Communication

My second year here has brought new goals and ambitions. One of my major obvious goals is to improve my Korean communication. That's a given, simply because as I discussed before in previous blogs, I love languages and I believe God has given the gift of language to share my life with others.

Yet last year, there were moments of struggle because I put too much pressure on myself to learn the language. This is due to my unreasonable goal setting in which I believe the only way I could truly learn about my Korean heritage was to speak the language at a high level. I gave that up a long time ago. Well, not that I "gave up learning the language," but I dropped the serious tag about how to learn it. Since I'm learning the language as a "pay as you go" method (basically, get what I can from everyday conversations with fellow Koreans), I cannot necessarily get too serious about language study on a day-to-day basis because I teach English. Whatever I glean from each day, I put it to use.

Like today, Saturday. Our Korean Class for Foreigners (that I attend at Seoul's Sookmyung Women's University) took a break this weekend to have a class trip to Gyeongbokgung, or the national palace of the Joseon Dynasty. It is the grand chief of all palaces in South Korea. It has some awesome architecture and a cool museum with a brand new exhibition including artifacts relating to that era.

What was cool and unique was our teachers who hosted us today. All of our teachers are young females with alot of enthusiasm and kindness to help foreigners practice and learn the Korean language. Some speak decent English, but many don't speak it that well. Obviously, the interaction and conversations are done mostly in Korean. I am proud to say that I am in the Level 4 class, the highest that they offer (but that does not mean I am nowhere near where I want to be in terms of communication). My teacher, Seul Bin, is a kind-hearted woman who speaks slow and effective Korean. She was my tour guide today. Most of her outlines on the national palace were in Korean, albeit with the occasional translation of a word that I didn't understand into English. It was really hard to figure out what she was talking about at times, but it forced me to rely on the powers of context to get a meaning and analysis. Yet at the same time, it was pretty cool to figure out what she was saying and learn new vocabulary while I was at it.

The other host teachers were all humorous, engaging, and fun ladies who enjoy teaching the Korean language and meeting foreigners. I had a delightful conversation with one girl, in Korean, discussing topics from the Korean language, my unique bi-racial background, to the election coming up in Korea (for the national assembly), and to ours in America (BO vs. McCain).
As well as for other students who are in the other classes, the situation forced them to use their Korean to practice and effectively communicate. Its the only way to learn a language. For me, once I got the pride monkey off my back, learning the Korean language is now fun again. I don't have to pretend to know everything and simply go back to square one and learn the language through the pain and joy that I have been learning it before hand. Ask questions constantly, make mistakes, and just simply try.

As for the school situation, I am still pondering about how I can communicate to my students. I am dying to practice my Korean with my girls. Its sometimes eerily weird to try to communicate to them in all English, because they simply struggle with understanding me while I struggle speaking Korean, I want to get to know them better. I always reason that a little Korean would be useful on my part because it will show that I am learning their language, something I tried to do last year with my boy students.

However, most teachers and administrators in the EPIK (English Program in Korea) system do not want the native teacher to communicate in Korean to the students. They reason that this would defeat the purpose of "English Only" and take away the purpose of having a true native speaking partner for the students to practice with and to improve their English skills.

I wholly understand their point of view, and respect it. Korea is in dire need of teachers and in general, a new system that forces students to practice their speaking and listening communication. We foreign teachers are that solution.

On the other of the spectrum, we must think about the role of the native speaker in the public schools program. Our job is to improve the English ability of both the students and English teachers alike, and I simply want to do that to the best to God's Glory. Yet, let's think about reality of the native teacher and some positives of using Korean to communicate with students:

1. We live in Korea too. One difficult aspect of a native teacher who really wants to immerse themselves in Korean culture is that he is supposed to speak English all day. That's a given. If the teacher's first language is English, then its going to be natural for him to speak. However, outside the class and when school is over, we have homes to go to and business to conduct at supermarkets, banks, and hospitals. Not every Korean outside the school has decent English skills to help all foreigners out. One of the major difficulties for those native teachers who ardently study Korean is that it is difficult for them to switch from the English side of the brain to the Korean one.

2. It makes the students more comfortable. Many Koreans cannot stand the English language. As I discussed before in previous blogs, the way they teach actual English in the classroom is outdated and ineffective to teach effective verbal communication. Hence, sometimes the students, even though they gladly accept many native English teachers, see them as sort of too lofty to approach because they seem not interested in Korean language and culture. I remember how some students got really comfortable with me last year because of the fact that I occasionally practiced my Korean with them. On the other hand, some students treat the native speaker simply as a guest because they cannot really communicate with them on a deeper level. Knowing some Korean could help bridge that bond.

3. Its fun. Language exchange at a public school setting could prove useful and rewarding for both staff and the native teacher. It shows that the foreign teacher is making an honest effort in learning effective Korean communication, which then makes the Korean teachers more comfortable in approaching the native teacher to practice their English. Both sides can help each other. Also, most students quickly realize of who is learning their language from a person who is fluent in Korean, I mean they are not stupid in realizing that they cannot speak only Korean to the native teacher who is also learning their language. Its one thing for a Kyopo (Korean American) who is fluent in speaking both Korean and English, which is not effective at all for the classroom because the students would want to speak Korean with that teacher anyway. Yet for a teacher who makes mistakes with the kids trying to speak their language can actually be encouraging because they see that the teacher is trying and failing, so they can do so.

So, that's just something I have pondering about lately, and something I want to discuss with my teachers at my new school. I do not want to coast through this year without showing the true Korean side to me, and the honest effort I want to make to become a teacher who can use both Korean as an asset to help reinforce my English teaching. We'll see how the results come.

Please send me an e-mail at Minos24@hotmail.com if you have an opinion about this topic. Do you think its a good idea to just speak English to the students? Or mixing the native language in can be a more effective way to build trust and more dynamic learning? You tell me.

Femalions, Part II

So I've been on the new teaching gig for three weeks. For the most part, the transition has not been that bad. Teaching girls in many ways is so much easier. Korean girls tend to be more docile here, hence the discipline is not as a big problem compared to my old school. I usually get through my lessons without a major setback in discipline or cooperation issues. I never had any problems with getting the girls to go along with activities.

However, the challenges do present themselves from time to time. As I know before about our femalion counterparts, women are more emotional creatures. That's a no-brainer, because Our Father made them this way. We as men and women are complementary for one another; a master plan if I ever saw one.

Now at an-all girls school, the discipline is not as a big problem, but dealing out the discipline can be a problem. Teenage girls, since they are growing up to become women, deal with alot of emotional change. So do teenage boys, but not at the femalions' level. Boys are very clear-cut about their emotions and hardly expose them to show their masculinity. I am a boy, so working at the boys' school last year, on a relational level was easier because we know how we relate.

So, when I have to deal with discipline or if a girl in class makes a mistake, they take it harder. They just do. Some girls don't like to be made fun of or teased, nor do they like to be singled out for their mistakes. They are highly sensitive to comments you make about them, either getting their hopes up or bringing much disappointment. I've made some girls sad by simply forgetting their name, or made a girl's day by telling them "good job" for something they did well.

I've come to the point already where I know that there are some areas to back off and not be as engaging. Being a second year teacher, my style is very engaging, hands on, and always trying to challenge each student individually. Yet this does not work all the time with girls because they are not ready to put themselves on the line yet such as boys, in other words, they are shy. Last year, sometimes I would go out of my way to talk to certain boys who had potential and try to engage them in English conversation so they could at least practice, but for the girls the comfortability is not there yet.

With a girls' high school, the pressure to perform and the Korean group mentality takes a different road and has an interesting take when it comes to classroom dynamics. Korean girl students, in my opinion, are more hive-oriented compared to their boy counterparts. I've noticed certain classes already where a few girls control the tempo of the class because of their boisterious personalities. On one end of the spectrum, some girls are very pushy, and to a degree, bullying-types who kind of enforce the others to keep in step with them. The tricky thing is to try to control them so I can get the other girls to participate in activities.

This phenomenon is also similar at a boys school, but at Yeonsu High I noticed its usually one boy student or two who control the overall personality of the class. Usually I had to find that "unique" boy who is either a comedian, an enforcer, or a clever man to get the rest of the class to follow. Successfully, I found those boys and sort of made them my allies to get the others to try.

For the girls' classes, its usually controlling the certain committee of ladies who sometimes try to enforce the will on the group. Yet, if its a good class, that "committee" could actually reinforce my material easier because they lead the exercises. For example, in my 1-3 class, all the girls are happy-go-lucky. There are no bullies or odd-ones-out; they work as a collective unit. There is a certain girl in the class named Da Yon, who is an extremely funny girl and class clown; she kind of puts a positive influence on her group to all try to follow my class. Outside of class, I've seen groups of girl surround her as she is very popular and funny. So the rest of the class kind of follows her style.

So when certain classes pile into the English Zone for my class, the ladies immediately pile to a certain table where they most feel comfortable, because each homeroom consists of about 44-45 girls. I've had a theory that with classes those size, I bet some of those girls still don't know certain members of their own class still. Its intimidating to study a language in that kind of environment.

Another thing I learned so far is the cautious approach I have to take as a teacher, especially as a male. Most of these girls have never been approached by a male because a majority of the students have attended all-female schools, and "real interaction" with the opposite does not occur until college (in Korean society). So at first, I tried to be outgoing, funny, and friendly with the classes, which is cool for some because they are comfortable with me now. Yet some of the freshmen girls are very shy and are not ready with my style of teaching, so I've taken a step back and I want to come to me when they are ready. It takes time.

So these wisdoms again, come through the successes, joys, and mistakes of teaching. They are invaluable. And they are provided by God, the God of all Wisdom. Like Solomon, I need all the wisdom I can get to "govern my new kingdom." In due time, I hope and pray not to be popular with the students, but simply to gain their respect as a teacher and mentor, and even better, their friend.

Femalions

Picking up where I left off...I am now a teacher at on a total different end of the gender spectrum.


After tearing it up as a teacher at Yeonsu High School for one whole year, now I am ripping it up at...of all places...a girls' high school.


As I neared the end of my contract last term, I requested for a school transfer. Nothing against Yeonsu, because they gave me my start and I will be grateful for them for giving me the opportunity to teach there. Yet I desired a change of experience just to shake it up my here in Korea during my second year. Soon, I was placed at an all-girls school in Incheon.


Most high schools in Korea are still gender separated, while many more middle schools are becoming more integrated, like my friend James' school. I wasn't prepared for the change coming ahead...


So, the school is full of girls. Lots of em'. All of them! They all look like factory-engineered, porcelain dolls. Same hair, same uniform, many with the same looks, its like looking at a sea of barbie dolls. My boys grunt and fight, these girls giggle and scream. My boy students are loud and aggressive, my girls like to watch and giggle. They are a goofy bunch. The uniformity in their uniforms and hair styles just make it seems like they are all clones. Yet, that's the Korean system and that's what they go for: group unity towards higher learning.


I think giggle is going to be part of my vocabulary for a while. "Hee hee hee" this, "ha ha ha" that.


So far, the staff and students are kind of cool. My boys at the old school, at first, were really aggressive with me, but slowly started to warm up after a big thaw in frosty relations. The girls in Korea seem to be very docile, so it was very easy to start getting their attention from the get go.


However, there are some challenges that are presented to me. Being a young male teacher at a girls school, well you get the picture. They will be curious. There are other male teachers who get lots of attention as well, so the same treatment goes around. My biggest philosophy is to ask God to give me wisdom on how to be a friendly teacher without playing with the femalions' emotions.

Yet so far, I'm trying to downplay the barriers and just be a good teacher. Take the lessons I learned as a teacher from Yeonsu High and make them apply here, just take it from a different approach and be more sensitive to the femalions, whereas with the boys I was more direct and stern.

I learned today about my replacement at my old school. A Canadian man straight out of college like me, but with more credentials to teach. I hope to meet the guy and discuss the job with him.

So, that's pretty much it. I'm in a new neighborhood, the student body has changed, but the teaching remains the same. Its pretty cool to be teaching a Korean public high school. How many people have the opportunity to do that in their lifetime? Its unique indeed.