hankyoreh

South Korean teachers must teach all their English-language classes without the use of Korean from 2015, the government said Friday.

The reform plan outlined by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development aims to revamp the way English is taught in the country.

South Koreans start to learn English as part of the regular curriculum from elementary school, but because studies are grammar-oriented and taught by teachers using Korean, very few are fluent in the language afterwards. This has led to Koreans being relatively good at comprehending written texts but falling behind in listening and speaking skills.

The shortcoming has fueled demand for private education. One of the spin-off effects of this is the surging real estate prices in regions with good language institutes; another is that large sums of money are being spent abroad on education. A high level of English proficiency is seen as a prerequisite to getting a good job in the country.

The planned announced by Education Minister Kim Shin-il calls for English-only classes to be introduced in 2009. This will then be spread to include all English classes six years later.

He said that from 2007 the government will get English teachers to undergo special courses on teaching English using the language.

Aspiring English teachers must also prove their proficiency in the spoken language from 2009 if they want to teach in the future, the official said.

The ministry said that besides raising the communication skills of teachers, the number of native English speakers helping students learn the language will be increased from 640 at present to around 2,900 by 2010.
Seoul, Nov. 3 (Yonhap News)