Experiences of an English Language Teacher

Tag: Korean

First In-Person Korean Language Lesson

I was fortunate to have joined up to Korean language lessons through a programme, that has returned post-COVID, to help teachers feel a little more at home in South Korea. Personally, though, this is the first time that I have attended an in-person lesson and was unsure what to expect. However, being involved in the teaching of English and bringing UK culture to my students, it is great to be on the other side of the language learning fence.

Yet, before I share my experiences of learning Korean within a physical classroom, as insightful as it may, I would like to explain that I was able to register for Korean language classes through the local Immigrant Community Centre, free of charge. This local programme is very similar to the charitable ESOL programmes that are organised for immigrants to the UK, with volunteers as well as teachers doing their bit to aid or support the integration of certain members of the immigrant community to their new found land.

On Saturday, I attended a Korean language course where things were relatively structured, a coursebook was suggested, and a curriculum was followed. We learnt a variety of grammatical terms – much of which was a wonderful reminder of what I had forgotten since I had last lived in South Korea.

During the two hour online course on Saturday, we studied things such as countable units as well as connectives. Interestingly, in Korean, there are a variety of countable units such as how to quantify bowls, animals, pages, even houses. It was a wonderful reminder with the unique two counting systems in Korean. When having to tell the time, the two counting systems combine and minds are melted. Anyhow, fast forward a few days, and I had my first in-person lesson and I was expecting much of the same. How I was mistaken!

There were a few levels offered through our university for budding professionals keen to adapt to Korea and learn more about the culture. The first level was to help with basic needs such as learning how to read and write Korean (한글), while the next level was to learn more complicated grammatical constructions as well as a variety of verb conjugations.

When I first arrived to the class, I replied to the Korean teacher when she greeted me in Korean. And in front of the class, she placed me on the spot to read the title of a Korean song. Not sure whether it was charismatic charm or whether it was the provision of a Korean name to go with my English name when we were doing our basic introductions. Nevertheless, the lesson started immediately with the introduction of a rather melancholy song titled, “당신은 사랑 받기 위해 태어난 사람” (“You are born in order to be loved”), with this musical number being played in the background to the delight off all in attendance.

당신은 사랑 받기 위해 태어난 사람 – You are born in order to be loved!

The song was deconstructed with much less emphasis on grammar and more on communication – something that I relish with my focus with a Dogme-esque approach to teaching English – and the Korean teacher was attempting to explain vocabulary through context and explanation. The lesson was spontaneous, natural and, at times, reactionary which was wonderful to witness, and I was starting to gain confidence in communicating with my limited Korean and focus less on translating to or from English.

In terms of my learning Korean, my current notebook contains no English and when I find things so confusing do I resort to translating the most basic terms immediately into English. The less I translate, the more I feel the importance of communicating and, with our experience of teaching English to those who find it being their second or third language, the more we understand that immediate or automated translation can sometimes lose the essence or meaning. Thus, I attempt to learn Korean through interaction, communication and negotiation with other Korean speakers. This is more memorable than automatically translating vocabulary, much to the annoyance to English teaching professionals when we have to explain this to English language learners. So, I do hope this pays off in the long run, but I am finding myself having to deal with a variety of situations or receive phone calls and having to negotiate (and apologise profusely) Korean and achieve little milestones.

Many thanks for reaching the end of this post and I hope that it kind of chimes with others that have put themselves through learning Korean in the past. I shall keep you all posted at how I get on, but for now I need to take a break from my Korean language learning, with tomorrow being a new day.

Culture and the Language Classroom

Teaching and culture tend to go hand in hand with each other. Without culture, language would not exist and vice versa. I remember one of my tutors telling me that if you ever wish to learn about the culture of a country, you must eat their food. It is true, traditional cuisine is an important element of any culture and is the first step of understanding a culture. Nevertheless, if you wish to develop rapport with learners, wherever they are from, you must attempt to understand their culture and way of doing this is understanding important events.

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One important event that is celebrated and is considered integral for Koreans is their Thanksgiving. If I wish to develop rapport with Koreans, whether they are my students or possible contacts, I would share my understanding when important events occur. As such, if there is an important event in China, with the Mid-Autumn Festival being celebrated at the same time as Korean Thanksgiving, I would be sure to wish my students or contacts a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.

Culture is such an important element of understanding the people, functions and events of a country, that to withdraw culture from a language is impossible. From next Monday, I shall be starting my first ever online language course with my University: Beginner Japanese. One thing that I will consider to incorporate is understanding the culture of Japan. I have very little awareness of Japanese as a language and also little knowledge of their culture but I am keen to learn. I am looking forward to this course as this will give me the insight of the challenges that my online learners face when studying online.

I will be sharing my insight of online language learning in a future article and I can’t wait to share this with you. I hope my Korean readers are having a wonderful Korean Thanksgiving.

How do you incorporate culture with your language teaching? What do you consider important when learning more about a culture? Let me know in the comments.

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