Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Len8]

I was given a part time job by the head of our English department to teach a 6th grade elementry school student. ( It was forced on me actually). The parents rang him up asking for a native speaker blah blah blah. Anyway I'm teaching this kid some basic stuff, when I notice that he isn't like your typical Korean kid. Totally different and also very confident. For the life of me I couldn't figure it out until he told me that he had lived in China for the last three years, attending a Chinese elementry school. His uncle was living in Bejing, so he wasn't alone. Korean parents are now sending their kids to china the way they used to send them to australia, New Zealand Canada and the U.S. He studied Chinese for a year and then attended full time at an elementry school. He now speaks Chinese well enough to free talk with the Chinese students learning Korean. His English was so so when he started, but he has picked it up rapidly to the point where he can comprehend it to the same level as most university students.

I don't know if he is the product of ambitious parents, or talent or maybe both. I guess with a lot of parents being as ambitious as his are the English teaching game will be here for a long time.

He has his life all planned out. he said he will go to australia for highschool, and then he plans to attend Harvard

[Medic]

When someone knows another language besides their own (is bilingual), then it's easier for them to pick up another language. Might account for his ability to pick up English quickly.