Hyeonseong (Daniel) Shin

Letter of Self-Introduction
My interest in teaching began when I was in middle school. I enjoyed teaching any
subjects to my friends whenever I was asked some questions. I loved to explain and teach
anything to my friends. While my teacher asked some students to give an explanation in front of
classmates, most students did not like it and they were embarrassed, but I really enjoyed it when
my teacher appointed me to explain something in front of classmates. That was the point I knew
I wanted to become a teacher. However, it was not that I liked English when I was young
because, in Korea, students spent the majority of study-time learning grammar, studying reading
materials and translating sentences in English class. Like other general Korean students, I also
had to memorize a lot of grammar rules when I learned English. What I learned was not how to
use English in the real world, but how to get a great grade on an English test. That is why I was
not interested in English so much at that time.
Although I was not interested in terms of learning English in school, I was motivated to
study English because I enjoyed using English in the real world. When I volunteered as an
interpreter for an international festival and volunteered as a Korean language tutor for foreign
students in my university, I realized that it is extremely enjoyable to use English in the real world.
I was glad and happy to share my story and to listen to the stories of people who were from other
countries. By communicating in English with foreigners, I could have a wide perspective on the
world and felt the achievement that I can share my ideas in English. This idea led me to make a
decision to be an English teacher, because I wanted my students to know this feeling. From my
teaching, I also would like my students to be able to have a wide perspective on the world and to

have opportunities to explore the world through English so that they can feel that learning
English is valuable and worthwhile in life.
Another point that I decided to be an English teacher was when I reflected upon my own
learning experiences. As I mentioned earlier, the way that I learned English discouraged me to
keep

learning English.

According to

Larsen-freeman

and

Anderson

(2011),

CLT

(Communicative Language Teaching) maintains that the goal of CLT is to enable students to
communicate in the target language. I adamantly believe that this is true. Thus, in contrast with
my past learning experience, I would like to be one of teachers who try to enable students to
communicate with other people in English. I believe that it is the way that students feel learning
English is enjoyable. To accomplish this goal, I will keep making my efforts to learn the
methodologies and theories while I take TESOL program.

Reference
Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2011). In Techniques and principles in Language
Teaching. New York, N.Y., USA: Oxford University Press.