I met my
conversation partner for the first time at Black Dog Café. Apparently he is a
large fan of coffee, so when I suggested to Jeehoon that we should try out Black
Dog, he was all for the idea.
Jeehoon is from South Korea,
studying computer science, and has nearly impeccable English. I was immediately
impressed by his speech, and our conversation flowed smoothly. We began by
talking about the educational differences between South Korea and the United
States.
I informed him that I wanted to
teach English abroad and South Korea was on my list of countries. He told me I
could make a lot of money in South Korea, especially if I worked in Gangnam,
where he used to live. There, everyone spends exorbitant amounts of money on a
child’s education.
The students, he said, would be very attentive and willing to learn.
However, they are extremely competitive and only learn for the tests. I will
have difficulty with students who only want to learn the rules as opposed to
actually learning how to speak, read, listen, and write.
He
wasn’t a fan of the education system at all. He enjoys how we teach in the U.S.
far more, believing that it leaves room for creativity and a more well rounded
knowledge of a subject. I found his opinion to be very interesting, considering
the stereotypes of education in Asian countries.
We
left Black Dog, whose coffee he thoroughly enjoyed, and arranged to meet up
again at the coffee house the next week.
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