Koreans in the Philippines: On their studying in English in the Philippines

[Ice Burn]

Many Koreans go to the Philippines to study English in order to be more competitive on a global scale. On the other hand, our country's English skills have been deteriorating rapidly hence our global edge is slipping. It is almost a certainty that within the next 20 years we'll lose our English edge to the Koreans, the very people who've stepped on our soil to be taught by English by us.

Your thoughts...

[altair]

Given that we are going to lose our English edge to the Koreans:

There is no need to worry (in Korean, that would be; Kokjung hajimara :D)
and the reason is that, the Koreans are learning English so that they could be more efficient in gleaning new discoveries published in the IEEE journals.

They are learning English so that they could be more efficient in applying what the americans discover.

They are learning English so that they could sell more Samsungs and Hyundais, and LGs...

On the other hand, we Filipinos use our English to become THE global servants.

From MBAs in Wall Street, to american educated technocrats in the World bank, to the OFWs in the middle east, northeast asia, hongkong, singapore... we use our English to say yes sir, algessumida, hai!


No competition. Filipinos and Koreans are engaged in different industries.


http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v316/kwanghwamun/daehan_wayguk.jpg

[altair]

The Koreans, in general, will hardly achieve the level of English proficiency that we have. Outside of Seoul, English is practically useless.

Koreans in the peninsula do not also get that much exposure to american cultural crap. Cable TV in Korea is not like what we are used to in the Philippines. Most shows on Korean TV are in Korean. Most Korean newspapers are also in Korean. English movies shown in Korea are subtitled in Korean.

Most Koreans have a hard time understanding English as spoken by native speakers.

The sad thing for us is that this did not stop the Koreans from becoming the 12th biggest economy in the world. Lack of English proficiency did not stop the Koreans from harnessing the power of the internet. Today, Korea is the most wired country on the planet, beating even the americans.

Lack of English proficiency did not prevent the Koreans from harnessing the power of mobile communications, beating even the americans (Koreans are using Qualcomm's CDMA). Today in Korea, mobile phones with 3 megapixel cameras are commonplace.

Lack of English proficiency did not prevent the Koreans from becoming the dominant memory chip maker, beating even the americans. Intel stopped producing memory chips since 1985 because it could not compete with Asian manufacturers like Samsung.


http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v316/kwanghwamun/daehan_wayguk.jpg

[altair]

Lack of English proficiency did not prevent the Koreans from becoming a cultural force to be reckoned with in Asia. If you have seen a Korean movie or a Korean drama, you will understand what I mean. Look at their movies; My Sassy Girl, Joint Security Area, Taegukgi, Christmas in August, Shiri, Old Boy (damn! it even won the Grand Prix at Cannes 2004). Look at their movies and think of the state of Philippine cinema; makes one want to weep.


http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v316/kwanghwamun/daehan_wayguk.jpg

[altair]

Lack of English proficiency did not prevent the Koreans from hosting the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2002 World Cup. Koreans are even gunning for the Winter Olympics.

For me, English is not really that important.

What is more important is a sense of pride in one's national heritage. What is more important is a strong sense of nationalism. And Koreans have lots of these. The Korean peninsula was subjugated by the Japanese from 1910 to 1945 during which time the Japanese tried to supplant Korean culture by banning the Korean language and by requiring the Koreans to take Japanese names among other things. In return, up to this day, the Koreans hate the Japanese to the bones. We Filipinos had been under the Spaniards for more than 300 years. Do we feel any enmity towards the Spaniards? I doubt it. We had been under the americans for, uh, more than 40 years? during which time the americans committed such atrocities as turning Balangiga into a howling wilderness. Do we feel any hatred for what the americans had done to us? hell no.

Some 37,000 american servicemen are stationed in Korea to help preserve the peace in the peninsula. The North and the South are technically still at war. And yet, the presence of the americans is a source of resentment to the Koreans. They want the americans to go home.

And that is what we should be worried about. We don't know who we are. We don't know where we are going. We don't have national pride. We are already the basket case of Asia. Are we going to be the toilet cleaners of the world forever?

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v316/kwanghwamun/daehan_wayguk.jpg

[avonlea]

add ko lang... koreans go to the philippines just to study english... they don't even use it... they just like studying... ;)

di ba altair?

[altair]

avonlea, haha oo nga

i got this article from chingusai http://english.daegu.go.kr/group02/chingusai/200302.htm

this one is written by a Japanese graduate student in Korea

Koreans' Studying Style



I have been living in Korea for three years if I count the days as an exchange student and a graduate student. Since my school had a sisterhood relation with Keimyung University, I came to know about Daegu and that's why I am living here. I have a wish that the Subway Line 2 will start its operation soon, but I feel little inconvenience while I am living in Daegu.


Right now I am at the Keimyung University Library to write this article. Around me are college students or high school or elementary students facing their desks. A male student in front of me is reading an English grammar book. A student next to me is working on a trial TOEIC test. A student next to him is working on a Japanese Language Proficiency Test book, and a student beside him is asleep. I also see some people preparing for an official government examination.


By the way, what day is it today? Today is Sunday. But this room which is only for studying has few empty seats. What is this???


It is widely known that students have to experience keen competition until they are accepted to a university in Japan (isnt it?). Students study hard according to a cramming educational method in order to enter the best universities (or the ones known as the best). The government thinks this kind of educational system doesn't develop a contemplative faculty, and thus it is aiming at an educational system with inner resources. But I think it won't be easy to change a thoroughly embedded social system. I grew up under such an environment.


Even for me, however, the Korean educational system was shocking. College students sit on a box-like desk alone and work on books for TOEIC or other kinds of tests. (For your reference, in a Japanese library there is no room like this, a studying room, I should say. Japanese libraries have just the rooms for reading books or documents.) In addition, it seems that almost every weekend there is an examination. Sometimes I wondered if they would ever go out on weekends.


An even more surprising thing is that high school students go to school early in the morning with two or three lunch boxes and return home around midnight. I asked one of my friends, "Is it OK to study from early morning to midnight?" My friend answered, "I am too tired to study, but every one studies like that. So I can't be the only one who doesn't join them."


Japanese people have a similar situation. People feel insecure when they don't do the same thing as other people, which can be a social problem. Korean students even go to private educational institutions where they sometimes study until 2am. Thus, it is the parents who pick up their children. Personally, I am afraid that the parents are under the control of their children. Elementary, middle and high school years are very important, but I think that these students have little free time during this key period.


One day I observed a day in the life of one of my college acquaintances. In the morning he eats breakfast at the student cafeteria and secures a seat in the studying room. Then, he drinks a cup of coffee with me. (By the way, don't you think the Koreans like coffee? After meals or when something important happens they start a discussion with, "Why don't we have a cup of coffee?" Or, do they do that only with me?) He studies for two hours, has a coffee break from a vending machine (for 30 minutes), lunch break (for one and a half hours), returns to the studying room to study (for an hour), takes a nap (for 30 minutes), enjoys a coffee break with vending machine coffee (for 40 minutes), studies (for three hours - falls asleep once or twice in the middle of studying), has a coffee break with vending machine coffee (for 15 minutes), studies (for an hour), has supper and enjoys web surfing the internet (for two hours), and then goes back home.


This is how one of my acquaintances spends the winter vacation. While he is studying, he does not just read a book but works on a trial book or a reference book for a certain examination. I might understand him if he was preparing for a midterm or final term examination, but this is the winter vacation . . . !


Maybe it is an extreme case or do most of the students spend their winter vacations like this? Anyway, I was really shocked with this kind of a learning method. In particular, I found a lot of people making desperate efforts to become government officials. But can this method produce wonderful public employees?

I hope they have more and different experiences than simply sitting and looking at their desks!




-Ms. Tezuka Kazuyo is a graduate student at Keimyung University. Her favorite Korean food is "pajeon" green onion pancake. Since she came to Korea, she has developed a higher tolerance for drinking.



http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v316/kwanghwamun/daehan_wayguk.jpg

[FendeR_21]

nice post... *** can i say, well bout Koreans in the Philippines... you are right bout Pinoys being the global servants and the Korean industrialist... A Korean tourist once came here in the Philippines and said "in the Philippines... the malls are very big but the factories are too small" hehe

[KuyaDanny]

Right now I am not thinking about the long-term benefits or disadvantages of these Korean students in the Philippines. All I know is that the area around our condo has been turned into Makati's Koreatown. These students' parents have put up grocery stores and restaurants. They keep the surroundings cleaner than their neighbors do. Their church has been renovated. And Mayor Binay must like them enough to get the streets fixed and new streetlights installed.

Did I mention restaurants? My wife and I now love Korean food, and if it weren't raining heavily outside, we would probably be out having dinner. Samgyupsal sounds really good right about now.

As for the students learning English - I hope some underappreciated teachers feel a little better knowing that some children actually come here from another country to learn something they can teach. How bad can that be?

[Ice Burn]

KD: I agree, in fact the area where I live in the Philippines is already a Korean Subdivision and it's outskirts are full of small Korean restaurants, groceries and even a church.

It's not bad but the Philippines just might lose its English language edge to the very countries the Philippines had taught the English language...

[victory]

Originally posted by Ice Burn
KD: I agree, in fact the area where I live in the Philippines is already a Korean Subdivision and it's outskirts are full of small Korean restaurants, groceries and even a church.

It's not bad but the Philippines just might lose its English language edge to the very countries the Philippines had taught the English language...

And so the proper response is... refuse to allow Koreans into the country and/or refuse to teach them English?

When Thai agriculturalists came to IRRI to learn the science of growing rice, would it have benefited the Philippines to deny them this opportunity? After all, they did end up surpassing us in terms of rice production and exportation; we in fact are now a net importer of rice. One of our main sources? Thailand.

A jester's analogy: Would it therefore be a cause for concern that the US accepts so many foreign nationals into its educational system? Should it be worried that it would lose whatever "edge" to the foreigners they themselves have taught? So the US government should refuse to, say, allow students taking masters in public policy to study in US universities, because these very same students might end up running their governments so well that they surpass the US in terms of economic growth and vibrance. Maybe the US should also stop allowing foreigners to work on their soil, as these very same foreigners might take the lessons they learn from places like the World Bank (headquartered in Washington, DC) and rob the US of their "right" to a "competitive edge."

What do you think, Ice Burn? ;)

[phantom]

Just wanted to add that your "rice production" example came to mind immediately after reading Ice Burn's post. :)

[Ice Burn]

Victory... I know what you are insinuating...Touche :lol: :lol: :lol:

You may have missed my point on this. I guess I should've specified from the beginning that there IS a deterioration in the English proficiency skills of many Filipinos. The error is on my part for my failure to mention this...

In the Philippines, English proficiency training and resources are readily available to foreigners, particularly Koreans so there should really be no reason for Filipinos to lose their edge with the English language.

But the decreasing English proficiency among Filipinos is starting to become noticeable...

And should we wait until we start sending people to Korea to learn English? (Now this is a worst case scenario which probably won't happen but I just used it to liken our rice imports from Thailand)

[victory]

Originally posted by Ice Burn
Victory... I know what you are insinuating...Touche :lol: :lol: :lol:

You may have missed my point on this. I guess I should've specified from the beginning that there IS a deterioration in the English proficiency skills of many Filipinos. The error is on my part for my failure to mention this...

In the Philippines, English proficiency training and resources are readily available to foreigners, particularly Koreans so there should really be no reason for Filipinos to lose their edge with the English language.

But the decreasing English proficiency among Filipinos is starting to become noticeable...

And should we wait until we start sending people to Korea to learn English? (Now this is a worst case scenario which probably won't happen but I just used it to liken our rice imports from Thailand)

Hope you didn't mind my little tongue-in-cheek comment. Medyo brusko kasi ang humor ko minsan. I would like to think that it is "karinyong brutal" though.

I didn't miss your point. The real tragedy is that this example you are trying to point out is reflected in a multitude of other ways in our economic history: "Potential" that was never realized, "first-in-this" or "number-1-in-that" that never mapped into sustainable competitive advantage over time, "natural resources or endowments" that were never tapped or used productively.

[avonlea]

i think we're giving ourselves too much credit... sure, a lot of koreans study english in the philippines... but they are usually those who can't afford to go to the US, UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Ireland :D... english learning institutes are so common in korea... and maybe about 99% of the teachers are from the countries i mentioned...

[BaLdoMarO]

Filipino parents educate their kids so they could become the best and most sought after employee.
Singaporean/Malaysian-Chinese parents educate their kids so they could become the best entrepreneur.

We have to change the brainwiring of our kids. They must think GLOBAL and start competing with ASIA's BIG GUNS. Its the only way we can DO something significant for the motherland and its people.

[hack__you]

malamang nasa isang subdivision lang tayo ICE BURN..hehe

actually para makatapos ako ng college e nagturo ako sa isang Korean School malapit ** samin

2 of them told me na ayaw nila talaga mag-aral ng english kasi nde naman daw talaga nila ginagamit, kaya lang sya nag-aral e para maiwasan yung required military service nila.

meron isa namang naghahanda daw sa TOEFL at TOEIC, meron din naman pinilit lang ng parents nila at meron din gusto magbisnes.

pero pinakamarami kong narinig e tungkol sa competition nila with JAPAN. halos lahat sinasabi nilang gusto nilang maging mas competitve kesa sa mga hapon.

lagi nilang pinagco-compare ang SONY at SAMSUNG/LG, Honda at HYUNDAI. Actually parang Fiesta sa kanila nung natalo nila japan sa worldcup e

[dragueur]

it's a sad thing that even if we're in our own country many filipinos work for foreigners instead of the other way around. We go to other country to work for other nationalities as well....i don't think the english language matters, wether ur good or bad with it. most of our neighboring countries aren't good in english like china, taiwan, japan, malaysia, thailand, indonesia, korea, vietnam, etc.. as well as european countries like germany, france, italy, spain, etc.. these countries use their own language. d kaya may kinalaman don yun? they dont need to have a superb english to be successful but it's so odd here, whenever you apply for work english is one of the priority otherwise ur rejected. anyway, i wonder after 10 yrs...meron ba kaya marunong mag tagalog?! oh well....i want to enroll n learn a few korean words/phrases now :D sayang walang masyadong korean sa area namin.

[aticus]

Hmmmm... don't mean to bring up this old thread for no reason, but I find it ironic that I will be working in Seoul starting the day or two after Christmas. The Korean Debate Association is hiring me to train their national H.S. debate team, among others.

I was just thinking of how serious Korea is in becoming competitive. It's so passionate, it's almost insane. But I appreciate their desire to learn more, and to be more globally relevant. Unfortunately, I can't help compare this to our ill-fated move, a few years back, to convert our educational system into an "all-Filipino" curriculum. If we had spent more of our time developing our English skills (which we now need desperately, given our increasing reliance on call-centers), we might be a bit better off now.

It's a bit simplistic to link everything to English, though, but it does matter. I can't wait for the day when we will have both the resources and the foresight to hire experts from Korea to come HERE to teach our students. Until that time, though, we may just end up continuing to bemoan our deterioriation of English AND competitiveness.

[SILENTMAX]

we shouldnt look at this as a problem, rather we should look at this as a solution.

demand in my opinion always pushes supply. and if more and more koreans go here to learn english then that should be both benificial for both of us. we should be seeing a rise in english proficiency soon. both from the need to educate koreans of the english language and also the increasing demand from call centers. it would be nice to have a little bit of help from the goverment in implementing english language in more and more curiculums. but this is just to speed it up. the philiphines having a higher english proficiency in the future is inevitable.

it would be nice too see more and more english teachers in the private secter teaching english to koreans and other nationalities or some of them could teach online paving the way for a vast call center industry dedicated to teaching english. it would be nice to see them get the salary they deserve teaching the high caliber english that should be thought. maybe for this reason our teachers might stay instead of heading off to the states or in canada which has a backlog for teachers currently

english-proficency/literacy tourism


now thats something to dream about :)

[altair]

aticus
동지 冬至 or the winter solstice is just around the corner.

The Han river just froze (and the water pipes in our building too)

If you fly from Bangkok to Seoul (that would bring you a 29 degree Celsius temp difference), bring lots of winter clothing.

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v316/kwanghwamun/daehan_wayguk.jpg

[altair]

Koreans are indeed passionate in getting ahead.

So passionate that some of them are very willing to take shortcuts.

Read about stem cell and Dr Hwang Woo-suk

http://english.chosun.com/



http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v316/kwanghwamun/daehan_wayguk.jpg

[brian_d]

Bakit? Is English Proficiency all we can offer?
It's a sad thing in the Philippines, because a rather smart engineer will be foregone over a less smarter applicant who speaks better English.

Filipinos should aim for "functional literacy" of the English language instead of emphasizing mastery/native level fluency which is almost impossible to achieve since English is not the first language of this country.

"Functional Literacy", just like almost all of the Dutch. When in the Netherlands they speak Dutch and use everyday, at home, school, business. But thier English language education is proficient enough that will allow them to discuss day to day stuff with English speakers, conduct business in English or go to English language colleges/universities with ease, albeit with an accent.

Instead of just simply emphasizing English proficiency, we should strive to strenghten and improve our mastery of the sciences and mathematics. Coupled with the pioneering sense of an entrepreneur.
That's what made our "neighbor" S.Korea what it is today.

[ajoeroooo]

^^^ correct!!! :)

[celsius]

Is it true that most Koreans who study here didnt qualify in their own universities?

[melquiades]

i wnt to know a korean girl

[juje]

there are lots of Korean exchange students in DLSU-Dasma, and when I was studying there, I happened to have Korean classmates. All of them are nice, but they had difficulty in English. I was wondering how they are going to survive here since some of them cant say even just a single english word. But I had to admit, I somehow find them admirable. Most of them study really hard, they even borrow my notes, kahit sign language lang gamit namin hehe...

[napalmdog]

i agree. di lang naman koreans, but most students from other countries take education seriously.

i dont really blame our educational system for the lack of interest by our students. its just that our society is somehow giving less and less importance to education. mas importante sa karamihan sa atin manalo sa lotto at magpakasasa sa yaman kesa maging matalino

with the age of IT, what our excuse na di tayo matututo? yun ngang di marunong mag english kaya, eh tayo pa kaya

sana maging inspiration sa atin ang ginagawa ng koreans. kasi isipin mo they send their kids to another country kahit alam nilang magulo dito, pero mas importante sa kanila matuto mga anak nila kasi ganun ka-importante education sa kanila

btw, teachers in korea are very well respected.

[knn]

The Koreans, in general, will hardly achieve the level of English proficiency that we have. Outside of Seoul, English is practically useless.

Koreans in the peninsula do not also get that much exposure to american cultural crap. Cable TV in Korea is not like what we are used to in the Philippines. Most shows on Korean TV are in Korean. Most Korean newspapers are also in Korean. English movies shown in Korea are subtitled in Korean.

Most Koreans have a hard time understanding English as spoken by native speakers.

The sad thing for us is that this did not stop the Koreans from becoming the 12th biggest economy in the world. Lack of English proficiency did not stop the Koreans from harnessing the power of the internet. Today, Korea is the most wired country on the planet, beating even the americans.

Lack of English proficiency did not prevent the Koreans from harnessing the power of mobile communications, beating even the americans (Koreans are using Qualcomm's CDMA). Today in Korea, mobile phones with 3 megapixel cameras are commonplace.

Lack of English proficiency did not prevent the Koreans from becoming the dominant memory chip maker, beating even the americans. Intel stopped producing memory chips since 1985 because it could not compete with Asian manufacturers like Samsung.


http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v316/kwanghwamun/daehan_wayguk.jpg


Koreans are also the NUMBER 1 shipbuilders in the world

[grim_reaper1814]

Don't expect our nationalism to of the same level with theirs. In the first place, the Philippine archipelago was never united. Spain created the Philippines. If it were not for Spain, do you think there will be a country called Philippines? Just look at the current political system. We are so reegionalistic. I really think it is much better for us to divide the country.