Carrie Choi (Yoonsun Choi)

My Experience learning a foreign language

TESOL 102thWD1

The only foreign language I’ve learned is English. I have learned English in a variety of way just like other Koreans. - memorizing lots of vocabulary, listening several tapes recording of foreigners talking each other, and taking a lesson of grammar for school tests. Retrospectively, some of them helped me to learn English somehow, but most of them didn't teach me English as a communicative language which I think is the essential purpose of a language. Here are two experience of learning a foreign language which will have an positive effect on my teaching.

When I was in high school, I learned English only for the written tests. That's why I thought about English as a subject, not as a language. I couldn't see how all skills are connected. Before long, when I was in the University, I had an opportunity to teach a high school student in person. That's when I had a huge leap of my English skills. To help my student get better understanding how connected all the English skills are, I read countless books and organized what I had learned. (What I've done back then was also for myself not being embarrassed.) While I was teaching the student, I could see a whole tree of English and make my own English structure. Now, when I look back myself, I recognize teaching others can give themselves both time and chance to build their own language structure. So this will be one of my teaching method as a teacher – making my students be paired up and teach each other.

Another experience to help learn English is staying abroad. I stayed at two countries, which makes opposite outcomes. When I volunteered in Australia for a year, things went contrary to my expectations. Talking to foreigners is more difficult than I expected, and I lost my confidence days by days. Eventually, I hung out with Korean friends more often. What's worse, I started to avoid meeting foreigners except for that I had to work with them. I had a hard time there, but I didn't improve English any further. Back in Korea, I was so regretful of not having confidence and not trying to be around foreigners in Australia that I planned to go Canada again. When I was in Canada, I consciously tired to change myself and intentionally got along with foreigners as often as I could. Whenever my foreigner friend asked me to hang out, I never said "No". Even when I was at home, I kept watching TV. Sometimes, I didn't understand what they were saying, but I tried to make myself exposed by English. Six months after staying in Canada, I could find myself being into English, and I finally had a great opportunity to work for Ontario Christian School as a sub-teacher. Now, I can see clear differences between my behaviour in Australia and in Canada. Being exposed in a foreign language, in my case ; English is a top priority for learners. This is my another teaching method – making students exposed in English as often as possible in various ways.

I have learned English in diverse ways, but teaching others and being surrounded in English that I experienced can most affect me as a teacher.

All I had to do was just learn as if Grammar was everything of English or an "infinitive" was all I had to learn in the whole semester. I did good job for that. However,