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.