나의 영어 학습 자서전
My English Learning Autobiography
1. Yoon’s English School
My initial memory of English learning was Yoon’s English School(윤선생 영어교실) at the age of 10 or something. At that time, I woke up with the alarm call from my Yoon’s teacher and had small talk and practiced the expressions that I learned from the textbook. She visited my house once a week and taught me how to read phonics and English sentences. I found pronouncing English words interesting as English was my first foreign language, which sounds very exotic. Sometimes I felt burdened to do assignments every week, so I crammed right before the teacher’s visit.
2. YMA
It was my first private institution from 6th grade to 9th grade(3rd grade of middle school). I had to take a test in order to join the institution. My diagnostic test score was not good as I had little English grammar knowledge. I began at the B or C level and took steps to the top level. The curriculum consisted of three parts; grammar, reading, and conversation. The textbooks were ‘English Grammar In Use’ and ‘빠바 reading’. There was a mini test every class. In conversation class, I talked with native English speaking instructors. In retrospect, my English foundation was built at YMA with the help of its Spartan education.
3. Good Morning Pops
In high school, I was eager to enhance my English speaking skills. I heard that many people listened to Good Morning Pops every day so I also started to listen to the radio show. It was fun to read out loud lyrics and lines in films. I thought reading out loud helped improve English pronunciation and listening skills. Most of all, it was enjoyable that listening to pops and mimicking actor’s lines could be a way of learning.
4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
It was my first English book written in English. At first, I was surprised that it was the size of my hand with a newsprint paper. It was very light to carry so I read it whenever I had free time. The story line and sentences were not complex so I had few troubles reading. Being a senior in high school under academic stress, it gave me comfort with the quote “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” I felt an enormous sense of accomplishment when I finished it. From that time, I searched for other English books.
5. Educated by Tara Westover
This book triggered my craving for reading English essays and novels. Beginning with COVID-19 in 2020, it was chaotic for the school to deal with the unexperienced virus so I worked from home during most of the days in March and April. In order to kill two birds with one stone, killing time and enhancing my English reading skills, I grabbed a book. It was ‘Educated’ by Tara Westover. At first, it was not easy to comprehend the story because it was a memoir of a woman who had suffered from a violent and exclusive Mormon family. I was also overwhelmed by about 700 pages but managed to finish it. This book taught me why education is important for people to live their own life and be an indepedent self. From that on, I found pleasure in reading English novels or essays and kept reading.
6. Frustration
The biggest frustration that I have as an English language learner is the fact that I cannot be 100% sure about my use of English. As English has always been a foreign language, I have to look up the Internet or books in order to check if my expressions are correct or similar to native. Sometimes I felt despondent about verifying my utterance and writings to be native-like and sound natural. It made me felt falling behind. When would I be free from the dissatisfaction and anxiety?
7. Effective ways that work for me
1) Reading novels
2) Memorizing sentences and expressions
3) Writing with expressions that I searched for real use
8. Ineffective ways that dont' work for me
1) Memorizing vocabulary without context; studying with vocabulary books
2) Watching Youtube clips without purpose
9. Speaking is a long way to go…..
What shall I do?
