Kyoung Ah Lee ( Jenny ) - My experience of learning English

Nowadays, in Korea, as recognizing the importance of English education, our kids start to learn English by their parents before they become 2 years old.

The parents make them exposed to English constantly with English songs, cartoons and books, etc. but our English speaking skills are still awful. Then what's the problem?

When I was young, mostly students started to learn English when they entered  middle school. The way to study English is that they just memorized the meaning of the words, phrasal verbs, read the paragraphs with translations in Korean and solved the following questions. For getting good scores, entrance into a good University, without awareness of why they should learn English, they just studied and studied with no doubt by force. Why? Because English was very important subject for their exam. Almost teachers didn't tell them why they should learn English and what is the purpose of learning it.

When I was in 6th grades in elementary school, I could started to learn 'Phonic'.

I listened to the tape and repeated the sounds. After that my teacher checked my pronunciation. At that time, I thought English was very new and interesting. So I practised and practised the sounds of words and short sentences. Finally I could read an easy stories in English. But after entrance into middle school, I got bored with studying it and lost an interest totally. Words, phrasal verbs I had to memorize were too much and the pressure about an exam was enough to hate English.

In high school, I never studied English. I just learned how to solve the questions as soon as possible, how to find the answers easily for the exam. There was no essence of learning English any more and just remained it as an important subject for entering a good university.

After graduation, I usually avoid foreigners. Perhaps I felt afraid of speaking in English. Once I met a foreigner in a cosmetic store and she asked what it is used for, looking at the handmade soap. but I couldn't answered and my face turned red. Eventually I ran away from her, I felt embarrassed by myself. I had learned English for more than 10 years and couldn't understand why I couldn't speak English at all. Even though I had a good score in the entrance exam. And then I realized that English education in korea had lots of problems. After that. I could have a chance to learn English in Ireland. Teacher's teaching skills are totally different with it in Korea. I could make friends and discuss about something in English. it was awesome. I could recover the interest of English.

Then, why is the English education system like that in Korea?

I think the biggest problem is that we don't have English teachers who has a good quality of teaching like enablers.

These days, our government has been investing a mount of money to enhence the quality of teachers. Consequently, it has been changing little by little. but it's very hard to change the method of education which is deep-rooted.

Because we still live in Korea which has an education system for entrance examination.

I think English teachers should be aware that English is a language for communication. As an enabler, Teacher has to be a guide, providing an environment that students could ask from their curiosity and they find the answers by theirselves. English is not knowledge, it's a tool of communication. For the students, teachers try to approach with a variety of materials, such as flash cards, multi-media equipment, pictures and realia and let them figure out the answers in it. But the thing is that the enablers without enough preparation might lead to a worse result than explainers.

So If I work as an English teacher, I should make a constant effort to be a good enabler and always think of which is the best way to approach to the aims of the lesson. Don't be confused (hesitate) to be an entertainer and a real teacher.