to learn English found out that their teachers did not have the "right" pronunciations.
“Lots of Korean parents don’t like Filipino English instructors because their English pronunciation is so different from Americans and Canadians. But I have an idea. You can teach Filipinos to change pronunciation to American style. Before we give them a visa, we will give (the applicants) a pronunciation test. If pronunciation is very similar to American style I think we can issue them a visa,” Chung said.
Chung is confident that it will only take two months to train Filipinos to learn the American accent since English is widely spoken in the country and the Filipinos already have the grammatical structure and reading comprehension.
Chung promises to work on the issue soon because it will be beneficial for both countries. “It will be good for Korean students and it will be provide employment to more Filipinos,” he said.
Chung plans to visit the Philippines within the year to discuss the matter with authorities.
SOURCE: WWW.ABS-CBNNEWS.COM
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=75787
S. Korea Calls on Pinoy Teachers With American Twang
By LOUI GALICIA
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
South Korea is considering opening its market to Filipino English-language teachers. But first, applicants need to pass a pronunciation test, with an American accent.
Congressman Chung Bong-Ju, a member of the education committee of South Korea’s National Assembly, said there is a huge shortage of English teachers in South Korea as Koreans have become increasingly interested in learning the language. He added that more parents now want their children to learn English.
Chung said he has been pushing for the hiring of English-language teachers from the Philippines for about one year now.
“These days, Filipinos can’t get a visa to go to Korea as English instructor. But your country has university graduate people. They can speak English well and they are well educated. I think the person who graduated from the university in the Philippines have lots of ability to teach English, so you deserve to get a visa from Korea,” Chung, who was in The Hague recently, told ABS-CBN.
Presently, there are around 10,000 English teachers in South Korea mainly from the US, Canada and Australia. They earn an equivalent of US$3,000 a month, Chung said.
He added that competition has become stiff that some educational institutions have been paying as much as $5,000 dollars per month.
The idea of importing Filipino teachers came from former South Korean Ambassador to the UN Wonil Cho who visited a call center in Tagaytay City in the Philippines last year.
He said that at the call center, he thought that he was in America because the call-center agents all spoke in American English.
“If you think about it, why should we look far for English teachers. The Philippines is only four hours away [from South Korean] and Filipinos speak good English,” Wonil said.
"I think we can facilitate Philippine English teachers to go to Korea for certain period of three years to teach Korean children.”
However, some Koreans who went to the Philippines to learn English found out that their teachers did not have the "right" pronunciations.
“Lots of Korean parents don’t like Filipino English instructors because their English pronunciation is so different from Americans and Canadians. But I have an idea. You can teach Filipinos to change pronunciation to American style. Before we give them a visa, we will give (the applicants) a pronunciation test. If pronunciation is very similar to American style I think we can issue them a visa,” Chung said.
Chung is confident that it will only take two months to train Filipinos to learn the American accent since English is widely spoken in the country and the Filipinos already have the grammatical structure and reading comprehension.
Chung promises to work on the issue soon because it will be beneficial for both countries. “It will be good for Korean students and it will be provide employment to more Filipinos,” he said.
Chung plans to visit the Philippines within the year to discuss the matter with authorities.
SOURCE: WWW.ABS-CBNNEWS.COM
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=75787
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