Hello, I deeply appreciate your help all the time. :-) Thank you so much!
Some people insist that secondary schools in Korea should have at least native English speaker assistant in all English classes to improve student's English communication skill. They believe that native English teachers can bring out English-speaking environment inside schools. However, I do not think this plan is feasible in EFL situation where English is not used outside the classroom. There are several constraints that make this plan rather less viable.
To begin with, budget constraint is a main problem in implementing this plan. Hiring native English speakers as a teacher costs a lot. That is, schools should cover their benefits like health insurance, and also pay for their housing fee since they are not permanent residence. Moreover, they are paid much more than local teachers. Thus, it would be financially burden for schools unless there is some support from the government.
In addition, native English teachers would have difficulty creating English speaking environment, which is their core responsibility as a teacher, due to the number of students in a class. In Korea, approximately 30 to 40 accounts for one class. Under this situation, students hardly get enough opportunity to talk in a class. If the number is much smaller--under 15. it is manageable for the teacher to assign the equal opportunity to students or treat rather silent students better by giving them more chances to speak.
In conclusion, only placing native English teacher to every class does not necessarily guarantee the enhancement of student's speaking ability. To help students to become a better communicator, we should find another way. As one of the alternatives, I suggest that schools should create English using places such as English zone or English cafe where students must speak only English. Practice is the only path to improving their speaking ability.
I don't think you need "To begin with" in your second paragraph. You would have already have a nice transition from your first paragraph without it. Maybe you could start the paragraph, "The financial burden associated with hiring native speaking English teachers is one of the most daunting obstacles to implementing this plan."
In your last paragraph, perhaps remove "In conclusion". Much like "To begin with", it seems a bit cheesy to me. The content of your last paragraph alone should let the reader know it is a conclusion.
Also, your solution proposed in the last paragraph regarding English zones and/or cafes is very interesting. I wanted to know more about it. I think you should elaborate on those ideas in your last paragraph. Doing this will provide you with a strong, detailed solution that will give the content of your essay more meaning. In your opening paragraph you describe the plan for native speaking english teachers in class rooms as "less viable", implying that you have an alternative plan that you are comparing it to. If you have a strong alternative solution described in your conclusion, it will give more credibility to your opening statements and your following paragraphs.
Thank you all for the wonderful feedback on my essay! I truly appreciate your help.
3flip, it is my pleasure to tell you more about English cafes. :-)
English cafes are much like normal cafes in that they serve some drink or snacks, except that people there are strictly asked to speak English when ordering menu and chatting with their friends... so forth.
There may be some assistants (2 or 3) either teachers or some students with good English speaking ability to encourage students to speak English. Those assistants are also responsible for watching if anyone is using Korean there. If they catch someone speaking Korean, they may give a warning or some penalty. Under this circumstance, students who are in that place can feel forced to speak English. :-)
The success of these kinds of places heavily relies on the external rewards or force. I mean, English teachers should make visiting those places mandatory as assignment, or give extra credits to students who spend some amount of time there.
Otherwise, students never visit those places! Simply speaking, they have no need/reason to be in the places like English zone, or cafes unless they are motivated to learn a language. It could be even awkward or embarrassing for young students to speak other language with friends.
However, I believe creating the environment where students feel free to speak English is really crucial, and some degrees of force are really needed to get students visit those places and practice English, especially in EFL situations.
I hope my explanation is intelligible enough-I know my writing is not that strong, and helps you get a glimpse of these places.
That is a great idea! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience about this!
Regards,
Gloria
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