South Korea Introducing Robotic Teachers

dorkygeek writes "The Korean Advanced Intelligent Robot Association (KAIRA) will have 64 educational robots deployed by the end of 2005. Able to read out English stories and correct pronunciation of English words to children, these robots are going to be supplied to apartment complexes in Seoul, Bucheon and Bundang in Gyeonggi province for testing purposes. After testing is complete, the Ministry of Information and Communication and KAIRA plan to commercialize the robots as early as 2006. If there exists sufficient demand, education robots will sport other subjects (as mathematics, etc.) apart from English, as well as also target older students." Update Link removed when host decided to change it to porn. Sorry.

ARTICLE IS A TROLL -- GOATSE ALERT

[sosume]

Don't click the link it you're in a timezone where it's before noon..

Don't know Japan, but Korea's biggest problem...

[aendeuryu]

Don't know about Japan, but Korea's biggest problem is that English education here has exploded to the point that the standards for hiring teachers are frighteningly low. Generally, all they require is that you have any university degree from an English speaking country. A B.Ed or a TESOL certificate will get you higher pay, and a Masters or higher will get you a shot at a university gig, but it's really not hard for someone with a degree in something totally unrelated to teaching and/or English to get a cushy job in a metropolitan-area middle school. Of course, the fact that the english alphabet has some subtleties that the Korean alphabet (for want of a better word) lacks, means that it helps to have someone in the room demonstrating (for instance) how to differentiate between the 'b' and 'v' phonetics. But when you get right down to it you've got a ton of people in the position of authoritative English instructors who, in terms of their qualifications, are getting regarded and paid more than they're worth.

What's happened is that English education has become its own industry with tons of hagwons (private after-school academies) popping up all over, both legal and illegal. They really just need a white guy or girl to help with sales. That they prefer white people is in itself a symptom of the problem -- they bring foreigners over to teach not because they're more qualified (maybe as english speakers, but hardly as teachers) but because they're convinced that a parent is more likely to send their kid to a hagwon if they see whitey interacting directly with the kids. Please note, that's a criticism of the schools, which can often be quite shadey, not the parents, who run the full gamut from loving every foreigner who comes into their country to being somewhat xenophobic.

Not all schools, and not necessarily even hagwons, are all that bad, but treating education as a business has become a problem that's even penetrated the public school system. It might get worse before it gets better, and it's too bad, because I think they're hoping for faster results than are realistic.

Anyhow, I doubt the robot thing will catch on, at least not to the point that I'll be out of a job (I've been here 3 years now and still going), but it is emblematic of a culture that's taking pretty radical approaches to English education. Correcting kids' pronunciation? That's hard to do without a human mouth over-enunciating things, and the brain wiring needed to instantly differentiate between almost-homonyms ('bet' and 'vet', for instance).

What's more, discipline is often an issue when teaching in Korea, which means that they're going to need teachers there ANYWAY. Although, it might be fun watching a robot putting the kids in line.

Here's the real article and link

[Anonymous Coward]

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200510/02/200510022 148293739900090609062.html [joins.com]

it's possible that their server has been compromised. it looks like the printable version of this article will display Mr Goatse. but the original article page is fine. so yeah.. don't click on the Print icon. unless that sorta thing turns you on.

WORKING LINK - WORKING LINK

[dorkygeek]

Looks like the staff at JongAng Daily didn't like the fact that I linked to the print version of the article where no ads are shown...

Here is the link to the story in normal viewing mode (whatever normal means under these circumstances...): http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200510/02/200510022 148293739900090609062.html [joins.com]

And hey, trust me, the goatse guy wasn't present on that page until it got published on slashdot.

CORRECTED LINK

[dorkygeek]

As it turns out, the staff at JoongAng Daily disliked the fact that I linked to the print view of the article where they don't display ads. Here the corrected link to the article in normal browsing mode:

Ministry promotes robot to teach students English [joins.com]

Alternatively, there is an earlier story about that in The Korea Times:

Network Robots Will Become Family Member This Year [hankooki.com]

Re:Apology from /. eds

[Carnildo]

The "porn" in question was Mr. Goatse.