Author Archives: huskersinkorea

About huskersinkorea

Associate Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

On Larvae and Education by Jen

Posted on by
Reply
I’d like to begin this post by creating a written record of the fact that I have eaten silkworm larvae. Last night I went to a traditional style, seven-course meal with another student’s Korean acquaintance and to top off the end of the meal, silkworm larvae soup was served. Most of the others at the table clearly thought that this was a version of watery rice soup, but as I examined my spoonful closely, the plumpness and slight curl made it quite clear to me that it was not, indeed, rice. What do silkworm larvae taste like? Bland, watery mush. But then again, why take my word for it when you could discover the flavor for yourself? Dinner at my house at 8:00. BYOL.
I am, unfortunately, not taking larvae back with me to the United States. As I sit here waiting to catch the plane, though, I wonder what it is exactly that I am taking back with me. I have had the chance to observe several schools here and learn a bit about Korean schooling. I have been able to learn a few words in Korean and try several Korean dishes. I have dined with a Korean pop star and visited Buddhist temples. I’ve experienced the ongoing Korean War and walked on palace grounds. I have laughed with a family while riding bikes along a river. I climbed a mountaintop and conversed over a few bottles of soju. But, what will stick with me? Will this experience have an impact on my professional life and if so, in what way(s)?
My comparative education experience is very much grounded in the four years that I spent in Mexico. As an invested professional in the schools in which I taught as well as a graduate student in the university in which I studied, my understanding of the system was deep because I was an active player in the system that I was studying. I did not just observe how school reflected the culture or the disconnections between vision and practice; I experienced it day in and day out. On this trip I have studied the Korean system in a way that I never could while in Mexico. I’ve read about its historical and political roots, learned about schools’ missions and visions, listened to teachers’ stories and observed classrooms. But I haven’t experienced it for myself. I haven’t negotiated the school culture on my own terms, haven’t been able to become immersed and engaged in it. So who am I to make conclusions about it? Who am I to take select pieces away from it, as if I have in some way earned them?
However, for two weeks I have invested myself in being here. I have studied, reflected, pondered and examined each day, thinking about the interplay between school and culture. I cannot make conclusions about Korean education and culture in the same way that I can about Mexican education. (To be specific, Northern Mexican education within the private sector.) Two weeks is nothing compared to two hundred weeks. But it was two weeks. I did learn, I did experience, and I am taking something away.
If anything, South Korea is another strand adding to my repertoire of knowledge. It is an experience that has been accommodated and will gel with the others to create the basis what I know and how I used what I know to make sense of the world. I cannot particularly say that this experience has confirmed and/or challenged some of my views on education and educational practices, but it has brought some of them to the surface again and has instigated more conversations with myself. Yes, I am now the crazy woman talking to herself whilst eating silkworm larvae.  Be ware.
One of the things that has stood out to me over the past weeks has been the role and societal perception of the teacher.  I have heard time and time again missions of schools that have promoted the development of the whole child, yet have seen classrooms set up in a traditional style (rows) with an enormous teacher desk. I have seen students working out of workbooks. I have heard discourse about how students no longer respect teachers like they used to, but how teachers carry an immense amount of respect in society. I have heard skepticism of how hagwons (for-profit private organizations that offer specialized after school classes for students) undermine the public education system and perpetuate the gap between social classes from the same people who choose to send their children to these institutions for additional hours of education every day. I have heard about problems with teachers abusing their power and problems with students trying to bribe their teachers for better grades.
I’m not sure that any of these issues concerning the role of teachers are that different than issues that are rising and being discussed in the United States. (Funny, I have also read and heard about how much influence American education has had on the design of Korean education). I think, though, that it is interesting to consider how these issues arise as traditional schooling is challenged and juxtaposed against a more constructivist framework. For example, as No Child Left Behind is imposed more and more on schooling, it influences the way people think about the purpose of school, the meaning of standardized testing and the importance of it in light of the everyday practices of schooling. Standardized testing, in my opinion, is a traditional aspect of education. As teachers challenge its presence in their classrooms, they enter into an interesting dichotomy. On one hand they may oppose the implications of testing, but on the other they want their students to do well on said tests. It puts teachers in an interesting state of juggling the traditional with the progressive; it could be said that teachers have continuously negotiated this state since a national importance was placed on testing and academic importance after the launch of Sputnik.
It would be ludicrous to believe that teachers’ negotiation of this space would be immune to society’s opinions and pressures. As national discourse changes concerning the purpose of school and how academic success is measured, society’s expectations of the educational experience change as well. From what I have observed, South Korea’s strong national discourse about the importance of education, the need for a university degree and the demand to conquer the English language in order to be key players in the modern world has perpetuated the stress of high school and college examinations, the utilization of private hagwons and the reliance on more traditional pedagogy that appears to be more efficient and more direct. We might say the same for teaching practices in the US after the implementation of No Child Left Behind.
My initial critique of the classrooms that I visited in South Korea was focused on the disconnect between vision (constructivist) and practice (traditional). I did not, however, think about the rationale for this disconnect. Why might teachers feel like they cannot fully embrace a true constructivist approach to teaching, or a more natural, communicative approach to teaching English? What pressures and realities do they face that inhibits them from bringing this practice alive in the classroom? Testing and evaluation in the form of numbers has become synonymous to society’s idea of assessment of learning and as much as we might want to exclude that reality from the conversation about best practices and educational visions on a national or local level, we simply cannot. Those beliefs turn into pressures, which manifest themselves in practice.
I am leaving South Korea with more questions than answers and am perfectly content with that. I am also leaving the country, though, with a resurfacing of important questions concerning teachers, a new lens through which to study them, and one more strand of thought that will add to my own, constructivist manner in which I make sense of the world.
There is a quote on the top of this blog that states, “We remake the world by individually remaking images of our own selves.” Adding new strands to how we think about things is the first step in this direction.

Reflection of My Experience in South Korea by Megan

Posted on by
Reply

Shawna, Jamie, Taryn, Shelby and Megan at the top of Namsan Mountain overlooking Seoul

Living in, learning about, and experiencing South Korea these past two weeks has opened my eyes and made me more aware of the world outside of me.  Before leaving for South Korea the only things I knew about the country were the limited topics I had read about in our pre-trip readings.  Reading the article, English Fever introduced me to the level of intensity that Koreans have placed on the process of acquiring the English language.  However, experiencing it first person has allowed me to make connections to what I have read.  The article explained how students are learning English in school from native and non-native speakers, and then will most likely continue their English education after school in hagwons.  I was truly amazed by intensity and dedication of these hagwons or after school program, especially the English and Math hagwons.  During our tours, I learned about how both of these programs push students to the highest level possible.  Quitting is not in a Korean student’s vocabulary.  It is about pushing to the next level and making new discoveries because of all the hard work put forth.  Seeing this inspired me to take that extra step in everything that I am working towards.  When touring the various elementary, middle, and high schools in and around Chuncheon, I was able to see the classrooms, materials, and native speaking and non-native speaking English teachers that are a part of the “English Fever” in South Korea.  For example, while at Yanggu Middle School I learned that the focus of their English education curriculum is to teach students correct grammar and writing skills.  By focusing on grammar and writing skills there is less of an emphasis on teaching conversational English skills.  Yet, he expressed how students need to learn conversational skills since speaking a mix of Korean and English in conversations is the main problem that students experience.  The experience at Yanggu Middle School taught me that as a teacher it is important to take a step back and examine how your students are doing, and then find a way to incorporate the areas they are struggling in into your lessons. I feel the small areas they are struggling in will grow larger and larger if we as teachers don’t take the time to address them.  This is something that I want implement into my future classroom and also continue to learn more about how to discover it in a classroom as well.
            Another area of our South Korea trip that left a mark on me was learning and being immersed in the Korean language.  On our first full day in Seoul, I remember very vividly my first time being fully surrounded by the Korean language.  A group of us were walking through Coax Mall and the background noise was filled with people speaking in Korean.  Not knowing what was being said around me gave me that first sense of culture shock.  In addition to being immersed in Korean language through a natural setting, I also was able to learn some Korean and experience the feeling that an ELL student possibly feels when entering an English classroom for the first time.  When learning Korean I remember initially looking at our handout with the phonetic spellings of the words.  I began thinking that it wouldn’t be too bad since how to say the word was basically given.  However, I was wrong as I learned that what a word looks like it sounds like is not necessarily what it actually sounds like.  I began to feel a little nervous and unsure of how to go about the items that popped up next.  It was at this moment that I began to think about how an ELL student might feel when he or she enters an English based classroom for the first time.  This experience definitely made me want to take the time to learn about the students that come into my classroom.  By doing this I hope to make to first day for an ELL student more enjoyable and less stressful.

Finally, I also learned a lot about myself as a person, a learner, and an educator.  As a person, I learned that I have a lot more drive and determination in me than I thought I did.  There were many instances on this trip when I approached things that I would ordinarily walk away from.  For example, I never thought I would have the drive to push myself and climb up a mountain.

An alley in Namdaemun Market, Seoul

However, seeing the view from close to the top made me so proud of what I had accomplished.  As a learner, I learned that every moment teaches you something new.  There wasn’t a second that passed by when I didn’t see something, make a connection to something, or take in something new from the environment I was in.  In addition, I learned a lot from the people that surrounded me on this trip.  So many different backgrounds and levels of experience made this trip that much more of learning experience in ways that I didn’t even recognize at the time.  As an educator, I learned the importance of taking the time to step back and observe and learn how others teach.  It’s through this that you may learn something that takes your teaching to the next level.  Studying abroad in South Korea has been an eye opening experience that makes me excited for the experiences that are yet to come in my life.