It would be a kid’s dream hagwon. Inside the school there are no teachers. It is a comfortable space with no schedule whatsoever, and the pc’s are filled with games and English language simulations. In order to play they will have to ask their friends, but this is all in good fun. Could this be the future of English education technology? (more…)

The Kyunhang Shinmun reports that the demographics for English teachers is shifting away from North America and towards South Africa.

Due to the collapse of the won, many North Americans are now going to work in Japan and China, as hagwons across Korea struggle to place fewer and fewer available teachers. There is rise among teachers from New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. (more…)
HT [Marmot]

In a bid to improve the quality of English language instruction at public schools and reduce private education costs (hagwons), district education officials have begun to implement English immersion classes with native-speakers, such as at this school located in Gangdong District in eastern Seoul. The continuing debate over President Lee Myung Bak’s drive for English-immersion education can be found here [Korea Beat] and here [Korea Times].

photo: [Korea Times]

In 2000, there were fewer than 4,000 international students completing coursework at major universities in Korea. That number has now rocketed past 23,000. Each year Korean universities like Yonsei and SNU are attracting more students (both undergraduate and graduate) as they compete for talent in the global education economy.

Find out how to join KOTESOL (Korea Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) by watching this 10-minute tutorial covering details about the organization’s purpose, its chapters, reasons to join, and how.

As of Sept. 1 a new requirement called the Vulnerable Sector Screening came into effect for all Canadian E2 Visa holders and renewal applicants. The most difficult aspect of this appears to be fingerprinting at the local police station, which may mean for those renewing applicants a return flight home.