Savannah Glaves

C&T 491

Dr. Cho & Johnson

2 June 2019

Journal Entry #1

Everyone wants to find a job that they don’t hate—right? Most people say if you work a

job that you love, you will never have to work a day in your life. That is my exact reason for

coming to Korea and, specifically, Kyunghwa. I have not completely decided what career I want

to take once I graduate from college—I’m thinking about either international law, international

business, or teaching English as a second language—and I believe that this internship will help

me narrow down my choices as I participate in the practicum. Along with that, I hope to be able

to receive some cultural experience and learn cultural etiquette during my time abroad. This is

my first time overseas and I hope to be able to learn as much as I can about living in another

country, along with the struggles that foreigners experience every day in different countries.

I have experienced many things so far at Kyunghwa. The first day we were exhausted

from the fifteen-hour plane ride, but the students’ bright attitudes cheered all of us up

immediately. Over the weekend we went into the town with the native English-speaking teacher,

Greg, where he showed us around. I would say the hill leading up to Kyunghwa is a major

physical challenge here, since we have to walk up it every time we want to go into town.

However, there have been many mental challenges as well for me.

One of my main problems is that I am naturally a shy person. This practicum is bringing

me out of my comfort zone in many more ways than I thought it would. If I had not taken public

speaking last semester, I feel like I would be very unwilling to even speak in front of the
students. The students’ attitudes are giving me a confidence booster, though. They all seem like

they want to learn about us, and Greg is making the class exciting as well for both the students

and us. I feel like I can easily speak in front of the class. However, I do have to remember to

slow down, especially since I tend to talk faster when I am talking in front of many people.

Talking to the students one-on-one has also been very hard for me because I am bad at

small talk. The students don’t know what to ask me, and I’m not completely sure what to ask

them either. It’s a repetitious, “what’s your favorite type of music,” or “what’s your favorite

movie.” I tell them that I’m just as bad as it at them, but it rarely helps. I felt like I tended to sit

in silence for the majority of the first day or two, but I’m slowly getting better as the days go on.

I’m starting to try and switch up the questions to get more conversation going. It’s a slow

process, but it’s generally working.

Some of the most rewarding moments has been how much the students like to talk to us.

If I ask if one of them wants a sticker or candy, they are so excited about it. It makes me happy

that I am able to make their intense schooling a little better through small gifts like that. My

name is also probably the hardest out of all the people in the practicum to remember, so it feels

extremely rewarding when even one person is able to remember my name.

Having the help of the native-speaking teachers has also been extremely helpful during

this practicum. Hearing about how hard it was for Greg to get a job because he did not fit the

“white person” stereotype was interesting. While he has had problems with getting a job because

of how he looks, I have had trouble interacting with the students in the first week. It was nice

knowing that he had troubles too, even though our troubles were very different. It was also nice

to get feedback from him on how to better our slides—by adding transitions to our pictures and

speaking more slowly.

 Currently my expectations for the experience I will have at Kyunghwa are extremely

high. I hope to be able to teach these girls and have them retain the information that I do teach

them. These girls all seem to have varying interests and abilities on what they want to do when

they graduate, and I want to help them succeed in every way possible. This will be both a

learning experience for the girls and for me. If I can do my very best, I hope these girls will be

able to do their very best as well. Since English is the lingua franca of the world, it will make it

easier for these girls to get into college and possibly a job later on in life. I also hope to be able to

learn how to teach better, since any of my jobs could require me to teach another person. Thus, I

do believe that this experience will help both these girls with their English skills and me with my

teaching skills.