Try to check the credentials of English teachers

Koreans should pay more attention
to who teaches them English, according
to David Nunan, president of Anaheim
University and former president
of Tesol Inc. (Teachers of English to
Speakers of Other Languages), an
international education association.
Nunan sold 200 million books
related to English teaching in recent
years.
Nunan said private schools are
employing people who are not qualified.
“This is a big problem and creates
negative effects. Just because you can
speak doesn’t mean you can teach. I
wouldn’t cross a bridge made by someone
who is not an engineer. Teaching
is a profession,” he said.
The quality of English teaching is
down because of the explosion in
demand for English teachers. “People
can’t keep up with global demand,”
Nunan said.
He said there are some schools that
only recruit native speakers instead of
people trained to teach English. “The
quality is poor because they don’t have
any training. Parents should evaluate
the schools and the criteria for employing
teachers.”
Nunan said good teachers of English
don’t necessarily have to be foreigners.
“There are advantages to having
Korean teachers. In Hong Kong,
the local teachers get good results.
They know the cultural context that the
kids are coming from.”

wohn@joongang.co.kr