[Perspective]The upper echelons of the industry

Lee Hyunsuk

The English education industry is back in the news, with new international middle schools causing controversy and Canadian teachers in an uproar over surprise requirements for teaching visas.

Contentious as it may be, the business of teaching Koreans how to converse in the global lingua franca is not going anywhere, no matter how dramatic the shocks from the global financial crisis.

In fact, with Koreans’ reputation for turning to education when times get tough, you can even expect more opportunities in the field in the coming rough patch.

When it comes to maximizing the English-language openings that Korea has to offer, few know more than Lee Hyunsuk, a beloved EBS radio host, writer of educational books and ubiquitous feature among local Internet lectures. A master of the local English universe, he did an MA in conference interpretation at California’s Monterey Institute of International Studies so he could better understand the relationship between his mother tongue and the language that brings home the bacon.

Starting out in a hagwon before becoming known around the nation, Lee has an insider’s knowledge of pretty much every aspect of the local English industry.

“I think it’s one of the better jobs compared to other countries. Teaching English in other countries just means you’re teaching at a school or an institute,” he said. “But here, half the teachers are in the private sector. If you really want to teach in the industry, there’s so much other stuff you can do. You can teach at private institutes and cram schools, you can teach on the Internet, and there are broadcasting jobs such as at EBS. You can also go to companies and teach there. And then, of course, there’s private tutoring. It can be very profitable if you know what you’re doing.”

Still, not everyone is going to be shooting to the top, he said.

“The low level jobs are not really that rewarding, but if you go higher up the ladder, you can have the same high level of success or satisfaction as a lawyer or a professor,” he said. (And the profits in the upper echelons can provide even more “satisfaction” than in those professions.)

As for the teachers who aren’t from around these parts, “if they have the devotion, they can learn the angles” and become a big hit, said Lee. But there’s a problem, he added.

“There is a general lack of expertise and lack of devotion [among foreign English teachers]. Some just come to enjoy themselves, and if they wish to succeed they really need to have a higher level of commitment,” he said. “To offer some constructive criticism, you should behave the way you should as a teacher in your country.”

Be that as it may, I think we can safely say that the controversy isn’t going anywhere either.

By Richard Scott-Ashe Deputy Editor [richard@joongang.co.kr]