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| How adorable are my students?! Very - the answer is very. |
Yesterday, another teacher approached me to ask if I would be willing to teach a type of college entrance exam prep class. In the coming month, high school seniors will be applying to colleges all over Korea, and there were about a dozen students at our school who would be applying to Busan National University, where the application process involves some level of English mastery. They were very interested in working with an English teacher who could provide them extra support in the areas of writing (for their personal statements) and speaking (for their university interviews). Korean students - whether first, second, or third graders - struggle in these two areas the most, and I can personally relate.
Being the only "native English speaker" in the school, the teacher thought I was the most qualified candidate for the job.
THE RESERVATIONS
I agreed, but not without many unvoiced, internal reservations. I was fully aware of how unqualified I was to shepherd a dozen Korean high school seniors to their dream universities. However, I also happened to be quite familiar with this sense of being eternally unqualified and inadequate (even in areas that those around me would say I am most definitely capable of executing), so I stamped out the reservations and, in resolving to accept her proposition, kicked feelings of inadequacy in the face.
Actually, to be honest, I don't think I had a choice in the matter, but the teacher was awfully nice about it (making me feel like I had a choice and all :D))
THE HOOK
After my first class with these girls, I am absolutely at peace with my decision! They are sponges, and are extremely eager to learn, not to mention appreciative of my teaching techniques.
We had a meeting before this first class, and I was able to gauge then that, while very eager to learn, their confidence in their ability to communicate in English is kind of...non-existent.
THE LESSON
This is why I decided our first class would revolve around two things: 1) Speaking Loudly, and 2) Speaking Confidently.
That's it.
THE BACK STORY OF THE NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER, WHO WAS ONCE NOT ONE
Although I am now considered a native English-speaker, I was not always one.
At the age of 11, right after immigrating to the U.S., I sat in a U.S. classroom resolutely quiet, and seriously shy - so much so that some of my schoolmates thought I was mute for the better part of the year. I could smile at my teachers and muster up a "yes" and "no" when I understood what they asked of me, but basically nothing else.
Because I didn't dare speak (and dreaded making mistakes, and being corrected, and possibly being ridiculed - you know, minor things to a young adolescent), I was unused to hearing my own voice [in English].
THEN: SPEAKING VISAYA FLUENTLY, AND ENGLISH STUMBLINGLY
I know I was quick, loud, and commanding when using my native tongue, so there was nothing physically preventing me from speaking in English, except a serious lack of confidence. When I did finally muster up the courage to speak up it was to mask how badly my voice was cracking and how visibly my hands were shaking. I was surprised, then enlivened and encouraged by my new-found volume, so I spoke louder, and felt more and more confident. Over the years, of course.
NOW: RELATING TO MY STUDENTS' WOES LEARNING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
So, yes, I remember what it's like to be a student, and especially a student of the English language. I believe this same confidence issue has most of my Korean students in a choke-hold, and, at a critical moment like this (when their futures are about to be decided by one English-dominated test), it is critical that I do everything I know to do to help free them from that crippling hold.
I hear them scream over EXO music videos, and exclaim over photos of Super Junior, and yell at the top of their lungs at each other while running down the hall. Some of them wail and screech for no apparent reason in class. I know they have the voice box to produce sound, words, language!
If my students could only exercise the same boldness when it comes to my class.
If they could strategically suspend their own reservations and come to terms with the fact that their tongues are, in fact, traversing through an unfamiliar linguistic terrain, and know that it's perfectly okay to be lost.
WORKING TO BOOST MY STUDENTS' CONFIDENCE LEVEL IN ENGLISH CLASS
Speak Loudly. Speak Confidently. Really, it's a beautiful cycle. And I experienced its effectivenes not for the first time today, when I gave them an impromptu speech assignment for one minute each.
<3
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