Teach English in LizhuAng Zhen - Lianyungang Shi

When learning English, it is important to take the student’s home country into consideration. This is because there are many aspects of their country that can influence how they learn. Teachers are responsible for understanding their students’ backgrounds in order to create relevant lessons. Students who come from Korea have unique challenges that they face when it comes to learning English. Teachers in Korea should recognize cultural, pronunciation, and school differences for their students. Korea has a very different culture than many western countries. One of the most important aspects of Korean culture is respect. Korean has politeness built into their language. English, on the other hand, does not. This means that Korean students are used to using honorific language and can find the seemingly casual nature of English to be hard to navigate. If they are unsure if they are being rude when speaking, a Korean student might be less willing to participate. They can also be less enthused about learning because the language seems coarse to them. Besides politeness, another cultural difference is in pronouns. Koreans often use collective pronouns when referring to themselves. It is less direct. English tends to use pronouns that are directed to the self and can seem more direct. This can make students confused when learning. By understanding these cultural differences, the teacher can help the students be at ease in regards to the politeness of the English language and also help them get used to the different pronouns. Another challenge that Korean students face is pronunciation. The phonics of Korean and English are very different which can be frustrating for students. There are sounds in English that don’t exist in Korean. Learning these completely new sounds can take a lot of concentration and practice. For example, f, v, l, and r or the exact sound for ‘a' as apple or ‘i’ for ice are not found in Korean. When helping students with this problem, it is useful to not have them use Hangul as a way to get around this. Hangul will not help them with the correct pronunciation so it is important to reinforce the concepts they are learning with the alphabet and drilling. Aside from pronunciation, the grammar structure is also something for Korean students to work on. Koreans use Subject – Object – Verb format while English uses Subject – Verb – Object. This problem can easily be remedied with studying grammar structures with students to help them see the differences between the two. Another problem that teachers of Korean students face would be the difference in schools in western countries and in Korea. Specifically, how English classes are seen in Korea. Learning English is a priority for Korean public schools so there are often large class sizes and short class periods. This can be a problem for students that need more time to learn and more individual teacher attention. The teacher must work on their classroom management and time management skills in order to mitigate this problem. The teacher can work with a large class to make sure that all levels of students are getting the support they need. Students in Korea can have problems when learning English. There are often cultural and school differences as well as having a hard time with pronunciation. When teachers are aware of these issues and carefully plan around them, they can ensure that Korean students are able to learn English and get a good education.