Teaching. . . or something like it?

Teaching Korean youngsters how to speak English can be quite the challenge. The idea seems quite simple, yet there is much more to teaching than meets the eye. Just because we speak english doesn't mean that we can teach english without thought. A lot can be learned about our own language from teaching our own native language. How much does our speech alter from the proper? Quite a bit if you think about it. For example, how often do you say, "What do you want to do?" At first you might think, "I say that all the time." But think again. Most of us say, "What'd'ya wanna do?" Or other slur such as "Dyew wanna go duh the store?" There are many more things we things we say that aren't proper. I learned that quite quickly after being asked to slow down and repeat, over and over again. The Korean's have the same thing in their language as well. What I'm getting at is that we don't think about these things when it comes to teaching.
Another thing we don't think about is how difficult it is to teach english if you can't explain anything in english. What I mean is that the kids don't understand you when you try to explain what they are reading or saying. It's hard to teach when you can't explain the concept you are teaching. Although many of the children can understand basic english, they can't always understand you when you try to explain because explaining usually entails using more vocabulary that they likely don't know. So how do you explain a word without using another word they don't understand? It can be challenging but you learn how to do it. Body language is your best friend in teaching english, you can't survive without it. Of course, it serves you well when you are trying to communicate with a cashier in a grocery store just as well as it serves you in the classroom. Charades can be fun, but doing it every day can be annoying. Especially when the kids are laughing and speaking in Korean and you have no idea why they or laughing or what they are talking about. They could be telling each other that their teacher is an idoit. In fact, they could be calling me an idoit to my face and I wouldn't have a clue.
Teaching kindergarden and elementary students can be a lot of fun, but it can also be extremely frustrating. Administering discipline is very challenging since you can't talk to them in a way they can understand. "No!" and "Stop!" will often work. But anything beyond those words will call for some harsh glares or obvious body movements. Physically extracting a kid from your classroom works well. Putting a kid in the corner of the room with his nose to the wall is an excellent punishment for bad behaviour. Shouting the familiar words "Be quiet please" sometimes doesn't cut it. They like to think they can get away with anything since you can't speak Korean. They can always play the "I don't know" card. But for the most part the classes are controlable. Korean students on the whole are quite competitive. Students have been known to cry if they are deducted a "checkuh". What is a "checkuh"? It is the teachers best friend. A "checkuh" is a check mark. Koreans that are learning english often place an "uh" at the end of words. There are no Korean words that end in the "s" sound. So to take an english word like "bus" and translate it into Korean it would be "bus-uh". The funny thing is that "check" ends in a "k" sound, as do many korean words. Go figure. The most familiar "uh" word you hear everyday as a teacher is "yes-uh". Another familiar thing you hear the students habitually recite everyday, and perhaps one of the most annoying things is: "game, teacher, game!"
After all this being said. It is a joy to watch students progress in their understanding and speaking of english. Some of the students are there to learn, while others are there because they have to be. Sending your kids to english Hogwons (extraciricular schools) is the thing to do here in Korea. But we'll talk about culture more at another time.
The kids are cute. They are a lot of fun, but like any job that you are on your feet all day, you get tired. After teaching 9-11 35 minute classes, you are ready to sit down and watch the latest rerun of "The Bachelor". Korea has many old reruns of the reality shows. There are so many reality shows here. They also play the reruns of the "Gilmore Girls", "Friends", and "Operah". Yep, we have a great selection don't we?
Teaching english overseas is a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get away from the busyness of North America and explore a new culture. Plus, it's also a great way to save money to pay off those loans!