Hello everyone.
Welcome to English Talk.
I'm your host Robin Shaw and in these podcasts I hope to give you good information about
studying English,learning English, improving your English
And I hope you learn a lot of things from my guest today.
And my guest today is Brandon.
Thanks for having me, Robin.
How are you doing today?
I'm okay.
How are things with you?
I'm doing great, man.
Just living life.
Teaching, working having a good time, man.
Okay.
So today we're going to talk to Brandon.
About his experiences teaching in Korea so we'll learn a lot about how he interacted
with his students and tried to get them to not only learn English but also I guess
Practice.
learn a little more about American culture.
Correct.
Usually in in Korea, a lot of the schools, or private schools,
they like Caucasian teachers.
Blond hair, blue eyes, yep.
And you are not Caucasian and we'll talk a little bit about that, too.
Okay so why don't you tell us about when you first came to Korea.
I first came to Korea... I think it was about 2015.
About 2015 when I first came to Korea.
In the States, I was working as a scientist.
I was doing that for a bit and then I wanted a little change.
And then I came to Korea.
I came with the Epik Program.
What is the Epik Program?
It's a government-run program.
It's called English program in Korea (EPIK).
And so pretty much it's a government-run program so they put you into the public schools
so it's like 9 to 5 but you're only teaching 22 hours a week.
And they give you housing, decent salary, the pension, health insurance, all the
longer vacation stuff like that.
And you were... did you... like were you interviewed by a recruiter in America?
I had a recruiter that I applied through like like one of the agency... Epik agency
like authorized recruiter.
I applied through them and then they just helped me with my paperwork
and like the guy helped prep me for my interview.
But then, I was interviewed by an Epik worker interviewer person
And I had my interview.
Which was really interesting.
I think I thought it went really bad, but I still got the job.
Like my webcam didn't work.
It went in and out.
And the lighting was terrible but somehow I still got the job.
Did the issue of race ever come up prior to coming into Korea?
I ask that because I when I came to Korea, I had a friend who was not Caucasian and we
had the same interview, but I made it he didn't.
Hmm I think well you came earlier I honestly I think.. I think..
I don't wanna phrase this like... I think it was better for me, but I think
friends that were Asian, had a slightly more difficult time getting
the job.
So like back back then when you probably became it was probably just like blond hair blue
eyes that's what we want.
Black guy, no.
Asian, no.
But now they're just like... everybody come...
Asian guys.
Asian girls.
And the reason is I have friends that are.. that are Asian.
Like they might be Filipino or Chinese or Japanese...
Whatever they are.
And they look Korean... or whatever, the students and the parents think like,
even though they are a fluent English speaker, the students go up to them and go, in Korean,
°You're Korean." And the person's like, "No I'm Chinese".
or whatever.
"I don't speak Korean." So the kids have like... like a disconnect.
Just like, "My teachers Asian.
How do they know English?"
They're not Korean?
I want a foreigner teacher.
My teacher's not a foreigner. And they are foreigner, but
after a while like the kids realize...
All right so Epik hired you...
Correct. and then stuck you not in a city but they
stuck you in rural Korea.
Seongju.
yes.
Seongju.
Where is Seongju.
Gyungsanbukdo.
So when my recruiter¡¦ like everyone wanted Seoul.
That's a thing and I.. this is like.. I don't care about Seoul.
And then Busan is actually where I wanted to go.
But Busan is actually harder to go to then Seoul.
Why is that?
Busan requires the TEFL course that TEFL?
Yeah it's actually... you need like in person.
So mine was like an online class.
For Busan public school you need a in person hours
so it's actually harder to come than Seoul.
Seoul is just first-come first-serve.
Busan is this you need to have higher standards.
So with me they said Gyungsanbukdo, it's cool.
I didn't pick Daegu cuz Daegu and Gyungsanbukdo are technically separate.
And they're... the guy... the reading I read was
Gyungsanbukdo many universities and it's a great area
and I'm thinking I want to learn Korean.
I'm gonna go take classes at a Korean University.
And then I got put in Seongju.
And Seongju is technically bigger than Seoul.
Land-wise.
Land-wise, but
It has a hundred thousand people.
Hundred thousand people.
Seoul is 10 million people.
So when you first arrived there what was your initial reaction?
In Korean?
In like Seongju.
Like oh this is.. There's people here.
There's people here... it was okay?
Like I mean like we did training in Daejeon.
So we parted in Daejeon and in my we went to Gumi.
My host...my main teacher picked me up.
We drove.
We talked.
He dropped me off at my place.
I already had friends there from orientation.
And all we did was just like walk around and hang out but then you...
There really isn't nothing there.
Okay.
There's no movie theater.
There's no like really big department store.
The Home Plus never opened like... The bus station was supposed to be like this
big department store, but it never opened.
so like there's 10 floors of nothing like nothing's in there and the first floor
is just the bus station.
Okay.
So yeah the nearest movie theater is like 20 minutes away in the next city.
Okay well 20 minutes is not bad.
Okay anyway why don't you tell us about the entering that classroom for the first time.
Man, I was a bad teacher.
No like... like when I said I was a bad teacher like the first month was pretty rough like
I think every everyone has a first month.
I was just like I don't know what I'm doing.
Like I wasn't prepared.
I was just chilling... like.. but like going into the classroom...
Which age group?
I was teaching elementary school.
Elementary school.
Third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade.
So when they saw you they must have been like...
Teach... like... it's weird.. like Seongju...
I don't know.. somehow... I don't know how this happened.
But somehow they put all the black people in the same district.. like.
There's like 10 black people in orientation.
They put us all in Gyungsanbukdo.
By design?
I don't know and then like 6 of us ended up in Seongju.
I was just like... How did y'all put just... all the black people
in the countryside?
But in Seongju there was..
At the English village there was another South African black guy that was working there.
so like all the students for English village... have to go in Seongju have to go...
All the students in Seongju must go to the English village.
What is an English village?
English town... English town is pretty much like um
My job is teaching book stuff, but the English town is kind of just like
specifics.
So the kids will spend a week there or... Each city has one.
It's provided by the government?
Yeah um so on they'll spend like a day learning food stuff and
they'll do food things.
And the next day they might do hospitality.
It's more like activities and games to some extent
to make them learn it so like''' Okay.
There.
There's a black eye there, so like the kids all...
and they all meet this black guy so they're just like...
I met a black guy before.
Like... last year and he was very nice.
So seeing a new black guy it's not that... Okay so they didn't have too much of a shock.
The third grade class is like °Oh my god!
Who's this black guy? but like the fourth, fifth, sixth grade classes
are like, "I met a black guy before."
Okay so..
"You didn't kill me."
So... the...
In the classroom itself, how did you... Did you interact well with the kids?
Yeah I mean my personality is outgoing and I had fun.
Like my kids... like my kids were cool.
Like yay play high-fives and... We did games and stuff.
Were.. were they eager to learn English?
Yes and no.
I mean they're forced to learn it.
So it's kind of like.. the same thing with like us in the states with Spanish.
I was forced to learn Spanish.
I didn't want to learn Spanish.
But then, for me, like I only learned to pass school.
And then it's part of my heritage so I was just like I need to learn Spanish.
But for them, it's just they have to learn Spanish to get...
They have to learn English to get into high school.
They have to learn English to get into college.
But, um, as a public school teacher the difference between public school and I say hagwon
which is s private academy, Public school teacher, is like, for elementary
school, we don't really care about teaching English.
And when I say that it means we introduce English to make it fun for them.
Hey English is fun.
Like we're gonna play games.
Don't hate English.
Like it's fun because 999%, 90% of them are going to go to private academy.
And at private academy, it's terrible it's just work work work work work
Yeah they spend a lot of time there.
They spend a lot of time there so it's just like...
Like they're forced to do that.
And it's just like book stuff.
And it's really not fun.
They like grow to hate it.
None of them want to go to it pretty much.
But so with my class is more just like "hey English is fun" like...
I know you have to go to do your private academy later,
but let's... let's try and have fun like¡¦ Today we're gonna have fun with English.
So it was kind of like that.
Introduced English to them and make them eager to learn,
so that in the future they don't dislike it.
You're playing games all day.
So it was an easy job.
Yeah I mean my general day would be... but it depending on whatever classes I teach,
I would come in... Sorry.
I would come in.
I would download a warm-up game.
Ten minute warm-up.
Or set a five minute warm-up game.
We’ll do the bookwork.
Twenty minute book work.
Whatever the lesson is for that day.
So it's either like speaking, listening, reading, writing.
Like the four lessons for that chapter.
And if they're like fifth or sixth grade it has extra.
And then after, we'll play a game.
so that they warm up the ten... depending on the game like I don't know like
crossword puzzle or something and and they might do a crossword puzzle.
They do the book work when they listen and
they’ll probably have to speak and then we'll play a role playing game
or a bomb game which is like like like Wheel of Fortune
or something like that kind of game and they're like uh teams and maybe candy
and stuff But I did play games a lot.
It’s easy.
Okay.
How long were you there in Seongju?
I was in Seongju for two years.
Two years.
And I also did teach at the English town a little bit.
I taught adults there for about one semester.
Okay.
So once… once or twice a week for like four months.
And do you like teaching?
Yeah teaching…
I have no problem teaching.
Teaching… it's fun.
Like when I moved to Seoul, I taught.
I have nothing…
There's no problem teaching.
I enjoy teaching.
There are things with teaching that do frustrate me but,
it's nothing that I hate teaching.
It's not that like if someone offered me a job to teach,
I'm not gonna not take it.
The thing I dislike about teaching is that I like the public school system in
Korea.
I do not like the hagwan system.
The privates schools.
The private school system.
Well there's private schools, but I mean like private academies.
And when I say that, in public school, you are the boss.
The teacher is the boss.
The government pays for you to be there so like you
work with your co teacher.
If you're… if your child is… your students acting up,
there are ways to deal with it like the Korean education system is a little different
than the States like you can't really like kick kids out class
kind of thing.
But like compared to a hagwan, the academy, the student is the boss.
The student is the boss.
And I say that mom and dad are paying your paycheck so…
even if that student is a bad student they're not listening or whatever…
If their grades are bad, you get in trouble.
Or even if that kids not doing their homework and you say “little Minju like do your homework”
Minju goes to mom and dad and goes “Mom and dad Brandon teacher so mean to me.”
“I don't like Brandon teacher.”
“I hate him.
I want to go to a different school.”
Mom and dad call your boss, and then your boss calls you,
and you get yelled at for not being nice to the kid
and you're just like… the kid was punching a kid or
the kid was doing this and this and you're like
well deal with it.
But you have no way to deal with it.
So I think…
I agree with you.
That's my only thing.
So like if I was…
My profession is different now.
But if… when I came to Seoul, I came as a hagwan teacher.
And my first hagwan was okay and I switched.
Second hagwan… academy the academy was …
Alright…
But I love teaching.
I love teaching.
Teaching is fine.
I still work with kids.
Um my job that I do now - I still work with kids and I do teach them
English and stuff but not like I teach them like…
Well I have one last question for you.
What do you think of Koreans’ English ability?
Um it's good.
Good to some extent.
It's still like…
I think Koreans… because they spend so much time studying it,
their… their reading and their writing is very good.
But they're very shy.
I know you spent a lot of time in Japan, too, so…
compared to there?
You gotta be careful.
Comparing Korean English speakers to Japanese English speakers…
Koreans are probably better I think.
Koreans are better.
And no I mean… it's still like hit or miss like you still have that one outlier person
that's gonna go..
I think like even…
I’ll put it this way.
No matter what if you were lost in Korea or lost in whatever
Country, Japan, or whatever…
If you were lost and you went up to either of them
and you said, “Please help me.”
They're going to try and help you.
And they might be very broken in English and then be
left…
They're gonna try their best to help you.
That's the way I want to put it.
Like even if like I was just like “Excuse me where's the hospital?”
They're gonna like… a Koreans gonna whip out their phone,
and be like okay “straight …left… right"
It's better than nothing.
Yeah better than nothing.
So I mean they try.
Their reading writing is good.
People are very shy here, so it's really…
Here's really on reading and writing.
Okay.
All right man.
Thank you for sharing your… about your experiences and wisdom of teaching
in Korea.
I love Korea.
Anyway thank you everyone for watching.
I hope you got something out of this video and see you in the next podcast.