Teaching English In Korea Katarina Bunge
At what point in your life did you decide to become a
grammar structures, I get to have fun with them and challenge
teaching as a career?
This means I get to know my students and their personalities as
teacher and who or what was your inspiration to pursue
them with productive language abilities - speaking and writing.
I guess the decision to become a teacher happened upon me
well.
somewhat by accident. My father has been a high school and middle school teacher in the past, and now teaches at college
What made you decide to work in Korea?
Working in Korea was not my first choice. Originally, I wanted
level. When I was growing up, I thought teaching was the last thing I wanted to do. It’s not a glamorous lifestyle! Seeing my dad
to work in Taiwan, since I studied Chinese briefly in university. I
stressed out about his students, I vehemently protested against
applied for a teaching position through a Taiwan-based agency,
ever becoming a teacher myself. In university, I pursued a degree
but I was turned down based on my lack of experience. Taiwan
in Environmental Education because I had good memories of
is a very popular destination for English teachers. The agency
outdoor schools, summer camps, and my own wanderings in
accepted me to work in Korea instead, and it’s all come together
the Cascade mountain range - but my focus wasn’t classroom
from there. But, sometimes, I think the places we end up are often
teaching. Nevertheless, after I graduated, I felt drawn to teaching English as a second language, and see a bit of the world while I
better than the places we might have intended for ourselves –
was at it.
and perhaps, there is some greater reason I found myself here that I have yet to discover.
I had plenty of inspiring mentors in university that really made me passionate about teaching as a profession. One couple that stand out in particular run an alternative high school
Can you describe a typical working day?
A typical day for me begins around 6:30 am. I take the bus
in Bellingham, my hometown. Before I enrolled in my major, I had difficulty separating teaching from the formal, lecture-
to work at 7:30 and arrive at work shortly after 8. First period
heavy classroom setting. Since then, I’ve come to a deeper
begins at 9, and depending on the day, I have anywhere from
understanding that the best teachers don’t need to be experts,
three to five 45-minute lessons to teach, along with some
just facilitators. Good learning can happen anywhere, and
additional duties. I have my own classroom, and my desk is
some of the best lessons in life are learned in silence and quiet
in the office adjacent to it, so in the morning, I prepare my
contemplation.
classroom for the day, and set up my lessons.
Did you need to do any additional studies after your
class sizes of thirty-six students, there isn’t much else that can
teacher?
free time, I plan and prepare for the next week. Lunch is served
They’re all rather PowerPoint-heavy, which I resent, but in Environmental Education degree to become an English
be done! I teach my lessons whenever they’re scheduled. In my
Technically, I didn’t need to fulfil any additional requirements to
after fourth period beginning at 12:30, and consists of white
become a public school teacher in Korea, besides complete my
rice, kimchi, some side dishes, and a daily soup. Today I had
bachelors degree, but I did choose to complete an online TEFL
marinated pork, sesame oil-soaked perilla leaves, white steamed
(Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate in order to
bread, and doenjang soup, which is a bit like miso. The teachers
give myself a bit of an advantage. Since then, the hiring process
have their own table in the same cramped cafeteria room as the
has changed a bit, and a TEFL certificate is now required.
students. It’s a noisy and stressful place to be.
What do you love most about your job?
daily cleaning time at 3:20. In Korea, the students are all required
The thing I love most about my job is the ability to foster
to clean the school daily, including the bathrooms, which are
creativity in my students - a trait that, to me, isn’t given proper
outfitted with traditional Korean squat toilets.
In the afternoon, we have fourth through sixth periods, then
Unfortunately the student bathrooms are chronically
recognition in the Korean educational system at large. I share English teaching with other Korean teachers at my school, and
unsanitary. I supervise my cleaning girls to make sure they do a
while those teachers focus on introducing students to complex
thorough job of the classroom. Depending on the day, we might
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