Teaching English in Korea : Reviews (Gwangju Gyeonggi)

My favorite part of the program was the relationships developed with the students, as well as with the Kyunghwa teachers. I left Korea feeling a part of their community and was constantly surprised by how welcoming and willing to help the KU students everyone was. Never did I feel unsafe or worried about much during my time in Korea--I always knew the staff at Kyunghwa would be there to support us.

My favorite part of the TEIK program has to be being able to walk away from this program knowing that myself and the other student teachers really helped to make a difference in the student's lives. I know that I will hold my memories of Kyunghwa very fondly for the rest of my life and I am truly grateful that I got to teach English and completely immerse myself in another culture!

I loved meeting and working with the students. The school was incredibly welcoming and friendly, and getting to work with the community was a heartwarming experience.

My favorite part of the experience was getting to interact with the students and staff in Korea. I learned so much from the time we spent together and enjoyed making those connections.

I found some of the support from the mentor teachers as well as the opportunity to use my Korean to be the most rewarding. Even if you have never taught before, you will have time to develop interesting lesson plans and learn to interact with students. There is a native English teacher at both the High School and English Business high school who will provide suggestions as well as guidance. As for using Korean, students who have had the opportunity to learn Korean/already know some Korean will find that you can better connect to Kyung Hwa students as well as the Gwangju area residents.

The teaching was the most rewarding part of the program; It was also the most difficult! There was a huge learning curve to be able to adjust to how the Kyunghwa students learned and responded to English but once we all got used to the students and they felt more comfortable chatting with us, it felt super rewarding to have the students come up to us at the end of the program and tell us how grateful they were that we were able to come and visit!

Being able to see a lesson plan that we created for the students having an impact, as well as a real-life change for the students, was very rewarding. It made me very proud to see what we worked for make a difference.

It was most rewarding to have conversations with the students at Kyunghwa and know that you're making a big difference in their lives.

I learned how to adapt and be flexible with not only others, but also my circumstances. Being in Korea and with the same group of people for such a long time can often be tiring, and sometimes even frustrating. But realizing everyone was in the same circumstances was comforting, and it was comforting to know I could always rely on my professors for support!

I learned so much valuable information about Korean/Asian culture. It is an experience that is impossible to replicate without physically going there.

Take a little bit of time to learn the Korean alphabet (Hangeul), because it's a very simple alphabet to learn, and many signs/menus/words use English words, just written in Korean lettering. It helps for navigation, adjusting to your environment, and getting to know the students better.