Rhea S. Suh ETA :: 1992-1993 Baeksok Middle School
T
his past fall, I had the opportunity to visit Seoul again after nearly 20 years. My trip brought back so many memories of my time there as an ETA from 1992-1993. The old Korea I knew was still there in part, but the new Korea was overwhelming in its modernity, pace, and palpable sense of opportunity. As I explored both the new and the old, I was reminded of the biggest lesson that I learned from my ETA year: Expect the unexpected. I arrived in Seoul with high expectations of myself and of the newly-created ETA program. As I launched myself into teaching, I was determined to be the best English teacher possible, capable of imparting on my students an uncanny ability to pick up the language. In less than a month, my expectations were quickly diminished. My students were adorable, but sometimes a handful to manage. As a recently-transplanted New Yorker, I thought I could handle anything. Anything, except as it turns out, the pranks of the eleven-year-old boys in my classes. I also had a difficult time with the pedagogy. There were so many students per class and so many classes per day, I found it difficult to tailor the lesson plans, let alone learn individual names. Before long, I grew more and more frustrated and struggled to try to establish some meaningful improvement in the English of my students. I had expected to have a complete command of my classrooms, my students, and their ability to master the English language. Instead, I was frustrated and my students seemed bewildered.
22
| Fulbright ETA Program 20 years in Korea
