I am a 24 year old recent graduate from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Science in Forensic Science/Biology and a minor in Chemistry.
For over 10 years, I have wanted to come to Korea so that I could understand a new culture and learn a new lan-guage. There is something about the Korean language that makes me want to listen to it all day. Yet, I never pursued my need in going to Korea. In parallel to this, I realized that I had the most rewarding feeling when I was able to help someone understand something that made no sense before. Yet, I never pursued tutoring or teaching. A while ago I went to a Toastmaster’s competition, and I heard this quote that made me look at things in a different perspective. The speaker quoted, “It’s never too late to be what you might have been”. I would love to be what I have might have been now. I would like to explore new cultures and languages now. I would like to explore my interest in teaching and helping people understand new things now. I believe that teaching English in Korea is the perfect opportunity for me to do things that I might have done. I am excited help students understand English and immerse myself in the Korean culture.
Throughout my education, I have always needed more time in understanding and grasping new concepts. I usually maintained A’s and B’s. But these grades included hours and hours of outside studying. What I began to appreciate was teachers or professors that broke things down into their fundamental pieces. When I was able to logically understand a piece of information, I could more easily apply this to solving other problems. My philosophy of teaching is revolved around students understanding the core concepts well, so that they can apply this to complex things. I am a visual learner, and so when I teach, I would like my students to see what I am doing. This would mean that not only would I say English concepts; I would like to write them out as well. It gives a student the time to stare at these new concepts and ponder, so that they can come up with more questions they may have for me. I feel lucky that understanding new things can be a bit slower for me than it can be for other people, because it gives me the opportunity to understand how to teach someone with patience. If explaining one example does not work, I want to have 5 other examples on my belt that I could use when trying to help a student understand. Ultimately, I want to teach how I would want to be taught. This means I want to teach students through auditory, kinesthetic, and visual styles. I will ensure that they can understand the fundamentals, so they can apply them to complex problems. I also want my students to be comfortable in asking me as many questions as they want.
I do realize that I do not have any teaching experience. The little experience I have is helping friends and classmates with problems that I have been able to master. I am planning on enrolling in the 170 hr TEFL course which includes a 20 hour practicum where I can observe/practice teaching. I feel that I am good at explaining things in different ways that tailors to different types of people. I go by the saying that “I will do the best I can with the tools I have”. I can ensure you, that I will do the best I can with the tools I have in teaching English to Korean students and understanding the their culture if given the opportunity to do so.
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