EPIK Experiences & Language Education: Worthwhile Work As a Visiting Teacher in Korea

It's been a while since I've shared my thoughts on the pedagogy and implications of my work, having focused so much on my EPIK Experiences "guidebook" sort-of series. But as I prepare for my last six months in EPIK,  I've lately felt the need to reevaluate my philosophy as an educator. This need is especially poignant after speaking with other teachers here in Korea--my Korean coteachers, the novice ELT, university professors, slacking soju enthusiasts, and the sincere teacher who wants to do their best. What is my role as an EPIK teacher, and what goals can I put in place to make my work here worthwhile?

My Background
Feel Free to Skip This Part

​I consider myself an educator. After all, I have a Master's degree, experience, certification, and came to Korea with all the best intentions in my EPIK public school placement. But I had also, in the states, struggled to find meaning as a teacher. In fact, I'd struggled with this since student-teaching. Of course I love to watch as students grow passionate, excited, and curious. Of course I love to see their pride as they accomplish another goal. Of course I love to see myself as a facilitator and guide rather than lecturer and knowledge-fountain. Of course my rapport, relationships, and growth with these students has brought me immeasurable fulfillment.

But that struggle and doubt, stemming from the administrative and bureaucratic changes coming to education, had been so rooted to my student-teaching. I felt unbelievably stifled by what I'd seen my mentor teacher juggle: Student-Learning-Objectives whose data could be fudged by focusing on the middle-ground students, the minutia of classroom management for eleven year olds, the budget cuts, the phone calls to over-enthusiastic or totally apathetic parents, the argument over charter schools, the school-to-prison-pipeline, the lack of funding and division of opportunity from neighborhood to neighborhood, the gun-control debate and its affect on students, the testing.

I remember thinking that--as a student-teacher--I should have been bright-eyed and excited about making a difference in my students' lives. In only a year, the disillusionment settled into a hard pit, and I realized that I should not be feeling so hopeless already. That if classroom teaching was truly meant for me, I would feel more like my peers who made happy Facebook posts every other day about their classrooms and gushed about an opportunity to attend prestigious teaching conferences. If classroom teaching was truly meant for me, I would feel these same joys and also find solace in other frustrated teachers who are willing to 'tough it out.' Because some people talk about sticking out the first year. About things getting better. But I know what it feels like to be merely frustrated the same way  I know what it feels like to be passionate, to be driven. 

I still consider myself an educator because I love learning and helping others learn and that will always be an essential role in my career moving forward. I came to Korea for time to think, explore, save money, and teach all while I consider how to best utilize my role as an educator in the United States. Since arriving in August, I have made my decisions, done my research, and thought about my plans, excited to move into educational media and tech design. But for now... ​

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My Korean Move

...Now coming to Korea and working as an EPIK designated "Native English Teacher" (NET) brings a whole slew of different  concerns (some of which I discussed when reflecting on The Language Wars and equitable teaching).  I came to Korea knowing I had these concerns, and now it's time to reflect with the lens of experience.

​Like I said--it's been a while since I've gotten into the nitty gritty of education systems, theory, and teaching philosophy. I was doing some personal research in what I wanted to do with my role as an educator, and I also didn't want to talk about these nuanced issues with the lens I'd carried from home (one of doubt and frustration, looking for an escape). I wanted to make sure that when I talked about my work as an EPIK NET, I was able to see everything without bias so that I could think critically about the experiences and work put in by Korean students, their Korean English teachers, and the visiting teachers.  Just because I know I want to leave the classroom does not mean I don't care about education or doing a good job.

I also didn't want to be another one of those embittered individuals who came to Korea because they didn't know what else to do, those people who have now found themselves caught signing and signing on again with hagwon contract after hagwon contract, tired and hating Korea for the sheer fact that they cannot get out and make something of themselves at home without taking a risk. I want to reflect honestly, especially with my background in education.

Issues in Korea

*as a disclaimer I'm speaking strictly about my role in English Education and the general parameters/accomplishments of English Education in Korea. I am not qualified to speak about the Korean Education system as a whole, despite my concerns about students' stress levels.

When people first come to Korea to teach, they look at either hagwons or EPIK. I've explained my reasons for choosing EPIK maybe once, twice, or three times over, but I'll give a brief, bullet-ed reminder:

• hagwons are notorious for illegal contracts and/or running more as a business than a school
• hagwons are a popular system in Korea that I can't fully get behind (much like I can't fully get behind charter schools in the states) despite there being some golden eggs among the rotten ones
• most EPIK co-teachers, especially those at the secondary level, have something to offer me as a novice teacher
• consistent schedule and desk-warming allow me to take full advantage of my time in Korea to both explore and consider/work toward my next steps in returning home
• safety nets and connections -- in Busan we even have regular PD 

​So while I could talk about my perspective on hagwons, I'll avoid that and discuss what I've seen of EPIK so far...

Groove Korea released an issue in September 2013 that focused on the stressful, robotic lives students lead. Click the photo for the full issue!

• Native Speaker-ism: AKA. The idea that a Native Speaker from one of 7 recognized countries would be an effective English teacher. This leads to a lot of unqualified teachers being chosen over qualified educators. For example, a cousin of mine in Greece is an amazing educator in EFL with loads more experience than me and a personal perspective on what it takes to learn English. She would not qualify to teach in Korea. Meanwhile I have met my fair share of NETs who very well don't know what they're doing. (Hell! I feel like I'm floundering sometimes.)
• Racism: Expanding on Native Speaker-ism, the idea of what a native speaker looks like (white, blond, blue-eyed) and how teachers of color are often discriminated against in Korea. This certainly happens in other nations, but Korea has had infamous headlines for their racist hiring processes within hagwons. Additionally, teachers of color often face significantly different issues within the EPIK classroom (ranging from disrespect to straight-up harassment).
• Human Tape-Recorder/Class-Clown:  Many EPIK teachers find that some school placements prefer having students repeat after "So-and-so Teacher" like drones of zombies. A few people also grow frustrated  at the expectation of edutainment. I personally have not experienced the latter as I don't teach at a hagwon or the elementary level, but in secondary I have had some frustration with repetition as legitimate practice. 
• Co-teachers: Issues with co-teachers can range from a difference in pedagogy to a co-teacher with INCREDIBLE skills being relegated to a disciplinarian during your class while you (generally speaking) don't have the real experience, rapport, and face-to-face time to effectively build a lesson based on tracking students' progress over time. (At the elementary level, you see your 500 students maybe twice a week; at secondary, once--not nearly enough time to identify and track exactly what they need.)  You could also have an apathetic co-teacher with maybe B1 language skills who does not show up to class. You could have an overworked co-teacher who simply doesn't have the time to work with you. 
• The 수능 and a relentless focus on memorization:
          Mostly reserved for secondary placements, but...
  ​From what I've seen thus far, Korean students are superhuman. They go to school all day only to go to hagwon all night, finishing homework somewhere around midnight or 1 am before sparing themselves an hour to play video games.
  Just to wake up at 6am and do it again.
  As one would imagine, there are a few drawbacks to this system. The stress and suicide rates of Korean students is enough to make you sick, but how does it affect English teaching and our goals in a classroom?
  
  With mental health, the answer is obvious. Students who are this stressed out about "right answers" cannot take chances in a foreign language classroom. I can count on two hands the number of students I can converse with. Teachers and students at the secondary level focus on the 수능, the Korean college entrance exam. This exam tests students on a range of subjects, but, in my opinion, the English acts as little more than a death-round for

 students whose parents couldn't afford the best of the best, most grueling hagwons. These questions are unnecessarily baffling and convoluted, paragraphs of complicated constructions and unnatural text with a missing chunk to be filled in through multiple choice.* As a result, teachers design curriculum that focuses more so on rote memorization, translation, and written language. EPIK was initially thought of as a way to combat that by motivating students to speak with a native English teacher, but--surprise, surprise--textbook speaking sections tend to be phrasal regurgitation. Not to mention the disconnect between what is taught in a secondary EPIK classroom and the kind of language on the 수능--both opposite ends of a frustrating spectrum.
​
(*I'll include an exam question at the bottom and an excerpt of text from my 3rd grade middle school--US 9th grade--textbook.)

These are only a handful of concerns (I haven't even really gotten into socio-economics) but they summarize what I've seen at friends' schools and experienced within my own placements (so far, I have taught at three Korean public middle schools in the span of eight months). In a lot of ways these are issues outside of our control. Well...minus the unqualified teachers who come here just to shit-around. Either way we are not here to act as little saviors and fix a system that isn't ours to fix, a system we have spent little time in and do not fully understand within a culture and language we do not deeply know. 


Still... we have to create a framework of goals within these issues in order to grow as professionals (whether that be within or outside the field of education), find satisfaction as current EPIK teachers, and best service our students.

"But Lena!" you cry. "I'm here for a working vacation!"
To which, "Yeah, and do you want to waste that working vacation weakening your resume or failing your students?"



So...let's look at these issues and set some goals...


I cannot speak towards the issue of racism since I am white and carry that privilege into a classroom, but I will say it's also on white teachers to reshape students' understandings of POC, expose students to diversity through our examples, conversations, etc. It is also on us to be aware of neo-colonialist attitudes many expats take in accepting teaching jobs abroad.  But in regards to finding a framework of goals:

So--outside of what EPIK or the MOE/POE designates as an EPIK teacher's work--what do we want to accomplish in the classroom? How can we find meaning and create meaningful work even if circumstance does not allow us to educate to our full capacity?

Should we even view our specific EPIK role as real teacher? As Human Tape-Recorder? As Clown? 

If you choose any of those, you're likely to experience disappointment. EPIK's limitations make it difficult to feel like a real teacher at all. If you see your job as a sack of human spitting English for kids to copy or laugh at, then...well obviously you'll hit a wall of depression. Some other blogs I've come across had seen EPIK as a "working vacation." I'm quick to agree with this, but it still doesn't define our role. And to be honest? I feel like your role will depend on your school, the liberties afforded to you, the way your school tests students, if you have a say/if your class materials will be on the exam, and--perhaps most importantly--where you plan to go after EPIK.  

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Roles and Goals

I'm not sure if it's the right answer so far, but what has helped me in navigating my role is to avoid thinking of myself as a "Native English Teacher" despite the title 원어민 put on the plaque over my desk. Instead, I've considered and come to prefer the phrase GET-- Guest English Teacher.

I know, I know...semantics. But as a NET, emphasis remains on my native-ness as a qualification and can also make me view my time here as a long-term right based on my American-ness. The reality is that most EPIK positions should not be, in my opinion, longer than a few years. As a GET, I am a temporary worker. So, in that temporary time, what do I want to see accomplished? What CAN be accomplished? (because the reality is that while I care so much about doing a good job, I am also restricted and looking to leave teaching)

But hey, let's try these on for size:

• Expose my students to cultural and ethnic diversity.
  • This has always been important to me, given my own family background and childhood growing up in Queens, NY; and it's something I feel is important for my students' growth in a homogeneous society that's becoming increasingly more global. Culturally competent attitudes and a basic introduction to ethnorelativism  help students better understand their own part in their own culture and in a globally shared humanity.
  • While it's easy to show pictures and talk about a different culture in the abstract, even my simple being in the classroom and using my Greek-American upbringing in various examples provides students with a drastically different perspective than the one they've constantly seen in Busan. For example, it's been a pretty difficult concept to explain to some people that I am both Greek and American. It's even been difficult for a few of my Korean-American teacher friends. 
  • This is also why I think EPIK teachers should not stay more than a few years. While there's something to be said about the novelty wearing off when you stay too long, I think it also means students wouldn't get the chance to meet a new foreign teacher from a new foreign place with these exciting foreign experiences that'll only build their global repertoire. (I also think EPIK should encourage EFL learners who have become fluent to take part in the program for this very same reason and for the ability of students to relate to them). But anyway...goal 2.
• Help students feel comfortable speaking English. Maybe--if we can really finesse something--have students see the value in learning a language regardless over whether they would be tested.
  • My own language anxiety stifles my language learning. I don't want that for my students, but English anxiety is made worse by the incredible amounts of pressure they face.  Additionally, I know there are many students who don't care about, or have given up on, English. It might taboo to say, but with the disconnect between the public school curriculum, hagwons, and the 수능 I don't blame these kinds of students. I do hope that the work I provide gives them something valuable outside the 수능. An urge to travel maybe, a curiosity for Japanese just for curiosity's sake, a sudden sense to ask an English speaker how they like Korea.
             I am not going to make a real dent in the English they'll eventually need for their college entrance exam--how can I when our most complicated of canned key expressions are One ____and the other ___ ?--and I am not personally equipped to create outstanding, fluent speakers. Maybe all I can work toward is that a student can initiate a simple conversation without prompt, that I am here as a visitor they maybe want to talk to every so often.
• Accomplish the tasks assigned to me with efficiency and collaboration. Try out new tech, make your own videos--this is the place to try what you can and learn from the success or failures.
  • So I've got to get page 67 parts A,C, and E done for the listening exams that are broadcasted only once throughout the nation at exactly 10am. Also have to find a way to PPP my way through these trite phrasal conversations in a way that does not add extra work or stress to my already over-worked co-teachers.
  • At the same time, I've come to know my co-teachers' diligence, and I respect the sincere care for their work and students that they put forth. Both Korean teachers and Korean students are under a lot of pressure. I am not here to add more stress onto their backs. If I can assist in anyway, I'll do my best.
  • Let's gamify what we can without letting the students go glassy-eyed yet another PowerPoint bomb game. Let's have them moving more, utilizing english across a content no matter their level. During camps let's put their phones to use if they've got them anyway! Find an app for museums across the world, for languages other than English just to see the spark, for AR dinosaurs they have to write a story about together. 
• Let my students know I care for them.
  • This is pretty self-explanatory and should be a necessity for all teachers, but there's something truly amazing when a student realizes I know their name, that I remember their favorite anime or we bond over a shared love for EXO's Baekhyun--silly as these small things may seem. It's hard when I individually see my 500 students only once a week. But I care. I make a point to show them I remember their interests, their favorites, their dislikes. This should be a necessity for all teachers everywhere, of course, but I feel like in EPIK it especially ties into students' motivation to learn English, in their willingness to take risks with language just to talk to the weird foreign teacher who sometimes talks too fast and too funny but jokes around about 닭발.  

So there we have it.
They're not the most lofty of ambitions, but they're the navigated parts of reality. I hope that I get to know my students and really appreciate the personal adventure that is living and working abroad. More so, I hope that my presence will matter to them inside or outside of schools and tests. ​

And finally...

A 수능 English Question

A 9th Grade English Textbook (Public School)

Answer: 5 - the former approximates to zero and the latter to infinity

With the gap between public school English and what's expected of students on the actual college entrance exam, it's no wonder students spend most of their time memorizing obscure, specialized vocabulary lists at hagwons rather than taking the chance to actually converse in English. 

Answer: Pan lived in a forest. He shook trees to frighten travelers.

Whew. Finally finished.
Those were a lot o' words and a lot o' thoughts, but I'd love to hear what other EPIK teachers think about their goals and roles in the classroom!