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Problems for learners in South KoreaI have been teaching in South Korea for a year now, and have learned a great deal about teaching methodologies, Korean culture, Asian office politics and working with non-native speakers. However, one thing that differs more drastically from the western world, are the problems that young learners face in South Korea. South Korea is one of the leading countries in education, so what is expected of the student can be quite monumental. This problem affects the student in many ways. For one, many students go to school literally all day. It?s fairly normal, at my school, that a student starts school at 9 am every day, and finishes around 2 pm. After 2 pm, our school has an afterschool program (including my english afterschool program) that last until 4 pm. If a student has an education focused family (most do), the student will go to a hogwan after their time at public school. A hogwan is a private school that teaches a specific subject (english, music, math, etc.). As you can see, this is a lot of schooling, and takes its toll on the student both mentally and physically. Sadly, South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. I personally believe it is due to the workloads given at such a young age. With nothing but 12 hour work days their entire lives, with very little payout, it is no wonder that they are so depressed. All of these factors combined can breed a few problems with in the class room. I have found that putting me in the students? shoes can really help with understanding their performance issues. They could be tired from over working, or maybe they?re depressed. Maybe they?re the odd-man-out in the classroom. I teach at a school with very mixed levels of students. My school houses one of the biggest special education programs in the area, and also orphans. I have students that are very advanced, and some that don?t even know the alphabet. This situation in its self can cause quite a few problems for the students. With such wide array of academic levels, catering lessons can be difficult, and one or two students are usually left out at times. If I teach simple alphabet/ grammar, the advanced students become bored and restless. If I teach more advanced lessons, the low-level students become bored and restless. The only way I?ve been able to reach all students equally is to teach a dynamic lesson. Most of my lessons cater to all levels, but usually rely on one level to be somewhat independent. I can usually switch the roles of the independent students fairly easily by creating my own materials. This allows me to focus on the dependent students and help the independents as needed. South Korea?s education system isn?t perfect by a long shot, and does make quite a few problems for its students. These problems can be overcome by clever lesson planning and understanding the students? lives.
