Learning language in Korea

Our week at Chuncheon National University of Education included three Korean language lessons. Our instructor, Jina, a student from CNUE was extremely professional and an absolute delight. Her encouragement and sense of humor put everyone at east and made learning fun. These lessons, combined with my attempts to apply what I learned as we toured Korea, gave me a deeper understanding of what English language learner students experience everyday.

 

The objectives of our language course were to: 

• Understand Korea through Korean language

• Feel good about learning a foreign language

• Pick up useful expressions

The first useful expression Jina taught us was a basic greeting: “Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Terri.”  Jina modeled the conversation a few times – being very deliberate about pronunciation and intonation.  Then, as a class, we said the conversation along with her. She’d periodically stop and repeat words we were mispronouncing. Jina introduced two more basic conversations in that first session using the same process.  After repeated practice, we rehearsed with a conversation partner. Finally, Jina invited each pair present their dialogue to the class. I’ll be honest…my heart skipped a beat when I heard we were going to do this. As I waited for my turn, I kept practicing the dialogue in my head, hoping I wouldn’t embarrass myself too much and let my partner down.  I made it through just fine and Jina’s positive feedback (unwarranted I’m sure) made me feel good about my accomplishment.

Jina continued with this style of instruction for two more sessions. As we progressed, the sample conversations grew a little longer and more complex. By the final day, I struggled to keep up. However, when Jina checked for understanding before moving on, I just nodded my head and pretended I was on track. Something I’m sure our ELL students do on a daily basis. By the end of the hour, I’d hit the wall.  I couldn’t process any more information.

After three days of lessons I could say hello and thank you, but only if I really concentrated, visualized the phonetic spelling of the word in my head, and mentally rehearsed the word before attempting to say it.

An article we read prior to coming to Korea – Second Language Learning in the Classroom by Lightbrown and Spada outlines five instructional theories for second language classroom instruction. Here’s how our classroom instruction aligned with some of those theories:

Get it right in the beginning:  Jina taught simple, structured conversations to introduce us to the language and help us listen to and speak in grammatically correct phrases and sentences. We repeated the phrases, at first, without really focusing on meaning. As we practiced, Jina corrected our errors by repeating the phrase and encouraging us to mimic her pronunciation and intonation.

Say what you mean, mean what you say:  This theory stresses the importance of providing comprehensible input - making sure the learners understand what the teacher is teaching. Teachers create comprehensible input in a variety of ways including: activating background knowledge; using visuals; using graphic organizers; and providing instruction that draws on students’ experiences.  As we progressed, Jina worked to help us understand the meanings of words and phrases. She used visuals and knew enough about our culture to draw on our experiences to help us makes sense of some Korean cultural norms. Since Jina delivered her instruction in English, we did not have to struggle to understand her instructions and clarifications.  This is a luxury many ELL students do not have.  I found myself continually thinking about how hard my ELL students have to work. They are learning a foreign language in a foreign language.

Teach what is teachable:  This theory proposes some aspects of learning a language, like word order in a sentence, have to be taught in sequence because they are acquired in stages. The learner must master one stage before they will be capable of learning the next.  Jina’s lessons started as one or two-word phrases and progressed to more complex phrases and sentence structures. Since I hadn’t mastered the basic conversations we'd been taught, I struggled to keep pace as the conversations grew longer and built upon prior rules and words we’d been taught. How many times a day do my students feel this way?

Get it right in the end:  Proponents of this theory believe it’s important for learners to attempt to use language for meaningful conversations - even if the grammar is not perfect. Through continued practice learners will acquire some, but not all, grammar and syntax without explicit instruction.  Jina provided corrective feedback on some grammatical errors, but did not go too deeply.  She appeared to be able to sense how much we were ready to process. She didn’t insist upon, nor expect, perfection.

Even after three well-designed language lessons and a week in Korea, I can only say hello and thank you. My progress was much slower than I expected and nowhere near the progress ELL students make in classrooms that only use English instruction. This has given me a renewed sense of admiration for my students’ progress and reminded me of my responsibility to ensure they receive the best instruction possible.

As I reflect on my experiences this week and consider ways to improve my practice, three questions come to mind:  Do my students always understand the essence of what I am trying to teach? How will I know? How can I effectively share my experience with classroom teachers to ensure all students receive the best possible instruction?

Elementary school teacher certification

On June 25, the 62^nd anniversary of the Korean War, we toured Chuncheon National University of Education (CNUE).  We learned about the importance of elementary education in South Korea and of the rigor of elementary education teacher preparation.

Teachers are extremely well respected in Korea. Having a teacher in the family improves the social status of the entire family.

CNUE is one of eleven National Universities of Education in Korea – they are universities whose sole purpose is to develop elementary school teachers. Only students who graduate in the top five percent of their class are considered for enrollment.

The coursework for getting a degree and teacher certification is very challenging and well-rounded. The objective is to develop the whole person. Teachers are expected to be global minded, morally impeccable strong in every subject. In addition to subject area and educational foundation courses, all students must complete courses in: 

Technical arts: courses similar to our industrial technology, home economics, and sewing.

Physical education: western style dances including jazz, tango, waltz; swimming, camping, skiing and golf

Art education:  At a minimum they must learn piano and one other Korean instrument. They also take fine arts courses like ceramics and painting.

Moral education and ethics: Includes learning the etiquette of their tea ceremony, among other things.

University students' woodworking projects

Regalia for learning tea ceremony etiquette

As we progressed through our tour a comment by our host, Professor Kim, stayed in my mind.  He mentioned teachers are beginning to have issues with conflict in the classroom – students are challenging teachers. For example, some students (as a result of tutoring) have finished the middle school curriculum before they get to middle school. They act arrogant and bored and it is creating a serious problem. Parents are contacting university professors to tell them teachers need to be trained on ways to deal with this moral aspect of education.

Later in the tour, as he explained the required coursework for computer technology, he told us university students complain that the work is too difficult. His response to them is that sometimes students in elementary school know more about technology than the teacher – the teacher needs to be excellent in all subjects.

In the evening, I had an opportunity to talk with a professor from the university, Dr. Suh, about his middle-school aged daughter’s experiences learning English. This conversation shed more light on the issue of conflict in the classroom. 

Dr. Suh’s family lived in the United States while he was earning his degrees at American universities. Consequently, his daughter’s English proficiency is higher than the level of her classroom instruction and she’s not learning anything new. He feels the classroom instruction places too much emphasis on grammar and syntax (the English teacher’s strengths) and not enough emphasis on conversation. The same is true for math. His daughter completed middle school math, with the help of private tutors, while she was still in elementary school. She will complete high school math before she finishes middle school. His daughter had to give up piano lessons because she didn’t have time for piano and her tutoring work. He gave the impression this was something she did willingly. Our discussion was starting to create an image of a high-pressure parenting in my mind. An image he quickly erased when he added, “We are not that strict. When I get home, all I want to do is play and play and play with my daughters.” 

Many families cannot provide the opportunities for tutoring and English language practice that Dr. Suh can provide for his family. This encounter makes me wonder how teachers differentiate instruction in classrooms where students are at different levels of proficiency.  I also wonder how parents of students who do not have as many opportunities for tutoring perceive the issue of conflict in the classroom. I hope to gain some perspective on this during our school visits.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression

Han River water fountain display

Chicken delivery motorcycle

Seoul has a population of 10.5 million people – making it the largest city I’ve experienced. It had a feel that was not as stressed, fast-paced or as crowded as other (smaller) big cities I’ve visited. Although our group is clearly not from Korea, I never had the feeling of being conspicuously foreign 

On Saturday (June 23) I got to experience Korean hospitality first hand . It was an unforgettable experience.  We had the good fortune to be hosted by a Korean family the entire day. Chunhee and her two college-age children showed us how to use the subway and generously shared their cultural capital. The end- of- day picnic on the Han River – complete with fried chicken delivered by men on motorcycles and a water fountain display shooting from a bridge -  was the perfect ending to an unforgettable day.

Through my visits with Chunhee and her children, I had the opportunity to gain their first-hand perspective and help clarify two questions I had about “English fever” in South Korea: 

1.  Do South Koreans strive to learn English more for practical value or social value?

In this family’s situation, it appeared both are important, but their decision seems to weigh more heavily on the practical side.

My conversations with Chunhee made it clear she and her husband want  to provide their children with the best education they can afford – study in the U.S. is their best opportunity. She would love to send all her children to college in the United States, but it is cost-prohibitive.. Currently her son is attending Community College in Dallas, TX to finish her pre-requisites (this is a more economical alternative) then plans to transfer to a University. Chunhee lives with him in Dallas during the school year.

I also had the opportunity to talk to her daughter. She studied one year at a University in Seoul, then took a one-year break to go to Dallas, Texas with her mother and siblings. She studied ESL while her younger sister finished high school and her brother attended Community College. She thought her year of English language learning would help her stand out among her peers. It did, but, many of her peers do the same thing and she didn't stand out as much as she thought she would. She considered her English at a “middle” level. She has graduated from University and is looking for a job. The jobs for which she applies require applicants to submit their TOEFL score. That score is a factor that can set candidates apart. It has an impact on one’s job opportunities regardless of whether they will use English in the job.

2.  When parents decide to send students to English-only schools and encourage their students to spend time with English speakers, does it diminish the sense of community when they return to South Korea?

Throughout the day in Seoul, I saw families with children strolling along walking paths, dipping their feet in Cheonggye Stream and picnicing along the Han River. When we were at the Han River, Chunhee’s daughter said it was a place she comes with her friends to hang out. She and her brother told about what they do in their spare time and with friends.

 It seems, for this family, all the studying and traveling abroad to study still leaves time to foster friendships and enjoy what Seoul has to offer.

I appreciate them taking the time to share with us. I learned a lot about what it means to be a good host and cultural broker to others.

Korea - English Language Learning and Teaching

Welcome to my blog! This summer I have an incredible opportunity to go to South Korea and learn about their culture, educational system and ways they learn and teach English as a foreign language. I know I'll return to my job as an ELL teacher with a deeper understanding of my students' needs and with new and improved practices for teaching English Language Learners in Lincoln, Nebraska. I also hope to return with a deeper understanding of myself and my place in the world.