The National Institute for International Education (NIIED) has announced it will recruit 550 new native English speakers for the forthcoming spring semester at elementary and middle schools across the nation.

The NIIED, an international education agency under the Ministry of Education, has attracted foreign teachers from English speaking countries since 2007 to help improve the English conversation skills of students and Korean teachers. The English-speaking teachers come from Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa and the United States.

The hiring has been done through the English Program in Korea, a unit in charge of recruiting foreign teachers under the NIIED, covering all parts of the country.

EPIK plans to hold a training program for newly-hired teachers to help them get accustomed to the Korean educational system and culture.

Native English speaking teachers will attend lectures on lesson planning and classroom management along with cultural experiences such as an introduction to Korean language, visiting a hanok village and learning taekwondo. The orientation will run for nine days from Feb. 18-26 in Jeonju and from Feb. 20-28 in Daejeon.

The selected teachers will conduct English conversation classes alongside Korean co-teachers.

Those who are interested in applying for the fall semester, with start dates in August and September, are encouraged to visit the EPIK website (www.epik.go.kr) for more information.