By Fouz Khalid KHAN (2011 MPP, Pakistan) and Natasa VUJOVIC(2011 MPP, Serbia)

For international students, the whole experience of living in Korea is a rich, diversified and colorful mix of a life made possible through generosity of the Korean government. In the spirit of expressing our gratitude for the community, a group of international students participated for the third consecutive year in the Volunteer English Teaching Program at the Dongdaemun Welfare Center. 7 volunteers were selected from many applicants to teach 90-minute, biweekly classes. Students varied from elementary to high school kids, and volunteers were left to teach a textbook of their own choosing. The class started from May.

Shahid Dayo (2011 MPP/PM, Pakistan) remembers his experience with a satisfaction for his contribution. “Teaching Korean children was an opportunity I was looking forward to very much. The three kids in my class were high school students and it wasn’t too difficult making them understand the language. The problem was, they were familiar with the written language yet they fumbled with verbally expressing themselves. I hope I was able to help them speak a bit more easily.”

Fouz Khalid Khan had experienced the same shyness of Korean students, hesitant to open up in front of strangers – and foreigners at that! But after the initial timidity, the kids brightened up and they happily commenced their syllabus. The Welfare Center did provide a translator during classes which helped in smooth communication with the kids. But since his charges were elementary school students, he found them much more motivated when given chocolates and sweets during the (understandably) arduous task of learning English!

Natasa Vujovic taught 4 high school students. Since their English was of various levels, the most challenging part of her teaching was to find a way to engage all of them without losing their interest. Letting them help each other with translations and grammar was very useful as they were more relaxed and more at ease with their peers. At the end she was able to experience those moments when everyone was engaged and learning. And the experience of learning from her students about their culture was definitely priceless.

Ian Shon (2011 MPP, Canada) made friends with his three students—Da Young Hwang, Woo Young Hwang and Lee Ho—who will always be a special part of his Korean experience. After a rough start he found games to be extremely helpful for drawing their attention. For example, they played Scrabble for a whole class and as a result Lee Ho now knows what is fire extinguisher, Woo Young learned how to write numbers from 1 to 20, and Da Young can introduce herself in English.

It was a great chance for all the volunteers to learn about the Korean culture through the direct interaction with Korean youngsters, but also a great lesson in patience and challenges of teaching. Simply knowing something is not enough, we realized, because the real challenge lies in how to pass on that knowledge in the most effective and interesting way. The interaction with children required going back in time and thinking what made things interesting at their age. There were early struggles on how to connect with them, but at the end of it all what stays with you are those moments of true happiness when you see your students grow to reach new heights. As simple as that.