Experience of Second Language Acquisition.

Class : 133 MD

Name : Eunjoo, Suh

Great movies like, 'Ben-hur', 'Papillon' and 'Roman Holiday' were spoken in English. Watching those movies, I was accustomed to English since I was 8. Thanks to my father's job, I saw so many movies. But Just watched. There was no one around me to teach or to tell about that mysterious language.

After graduated from high school, I got a job in a trading company. One of my job was collecting telexes sent by overseas companies through the night. I should translate it into Korean to make my boss get into the job quickly. Telexes were usually short, but translating was not easy. That was the time when I knocked the door of a english academy.

I remember one day in a academy vividly, eventhough It was 30 years ago. Instructor prepared a newspaper article, and We read and had a debate about that. One question was given to me. Answer was "so do I". But I couldn't catch what was going on there. Because I didn't know much about grammar. I was really frustrated. I went to another class to study grammar. There was no organized curriculum. When I need one, I moved for that one, and If I need another one, I moved for that one again. Impatience disturbed step by step learning.

A turning point came to me. In Australia, I could confirm my level. No one understood what I was talking and I could not understand what they were talking. After few days I noticed they are saying in  different pronunciation and accent. But I felt I need an organized study. After coming back to Korea, I went to school.

In school I had a chance to read high leveled books. But It was not an interactive way of school. I studied through the broadcast at home and take an exam. Of course I had few class lessons, but I couldn't have time to communicate with other students. We were all busy workers.

I have to say about the Mormon missionaries. I went their church every weekends to practice speaking skill. Eventhough I am not a Christan, they allowed me to join their class and I could meet a english native speaker. But my attitude was a bit arrogant when I think of it now. Beacuse I was just thinking to improve speaking skill, not the relationship with good people. When we meet people we should be genuine. But I used their favor for my own benefit.

Now I am here in TESOL class. It makes me think a lot. First, I realized that I got my second language through traditional method, in 'jug and mug' way mostly. I don't say It was a failure, but less interaction with variety of people was a little regretful.

Explanation is necessary in class, But 'Students need to talk themselves; they need to communicate with a variety of people; they need to do a variety of different language-related tasks; they need feedback on how successful or not their attempts at communication have been.'(1)

As a person who have intraintelligence trait to meet variety of people would be a burden. She can take some comfortable ways. It could be a book or an enable teacher. An enable teacher can notice the student's trait, and she can find out the appropriate way for her student.

During the school year, I taught in a kindergarten and a academy. But the more I teach, the more I got difficulty. Teaching was a tough job to me. As an explainer type of teacher, TTT(Teacher talk time) was over 50% and I didn't give many opportunities to the students. I was lazy too. I didn't think about proper activities and depended on textbook. As a teacher, I was a failure.

I also have to think about "Authenticity" and "empathy". Without these two, I just play a role of teacher and couldn't get any rapport between people. Even in a interactive class like Mormon church, I was focusing on speaking more, not listen to others.

Sometimes I think we may not need an english teacher. We can stduy on our own at home with books, Internet etc. Then why do we need an english teacher. Why am I here in TESOL class?

In my experience, We all can study by ourselves with some different medias. Some can go abroad if he/she can afford. But because of the interation, we need a teacher. There are different kinds of people. Some have musical intelligence, some have interpersonal intelligence. If we study alone at home we can't meet variety of people. Then we could have some trouble to talk with those different people. An enable teacher can lead us to go forward in right direction.

I know teaching is not easy. But I am sure TESOL will help me understand 'the teaching'. And as long as I don't forget the 'authenticity', I could be a better learner and also a better teacher. Thanks.

Quotation: (1) on page 3 from the page 23 of 'Learning Teaching' by Jim Scrivener