KOR655 Teaching philosophy

Ok-sim Kim

Teaching Philosophy If I were asked what my most favorable qualification as a Korean teacher compared to a number of other Korean teachers in the US is, I would answer that I have more experience in teaching second language as well as learning it than anybody else. I am also very well aware of the extensive aspects of the second language teaching and acquisition. Furthermore, I would like to emphasize that I have a great intuition and ability to sense the needs of students to meet their various demands efficiently when they are learning a new language. My philosophy of teaching foreign languages is based on my own personal experience as a language learning student and teacher. 1. Motivation is an important key in learning a new language. Every semester I analyze students need and desire for the Korean language course. Thanks to the Korean Wave (the spread of Korean pop culture around the world), many young people get interested in Korean pop music and Korean language, but still many students are taking Korean classes because it is requirement for the graduation. That is, they have minimum motivation about learning a new language. It is very important for a language instructor to drag their interest and raise motivation efficiently for those who have no any motivation, and to fulfill the needs of students to meet their various demands. 2. Interaction is an effective way to attract students interest in learning a language. In the beginning of my teaching career, I realized that a teacher centered and grammar-based instruction with minimum interaction made students lose their interest in learning a new language. If a student is bored and disinterested in a class, s/he does not pay attention and even not care. However, I experienced that a minimum grammar instruction with a maximum interaction made the class more vivid and enjoyable so that students can actively involve the classroom activity. Thus, the classroom instruction should focus on creating an interactive environment in which all the students can participate and be involved in active communication. 3. Modern technology is an integral part in a language course. I found that making a good use of modern technology makes the class enjoyable for the students as well as getting all of the students involved. For examples, when we learn new vocabularies in every lesson, to show them relevant pictures or images helps students acquire vocabularies easily and focus on the class. And utilizing authentic materials such as drama skits or movie, K-pop lyric, as well as playing games, is also good ways to make the classroom environment enjoyable. I also found that the modern technology gives students motivation to learn the language because they are shown how their education is relevant in real life. I pursue through many Korean television dramas and collect various relevant expressions. Then I show the
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KOR655 Teaching philosophy

Ok-sim Kim

students in context of the material we are learning in the class. By using this type of nonacademic multimedia, students can more easily familiarize themselves with Korean and get interested in Korean language learning. 4. Grading should be a tool to encourage students performance. Every semester I insert several criteria in the course syllabus to assess students ability, such as vocabulary quizzes, lesson tests, oral performance, mid-term oral and final oral test, and final exam. However, my main purpose of the assessment is not to evaluate the students ability but to encourage them to study voluntarily. Students can study by themselves at home reviewing with class materials, which are uploaded on website just as every day. However, I expect from my students to concentrate more on the classroom instruction and activities. They will get better grades as long as they come to the class routinely and carry out the class assignment thoroughly. As for quizzes and tests, I make questions with most useful words and expressions so that the exam itself can be a chance for the students to study the most useful ones. I especially enjoy the day on oral performance. Students are supposed to memorize one of the conversations each lesson. I ask them to be an actor and an actress on the performance, without just memorizing the conversation. The beginning of a semester, students feel afraid of performing in front of other classmates, but they soon realize what I really expect from the performance and are encouraged to perform confidently and to enjoy it. 5. An instructor should be a great performer to handle the class in an effective way. Whenever I enter the classroom to teach the language, I am always ready to entertain my students. It is my effort to make students feel comfortable while doing the class activities. Based on my English learning experience in America, classroom tasks and activities with other classmates sometime impose a burden to students because of the classroom environment in which correct answers are highly preferable, but mistakes are undesirable. In order to maintain a tension-free classroom environment, an instructor should be a good guide, a facilitator, a handler, who gives the contents for students in an easy and enjoyable way. It is also very important to emphasize that students making mistakes is not a shame thing but rather benefit for learning. To act like a performer is also useful way to become familiar with students. When an instructor respects each student for what s/he is and takes care of them with care and love, they will trust the instructor and be able to conduct the classroom activities more actively without being afraid of mistakes. 6. To provide cultural specific routine activities is important for language socialization. Within the language socialization frame work, language is viewed as a major tool for conveying socio-cultural knowledge and a powerful medium of socializing novices to socially appropriate patterns of behavior. In fact, the perspective was based on the L1
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KOR655 Teaching philosophy

Ok-sim Kim

socialization, I think that we can apply it to teacher-student interaction or interaction between students using the cultural specific routine activities. For example, when my students conduct a pair work, they at least know how to open a conversation and how to express the closing remark in culturally appropriate pattern. When the conversational partner skips an opening remark or a closing remark, students feel uncomfortable and wait until s/he calls her/his name first as an opening remark and responses her/his answer using such as back channeling as a closing remark. In such way, I believe that my students are much or less socialized into Korean socio-cultural pattern of language use. I acquaint my students with the fact that learning the Korean language is also to learn Korean culture so that they can experience a different culture other than their own. In effect, learning Korean is not only learning the language, but learning to coexist as a citizen of a global community.