KOTESOL: Festering Frustrations of the EFL Teacher

Looking back on when I was new to the EFL teaching scene in Korea, I remember that it was not easy to adjust. In addition to English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) pedagogy being new to me, there were a number of other things concerning the people I worked with – colleagues, administration, and students – that baffled and frustrated me, and continued to do so for quite some time. Over the years, I have tried to sort out these frustrations, creating for them the best rationalizations that I have been able to. Here I visit some of the ones that are most confounding and most shared by those coming to uri-nara and inserted into the Korean EFL context.

Gaining Acceptance

One of the first things that a new teacher in a new school looks for is acceptance from their colleagues, but this is very often difficult to achieve to the degree that the non-Korean teacher would desire. Likes attract, but while Koreans are most likely of the collectivist mindset, the westerner is conditioned to individualism. Collectivists are group formers and welcome into their group only those like themselves. (The public school phenomenon of wang-tta, outcasts, is a prime example of this). The native English-speaking teacher (NEST), however, is different in a number of important ways.

One of the most obvious differences of the NEST is their mother tongue. It is almost always easier to speak to someone whose first language is the same as yours; if their dialect is the same, it is all the easier. For Koreans, even Korean English teachers, to speak in English is a bit of a chore, even for the most proficient speakers. Learning Korean, at least some, goes a long way for the NEST towards attaining the acceptance they seek.

Another obvious difference of most NESTs is their appearance. While facial features are pretty much constant, what NESTs decides to wear as clothing, hairstyles, piercings, or tattoos can greatly affect the degree of acceptance they may gain. Wearing clothes similar to the styles worn by your colleagues will find favor. Wearing shirts unbuttoned halfway down the chest will not. Neither will wearing cargo pants hanging six inches below the waist, or thongs sticking six inches out of one’s skinny jeans. Beards and moustaches have been out of fashion in Korea for a long time (and moustaches especially still spark flashbacks of the Japanese during the harsh colonial period.) Long hair for guys and shaven heads are also out of the norm. Piercings, other than ears, and visible tattoos can categorize one as a member of a fringe group. I recall one very qualified EFL teacher who couldn’t get hired here because of his arm tattoos. If you want to be accepted as a professional by your colleagues, following the professional dress code of the teacher will go a long way.

A third and less visible difference is the dissimilarity in culture and way of thinking. The NEST who persistently insists that the way they think and the way they do things is right and that the Korean way is wrong isn’t going to make many friends. When one lives in a culture and society different from the one they were raised and indoctrinated in, they need to be broadminded and accept different ways of looking at things – viewing things as being different, not as being wrong. Being understanding leads to acceptance by those you understand.

Hurry Up – bballi, bballi

Many NESTs pride themselves on coming from a modern, fast-paced country only to get to Korea to find a type of fast-pacedness they are not used to: extremely short deadlines. It is not uncommon to be asked to do a time-consuming task and told that it needs to be done by the next day, or even the same day. The NEST may be accustomed to deadlines being set back home well in advance, given plenty of time to do the necessary planning and research to get the job done well. In Korea however, advance planning is not so much in advance. I remember one NEST jokingly complaining that in Korea “plan” is a four-letter word. I’ve also heard that the first Korean word waiters in Thailand’s restaurants learn from Korean tourists is bballi-bballi. I’m not sure what has given rise to Koreans wanting things done so quickly – it may in part be due to the former master-servant hierarchy persisting in a present-day hierarchical society. It may also be due in part to the Korean War and its aftermath, where it was impossible to plan ahead but necessary to live a hurried day-to-day existence. Regardless of its origins, it is something that the NEST needs to learn to expect and to deal with.

Student Study Efforts

NESTs teaching academic courses – courses taught for a grade – are often surprised at the apparently lackadaisical work ethic exhibited by many students as well as their surprisingly high expectations for top-level grades. There are several possible reasons for this. The easy answer is societal differences. More specifically, students are used to associating grades with scores from written tests, so participation in classwork does not readily relate to affecting their course grade. In co-taught courses, students often expect that the non-NEST is the teacher in charge of assigning all or most of their course grade and exert more effort in that teacher’s portion of the course. Different levels of schooling carry different levels of expectations in terms of student effort. In western educational systems, the greatest academic rigor is expected at the tertiary level, while in Korea greatest student effort is arguably required at the high school level. In all cases, what is required of the NEST is an understanding of the system they are working in and adapting to it in the manner they deem best.

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Date & Time: March 15 (Saturday), 10:30 – 17:00

Place: Chosun University, Main Building, Left Wing

Pre-Conference Workshops, 10:30-11:50

12:00 Registration // 13:00 Plenary Session

13:45 Concurrent Sessions // 16:45 Special Sessions

Details on Korea TESOL website.

Facebook: Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL

Website:    http://koreatesol.org/gwangju

Email:        gwangju@koreatesol.org

Twitter:      @GwangjuKOTESOL

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The Author

David E. Shaffer is the President of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter of Korea TESOL (KOTESOL). On behalf of the Chapter, he invites you to participate in the teacher development workshops at their monthly meetings, their March 15 chapter conference, and other special events. Dr. Shaffer is a professor of English Language at Chosun University, where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses for many years. He is a long-time member of KOTESOL and a holder of various KOTESOL positions, including Publications Committee Chair. He is also a multiple recipient of the KOTESOL President’s Award and a recipient of the KOTESOL Lifetime Achievement Award.