@ a Summer English Camp in Korea
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40895268@N08
http://yoonscampfire.blogspot.com
I am spending this week in Korea, my home country, as part of my vacation. I was asked to teach at a summer English language learning camp.
After spending busy 7 years in the U.S., I keep realizing how much I have been ignoring or not been able to reflect on my identity as a Korean. Now, as watching how the Korean kids at this camp interact each other, I am unable to project myself among this young crowd. I forgot how I was like at that age. I do not see my childhood being in this crowd. I feel like I lost that period from my life.
It is interesting to see how some kids are willing to learn and practice English, others not... Those not willing to learn do not like the feeling of not knowing. It is not fair that these kids are culturally taught that lack of English fluency equals to embarrassment. I tried to ask a couple of questions nicely, but as I go further probing, their faces turn in red or they'd run away from me. Some kids tried to talk to me in Korean. They figured out that my name is still one of the common Korean names so they treat me as a Korean teacher. Since I am not supposed to speak in Korean, I keep asking questions back in English. It's hard to pretend that I do not understand them, but I do. To gain respect from the kids, I should disguise myself for the entire week. Otherwise, I will have hard time engaging them in English. Hope I can get through this uncomfortable situation. Other than that, it's fun. I enjoy spending time back as a teacher.
I hope that Korean kids they find more freedom in themselves. I hope Korea employ more multi-cultural, multi-lingual, transcultural approaches to education so English becomes natural to them. Also, these kids should later on really focus on developing their interest in subject knowledge without any struggles with English. They spend so much energy, time, and money on English but the outcomes are still unreliable. I wish they find a bit of interest in English from their participation in this summer camp.
