The Teacher Becomes a Student

My British friend Mark recently found a Saturday Korean class for foreigners at the YMCA near his home, so today I went along to check it out. At first, they had me read something to check my level, and decided I needed to go to the Level 3 class. The only problem was that they didn't actually check to see if I understood what I read, just that I could read it. I tried telling them that I can read just about anything but that I understand very little. It didn't matter to them. Level 3 it was.

The teacher started the class by having the other students ask me questions in Korean. (Nothing like putting the new kid on the spot from the beginning!)

First question: What's your name?

Oh good, I can answer that one.

Second question: Where are you from?

Yep, I can handle that one too.

Third question: WAWA WAWAWA (imagine the adults' voices in the Charlie Brown cartoons)

Then, in case I didn't catch it the first time, the teacher repeated it for me: WAWA WAWAWA.

Then there were more of those voices from Charlie Brown as other students chimed in:
WAWA WAWAWA. WAWA WAWAWA. WAWA WAWAWA.

In exasperation, I finally blurted out my standard, "I'm not good at Korean!"

Finally the teacher looked at me and said, "Okay, maybe Level 2," and she directed me toward the Level 2 classroom.

Level 2 was slightly better, but since the class has been in session for a few weeks, they're already on page 50 in the textbook. If I had started at the beginning, I think I could have handled it, but it was a little much to start that far into the book, which is almost entirely in Korean and has almost no English explanations. I could basically get the gist of the lesson, but the material was just advanced enough that even though I could figure out what it was about, I couldn't quite use it on my own. I asked about the Level 1 class, but they're just learning the alphabet, and I am beyond that, so that class isn't right for me either. I bought the textbooks to study on my own--from page 1, not page 50--but I don't think I'll be going back to the class.

The experience was good for me, though, because it let me see what it's like for my students to sit in a class and not understand what the teacher is saying. It was just one class, but there were times when I felt so frustrated and overwhelmed that I wanted to cry. In my day-to-day life, I can get by without using Korean or with just using my survival phrases, but when the spotlight is on in the classroom, it's a totally different feeling. I hope to keep this in mind when I find myself getting frustrated with a student who is hesitant to talk and participate in class.