CULTURE AND CONTENT

The first thing you learn as a foreigner in Korea is that the culture is very different. Expect Koreans to think the same about American culture. The native teacher is both culture and content in the classroom. Some experience EFL teacher’s have said it is important to “personalize” lessons. By this I think they mean to you use your own experience. When teaching a lesson about the “Family”, I talk about my family. When there is a lesson about a famous Canadian, I try to use personal anecdotes.

I have used video as a means to teach both culture and content. I believe Korean students need more experience listening to native speakers and video provides a good opportunity. Most of my students are too shy to speak to me on a personal level, and perhaps I am a little shy to, but I have been making more efforts of late to try and talk to as many students as possible when I am not busy at my desk. I walk around the school and ask them what their names are and try to strike up conversations. Many times I have been really amazed at what students have to say to me. These kinds of contacts are vitally important. After all, I am here to serve their needs so I need to know more about them.

Korean culture does have norms of behavior and these must be followed as much as possible. After almost three years teaching year I cannot plead innocent if I make a cultural faux pas. However, I am not necessarily here to become assimilated into Korean society so I can and maybe I am expected to retain as much of much personal identity as I choose. At all times, I am conscious of the fact that I am in a foreign culture and that at any time I may be doing something or saying something that is a little bit strange.