A variation of the following ‘joke’ has been doing the rounds in Korea for a few years now: in the schoolyard, a little boy – let’s call him Mark – falls during breaktime and scrapes his knee. His teacher – let’s call her Mary – finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him. In 1984? Mark soon feels better and goes back to playing. In 2011? Mary is accused of being a sexual predator, loses her job and faces three years in prison. Meanwhile, Mark undergoes five years of therapy.
The common consensus appears to be that this is not the sensible approach to teaching, but the situation is all the more difficult in light of the appalling child abuse scandals that have destroyed so many lives and angered so many people. However, this is nowhere near child abuse – it’s about doing the right thing in teaching.
As a friend and colleague pointed out to me, sometimes teaching back in the United States was like walking on eggshells when it came to how you show affection to students. You were taught in college classes to make no contact with students, but you would not believe how many times you get hugged by young pupils during the school day. And, seriously, what are you supposed to do? Push them away?
In the western world, this is perhaps the desired reaction when a young student makes contact. In Korea, on the other hand, the situation is a complete reversal. Teachers who are standoffish or reserved are not always encouraged to take up employment with a school. Principals want teachers who make the children feel comfortable approaching them in the hallways and canteen.
Fellow Irish teachers have remarked on a number of occasions that they can’t possibly envisage working in an Irish school once their Korean sojourn comes to an end. Hugs, high-fives, general playing and messing – unofficial requirements of teaching in Korea, but perhaps best avoided at home.
It is no surprise, then, that the native English teacher is one of the most popular characters and personalities in a Korean public or private school. Different and somewhat exotic, with his blue eyes and her blonde hair, but definitely fun, exciting and a source of candy and stickers. We rarely give homework and we are more likely to watch videos and play games.
So why is it that South Korea is now in the process of rolling out robot teachers – that’s right, robot teachers! – for a start some time in 2013?
Well, according to a Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS) survey, students of English have shown better learning achievements in speaking, whilst enhancing their confidence and motivation, when the teaching assistant was a robot.
This survey, the details of which were released by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy last year, found that the robots gave equal learning opportunities to the students and initiated a higher level of engagement throughout the class. The classes were also said to be more creative.
The project was carried out over eight weeks at three elementary schools in Daejeon and Masan, and a further 10 schools in the Seoul area used robots for classes other than English, including maths and science.
Last December, 18 elementary schools in Daegu used what is now called an Engkey – a robotic teacher. The Engkey is linked to and controlled by a teacher outside the room – from as far away as Australia – with their face appearing on the screen. It is unclear whether these robots will take the place of native English teachers, as the Korea Institute of Science and Technology has been saying they are merely covering the shortage of experienced teachers, for now.
How this will go down nationwide is anyone’s guess. Personally, I would be less likely to believe all the positive noises from this technological advancement. The robot is, as you’d imagine, less likely to be their friend or to show them any attention, and how does a robot go about breaking up a class argument or come to the aid of an injured student? We shall see.
Andrew Farrell works as an English language teacher in Korea.
