English Education Interviews

Learner interview (high school student)
By JEONGEUN SHIN and HAEYOON KIM

This is an interview with Yoonjong Lee, a jounior in Sangwon High School in Daegu. He has been studying English for more than ten years.

1. Many people say that living in Korea as a high school student is very hard, especially for seniors. What do you think about this statement?

Yeah, I agree to some extent, because I’m not a senior yet. It’s a little bit stressful when all teachers and seniors tell me that even though you’re a junior, you have to push yourself harder. However, admitting that this would be a hard time, I want to think about it in a different way. It’ll be a precious time for me to prepare for my future career and future life. In addition, I don’t think Korean students are suffering more than those in other countries like America. I heard that unlike Koreans, American students not only have to get a good score on tests but also have to do lots of extracurricular activities and volunteer works in order to enter a good university. Maybe that would be harder than just studying and memorizing some facts.

2. Do you think English is a necessity to live?

Well, I don’t think that English should be a necessity to live, but in reality, English is used in many parts of life. Most universities want to know applicants' English abilities, so KSAT includes the English section. In case of jobseekers, they must study English, because many companies look for applicants with good English skills. Look around you, you can find English even in signboards. Most of all, it is true that English is a global language. I think English is a useful tool that allows you to have many interesting experiences.

3. It might be very challenging to study all the 11 subjects for University entrance exam. Then among those subjects, can you tell me how you study English? Do you go to private institute? Or study by yourself?

I go to a private institute. I don’t think I would study if I study by myself. When I go to the private institute, I get daily assignments, so I have to study in order not to get punished or embarrassed in front of my classmates. That doesn’t mean that I don’t pay attention in English classes in school. Thankfully, one of the teachers planed an extracurricular activity for us, which provides some reading materials and practical tips on how to prepare university entrance exam.

4. I heard that many Korean students are not satisfied with English education system of public school. If you can change the whole education system, what would you want to change for the first?

Yes, you’re right. We are not satisfied with the public English education system. As you have experienced  student days, Korean education system does not provide effective practical English courses. All we learn is just grammar, reading, and listening skills. If I were a minister so that I can change the education system, I would make speaking class as a mandatory course in secondary school curriculum. There might be some objections or obstacles in the process of adopting a new way of teaching, but I think it’s necessary.

5. Almost 11 years have been passed since you entered the elementary school. It's been a quite long journey. What do you want to be in the future? Or if you haven’t decided yet, please tell me what you want to study in college.

Actually, I haven’t decided yet. I’m not sure what I want to do and what I want to study. Thinking about my future is harder than studying. I have just thought about becoming a doctor, architecture, or mathematics teacher. Maybe if I do well on university entrance exam, I could go to medical school. But I should think more about what I want to study, and this is what lacks in Korean education system. I hope the system can motivate students to find their talents and develop their possibilities. I really hope so.

<SEC.SCHOOL TEACHER INTERVIEW>

By Jeongah Han

On November 8th at 6 p.m ., I met Joon Kim, a foreign teacher at Yigok middle school at the Starbucks in downtown. He was born in Korea and went to America when he was 4. He used to live in California and graduated from UCLA in 2007 with a Bachelor of English Literature. Then he came to Daegu, Korea and has been teaching English as a foreign teacher for one and a half year at Yigok middle school.

Q1: Why did you apply for a foreign teacher? Was there any special reason?
A: Oh, there were several reasons but among them, the main reason was that I had always wanted to teach English. Furthermore, as I really love traveling, I thought that becoming a foreign teacher would be a good chance to satisfy both enthusiasm for teaching and traveling. In addition to them, I have always wondered about teaching English as Foreign Language and one of my friends who had already been a foreign teacher in other Asian country told me that it would be a good experience. Besides, frankly speaking, I’ve never been to Korea since I had emigrated, so I really wanted to visit Korea again.

Q2: Are there any problem in teaching English to Korean students?
A: There are so many problems. Lots of students do not try to listen at all. However, the thing that irritates me the most is students’ pronunciation. They pronounce every word in the way they pronounce Korean. For example they say ‘yes’ like ‘ye-su’ in two syllables and ‘hi’ like ‘ha-i’. No matter how I point those things, they do not try to correct them. Moreover, middle school students are too young to concentrate on the class for full time so it is really hard to grab their attention for 45 minutes.

Q3: Do you have any special methodology?
A: Middle school students are so crazy—it means that they are extremely active, not mentally abnormal—and at first, I struggled to keep them alert during the whole class. So the solution I found was to make the class interesting. Then I started to combine some different elements together, such as entertaining, fun and educative materials. For example, around the Halloween day, I played a video clip containing Halloween festival to grab their attention. Also, I had them talk about it. Sum up, I grabbed their attention at the beginning of the class, then I switched into some different kinds of methods at every 15-20 minutes to make the class as fun and interesting as possible.

Q4: When comparing Korean teachers to foreign teachers, what do you think is the most different thing in the way of teaching English?
A: Well, in short, it’s totally different. I know each of teachers have their own style, but it is obvious that there are conspicuous differences between non-native and native teachers. Korean teachers teach mainly grammar in Korean. They have been studying grammar so much, that sometimes I even consider them as native English speakers when it comes to English grammar. Also it is much easier for Korean teachers to approach and communicate with kids because they use Korean. On the other hand, we, foreign teachers have to make students talk. However it’s really hard. I think students are not accustomed to speaking their own thinking in front of the class because they have been taught by teachers in a passive way. Some students even seem to having problems with delivering their opinion. Anyway while Korean teachers are good at grammar, we, foreign teachers have better pronunciation and communication skills.

Q4-2: Don’t you think Korean teaching method in English is too focused on grammar?
A: That’s quite true. Actually, having perfect grammar knowledge does not always mean being good at conversation. Sometimes grammar makes people confused in many ways. So I think both making students study more grammar and expecting them to use perfect grammar bring negative consequences. Moreover, students who have been ‘domesticated’ by grammar speak like a robot. Also, sometimes the grammatically completed sentences sound silly as well. Therefore I think teachers should teach them how to speak real life English, which is more important than other English skills.

Q5: I heard that there are some unqualified foreign teachers. What do you think of them?
A: They should be fired. Teaching is one of the most important things all over the world. So people in Korea should be more careful when they hire foreign teachers. Some of them hire unqualified foreigners as a teacher just because they can speak English. However in my opinion, having a degree related to English would be preferred and should get guaranteed with more money.

Q5-2: Then, if you had a right or authority to hire foreign teachers, what kind of things would you like to check?
A: Ha-ha, I’d really love to have that power. When I came here to teach English, I had one single interview and that was all. I totally disagree about having a single interview. So if I had that authority I’d like to add some other things such as test about teaching English and a trial class to see how well they teach.

Q6: Are there any tips for Korean students on studying English?
A: You know the saying “there’s no royal way in the way of studying.” All I can recommend is that just speak more and practice more. Read more books because they are not only grammatically perfect but also contain lots of good phrases, make yourself being exposed to English. However you have to keep one thing in mind that each person has their own preference in choosing words in the sentences. So don’t always try to follow the others’ cases. Also let yourself be sure to make English as your hobby.

Q7: Finally could you tell me your own effort to master English to live in America?
A: At first, my English was poor and I couldn’t speak and pronounce English well enough. For instance, I had difficulty with pronouncing ‘w’ sound. I said ‘would’ like ‘u-d’, which was very silly. Also it was hard for me to live in somewhere beyond my ability, as I was so young at that time. However, to me, learning English was directly connected with my own survive. Therefore I read lots of books and listened to many tapes. Also I spoke some tongue twisters out every day. Also I tried my best to improve my reading skill. I tried to absorb words and phrases and you should try it as well. Books contain literary expressions as well as daily conversations and dialogues which are practical and useful.

The interview with the apple juices was very unique experience to me because it was the first time that we talked about something serious like education. He answered my questions sincerely and kindly so it was neither boring nor difficult at all. Also as a Korean grown up in the United States who had learned English in English spoken country, he recommended to study abroad to learn living English. He said there is a visible limitation in mastering English in non-native countries especially the country which adopted English as foreign language not as second language. In addition, he recommended UCLA for my further study.
 

Secondary School Teacher interview
By HAEYOON KIM and JEONGEUN SHIN

This is an interview with Dongcheol Hyun, an English teacher of Siji High School in Daegu. He has been teaching in public high school for six years.

1. How many years have you taught students? And how many students do you think you have taught?
It’s been 6 years since I started to teach students in school. Maybe approximately two thousand students have been taught by me. I hope they learned “something” from my lectures.

2. What do you think of teaching job?
Good. In addition, as you are woman, I want to tell you some benefits as a female teacher. I think this job can not be good as a woman’s. Actually, there still exist a sexism in our society. In companies, many opportunities are limited to women especially for married people. However, in case of teachers in public school, even there is a “woman power” in this group of society. This means that you are not being treated unfairly just because of your sex. It enables you to show your ability, speak up your opinion, and develop yourself.

3. Well, then many people say that teaching is not a hard job compared to other office works in major companies. Since you have experienced both, teaching and working for a company, which do you think is harder?
I’m not sure whether it is ok to tell you the truth. Definitely, teaching job is far easier than an office work. I’m sure that I put more effort on preparing my classes than average teachers do. However, frankly speaking, tasks are way easier compared to those of company where I worked. If there were five tasks when I was in a company, now it feels like there is only one. In addition, most of the day, I had to work until 9 to 11 p.m. without any rest, which was very stressful and exhausting. In contrast, in school, I can go back to my home around 6 p.m. except for sometimes like overseeing self study time or extra curricular activities. Of course, there are some different kinds of stress associated with teaching. For example, when there is a student who is a trouble maker, I cannot help thinking about him on how to lead him into right direction even when I come home from school. However, in case of working in a company, I didn’t have to worry about tasks or problems, so that I could get a full rest.

4. When I recall my high school days, you were a very enthusiastic teacher and always put much effort on acquiring English. What drives you to do like that?
Actually, that was unintentional. I don’t feel comfortable when there is no work to do or I have to idle my time away. I’m not sure whether I was an enthusiastic teacher or not, but maybe students regarded me as that kind of teacher because I tried to give them as much materials as possible. I tried to give them a lot of handouts which contain some complicated structures or unclear reading articles because I believed that the process of guessing the meaning can improve their English. When I get out of the door after the end of the class, by looking through students’ faces, I can know whether they are satisfied with my class or not. So I tried to do my best in order to get pleased when I see their facial expressions.

5. You said that you taught students for 6 years. Through your experience in teaching English, what do you think is the biggest problem in Korea’s English education?
Definitely, “speaking” is the biggest problem. There are many people who can read, write, listen to English very well, but people who can speak English fluently are rare. It is nonsense. Even though they learn and study English a lot, they can not speak even a word! This is due to the English education system, which doesn’t treat speaking part with much importance. Also, there aren’t many teachers who are able to converse with students in English without much difficulty. In addition, there are more than 5 million students and it is impossible to test all of their fluency. However, if we do the test in each school, not controlled by central Education Ministry, I think we can do that. So I think at least, there is a hope. Teachers have to encourage students to speak in English, and at the same time, they have to devise an ingenious speaking education and test system. Maybe suggesting a role model through the EBS program’s teachers can be one of the solutions. It will let teachers know how to handle the speaking class.

6. There have been some severe debates on English emersion education. I remember that you tried to use as much English as you could in class. Then do you think that policy will be effective and can be applied to the real situation? What might be the possible obstacles to teaching English in English?
I don’t think English emersion program would make a great success. First of all, we have to consider the teachers’ ability to speak in English. Many teachers are not good at English, so if the class has to be done in English, teachers would use easy and basic words. That will lead to the situation where the content of the class doesn’t have much information. This is the side effect of English emersion education system. However, for those who are able to or have to use English in their studying, it has to be different. For example, in specialized high schools such as foreign language schools, English emersion education should be implemented, as they’re required to use English fluently in order to be experts in their fields.

7. Finally, do you have any good advice or tips for prospective teachers in our department?
You have to remember this, “Only ceaseless practicing of English can make you the best English teacher.” Lazy English teachers would be eliminated when “Teacher assessment system” is adopted. As we don’t use English in our daily lives, it is very easy to forget the subtle sense of the language. In order to prevent that situation, you have to practice it everyday and should be “emerged” in English. Also, I want to recommend you to come to school after you are well-prepared as a teacher. Just passing the teachers’ exam can’t guarantee you to become a good teacher. Only effort and practice can make you to be prepared as a teacher. I hope all of you guys can pass the teachers’ exam and maybe we can see each other in school as a colleague.

Teacher in Training Interview 

By Byung-Keun, Son

'I like a travel and learning something new’ Choi, Sung-min who is majoring in English Education at KNU said. After entering KNU, she has been traveling more than five countries and enthusiastically participated in KNU international programs such as Exchange student and KNU buddy program. Through the experience I believe that she has been qualified herself to be the best teacher who has both knowledge and experience. To share her ideas with all of you, I met her on 15th Nov, and had an interview with her about the following questions.

1. Why did you decide to enter the teacher's college in KNU?
KNU teacher’s college has played a big role in the education of Daegu as well as education in Kyungpook. In addition, most of my teachers in middle school and high school were graduated from KNU and they were my role model. Moreover, I have always enjoyed learn English since elementary school so I decided to study English education. Now I believe that I made a good decision at the time because throughout my university years, I still enjoying studying English and have met many good students during teaching in schools.

2. What is the most important feature that a teacher should have?
Of the many features that a good teacher should have, I believe that communication skill is the most important feature. To be a good teacher, teachers should listen to the students’ opinion carefully. Moreover, we should teach in a way that our students can understand easily. Back in my secondary school, I saw some teachers forcing their students to accept the opinions what teachers believed to be right.
However, there is a saying, “Teaching is another way of learning.” So, good teacher should know what students want to tell and at the same time, they should listen to their students as well. By doing this, teachers can be not just a lecturer but also a good life mentor.

3. Are you applying for a private school teacher or a public school teacher?
I’d like to teach in public school. There are many reasons. First, the job is highly secured so I am able to focus on teaching without worrying about firing from a school. In addition, I believe that in public school, I can teach my students more freely. To be more specific, in private schools, teachers are forced to follow the school’s policy while public schools don’t.

4. How are you preparing for a teacher's exam?
I started preparing for teacher’s exam in 2009 from last winter vacation. First, I organized a group for teacher’s exam. Our group consists of 6 students who are also majoring in English Education. We share the information about the exam and solve the exam questions together. The benefit from study group is that you can always keep yourself on the track. It totally depends on each person’s style, however, as preparing teacher exam is quite long journey, studying along can get bored easily or can easily lose your pace to study. However, by making a study group people can help each other to keep themselves on the track and sometimes hangout together to relax a little bit.

5. Do you have any advice for your juniors?
These days, students seem really busy with a lot of things. However, when I asked a simple question to some students in our department, “What do you really like?” Most of them are hesitating to answer and even avoid answering it. This means that most students are just following what others doing. Thus I think that it is good to find anything that you really want to do while you are studying in university and do it sincerely. In my opinion, the best teacher is not a person who knows everything but someone who can share their dynamic experience with their students so that the students can have a dream from teachers’ experience. So I’d like to recommend my juniors to be more active and participated in as many as programs they like to do. Thank you.

During the interview, I could see her strong will and the pride about what she is doing right now. It made me to be certain that she is the one who should be the teacher. She seemed to having her own philosophy about her work, as well as about teaching students.

Learner Interview (middle school student)

By Ji-Young, Kim

It was November 11, 2008 at 5p.m. I interviewed my tutoring student, Hyun-jin Seok. It happened right after the tutor, and she is currently 3rd grade in Yigok middle school. Her English scores are not high, still, she is good it. When I asked her to interview as an English learner, first, she was very nervous about interviewing because she thought she couldn’t answer my questions. But as time went by, she got comfortable with answering to my questions.

Q1: Do you think that foreign English teachers are necessary?
A1: I don’t think foreign English teachers are necessary. Because there are also many Korean English teachers who are good at both teaching and English as much as foreign English teachers do. Of course, they can’t give students something that foreign English teacher can, such as getting rid of the fear on foreigners. But I do not think that schools are responsible for it. My point is that it is good if I am taught by a foreign English teacher, but it is not necessary.

Q2: Do you think it is helpful to learn English in the class which is categorized by students’ English level?
A2: I experienced such class when I was in 2nd grade. To be short, I didn’t get any good results. However, there were some changes in my grade just a little bit. So, in my opinion, I think it is helpful because I could fit in to the class very easily as there were students whose English was as same as me. So I could feel easy to learn and have interest.

Q3: Do you like learning English?
A3: That is the hardest question to me, as my mind changes every time! It means I like English for most of my time, but sometimes I don’t like it. In class, I am happy to learn English when an English teacher teaches easy things. On the other hand, when there are so many words that I don’t know or if the grammar is too difficult to understand, I feel sad. The more difficult English is, the less interest I have.

Q4-1: These days, children can take English class in 3rd grade in elementary school. When did you start learning English?
A4-1: I started learning English when I was 2nd grade in elementary school. My mother forced me to learn English, so I was not interested in learning English. However, owing to many interesting English stories, I started to have interests on English.

Q4-2: Suppose you just started learning English. Do you think it is possible to catch up others who have started learning English earlier than you?
A4-2: I am not good at English now, but if I really try to study English very hard, I believe I can improve my English skill to the same level of the people who have started learning English earlier than me.

Q5: Since you have started studying English, what do you think is the best way for you?
A5: Hum... I wrote a diary when I was an elementary school student. As I was being taught by English tutor at that time, the teacher let me write a diary even in a short sentence. It was very difficult for me but it was a good way, I think. Since I didn’t know how to write what I want to write, I looked up the dictionary for many times. Although what I wrote is wrong, it was the procedure for my further development. Also I felt that it was really joyful to write a diary in English. Sometimes I am even proud of myself to see numerous diaries written in English

Q6: What do you think of English immersion program?
A6: That is excessive emphasis on English. I’m worried if we emphasize English too much, that we might get confused with our original culture. What is worse, there are still many people who are not even good at their own language, KOREAN! So I think immersion program has to be limited to people, only to people who want it.

Q7: What things do you think are needed to be changed for better English curriculums in public schools?
A7: I want to learn more conversation skills deeply. To use English in real situation, I think, speaking is the most important thing among other skills. That’s why I put emphasis on learning speaking skills.

The interview was going after tutoring so she was a little tired but she tried to answer seriously. I got her ideas about English as a learner through this interview. As I haven’t had this kind of time with her before, so I-maybe her as well-pretty much enjoyed the interview.

Teacher in training interview(senior)

By Wooyoung-Ju and Junho-Lee

It is the interview with English education department's senior. Jungwoo-Lee. 

Q: Please, would you introduce yourself briefly?
A: I'm Lee Jung-Woo, senior in English education department.

Q: What do you think the matter is between English Teachers?
A: Older teachers and younger teachers can't compromise in their method of teaching, younger teachers studied focusing on conversation and older teachers learned English concentrating on grammar.

Q: Do you think current high school's English curriculum has usefulness?
A: In current system, it's nothing but means to solve 'the suneung question'. It isn't useful at all.

Q: What do you think the worst matter for Korean in learning English?
A: We don't think the merit of learning English itself but extrinsic means to get a job or to be promoted. We just want high scores of the test.

Q: Do we have to go abroad to learn English?
A: we don't necessarily go abroad but there're some benefits we can get when we go abroad. For example, we can experience the English cultural area's many variables.

Q: What is your ideal English teacher like?
A: It is the one who makes students speak, humiliates oneself and encourages students to study.

Q: Till now, who was the best teacher and what method of lecture did he/she use?
A: It was Prof.Pinch's class. All the things are up to us. Although there're basic outline, we decide all the activities by ourselves. Even grade, we can compromise with him if we are worth it.

Q: What do you think about the teacher's exam?
A: It makes one student dull. it limits one's thought by the name of a correct answer. But it can be a good motivation for student to study harder.

Q: Should major subjects be focused on the teacher's exam?
A: If we do that, it's like a high school. But we must concentrate on English education itself. Now, there're few classes about English education.

Q: Thanks for your accepting the interview.
A: My pleasure, see you next time

Comment: As a senior, I think he is quite enthusiastic. He knows the problems of current system and seems to feel the necessity of solving the problems. Judging from his statements, he seems to be realistic, practical but ideal also. I think he is good model for freshman. We are so helpless in changing system that we just have to study to be an English teacher. There's need to follow current system but in the same time, we will have to teach students in accordance with what we were thought and what dreamed of in the future. Therefore we need to be realistic, practical and ideal in the same time.

Professor Interview(Korean)

By Junho-Lee and Wooyoung-Ju

It is the interview with our professor, Jeongok-bae. 

Q: Please let me start the interview, would you introduce yourself briefly ?
A: My name is Jeongok-Bae and I’m a professor here majoring in English education.

Q: What do you think the most important thing for student in learning English?
A: You’re really forcing me to summarize the most important thing into one word right? But If I have to summarize into one word, it is motivation. You need a motivation to start study and continue study. You have to have driving force that makes you keep going.

Q: Do you agree with current teacher’s exam?
A: Not really, but I guess the best strategy for you is just to follow the current system. Because you’re not in the position of changing something, it will not be helpful at all for you to try to change the system. It’s something like throwing an egg to rock.

Q: Should major subjects be focused on teacher’s exam?
A: Yes, in the sense that your goal is to be a full time teacher in the future. If that is your goal, you must focus on that subject. And we, professors, should focus on the content that will cover the teacher’s exam. Otherwise, we are out of track. But if you focus on the teacher’s exam entirely, it is not wise strategy. Who knows what will happen to your life? You can go abroad and teacher is just one choice. You might not be given to be an English teacher.

Q: Do you think that Korean college students should go abroad to study English?
A: Think about your situation. If your families are poor, you might make your parents sacrifice. If you try really hard, you can study here lots of things. Otherwise, if financial condition is okay and you are ready, why not? Take the chance. But don’t go abroad to study English but to learn English.

Q: What are your strategies to encourage your students to study harder in their major subjects?
A: I don’t know that is the great question that I ask to myself. If you are an English teacher, you will ask to yourself too.

Q: As an English learner, what is the most difficult thing to you?
A: I think it is to overcome the structural difference between Korean and English. You have to try very hard to be able to speak English automatically without thinking the structure. For Korean learner, the grammar, speaking and structure are not spontaneous.

Q: Among all the English elements: listening, writing and speaking, which one do you think as the most important thing?
A: I would choose listening first. If you became good at listening, writing and speaking will follow naturally. But listening is not easy, if native speakers talk fast, it is very hard to understand. And it is very important for you to understand grammar, structure and even culture by listening and doing other things. Those things are inseparable.

I: Thank you sir, I really appreciate your help.
A: I’m glad I could help you, good luck!

Comment: Compared to the previous interview with JungWoo-Lee,a senior of English Education department, She seem to be even more realistic and a real grown-up person. As a professor, she knows the things of English education well than anyone else but she never tells something carelessly. "Just follow the current system" It was real thought-provoking to me. Because the reason of that statement is that she cares students so much. I think she is a realistic educator.

Learner interview (High school student)

By Chulwook Choi

I interviewed a high school student in my neighborhood. His name is Sangwook Lee. He is a second grade student in Pohang High School. He gets high scores in the various English examinations. And I heard that he is interested in learning English. So, I was sure that he had some opinions about the current English education.

Q. Are you interested in learning English?

A. Yes. English was my favorite subject. When I was in middle school, I went to English academy to improve my English speaking ability. At that time, I was indulged in learning English, but since I entered the high school, I lost my interest in learning English a little.

Q. Why did you lose interest of learning English?

A. I would like to learn practical English such as writing and speaking. But most of English education systems in Korean high school just focus on teaching grammar and reading. These are essential parts to get a high score in the entrance examination for university. However, it is foolish to study English just for grammar and reading. I don’t have any idea of why we should learn this kind of English. Now the reason why I learn English is just to go to a good university. So, for me, English is just one of the required subjects for entering a good university.

Q. What kind of English skills do you want to improve?

A. I am interested in speaking with foreigners using English. It is fun. Meeting people from other countries is a little nervous at first, but it is also exciting for me. I think the English-speaking skill is necessary to communicate with foreigners, so I would like to improve my practical English skills.

Q. Most students in Korea are confused when they meet foreigners. But you seem to enjoy meeting them. I want to know the reason for it.

A. In fact, when I was young, I lived with my aunt and her husband who came from Canada. We lived together for about 3 years. Because of it, I don’t feel nervous when I meet any foreigners, and this made me participate voluntarily in the school class activities. So an English-speaking foreign teacher from America really likes me.

Q. Is the class by a foreign teacher effective?

A. No, not really. The class by a foreign teacher can be noisy. As you know, it is hard for teachers to control the whole class in Korea. Under this circumstance, a foreign teacher will not be able to control the whole class well. In the foreign teacher’s class, some students study English reading texts individually. Only a few students including me concentrate on the class activities.

Q. How can we improve the quality of the English class by a foreign teacher?

A. I think that this kind of class could not be effective under the present entrance exam system. Most students in high school consider English as a required subject for entering a university; so to worry about quality of the English class is useless. However, if the number of student in one class get smaller, the class for practical English by a foreign teacher can be effective. In my class, there are 34 students, so when we participate in an English class, it is hard for us to get many chances to speak with an English teacher.

While interviewing him, I wondered whether he really lost interest in learning English or not. One clear thing is that he was interested in English education in the past. However, under the existing English education system, he seems to be disappointed with it. I realized that the current English education system discourage students, even though they are interested in learning English. Students can feel what the most important and essential things are in the English education. It was very precious time for me in that I could know the student’s thoughts about English education.

Professor Interview (foreign)
By Na-Hyun Song and Ji-Won Kim

On November 12th, 2008, we interviewed Jonathan Jordahl, one of the professors in English Education department. He wanted us to come to his office at WooDang building. I was really nervous because it was my first interview with a foreign teacher. Ji-Won showed me the great ability of communicating with him. We spent one and a half hour talking about English Education at his office. He was really energetic and he knew well about the problem of the English education system in Korea.

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1. How long have you been working for KNU as a foreign professor?

I was hired from the United States to start in late August of 2006 to develop the new program in gifted education for middle school students. We were to have a pilot year and then test city-wide for the first regular class. I was to fill out the balance of my contract hours with teaching in the “Young Learners’ Program” – the children’s after-school and evening English program.

2. What made you decide to be an English professor in Korea?

I had always wanted to teach English overseas, and there happened to be a group of Koreans from Kyungnam University in Masan who were studying in Iowa at hot summer, and chose to advertise the position through the U of I’s Educational Placement Service. I was delighted to have the opportunity and actually had an outstanding job offer for a tenure track position in the English Department at Yonsei University for a second year. But my then-wife did not want to stay. It was hard for me, but family was more important than career. The one thing that bothered me during that stay was how my college students could come from what they said was ten years of studying English in school, and still not be able to put a sentence together to speak in class. I arranged an opportunity to visit a high school English class to observe the method of teaching English. I was amazed, but in a way not surprised, to find that they were asking students to sit in long rows, with numbers on their uniforms, and the only chance students had to speak at all was the one, dreadful moment when they might be called on to give “the answer” to fill in the blank in the English sentences in the workbook. “Number 95, stand up!” This needs to change, and that is why I have come back to Korea. After I saw that classroom 23 years ago, I formed a commitment to come back here and do what I could to change this situation; to bring communicative use of language and the development of independent thought and creativity to Korean education.

3. Have you found any difficulties in working as a foreign professor in Korea so far?

The major difficulty has been in dealing with the rigidity of the bureaucracy. I had a number of problems at the Language Institute, where they were continually trying to turn my monthly, salaried contract into an hourly-wage job, cutting my pay for days I was sick, and making us work extra days to compensate for what the contract specifically stated were “Paid National Holidays.”

4. What do you think are distinctive features of Korean university students? Do you think Korean students are quite good at English relative to other non English native speakers?

The students in the English Education Department are probably not representative of the average Korean university student. They have, I understand, the highest admissions test scores of any department in the university. I have absolutely no trouble with their ability to speak English. Although there are varying levels of proficiency, they are all able to speak to some degree, and have all been doing so in all of my classes, each of which, consistent with the principle articulated above of valuing the communicative use of language in class, include a conversation portion. In general they are polite, respectful, hard working and diligent. American students represent a much wider range of seriousness and compliance. Some American students are very lazy, and some even come to the university with some kind of “chip on their shoulder,” expressing a kind of noncompliant or ‘difficult’ attitude toward their professors because of – it could be race or feminism or some particular political or religious belief. There seems to be none of that here. Students are just interested in learning and getting a good grade.

5. What do you think of the current English education system in Korea? Could you give some tips that can help us improve our English education system?

In U.S. language classes, students are encouraged from the beginning to use the language to speak. The methods of teaching focus on real and realistic use of the language, conversation, game-playing, story writing, and discussion about readings.
Unlikely, the Korean system produces people who after ten years cannot confidently utter a single sentence to a foreigner. To change this, encourage the communicative use of language in all English classes, and extend that attitude to the communicative use of Korean in a process of critical questioning and encouragement of creative responses in all classes. In addition, change the way students are tested and rewarded in the system to weight and evaluate communicative uses of English, both through speaking and writing. There is currently machine evaluation of written compositions in the United States (including hand written compositions); I would not be surprised if something similar is underdevelopment for machine evaluation of spoken English as well.

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While he talked about the current English education in Korea, he showed us one book. It was very impressive when he introduced the way he studied German by himself showing a book named The Berlitz Self-Teacher: German. He could learn how to speak and pronounce German and how to use what he learned from the book. It was really different from the typical English textbooks in Korea. Most English textbooks used in Korea, usually focus on grammar and vocabulary. However, “The Berlitz Self-Teacher: German” teaches us how to speak and how to make sentences in some specific situations. It showed us the big difference between Korea and the United States when it comes to the foreign language education system. I hope our English education system will change to have more communicative and practical ways. Our interview was really great time to know more about Professor Jonathan and also, we can look back our education system of English in a foreigner’s view. Where is the way we should go? Now it is clear, “Communicative and practical way.”

Teacher in training interview
By HAEYOON KIM and JUNGEUN SHIN

This is an interview with jungeun Kim, a freshman majoring in French education in Kyoungbook National University. She is planning on double majoring in English education in her sophomore year. She was very kind and answered to our questons actively.

Q1. What is the most ideal type of teacher that you think?

Well, it’s kind of a really difficult question for freshman. I think teachers are not people who just teach specific knowledge. So, the most ideal type of teacher for me is who can help students gain self-confidence. I believe that teachers should place giving self-confidence ahead of teaching specific knowledge. Most of all, teachers should make efforts to give students self-confidence because psychological confidence gained from teachers' commendation and encouragement can be a great motivation for them to learn more specific knowledge.

Q2. Corporal punishment is a still contentious issue in Korea. Are you against or for corporal punishment? Do you think it should be completely banned in schools?

I think physical punishment should not be allowed for any reasons. I am against all types of physical punishment. Physical punishment could be accepted positively but violent is just violent anyway. Violent can be learned by the young children. If teachers use physical punishment easily whenever they could not find the solution, students would also learn violent is the easiest way to solve problems. After all, using physical punishment is only accelerating more severe violence among the students. This could not happen in school which brings up intellectuals for the society.

Q3. The Lee administration has announced the policy on teaching all subjects in English. What do you think of this policy?

Exactly, he made an attempt to teaching every subject in English except Korean. Well, by just putting away all the opponents' saying such as "Is there enough financial support? Is there enough English teachers who can talk as good as native speakers?" I think the opinion that all students have to speak and write English like natives is wrong. There is no need of Koreans speaking in English in everyday lives. Furthermore, making English more important over Korean in the Korean society will only benefit the privileged classes which can send their children abroad. In addition, international standard language is not only English. For instance, in UN assembly and even the Olympics, French is always said before English.

Q4. Do you have any plan to go abroad to improve your English skills? Do you think going to English speaking countries will help you become fluent in English?

Of course! I'm planning to study abroad by using university's student exchange program. Although it is very competitive, the best way to improve a language is going to there and using it all day long. But honestly I'm not sure I can even order a hamburger in America. You know, in Nintendo CF the foreign Mcdonald staff asking "For here or to go?" It's really fast and the blue eyes are frightening me every time.

Q5. Although Korean students start to learn English at a young age, they have difficulty speaking English. In your opinion, what might be the reasons for this phenomenon?

Studying another language is difficult for every human. The most essential reason is that the way of thinking is quite different between Korean and English. For example, in Korean, people say "Your eyes are beautiful." not, "You HAVE beautiful eye." In this regard it is reasonable that Koreans students learn English more than 10 years, they could not speak in English fluently. In my opinion, the educational system is not the problem. The only way to become fluent in English is studying it harder and harder. Well, the answer is so simple, isn't it?