What Is Teaching Like?

Ever since I got to Korea and kept up with this blog, I have pretty much tried to keep you up to date with my activities. I told you about sightseeing, meeting family, God's working in my life, and some personal struggles in the "Land of the Morning Calm."

However, I have been lacking in "describing my job" part. I told you about the "Garbage Boys" from the earlier days, but they have dissoluted as the year wore on. "Destroyer" has not come to the office in a long time, and he even told me that he has been really busy with life and school, which in this country, school is your life. I have seen him less and less. So that early excitement of having curious fans coming into my office and talking to me was awesome, but now they moved on and concentrated on their own ways. I guess my "foreign novelty sticker" has worn off.

My actual students, well my classes are not too bad, as we wrap up semester one. Like I said, class 1-9 is the only pain, and class 1-13 is just loud, but I really can't complain about my job at all. Its the best job I have had, and it beats my Census Bureau internship by a foot, which I will explain in another blog.

What do I teach? You are probably been wondering that since day one.

Well, its not an easy answer. See, the Korean-English teachers do all the teaching, on their own. They teach English as a sole academic subject everyday, six days a week. The kids go in their classrooms, sit down, and listen to Ms./Mrs./Mr. Kim/Lee/Park (these three surnames make up 1/3 of all last names in Korea), explain the intricacies of the English language while the Korean kids, learning Korean style (which means they sit, listen, and never ask questions), write notes and take it all in. So what's the point of learning about a language that is important in commerce, business, education, and friendships worldwide when you don't use it? Enter the Dragon.

I'm the English talking cat that they imported from Waldorf, Maryland for this purpose. I am an "English Language Instructor" by title. In reality, I'm a spitting-English slot machine, "ching ching ching ching ching!" You pull the lever, random English words composed in beautiful sentence structure come flying out. You got the English jackpot.

Sike, all kidding aside, I taught them things such as (from my previous lesson plans):

1. Meeting and greeting Western people for the first time, how is it different in Korea vs. the West. I actually demonstrated with several students how its done back in the West. Always look eye, strong handshake, and good posture.

2. Restaurant English - what phrases go down in the English-speaking world and the culture surrounding it when you order a burger.

3. Phone English - using PowerPoint, I pulled off a lesson on how to speak over the phone.

4. Dialog Makers - I let the classes perform their own dialogs and compete against each other for prizes (chocolate).

5. The Hines Ward Lesson - in my opinion, my most important lesson up to date, I tried to get the idea across to them that life is more than just Korean skin. I tried to teach them about the power of diversity. For those who don't know who Hines is, he is the Pittsburgh Steeler who won the Super Bowl MVP. He is half-Korean, half-black who got Koreans to start re-thinking about the idea of what is "pure race" in the Korean bloodline, Confucian thinking mindset.

6. Hip-hop English - I tried to use hip-hop music as an avenue to learn speaking English in rhythm. Koreans have no rhythm, but they got the idea. They got to see me beatbox though.

So you see, I was given liberty to do my own lesson plans. Some lesson plans were straight up awful, some were pretty successful. My own personal guideline for success is that the kids had fun and paid attention for the most part. My guideline for lesson failure is that they are bored. Pure and simple.

Unfortunately, no one at my schooll has given me a pure "mission statement" goal for my job. I do what I please, but I really have no standard to attain to according to the school's plans. In reality, most ESL teachers like me in Korea are here for one purpose: to bring foreign exposure to the kids. Most of these kids will never meet foreigners on a daily basis, much less have a chance to use their English language skills, so they bring us in. I believe it is a noble purpose, especially if the ESL native teacher has the right attitude towards the job.

Most people like myself do not have degrees in teaching. In a strict "teaching sense," I'm not qualified for this job. I do have teaching experience from many Bible camps, College and Career teaching back at home, and many community service programs from the past. But teaching 40 Korean boys about a language they hardly use, much less won't get a grade for in my class? Good luck.

However, there is one standard I attain by, and that is Jesus Christ. As a Christian, I have to keep reminding myself why I am here. Just like being a mentor to my youth group back at home, I know that I am more than just a talking English slot-machine, "ding ding ding ding!" I'm a mentor. I can't help but to be a friend to these stressed-out students, because the relationship between teachers and Korean students here in Korea is very platonic, very respectful.

I have the advantage of taking it to the next level and I can be someone that they can talk to, if they want. The youth years, as I remember it, are years or searching for truth and reason, and these boys are doing the same as they do in America. As a Christian, as Christ touched my life, He is working through me to maintain an attitude that these boys are not just numbers on a record book, they are lives that He created for His purpose. My job is to show that I am an example of His purpose.

So to sum it up, my teaching gig is not so much I teach them "the English language." I just know how to use it. My job is teach "how to use this language" properly. Heck, the Korean-English teachers could school me bad in a game of English Grammar Attack. But I have one thing over them that cannot get: I grew up in the English-language culture, and have much traveled experience. The more the students drill from my cultural-experience rigs, the more they get rich off of it.

From Korea,

Mr. Soni

P.S. Mrs. Ha, my supervising co-teacher, is going to America to experience study abroad for a year. She will be getting a cultural lesson for a lifetime.