December 12, 2013

"My Foreign Language

Learning Experience"

JUNG HYUNJIN, (JIN)

95th WK TESOL

Instructor : JAYME

I look back on my own English learning experiences. I had learned

English from both traditional teachers and modern teachers. They taught

English differently. And I learned more from modern teachers. And after

graduated from university, I got a job in children English center named

LABO. To teach children, I had to study songs, chants, phonics, play and

so on.  I had a definite motivation so I could learn English actively. And

my English has improved little by little without teachers. So I suppose

that the most effective way of learning is learners' doing things by

themselves.

I started to learn English from middle school. I was excited about

learning a foreign language. But soon I felt as if I was wandering in a

maze. That's because I couldn't understand what teachers said. At that

time, all teachers were explainers and they taught English by Grammar-

translate method. Grammar terms were much more difficult for me to

understand than any other English language systems. They had students

memorize and tested grammar rules and vocabularies. Students had little

time to use English. It made me sick of English. So I couldn't speak a

word out after all even though I knew many vocabularies and grammar

rules. It had been vain to learn English for 6 years.

My second learning experience was with native speakers. I attended 1

hour conversation class 5 days a week. Before class, students had to

listen to day's topic for 20 minutes in the lab. Then teachers explained

new words, idiomatic phrase, grammar and its usage in the beginning of

the class. After that, teachers let students talk to each other on the

topic. They walked around listening what's going on in the groups. They

avoided getting involved in the conversations. But when we needed help

they gave an advice. They tried to elicit students' own speaking. Students

had more time for talking than the teacher. They designed many fun

activities during and after class. I took part in Bible class, play and

speech contest. At last I acquired a little confidence to speak English. I

could myself understood in English after 1 year learning. Of course, I still

did make an error.

My third learning experience started from teaching children. Children

couldn't stand a boring class. Their concentration time is short. They hate

to sit and listen for a long time. They learn not by explanation but by

doing things themselves.  Because of these characteristics I tried to

create a lot of activities in which they might able to learn English merrily

and spontaneously. To create activities, I need to study more and find

better teaching method in books and on the internet. Thereby, my

English as well as students' have improved.

In conclusion, learning occurs successfully when learners do thing by

themselves and learners can apply it to their work. In addition, if learners

meet a mentor who knows how to teach and learn English.