Ever wonder if you're cut out for this?
Being that I've been here for a little bit, my school often asks if I'll be okay to answer any questions by prospective teachers who are thinking of coming to my institute (its clearly not a school - in fact, it hurts me to write school in any writing associated with my institute - if only you knew the depth of their inaptitude..) I digress. One of the most frequent questions I get asked is in regards to teaching, and how hard it is to teach ESL. And truthfully, I can say that its really really easy, and that's not just because I've been doing this for months on end, with little to no vacation (not that I'm bitter...). Its more the little things that make teaching ESL one of the most frustrating jobs on this side of mine digging in China; the only difference being we have fewer fatalities...
One student that comes to mind is a particularly fond boy with a few uncharacteristic charms that make him mildly appreciated, yet frustratingly annoying. Fred, as I'll call him, has definitely struck out when it comes to childhoods. Both his parents are Korean, yet, he was born in Japan, where his father teaches historical Japanese instruction. After two years in Japan, his family moved to the US, where he lived for two years. After those two years, the whole family moved back to Japan. After another two years in Japan, his mother and brother moved to Seoul, where they've been since then. He has no grasp of Korean, Japanese, and certainly not English, that's for sure. However, with mild-learning disabilities, this makes the job of teaching him in an advanced class even more aggravating. How he got placed in my class is a long story of ineptitude, and since he's been in my class, he'll jump off any bridge if I tell him; I'm his English teacher - his mom loves me, so Fred loves me. The problem is that Fred retains English instruction like water off a ducks back; it doesn't stick around. If he's bored, in class, he'll break out into a rendition of his favourite song: "I'm so lonely, so loooonnnneeeelllllyyyy..", which is all the song consists of; a repeat of the chorus. His last test, when I asked "Where is the rare Plowshare tortoise from?" (by the way, its Madagascar, for those who didn't know) - after talking for over a week about the island, and the animated movie "Madagascar", et al, he wrote, after much deliberation "he's is from the bacumbaga?" question mark and all. Truth be told, I don't even know how to mark the answer.....he answers a question with another question. The rest of his test wasn't all that bad; he got perfect on the vocabulary matching. However, the rest of his test is a rare feat of questions, incomplete sentences, and grammar verb tense preposition confusion. Its something to behold. However, for as long as I'll be at my institute, he'll be in my class, no matter where I go - his parents, by now understanding his inability to grasp English, are wealthy; so as long as he comes home happy, (even though he's only completed half of his homework, the majority of that half incorrectly) his parents hope that after all of my frustrated "Earth to Fred - at least attempt to focus, please, I beg of you", followed by him singing, again..) he'll actually learn something. So as long as they keep paying, I'll keep teaching him.....I'm so lonely, so loooonnnnneeeellllyyyyyy....
So if you can get past the kids with the inability to grasp English, not understanding a word coming from your mouth, and certain kids never doing their homework, and Mom and Dad not caring, then teaching ESL is the right job for you. The pay is supreme, the hassles, while they may seem great, are few, and for the few kids who do learn, and love you for doing your job, the payoff is worth all of the "Fred's" in the world....
come to Korea