SouLI Koreun purenLs LoId: pre-scIooI EngIIsI

'IurmIuI'
Pressure group argues that money spent on early year classes is wasted
and urges starting at age 10
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O Max de Lotbinire
O Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 8 November 2011 14.05 GMT
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Chain reaction ... competition for university places is being felt at kindergarten. Photograph: David
Guttenfelder/AP
Parents in South Korea who put their pre-school-age children into
English language classes are wasting their money and could be slowing
their educational development.
This is the message that an education pressure group, World Without
Worries About Private Education, is trying to get across in a society
where pressure to attain exam success has created a boom in private
tuition and growing numbers of English language classes for
kindergarten-aged children.
World Without Worries has distributed 200,000 copies of its latest
booklet, What a Waste Private English Education, in an attempt to
change opinion about early-year language classes and convince parents
that their children are likely to acquire more English if they start learning
later.
The 36-page booklet assesses 12 common misconceptions about the
value of starting English learning early with contributions from education
experts, commentators and parents.
Research carried out in 2009 estimated that South Koreans spent over
$18bn annually on private education, mostly delivered by ,43or
cramschools. The government estimates that there are 95,000 hagwons
and up to 84,000 private tutors. Hagwons open their doors at the end of
the school day and children are often enrolled in classes late into the
night.
Kim Seung-hyun, World Without Worries's policy director, says the
demand for additional private tutoring is driven by competition to gain
scarce places in the country's best universities, but parents are badly
informed about its value.
"We think much of private education is useless and sometimes even
harmful to children," Kim said. "We try to make parents calm down and
save their money and effort. That's the reason we've published this
booklet."
The main message in the booklet is that very young children make little
progress in English when they are put into special English-medium
kindergartens by their parents.
"One teacher who had been teaching pre-school age children in
hagwons for 10 years told us that children starting English classes at
eight or nine years can learn in six months what a child starting at five
has learned in two years," Kim said.
World Without Worries recommends that children start learning English
from age 10, by which time they are confident in their first language,
have well-developed cognitive skills and are motivated to learn.
Kim also claims that research comparing the development of children at
English-medium kindergartens with their counterparts at pre-schools
who eschew foreign languages supports this case.
"The results showed that children who go to normal kindergartens
scored higher in language ability and creativeness. The amount of time
and energy children devote to English is harmful to the development of
essential skills."
Parents are estimated to spend up to $1,000 on hagwons each month
and concerns have been raised about families having fewer children
because of the drain on their budgets. South Korea's birthrate of 1.19
children is one of the lowest among industrialised countries. The
government has been trying to curb parental spending on private
education since 2008 when it introduced curfews and tighter regulations
on hagwons, but Kim says these measures are unlikely to change
behaviour.
"The government's role should be to change the competitive
environment, not to try and change parents' attitudes."