The weekend Korean schools, run by the immigrant Korean communities in various countries, are apparently lacking in providing professionally trained instructors.
A research recently revealed that seven of 10 instructors at Korean schools around the world have yet to earn their licenses, according to the South Korean Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee’s announcement on Oct. 15.
A report filed to the committee by the Overseas Koreans Foundation recently revealed that 11,938 of 15,877 instructors (75.3 percent) at Korean schools remain unlicensed.
“We’re concerned about the quality of education provided to the students at Korean schools as many institutions have a high rate of unlicensed instructors,” said South Korean congressman Joo-sun Park. “The schools will have to increase the number of licensed instructors as well as providing and raising awareness on the standardized knowledge of the Korean language.”
In response, the foundation explained that instructors will now be required to prove their credentials through the Study Korean Net website, which starting this year, will offer a trial run of training programs.
Meanwhile, the Korean Education Center L.A. (KEC L.A.) will also offer Korean school instructors training program between Oct. 19 and Nov. 20.
The training program is designed to judge the skill levels of instructors teaching beginners and intermediate courses at Korean schools. Three locations—L.A., Torrance and Orange County—will hold the training sessions.
At the L.A. training program, instructors will learn about strategic teaching methods, conducting lectures based on visual data and fostering a future generation of Korean instructors.
At Torrance and Orange County programs, the training will center on Korean textbooks and education courses, Korean courses in the 21st century, Korean food in textbooks and developing teaching materials for intermediate courses.
Any Korean instructors in Southern California can participate in the program for free (not including the $30 on textbook).
“Southern California has the largest number of Korean schools in the U.S.,” said KEC program director Seung-geol Oh. “We’re going to continue to train the instructors and strengthen their level of professionalism.”
By Hyoungjae Kim
