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A very welcome development indeed. Let’s hope this heralds a new style of reporting that is based on fact-checking, balance, and responsibility, which would mean the Chosun has to re-evaluate its entire editorial philosophy and probably fire half its staff. I can’t quite believe it yet that the Chosun wants to join the ranks of respectable publications…, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

@Kushibo #16,

What are you talking about? Everyone knows that dark-haired, dark-eyed people can’t speak English well enough to teach it. Case in point–I tried to refer a friend of mine for a good teaching job near his house, but he was rejected because he wasn’t white. (Acually, he is a Korean who was adopted in the States as a baby and doesn’t hardly speak a lick of Korean.) Apparently, I had a momentary lapse of common sense and forgot that he can’t possibly speak English well enough to teach it, either.

(You see, I am getting the Korean persepctive down cold!)

[...] Take a look at what appears to be the beginning of a series of articles done by the Chosun Weekly, translated courtesy of Korea Beat. [...]

please don’t take this as a representative source. most people on this site are bitter people and it doesn’t reflect well on foreign teachers in general. i’m an english teacher and most people i know hate this site because it’s so negative.

Whats hilarious is that English Teachers are the problem. I repeat ENGLISH TEACHERS

“doesn’t hardly speak a lick of Korean”?

I certainly hope that you are not employed as an English instructor.

“doesn’t hardly speak a lick of Korean”? I certainly hope that you are not employed as an English instructor.

Any American English teacher KNOWS it’s “cain’t hardly speak a lick of Korean.”

Person, if that’s your opinion about this site, then you must be completely off your nut about Dave’s.

and here comes Kushibo ready to ride the wave when flows in the other direction.

is there a switch or something just to turn this guy off?? damn is he irritating.

@21 and 24,

I thought I was speaking to a mainly English-speaking, informal audience here. Didn’t mean to disturb the rods up your respective backsides.

Can’t a dude use a little slang here? (And if he does, why do you ASSuME that he does the same in the classroom? It’s called code switching for you English teaching Nazi’s…)

Sheesh!

@21 and 24, I thought I was speaking to a mainly English-speaking, informal audience here. Didn’t mean to disturb the rods up your respective backsides.

Why are you including me? I’m on your side. Wasn’t that clear? (Obviously it wasn’t.)

Thanks for the translation; I look forward to the others.

Just a little step in the right direction, bet the byline on this is – not – Ms Choi

Yah Panda….

Hmmm .. ATEK files a complaint with the Press Ethics Commission, and the Weekly Chosun feels a sudden urge to shift perspectives.

that would be a terrific and positive move if they did do the shoe thing.

“We were able to think again about these problems from their perspective rather than that of Koreans. But this is still a new perspective for us to consider. We hope that our readers will take this opportunity to put themselves in the shoes of another.”

That’s a first step. still like to know about the other articles though. Besides Koreans read Korean websites, the World at large reads the english websites and they wonder why sometimes the world doesn’t have a positive view of Korea.

English teachers can’t look at things through a “Korean perspective” because as Korean often say, we aren’t Korean so we can’t understand though we have to understand them.

#3 and #6, the Chosun Weekly and the Chosun Ilbo are probably under different control by different people. In other words, this may be no response at all to ATEK’s complaint and it might also not signal in any way a change in what the CSI has been producing.

And maybe some of the foreign teachers can work more at looking at themselves from the Korean perspective.

Wow two points of view on an issue. Maybe one day they will work their way up to fact checking and proper sourcing. I wonder if they have journalism hagwons.

Frankly, I don’t like the depiction of English teachers in the graphic.

In addition to promoting the idea that all an English teacher does is make silly talk in the classroom, it perpetuates the idea of English teachers as blue-eyed and wearing golden trouts as toupees.

Anonymous wrote:

If your neighbor gets nailed with a huge fine for not having recycled his trash, I guarantee you’ll start double checking your bags before your bring them to the curve.

Good point. When I wrote that, however, I was referring to specifically was that idea that the Chosun Weekly had felt “a sudden urge to shift perspectives” when it was the Chosun Ilbo that had written all the offending articles, not the CW.

“#3 and #6, the Chosun Weekly and the Chosun Ilbo are probably under different control by different people. In other words, this may be no response at all to ATEK’s complaint and it might also not signal in any way a change in what the CSI has been producing.”

You think so?

If your neighbor gets nailed with a huge fine for not having recycled his trash, I guarantee you’ll start double checking your bags before your bring them to the curve.

“And maybe some of the foreign teachers can work more at looking at themselves from the Korean perspective.”

Ya! Yogi! Waegook saram eeda!!!!!!!