Philosophy of Teaching Statement Dongmin Kim Graduate Assistant Korean section of EALL Language is the house of being.

(Martin Heidegger 1971:135) I have quoted and interpreted it to my students when a language course begins as this: You are now starting to build your summer house. It will be really meaningful and luxurious experience of your life. In spite of some struggles, your works are going to reward and you can enjoy dwelling in your second house. My teaching philosophy can be worded as for customized and affective teaching. For this I try to stand as a learner as close as possible whenever I meet my students in the classroom. In fact, I have been a learner, building my English and Chinese second house. Furthermore, my careers as a high school teacher for first 10 years and as a Korean language teacher from then now on, make me understand the learners emotion and mind in the classroom contexts. The sympathy towards the learners is essential to facilitate the rapport in that both teacher and learners are combined with each other as a cooperative relationship for the goal of building a house of language. I emphasize creating an atmosphere where it is okay to make mistakes, using humor, flexibility, patience, and two way communication to build trust. My concern for rapport involves legitimate authority to ask the students to achieve the goal. I claim a certain level of attention and respect from my students. I express my idea(i.e., cell phones must be turned off in my classroom) in my syllabus by discussing my personal thoughts with my students.

Not only it is important for me to stay with learners viewpoint, it is also very important for me to give equal attention to topic. I provide many activities to foster interest in subject and motivation. Authentic materials(i.e., TV drama & commercial, photo, movie among others) are inserted into my lesson plan and peer feedback is included with slight variation of the activity each time. I organize those activities consistently with the consideration of the students preexisting knowledge. Last, but not the least, I believe the evaluation of both students and teacher is crucial to the development of each other. I check the learners comprehension with diverse types of assessment including quizzes, oral test, writing test and making skit movie. To develop my teaching quality, I discuss with my colleagues who advise and encourage me continuously. As a guide on the learners works of building, I hope that I can foster skills in my students that will prepare them for greater challenges. In the process, I also hope to continually broaden my awareness on pedagogical matters while I progress as an instructor.