Five Things I Learned from my Korean Students

Anyeong,chingu! This is my first post about my job as an on-line teacher for Korean students. As we are all aware of, teachers do their best to teach the students. However, I believe that teachers can also learn from their students.

That case applies to me as well. My students taught me some Korean expressions like “anyeong” (hi!) “mianheyo (I am sorry). Aside from that, I also learned
several things from them:

1. Be practical.

I've read a lot of articles about the relationship between age and fertility; that as women grow older, it will be difficult for them to conceive. As they get older, their ovaries age along the rest of their body parts and their egg cells become less viable. They are also prone to genetic abnormalities as well as pregnancy and child birth complications. That's why in the Philippines, women who haven't conceived in their late twenty's to thirties become subjects of ridicule or pressure as some people might call them “baog” or “makunat”.

Korean mother with a baby

However, Koreans think otherwise. Women who conceive early are being frowned upon. And in their country, the terms “early marriage” and “early pregnancy” refer to people, more specifically, women, who got married, conceived and gave birth at thirty and below. Yes, you've heard it correctly; thirty and below. It's because after graduating from the university at twenty-two to twenty-five, they are expected to find a stable job and pay several fees like health, car and fire insurances to prepare for the future. They also make sure to find a house or apartment to live on their own and there are only few of them who live with their parents.

I remembered my thirty year-old Korean student named Luna. One day, she cried while we were talking on the phone because she found out that she was six weeks pregnant. She explained that it took several years before she graduated from the university and that she was still a newbie in the company where she was working.

Korean couple

My Korean students taught me that age should not the only factor to enter marriage and childbirth. In times of economic instability, we should first consider several things. Are we financially stable? Can we still go back to work after childbirth? Where will our family live? How will I raise my child? What values can I teach him?

We should not get married just because of peer pressure or just because we had already graduated. We should also think of how to raise children. We should not be in a hurry to have children if we are not ready: we should think about the future ahead of us. Also, we should not be too dependent to our parents that we are too comfortable to marry and have children at the right age; remember that our parents are not getting any younger too, so let them enjoy life as well.

2. Value your work.

They work hard to earn for a living. When you work in a Korean company, you might notice that most of them work for more than eight hours a day. Rain or shine, they still go to work, even they are not feeling well. In fact, it was revealed in a study conducted by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that Korea ranked first in countries with longest period of working hours with an average of 2,190 hours per year .

Working with Korean boss in an online industry is not that easy. You cannot skip working when you just want to. Headache and fever are not acceptable and most of the times typhoons are not being used as excuses. Sometimes, it is not easy to file for a leave of absence even it is our privilege as workers for their business operations will be at stake. That's why, most online teachers like me still go to work as much as we could, except for some circumstances which are beyond our control like being involved in accidents and being affected by calamities like Ondoy and Sendong.

3. Study and prepare for the future.

Aside from studying in a classroom setting, students also study in educational institutes called Hagwon to learn Computer, Math, Taekwondo, English and others. Children of all ages, including pre-schools, professionals and even stay-at-home mothers attend classes in Hagwons. Some of them also have classes at home with their personal tutors.

 

Online teaching industries have been established to enhance the students' abilities. Unfortunately, most Koreans have difficulty in speaking English due to the influence of their mother tongue. They commit pronunciation errors especially with [z], [w], [p]. [f],[r] and [l] and they also tend to prolong the vowel sounds at the end of the word (for example, they pronounce “manage” as “ma-na-gee”). Hence, they wanted to speak with an online tutor on the phone or through Skype.

If you were an on-line tutor, you might handle students who go home late at night and still have to attend your classes. I even taught English online to high school students who had gone home at twelve midnight because they still had to attend three different classes in Hagwons to prepare for the university entrance exam.

My student, Emily (right) with her friends

Not only that, they also visit countries with people who can speak English like America, England, Australia and the Philippines. Yes, parents spend a lot of money to send their children to school, so they expect their children to have high grades and to enter the best universities in Korea like the so-called SKY universities (Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University).

Speaking of which, taking the university entrance exam is the most crucial stage of Korean students' lives because it “defines” what kind of life that they might have in the future. 







In South Korea, “College” and “University” are two different things, the former offers two to three-year courses while the latter offers courses which are equivalent to Bachelor's degree in our country. They consider “college” a “lesser” institution. 

4. Value your honor. 
I know that there were a lot of people who committed suicide but who would ever forget Roh Moh Hyun? He was the president of Korea from 2003-2008 and he committed suicide amid an investigation into a bribery scandal that had tarnished his reputation. He left a suicide note where he said :

I am in debt to so many people. I have caused too great a burden to be placed upon them. I can't begin to fathom the countless agonies down the road. The rest of my life would only be a burden for others.






I am not in favor of what he did. Committing suicide is not the only solution to preserve one's honor or dignity. However, I can't help but compare him to some people who, after victimizing others by stealing and doing other petty crimes, can still sleep and eat peacefully as if nothing has ever happened. I wonder why there are some people who can still have the guts to be interviewed by the media after being involved in controversies.

5. Have fun and explore.

 













Most of my students save money for vacation. They go abroad in winter and summer to learn English or just to have fun. Some of them just travel domestically like Jeju Island. Once in a while, they spend time with their friends or colleagues to drink.
They taught me that we need some time to relax. It doesn't have to be expensive; watching TV while eating snacks with your love ones is enough.

Okay, I'm done. I hope that you like my first post about them and I promise to share more. Daume bayo! (See you next time) (다음에 봐요)

Note: I transferred this entry from my previous blog because this is about teaching.