MANILA, Philippines ? Teaching English to Korean students takes me back to my student days, only this time, I'm the teacher. And often, too, a big sister to the grade school and adolescent kids in my classes.
What brings a battalion of Korean students to the Philippines these days is the lingua franca of this dynamic and demanding modern world - English. With their rising economy, Koreans have felt the need to learn the standard language in business, education, medicine, and the international media.
The Philippines has become a primary English destination, I have learned, not only because of our seemingly pro-American bias, but also because Koreans appeciate the kindness and resilience of Filipinos towards foreigners. Being both Asians also makes it easy for Koreans and Filipinos to find common ground, including filial values.
My students are from different Korean cities and towns, but a majority of them come from Seoul. They belong to the middle class and enjoy malling, cartoons, and staying with their parents. While in the Philippines, they like taking public buses and jeepneys, and enjoy our native adobo, mechado, and fast food snacks, and they especially love our local cup noodles!
In school, Korean students prefer to be called by the English names they choose. Jude Law, Masterpiece, Lena, and Winslet (after the ?Titanic? movie lead star Kate) are some of the ?unique? names they pick. They compute age not from year of birth but from year of conception, so that if one were born in 1984, she would be 24 years old in the Philippines but 25 in Korea.
I cannot describe a typical Korean student because the kids in my classes are of such diverse personalities. Nelo, my first student, was a quiet boy who spoke very little, and headstrong Sophia was more into getting a boyfriend than reading. Homesick for her family, Katie initially shadowed me the whole time she was at school. She was too shy to mingle with her fellow students but longed to be close to home so she wanted me to look Korean, dressed in blue jeans, yellow blouse, high-heeled sandals, big earrings, two bracelets, and a pony-tail. Terry, Kelly and Lily, however, doubted that I was Filipino and were sure that in Korea, I would easily blend in.
Our teacher-student relationship is built around composition writing, grammar, reading selections, practice conversations, and subject-verb agreement. During reading sessions, we would study the inspiring lives of Tiger Woods, J. K. Rowling, and Charles Dickens. I taught them diary-writing and we had weekly evaluation to monitor their progress.
To keep my students alert and to ward off fatigue, we play games. Chess is our favorite, with several of the students displaying keen moves that mark them as potential grandmasters. They love the game so much they even established alliances.
Outside of classroom lessons, South Koreans are closet United States fans, keeping tabs on Hollywood. Movie talk perks them up - they love ?Garfield,? ?Ice Age 2,? ?Superman,? ?High School Musical,? ?Madagascar,? and many others. They also enjoy American and British TV shows. Yoseph follows ?Grey's Anatomy? and ?Mr. Bean.? Kelly and Lily are fans of Spongebob Square Pants. And they all know Tom and Jerry and all characters from Disney and the Cartoon Network.
Teaching English to South Koreans has also been a learning experience for me. My students have enriched my knowledge of Cheosan, or ?the land of the morning calm.? I know about the extensive educational arrangements in Korea, compulsory military training for college boys, their cutting-edge technology, beautiful four seasons, the smooth-running bullet train (the KTX), the hanbok attire, their worship temples in the mountains, and the Korean moon bear.
Koreans have mastered the telenovela art not only as an export, but because they are culturally so fond of drama. Katie says after a hard day's work, most Koreans like nothing better than to retire to the living room and to doze off while watching their favorite soap!
So many shared experiences beyond the classroom, all in such a brief time, and all too soon it was time for my students to return home. Days before their flight, we exchanged souvenirs to remember each other by. I gave them my drawings of the alphabet in print and in cursive, coloring books, and good-luck notes. Terry wanted to take home my green glue to remind him of his English teacher. Among the tokens I received were a silver bracelet, a smiley face cut-out, a big yellow comb, all from Katie; kimpop from Yoseph; an ?I Love You? teddy bear with mug from Lim, and tons of sweet little ?thank you? and ?farewell? notes.
Looking at these mementoes now, I've come to realize, and still wonder why, even teaching English to Koreans can be as heartwarming and tear-jerking as any Koreanovela.
(The author is an Arts major in Consular and Diplomatic Affairs from De La Salle-College of St. Benilde.)
