Did You Eat Your English Turnips Today?

"Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." - 1 Corinthians 8:1b



This will be a rant blog, and sometimes criticism is not always a bad thing. If done properly, criticism can lead to some interesting conclusions about a subject and and a write can be able to provide suggestions to the issues at hand. However criticism, if only done just for the sake of attacking something and leaving most viewpoints out, can be quite depressing.



With that in mind, let's take a look at my experience about how English is served up in the land of Korea, some of the positives and negatives, and some possible conclusions on where this whole English main course is going...to true global awareness or utter repugnance. Did you eat your English turnips today?



South Korea's sole mission statement in learning the English language is to become a "global player in a globalized society; to prepare our citizens to become global-minded people in the midst of globalization." (Paraphrased mission statement from various orientations I went to)



South Korea, a world economic player, is trying to capitalize on its export economy by becoming more international business-minded, in hopes of achieving more economic growth and wealth. More wealth means more image improving; the eventual goal to become a great nation on this earth. Wow, it sounds like global domination, but from the impression I'm getting after seminar after teacher conference about Korea's push for English education, it seems like their sole goal is improving its image and flexing its economic muscles more. In theory, its not a bad goal. Every nation should utilize its human capital and invest in the next generation's education to prepare for a productive future; to benefit and enrich the lives of Koreans.



So, here I am in my classroom at Hakik Girls High School. Everyday, my ladies have to learn this language called English. I walk in, set my materials on the teacher's desk, and verbally fight for five minutes to get my girls to calm down while I try to explain the day's lesson. For 50 minutes, its either a struggle or a cake walk to get the girls' to practice their English in some way or form: either through writing, speaking, reading, or listening. Since my actual class is not graded (why should it be? I'm not a licensed-teacher), getting the girls to focus can be a struggle, but through God's Power and the cooperation of my ladies', most of the time it has not been so bad (see my interview in my previous blog). In fact, there are some classes where I am like, "wow, God that was you teaching in the classroom...not me."



My class is called "Free English" (영어재량 in Korean), or a weekly class that I teach to every single homeroom class in the 1st grade (9th grade in America). The purpose of this class is to allow kids to receive instruction from an authentic native speaker and have a chance to practice English freely in the classroom. Sounds great on paper. I'm loving it so far. Having a native speaker is the next generation upgrade to their English program: to have a native speaker bring the cultural flair to their program and to allow their kids to have a chance to speak English for fluency purposes and to bring the outside world in to their classroom. This is so cool.



Moving on, based on their level, all the kids in the school receive English instruction from various Korean-English teachers, who teach from a strict curriculum where they are taught listening, reading, and grammar.



In general, most teachers never teach speaking or writing the actual language.



The way the kids learn English here is astounding. Especially my 2nd graders (11th graders in America), the students have to memorize whole chunks of English vocabulary and grammatical structures. Kids have texts and lists dedicated to wholesale memorization. I see my girls, from little freshmen to my mature junior girls, pouring over text after text, practice test over practice test, and book after book trying to "memorize" my language.



"English to become a globalized society." Incheon, the port city where I live, was recently designated an "English City," with the goal of becoming a city able to communicate and help support the international community within a certain period of time. Good stuff. They are in fact building the "Songdo International City," a Hong Kong-like replica metropolis designed to support an international trade hub for the future. With South Korea's location in East Asia, this is actually a good idea.



One of the first warm-ups I give to my students at the beginning of every school year (from my exhaustive two-year career here in Korea) is a questionnaire about them and their reasons for studying English. Like they have a choice (it is a required subject for all children, like in most countries). But for the fun of it, I try to test their mettle to see what they say when I wrote the question, "why do you study English?" Most answers are pretty much the same: "because we have to," or my favorite, "to become a global citizen."



My students pour over almost 13 or more hours of study everyday at school or at the Hagwon, or private academy (not to be confused with an actual school, but an academy where businesses set-up privately-run programs that teach individual subjects such as English, Math, Korean, or Science). My students go to school, learn 7 different subjects a day, where they cram themselves to oblivion, especially in English. However, the decision to learn this language starts from the top.



The Korean government is insistent that in order for Korea to grow, they should improve their English program to improve their competitiveness because of English as a global language today. So, the national government and city governments have invested vast amounts of cash to get native speakers from the Big Six (US, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Australia, and South Africa) to come to teach at the hagwons or public schools to let their children grow in the English language. Again, I'm presenting all these facets of English instruction and Korea's response to improve their programs, and it sounds good so far. Globalization for growth as a nation, global-mindedness to help Koreans integrate into a new world where people are travelling at will and where information is being exchanged at fast-rates thanks to the Internet and telecommunications.



However, we run into some problems. One place to start is in the Korean mindset: Confucianism. Confucianism has a huge powerplay in all aspects in Koreans. It defines relationships, respect, order, power, and education. Not being an expert on Confucianism, I cannot quote to you his wonderful licks of philosophical goodness. However, from what I do remember from my Korean teachers and other foreigners I run into and the informal education I receive on Mr. C's ideas on how to run the game, it doesn't surprise me that English education runs into its first problems in the classroom here.



In Confucianism, everyone's got a set role in relationships. Student respects teacher, son respects parents, 1st son gets dibs on everything, sisters respect their brothers and whatever is at the bottom only gets to look up. No horizontal equality going here, like in most relationships in the West. Earlier, I emphazied one characteristic trait about Confucianism from earlier, order. In Korean society, which is really tight at its core in terms of relationships, order is the essence of bringing harmony to society. Everyone, especially in the career ladder, has their dues to pay in terms of seniority and prestige. You wear the badge, you got the part, you're the sixth man from the bench, just do your role. Even Korean Christians still run into Confucian thinking from time to time, and its hard not to when you are reared in Korea. (As Christians, are thinking should be upgraded with Christ, see Romans 12:2)



Okay, so its time to lasso this tangent so I can can pump some truth into this blog: English can be a challenge to teach with the Korean mindset.



Imagine you are in a class with 44 ladies or boys in one classroom (as I have described in the past). Imagine you got an education abroad in the United States for a year, a golden ticket set up by mommy and daddy to study in an American school so you can take advantage of Korea's push for English turnips. You meet a whole slew of new friends abroad, but its time to come home and contribute to the Motherland by finishing your education here.



You get this new native teacher in your school, and you're excited because its another opportunity to practice your English and keep it sharp for your time in high school. He or she comes in, but then you realize you are not allowed to speak English in the class. What? Class rules? New policy of modesty and respect?



No, Confucianism. No one likes a show-off. You try to speak English to the new teacher, then everyone starts going "oooooohhhhhh!" "Wah, Jin-mi can speak English!" "Oh, she's trying to flirt with the new teacher," or "what a showoff, she can speak English." Jealous is a natural by-product of advancement.

To actually teach conversation in class can be very challenging. Anyone with real English skills will be viewed with jealously and sneering, or even teasing. Then the kids who do not have much English skills struggle with confidence to try speaking.

Then, with the actual classroom size, its very difficult to do an activity where productive, actual free talking can take place. It can frustrating at times.

Alot of my classes this year were actually good, but the majority of the time I have to take advantage of a large class by using the chorus-style repetition to get participation. It can actually be more fun this way, because many of the girls in my class have a good sense of humor.

But as for actual investment and dividends in my classes, only a few get the material and some of them actually remember it. The whole idea of obtaining education for yourself is a very different concept here in the East as in the West, meaning that most of the education is uniform and all the students are educated in the same fashion. Individual thought is hard to come by, with only the most exceptional students from time to time giving me an opinion about their lives or about the world around them.

So, is my goal in 2009 to smash Confucian-thinking? Of course not. Its built into the culture. You can't stop that. Cultural mores are something to be respected, especially as a foreigner. However, it should not be a liability in the classroom when it comes to practical learning of foreign languages.

One of my goals this upcoming year is not to bring a revolution in the Free English classroom. One of my goals is that the Lord can use me to inspire my students to desire to learn English by making classes that show the human side of English. Meanwhile, instead of focusing on so much of the problems that plague this education system, perhaps I can starting putting my teaching skills to the Lord and allow Him to make things work in the classroom. Sometimes, its easy to feel helpless when you are given a situation where many of the girls have no interest in your English or don't have a real incentive to try.

For English to be effective in this society, I think its not just real, good instruction that will allow Korea's students become more fluent. Its got to be a change in the mind-set and exposure to outside cultures. I think one major advantage of bringing in foreigners is that we can bring the world to them without them travelling. English is seen as a language of the oppressor, but it should be seen as a tool and weapon for not survival, but for connecting to the outside.

Even though education is a right, it should always come down to choice.

Its my students choice to either talk to me and practice their English. And its my choice if I should follow the world's thinking and think that this class is not going to affect my students. Or, I can choose to follow God and seek His wisdom in turning turnips to...sweet fruits of truth.

As I crash into 2009 at Hakik Girls High, and perhaps my final year in Korea, I want to finish this campaign on a great note...that I did a good job, and that my girls learned something. Glory to God in the Highest: anything I do, from busting raps to teaching English to learning the Korean language, 2009 is not the Year of the Dragon, but the Year of the Divine.