I was born in South Korea in 1985 and immigrated to Guatemala City with my family five years later, in 1990. Later, I would go the USA to complete my college education in Chicago. Thus, I have mastered both English and Spanish, which, along with my native Korean, will provide with an important foundation for becoming a language teacher devoted to the language of Business, my major at XXXX University in Chicago. Korean will always be my favorite language because it is my mother tongue. And Korea will always be the country that I most love because it is where I was born and the Korean people are my people. Growing up in Guatemala, I was so very proud to see more and more Koran cars as the years passed. Now, as in much of Latin America, a majority of the new cars and trucks that are being sold are from my home country. And I am so very pleased to see Korea make this contribution to the rest of the world, helping developing countries improve their economies since they benefit from reliable, safe, and highly fuel efficient transportation. This is why I want to become an English teacher by attending Korea University, so as to help the economy of our interconnected to world to continue to prosper.
Guatemala is known for being a dangerous place and it is, because of the poverty and underdevelopment. This also motivated me to work hard on my English skills and to study business in college, so that I could struggle for the rest of my life to contribute to economic development, thus helping poor people and poor countries to prosper. Guatemala does have nice weather, which I soon came to appreciate after having endured my first very cold winter in Chicago studying at XXXX University from 2004 to 2008.
I am writing the study plan which follows below because I want very much to study at Korea University, which I see as the finest educational institution in the world, at least for the Korean people. My studies at XXXX University in Korea will be indispensable for my future career development and will benefit me throughout my entire life.
When I was thirteen years old, my father told me: “If you read five hundred books with a written report for each, I will buy you a car.” My father’s intention was to improve my English, for me, as a teenager, what I wanted most was the car. In time, however, reading books in English became my hobby, in fact, my passion, and I developed a vast appreciation for reading, especially high quality fiction, biographies, and modern history. These days, I also spend a great deal of time reading in Korean, helping me to prepare myself for life back home and study at Korea University. The four years that I spent in Chicago studying for my college degree did wonders to perfect my English. Now, I look forward to perfecting my English studying in Seoul and benefitting from the company of my countrymen.
My desire to become a teacher as my professional calling in life began early on, as I began tutoring Guatemalans many years ago to improve their English. I tutored two Korean children when they moved to Guatemala, and I had the privilege of serving as a substitute teacher at an English speaking school in Guatemala. During my the first two quarters at XXXX University, I studied a variety of subjects and was very involved with sports, in addition to working part time jobs to help pay for my education. My ongoing passion for English literature, however, soon led me to the firm conviction that I wanted to devote my professional life to becoming an exceptionally good English teacher. But I am also a pragmatic person and I want to help contribute towards international economic development. And I want to be an English teacher so as to use the language to help build bridges between countries and peoples through the advancement of business ties. Thus, I began an intensive study of marketing. I came to especially enjoy research in this area and making presentations. Soon, I overcame my fear of speaking in front of strangers and also learned to become an excellent team player by participating in the development of group presentations taking great delight in working as part of a team, building shared commitments and accomplishing objectives together. I began to truly relish the thrill of gaining and sharing business knowledge with my classmates and professors. I do not regret majoring in marketing because I have learned how to do research and to develop analytical strategies. Most of all perhaps, I have become highly proficient in business writing, which will help me enormously as I continue to prepare myself for a distinguished career as a teacher of Business English.
During my studies at XXXX University, I want to focus on learning how to make English education interesting and entertaining because I am convinced that this is the best strategy for language learning. While, of course, there are many ways of teaching language and each professor has their own particular method or strategy for teaching, what I have found to be most effective is constant practice combined with making learning English fun, so as to engage the students´ interest in the material. When I tutored a Guatemalan male student during high school, for example, we read together and watched many movies in DVD with English subtitles for the hearing impaired. Although he didn’t understand most of the English at first, soon his accent radically improved along with the range of his vocabulary and the sophistication of his grammar. I was most impressed by the effectiveness of watching movies for improving his English skills and this has caused me to develop a very keen interest in using technological resources for language learning, especially the Computer and the Internet: CALL, Computer Assisted Language Learning. I want to study at XXXX University for many reasons, foremost among which is the wide range of different methods and theories for teaching English, and the laboratory resources of your program to help teachers develop and take full advantage of technological aids for language learning. I am especially pleased that Korea has become such a technologically advanced country with media and internet resources so widely available and young people increasingly skilled at putting these resources to good use.
In conclusion, I see media resources as the most effective language learning tools, in addition to books, newspapers, and magazines: television, radio, and especially the internet because of its interactive character. It is through active participation, and dialogue that we most effectively learn language. Yet, learning how to effectively introducing media in the classroom is a great challenge, especially for older teachers who are form a generation that is not as media savvy as the younger generations. I would like to contribute to teacher education in Korea, helping teachers learn how to make the fullest and best use of media materials and resources in the English Language classroom. I hope to begin studying English Education at XXXX University in this upcoming spring semester and I thank you very much for considering my application to your program.