Early English education in South Korea

My last class was Writing skills and Research. And my last topic for final paper was early English education for Korean children. This is an unusaual topic in here. They do not understand the situation of Korean education. But I would like to tell my classmates about this topic and at that time I thought they were interested it. Actually the paper was just a report. We didn't get a presentation ours but we did peering editing each others.

Now my new class is "Effective public speaking". And this class needs a similar topic to persuade audiences.  So, I took this topic again to discuss and announce it.
Today I need to make the outline. hum... I am not sure that I can persuade them as this topic, because my English is terrible. They might think, I had better have the early English education before.

Early English education for Korean children

Thesis statement:
Although children can acquire language skills when they learn English as early as possible, the trend of early English education can create problems with parents and society in South Korea. Even if children follow the goals of their parents well, children may not have the same dreams for themselves that their parents have. They are just children who want to be "Good kids" for their parents.

1. Introduce
- Explain about the Korean education culture.
 : Education is one of the most important policies in South Korea. Koreans believe     
   education is power and parents want to give the power to their children so they force
   them to study.

2. First main idea
- The cost of early English education is expensive. But the effect for children has not yet been proven that this is the best way for Korean children to learn.

a. Since 1997, the Korean education ministry has tried to teach English to third grade pupils of elementary school. After that, English private institutions have increased.
"Private kindergarten classes including singing in, playing in and studying English have long been popular. Classes cost between $500 and $1000 a month." (Hankyoreh, 2006)

b. Interview with one of Korean mother who has a two year old boy in South Korea.
(average income and the cost of pre school for a child)

c. OECD and Wikipedia note about Korean English education

3. Second main idea
- Koreans need more educational programs for early English education.

a. Some foreigners who live or used to live in Korea say that Korean education is doing something wrong. What is going on in the English classrooms in South Korea?

b. Mothers' manage of their children's education
   : Examples ... how, why, which way ... mothers' interview sources from a report
     (Sojin Park & Nancy Abelmann, 2004)

4. Third main idea
- It can create other problems as well. If some parents have enough money, they try to go abroad during vacations, for a few years or for immigration. Education immigration is one of the early English education trends in South Korea.
It is not the intention of the children, and there was a sad story last May. One of the Korean "Goose family" committed suicide in New Zealand.

5. Conclusion
- Learning English is not the only way to a successful life for your children.

copyright by sunju kim