Teach English in ChuAnjiAng Zhen - Nantong Shi

With my TEFL certificate, I hope to teach English in South Korea. Due to the differences in sentence structures and pronunciation, Korean students may struggle to learn certain elements of English, such as the phonetic system. Certain English sounds do not exist in the Korean phonology. For example, the consonants r, v, z, sh, f and th are not sounds Koreans use in their language and thus will have a hard time recreating those sounds. For example, when a Korean pronounces the “v” sound, it typically becomes a “b” sound. Therefore, the word “victory” would typically be pronounced as “bictory” by a Korean student. Another example is the sound “th,” as in the word “there.” A Korean may pronounce this word as “dere,” using a “d” sound instead of “th.” In addition, some have noticed that, in the Korean language, Koreans tend to pronounce the “s” letter silently. However, the “s” in English can significantly impact the meaning of a sentence; such as the difference between “he” and “she” or differentiating between singular and plural. Lastly, the “r” sound in Korean is a combination of the “r” and “l” sounds. Due to this combination of sounds, when an English word has the letter “r,” it tends to be pronounced as an “l.” For example, the word “rabbit” may be pronounced as “rlabbit.” Unlike English, each Korean letter represents a sound and is not typically influenced by its surrounding letters. However, one English letter can represent several sounds depending on its surrounding letters or the word that it exists in. For example, the word “daughter” sounds like it should be spelled as “dauter” when pronounced, as the “gh” is silent. Another example is the word “island” as it is pronounced as “iland,” or “knew,” pronounced as “new,” but both words have different meanings. Unfortunately, ESL students must practice and remember these words, as there does not seem to be any easy way to remember such rules. However, with practice and repetition, an ESL student will improve his or her pronunciation, vocabulary and spelling. The cultural differences between Korea and America in an educational setting may impact the students’ learning processes. As an American teacher, I may hold different expectations compared to how Korean students are typically expected to act in a classroom. Typically, in the United States, students are expected to actively participate in class by talking, asking questions, and engaging with their fellow peers through groupwork. In a Korean classroom, students are typically expected to quietly pay attention to the teacher without much engagement with their fellow peers. This is due to the differences in an American individualistic mindset compared to the Korean collectivist mindset influenced by Confucianism. For example, when Korean people write their names, they write their family name or last name first followed by their first name. For example, in the U.S, I write my name as “Madelyn Estrella;” but in Korea, it would be written as “Estrella Madelyn.” Such differences are a result of the importance of the family unit in Korean society. Such traits impact a Korean’s use of possessive pronouns as Koreans typically use “our” instead of “my.” For example, when discussing “my house,” a Korean student may say “our house” even if the listener does not live with the speaker. Such ways in speech emphasize the importance of in group and familial connections in Korean society. With such differences in mind, it is important to be aware and sensitive to differences in cultures when teaching English as a second language.