My Learning Experience

Week day class(10:00~16:00)

Stella Kim (Soyeon Kim)

English has been a burden to the student who is in Asia. Koreans have highest private education fee among all the nations and english education takes 34% of all that fees. Almost every student in class have extra curricular other than classes in school. I was not an exception. It has been seventeen years since I studied English. But the only difference is that I enjoyed English a lot. As a result I majored English literature in university and will get Master's degree next February. And now I am taking Tesol class so that I can teach students and make them less stressful to english with my own learning experience.

My mom who has fervor for education always turn english 'sing along' videos on for me since I was very young (around 2 or 3). And I believe it worked for me because I always find it interesting.(I admired the girl on that video and gave english name myself just like her and talked like her!) Other than that, she never sent me to a private english academy(a.k.a hakwon) till I'm 13 because she wanted me to enjoy the language and not get stressed about it. With her effort, I never thought english is something to 'study'. Besides, our elementary school teachers also taught english in very interesting ways. To make children focus, they used rhymes and body languages for vocabulary. Interestingly, It has been over 17 years since I learned the rhymes and I still remember some of them. Based on these experiences, for students in young age, I think make them to have interest in the language is the most important thing above all. Using fun and easy materials such as chants, rhymes, songs are very helpful for the children because it stays in their memories for a long time and it will make them feel ease in learning something.

Middle school has totally different system with elementary school. Unlike elementary school, middle school has 'Grade' system based on not my efforts or attitudes but exam scores. Teachers taught us not english itself but english 'in text book' so that we can have good grades. As a result, every student who tried to have high score have to memorize every text in the book. During the middle school, I went hakwon to get help for good grades. And I remember that our hakwon teachers never sent us back home till we memorize all the texts in books. After that, she gave us almost blank sheets with few words on it and made us fill it. With that system, there always were sleeping students during the school class since they don't have to pay attention to it while they can have high grades by memorizing the texts. This system was really helpful to me in memorizing vocabulary, however for those who had hard time memorizing the texts and word, It would be a harsh experience.

It was during high school that teacher helped me to gain interest in English again. Me and my 2 friends were taught by my aunt. She was basically GTM style so that we can be prepared for school exams, but she used rhythms and pictures to help us memorize it. Also, she always gave examples to help us understand. She also made us memorize the grammar not only by itself but in sentences or phrase so that we can apply it in other situation easily. Besides, she had little conversation with each of us using the grammar we leaned at that day. At the end of the class she gave us brief worksheets and did a little test for what we have learned. By doing so she could follow what we understood or not. Add to that, If I don't know the 'past tense' she gave me a paper which have past tense examples and comment of her own so that I can study more of that part by my self at home. In vocabulary class, unlike hakwon teachers usually made us memorize over 100 words on a day, she explained us the root and variations of words so that we can memorize it with understanding. Also, she never reluctant to be an entertainer to keep us focus and find class interesting. During this class which last over 2 years because no one wants to quit it, was really helpful to us, and all three of us still think my aunt was the best teacher ever.

I never went to English speaking countries for studying, but I can speak english quite better than normal students in Korea. I think the main reason I can do it is because I have lots of interesting experiences during english classes. Based on my experience, I think teachers should interact with students and try to understand their needs. Teachers should be in students' shoes and try to know what students know or do not know. Also It is important for teacher to find out which material students are fond of.(Last week I learned 8 intelligences, and I think students find something interesting when it is related to their intelligences. It would be hard for teachers who teach large classes to find out what abilities each students have, so it might be work for teachers to use all 8 intelligences flexibly.) Since I had the worst and the best learning experiences, I think I have possibility to help students learn english very well. By learning TESOL, I want to organize what I know about teaching(since I know what is good or bad for students by experience) and be professional.