My university seems to have too many EFL teachers and so rents us to an elementary school student teaching chain and also sends us to the attached hagwon where a wide range of ages are being taught.

I didn’t like it but the outside classes have grown on me.  Well, the elementary school student classes have grown on me.  I teach 3 hours a week at a pe-school and hate it.  Worse, but not really related to my intended discussion, some of the students remind me of my son – is he a monster at his daycare?

Alright, now for the intended discussion.  The Korea Times has two recent articles about teaching at daycare. The first (well, chronologically second) is about video cameras sending live video over the internet so parents can watch the class.  As a struggling teacher in that kind of class, I wouldn’t want to be seen fighting to remain calm in class.  On the other hand, I would enjoy the parents seeing the class monster, Seo**-H*** bullying classmates and ignoring my efforts to teach.

In fact, that is the discussed problem in the article.  Parents are concerned that other parents will see their little angel’s bad behavior.

“A parent was shocked when she found out that her daughter and instructor’s dialogue was revealed through the center’s website without her consent,”…

Note to self: ask if my little guy is making problems and how I can help the teachers help my son.

The other article, KIS pre-school offers brain-friendly learning, starts with a surprising claim:

Korean pre-schools and kindergartens are not allowed to conduct English or other foreign language lessons although many parents are fervent about such an education for their children. This is because the Korean education authorities believe children under the age of five are too young to learn foreign languages.

Following this paragraph is an explanation about how they aren’t really, formally teaching.

“What is important is how children learn, not what they learn. We don’t force children to learn but help them to link information that they already have, Manasfi told The Korea Times in an interview, Tuesday.

She called it “brain-friendly” learning, which is to focus on developing emotional intelligence and establishing good habits for the mind to learn to behave intelligently.

The article seems a fairly fluffy info-mercial.  In linking to it, I was most concerned about the illegality of language teaching and curious about how sincerely ‘brain-friendly’ learning is being taught.  I am not at home now so other links are currently unavailable but Jason Renshaw, the English Raven, recently voiced similar concerns about his son’s daycare – he was satisfied and comfortable with the results of his investigation.