What Language Do South Koreans Speak

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Before starting my TEFL course to gain a more professional basis, I worked as an English teacher in South Korea for about one year. In this short essay, I will explain some of the most prominent difficulties South Korean students seem to face when learning English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Laura M. First and foremost, the educational structure in South Korea is quite different from those of Europe or the United States. Korean kids usually start studying English from the age of three. However, the average class size of about 40 students is way too big for such young students, making any interaction between teacher and student impossible. Later on, most Korean students become very exam-conscious. In order to get into a...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Zhuangtou Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Xianyang Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. This essay examines English education in South Korea and its socio-cultural problems. The discussion draws on my personal beliefs and experiences. First, the history of Korean education is laid out by illustrating the cultural background of Korean society. Following that, it traces the problems of learners of English language in Korea and tips on how to improve...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations Alumni Experiences Korean learners of the English language face numerous challenges in acquiring the language on a proficient level, although English is introduced to children at an early age. English is incorporated into the primary school curriculum from the age of four, yet only a small minority master the language on a proficient conversational level. Unfortunately, the reasons seem to stem from cultural and social differences, the significant differences between the two languages; Korean and English, and the Korean Educational System is also a contributing factor. This post was written by our ITTT graduate Beatrix N. To begin with, cultural differences seem to be a central reason why Koreans find it challenging to master English. Firstly, Korea is a...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Shenhe Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Ankang Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Problems for Learners in South Korea Korean learners of the English language face numerous challenges in acquiring the language on a proficient level, although English is introduced to children at an early age. English is incorporated into the primary school curriculum from the age of four, yet only a small minority master the language on a proficient conversational...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences This essay examines English education in South Korea and its socio-cultural problems. The discussion draws on my personal beliefs and experiences. First, the history of Korean education is laid out by illustrating the cultural background of Korean society. Following that, it traces the problems of learners of the English language in Korea and tips on how to improve their learning. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nayoung H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For a long time, Korea has been a country that’s been highly education-obsessed. Entry to a top university has led to prestigious, well-paying, and secure jobs; it has even led to fame. Therefore, the country...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Many students of English as a Second Language (ESL) find that, of the many struggles they have with the language, pronunciation is the most difficult to master. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sophie M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Pronunciation is an extremely important ability to have to sound more fluent in English. By gaining the knowledge and skill of proper pronunciation, an ESL student can come across at a much higher level of English ability and intelligence. However, this is easier said than done. In South Korea, for example, certain sounds aren’t used in their language but are used in English. Because these sounds don’t exist in Korean, students...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences From my combined interest in Asian, and more specifically Korean, culture and my desire to teach English to anyone wanting to learn, I have personally come to interact with several adult learners from South Korea during the past few years. Through this experience, I have come to detect several common problems that students coming from this country, as well as students from neighboring Asian countries such as Japan and China, may face while learning English and that I will, therefore, develop in this short essay. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kimberley H. M. The most common problem would be pronunciation. Yes, it may be a common problem to all English learners, or any language learner in general, but in the case of South...  [Read more]

  South Korea is a small but incredibly beautiful country, and during the 4 week TEFL you will have fantastic opportunities to experience the rich culture and history. Not only will you have the chance for local excursions, but based in Incheon, you will be less than an hour away from the lively city of Seoul on the express train. The first week of your program includes in-depth cultural orientations, ensuring you deeply understand the Korean way of life and culture. This includes a welcome dinner, tour of the local neighbourhood and the “Grand” Palace (Gyeongbok Palace), taekwondo class and learning South Korean cookery and language. Incheon is home to Korea’s only official Chinatown, where you can try jajangmyun (noodles with black bean sauce) at the Gongwachun restaurant and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have had the opportunity to study several foreign languages, some in a formal setting, some self-taught. Through my personal experiences learning other languages, I have developed some insights into language learning. I would like to describe some of my experienc| ITTT | TEFL Bloges, and some of my thoughts on what I have learned from them, and from this course. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kim T. My first experience in language learning began at age fourteen with French; by the time I graduated high school I had studied French, German and Spanish as part of my curriculum. The method in use then was ALM, so as a result, I learned language patterns very quickly. However, the only listening materials available were...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I’m a non-native English speaker who never once benefited from an effective ESL program in her entire school years. It’s rather ironic that I became an ESL teacher and taught English for six years, essentially preaching what I had never practiced myself. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Somy L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I was born in Korea, and my family and I moved to South Africa when I was ten. Before 2000, ESL programs were not widespread knowledge and resources were on the limited side. My ESL teacher at the time would just give printouts to the students to color and trace words. The amount of progress I made in that class was essentially nonexistent....  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Fengzhou Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Changzhi Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Just as each language and culture poses its own unique difficulties, Korean-speaking students face distinct challenges when learning English. Since it is the task of the instructor to help students surmount initial obstacles to learning English, it is critical for and EFL teacher in Korea to examine the inherent challenges of Korean-speakers when learning English....  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Tiebiancheng Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Yan'an Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Koreans take education very, very seriously, yet there are many problems for learners in South Korea. Society deems those who are not good at studying as lazy, and good for nothing, therefore most students study to death. Literally. They go to school extremely early, finish around noon, and then stay at a cram school until late at night. They repeat the same...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Koreans take education very, very seriously, yet there are many problems for learners in South Korea. Society deems those who are not good at studying as lazy, and good for nothing, therefore most students study to death. Literally. They go to school extremely early, finish around noon, and then stay at a cram school until late at night. They repeat the same routine over and over again every single day. They even have to study during vacation. This results in students that do not study because they are motivated or because they want to, but simply because they are forced to, and if they do not, they can’t enter the college they want or land the job they’ve always dreamed of. Studying until 2 or 3 am has become a cultural thing that shows that the...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Destinations TEFL Information Hi and welcome to another live session from ITTT. My name is Linda and I'm here today to talk about teaching English in South Korea. Let me just show you today's topic so that everybody who's joining knows what's happening today. Today we're talking about teaching English in South Korea and I'm so excited about this topic and it's actually been a super requested topic every time I do a live session. I've been living in Korea for almost six years and I have been teaching a few different classes. I have done summer camps and winter camps and teaching kids and teaching adults, teaching business English, teaching conversation, teaching full-time at a kindergarten and elementary school with afternoon programs and stuff like that. So I hope that...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Xiying Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Ankang Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. When I first thought of teaching English as a foreign language to those who don’t predominantly speak English, my mind automatically went to the country of South Korea (The Republic of Korea). When I was in high school, my best friend and speech partner was born and raised in South Korea until he was about six years old. So, he would often share with me the...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations TEFL Information South Korea’s capital is one of the most important and fastest-growing cities in Asia and indeed the world. Across the city you will find some of the world's largest companies in the technology and automobile industries. On top of that, Seoul is an exciting city with lots of historic attractions, as well as modern museums, hot fashion shows, and a wide variety of music acts. Seoul is also home to thousands of foreign English teachers, many of whom are not ready to leave and have made the city their permanent home base. The population of Seoul stands at nearly 10 million people, a figure that grows every year due to the city’s vast number of job opportunities. Seoul is also among the top 30 financial centers on the Global Financial Centres...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Learning a second language can prove to have a variety of obstacles. Between age, time available for study, access to resources, and more, the desire to master another language must be given a strong priority to succeed. Just as individual learners will face their issues in the learning process, there are often similarities between language learners from a specific country or region. For English language learners from South Korea, where the standard college entrance exam contains sufficient English components (Kim, 2012), the necessity to learn is as high as the obstacles. Based on grammar differences, pronunciation, and a general fear of speaking English, English language learners in South Korea face issues particular to their region. This post was...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Fenghuangcheng Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Shuozhou Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. English language is being spoken internationally. It unites people across the globe. Majority of the people around the globe knows a word or two. Non-English speaking country comes to an English speaking country to learn English. They come to America, Canada, Australia or UK. Countries like India, Singapore, Philippines, Pakistan, South Africa and Nigeria a...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations There are many great places to teach English abroad and one place that comes up a lot when researching the topic is South Korea. It's true that thousands of new teachers head to South Korea each year to pursue a career in teaching English as a foreign language for good reasons! Here are 5 reasons why you should teach English in South Korea. South Korea is one of the most prosperous countries in Asia and the world. Due to its booming economy with several Fortune 500 companies, like Samsung, Hyundai, and Kia, English language skills are now more important than ever in the East Asian nation. The English education industry of South Korea is a million dollar business and the importance of English language skills is deeply ingrained in modern society. With this...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Qingyun Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Bazhong Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. I started to learn English in South Korea when I was in the 6th grade during winter vacation as a preparation for entering middle school. Beginning with the Alphabet, pronunciation, and grammar, I thought it was not difficult and even laughed about pronunciation. At that time I never imagined pronunciation would be the biggest challenge of listening and speaking...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Caochi Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Ziyang Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. I have been teaching ESL, mainly to South Koreans, for approximately 20 years but it was very much a learn-on-the-job situation. I was not aware of the theory, so found that section very interesting. Some of it seemed odd (like the Silent Way) and I have no idea how I would incorporate that into one of my classes. Others, like Grammar-translation I have tried a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In all, English has official or special status in at least 75 countries (with a combined population of two billion people). It is estimated that one out of four people worldwide speaks English with some degree of competence. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Karen B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Having lived in Asia for over 19 years, I have seen changes in the perception of English as a global language. There have been government interventions to curtail English usage in schools – in Malaysia, India, China, and Hong Kong for example. In 1908 Mahatma Gandhi, when talking of colonialism in India, said: “To give millions a knowledge of English is to enslave...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Visa and Legal Destinations South Korea is one of the most attractive locations for teaching English as a foreign language. The country has been welcoming foreign teachers for decades with lucrative salary and benefit packages, as well as the government-funded EPIK program that places qualified teachers into public schools across the country. South Korea is a great place to work whether you are a new teacher or if you have some experience in the field. However, it is important that you understand the local job market and regulations before heading off on your adventure. Currently, only citizens from the following countries qualify for a teacher work visa: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Therefore, non-native...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences I decided to write about the subject I’m an expert in, my personal teaching experience. The focus will be on what I’ve gained from the last nine years as an EFL instructor. I’ll begin by telling you about my first teaching position in rural South Korea. Next, I’ll share my experience taking the TEFL course. Finally, I’ll discuss my efforts to become an independent online English instructor. I hope my experience can provide some insight into some of the many options for EFL teachers. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Karissa B. After too many hours in an airplane and another two hours in a taxi, I finally arrived at my new home. My co-teacher was there to meet me. He would become my mentor and personal guide to living in...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When I was a university student, my roommate was from Busan, South Korea. I loved spending time with him. We became incredibly close friends, and I also became close to the other students who came through the same foreign exchange program as he did. I helped them learn English regularly, checking and proofreading essays and explaining phrases to them. They left the United States after one semester, but they had already introduced me to other Korean students who would be there for two more years. I enjoyed learning about their culture and the cultural differences that we had. I also learned a lot about the obstacles that my friends faced in learning English, and worked to help them overcome those obstacles. This post was written by our TEFL certification...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Yan-an-shi? Are you interested in teaching English in Yan-an-shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Check out which city/town you may be more interested in and start your journey| Koreans take education very, very seriously, yet there are many problems for learners in South Korea How we start to learn a language? - With words Writing and Speaking: an Ideal Skills-pair? In the context of teacher-training, it is frequently argued that Speaking and Writing should be...  [Read more]

Brittany Varano Destinations Alumni Experiences For those thinking of teaching English in South Korea, the EPIK program offers one of the best job opportunities in Asia. An acronym that stands for "English Program in Korea," EPIK hires native English teachers to co-teach or lead English lessons in public elementary, middle, and high schools around the country. I got my start in the world of TEFL through the EPIK program and fell in love with the lifestyle of an EFL teacher in Asia - so much so I stayed for two years! The work was enjoyable, my EPIK salary went a long way, the benefits were hard to beat, and the expat community I met through it all helped foster lifelong friendships I hold dearly to this day. To be considered for a teaching position at EPIK, prospective teachers need to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. In high school, I was inspired by my English teachers and the way they were able to make material interesting and motivating. I remember telling myself that I would not be the person who changes the world, but perhaps as a teacher, I would be able to inspire the person who would. From the beginning, my motivation was to help others in a meaningful way. My goal was to improve the lives of others. When I entered university, I found myself studying philosophy to become a professor in the future. However, the reality of being a university professor was a lot of presenting and publishing, with very little teaching. Because teaching was my goal, I decided to leave my Ph.D. program and pursue a job teaching English in...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in DuizhuZhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Linfen Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. When I started out on this path to becoming a TEFL teacher, my plans were originally to teach in the U.S., and my answer to this posed question had come easy: I wanted my students to learn English so that they could communicate and integrate into the community. As a past EFL student, I had valued the communicative value of learning English the most and never bothered...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information Teaching English abroad is one of the most interesting career paths one might take up. You get to move to a new country and even get paid for it! However, too many people are unsure whether teaching EFL is right for them. This article highlights 6 things you will miss out on if you don’t teach English abroad. When routine becomes a ball and chain, you know it’s time for something new. Moving to a new country to teach English is the perfect opportunity to discover a whole new world. Whether it’s cherry blossom season in Japan, Chinese New Year festivities in Taiwan, Christmas markets in Germany or the Carnival in Brazil - there are new experiences ahead of you on every corner! It’s not only large cultural festivities like these that you will get to...  [Read more]