Heart pounding , sweaty palms, frantically trying to remember a 2minute speech off by heart , 30 pairs of eyes looking at you and a teacher sitting ready to grade you with her assement sheet . Public speaking and class orals . Possibly one of the scariest aspects that a student ever has to face at school. I know for me it was . Now Imagine having to do this exact same speech in a foreign langauge. A language that you have only been learning for a few years.....
English speech contests happen throughout Korea and throughout the year. They usually start at elementary level and go right up to high school. The idea behind them is to give students an oppurtunity to speak english. The contests usually have a selection of topics that the students can choose from and they then base their speech around that topic. The only rule , you need to memorise the speech off by heart.
When I first came to hear about these contests I was impressed and thought what a wonderful way it is to encourage the korean students to learn english. However in the past two weeks my perception has changed .
Two weeks ago we held a speech contest at school in order to prepare the girls for the real contest which would be held the following week. I was asked to judge the competition which I willing agreed to do. However i was completely unaware of what sort of emotional impact it would have on me.
For those of you are are unaware of the korean education system and korean culture the amount of pressure placed on students to achieve academically and to speak english is huge. What is even more worrying is the amount of pressure that the students place on themselves and it was more evident than ever when I judged the speaking contest.
'I have a dream ' is how her speech began. However this student was so nervous she suddenly froze and couldnt remember the next line. Dead silent for 2minutes. Unable to deal with the uncomfortable silence I asked her what her dream was in her heart and not what she had written down for the speech , hoping that this would make it easier to for her to speak. However she was so consumed by her nerves that she was still unable to verbalise her dream . As the tears started to roll down her cheek i was unable to keep it together and my emotions got the better of me. I went outside with her as I could see she was not coping with the situation and was in need of a hug. Ive never felt somebody hug me so tightly in my life. This poor darling sobbed on me. I could feel her sense of relief. Whilst we were outside Io asked her again 'what is your dream ' to that she replied 'To be a Doctor in Africa '
16 years old and this little darling wants to change the world. The speeches that followed from the other students were nothing but inspiring . From wanting to cure cancer and flying aeroplanes to finding ways to stop global warming. These are the dreams of my 16 year old students . Ask a 16 year old South African what yhey want to do with their life and I doubt you will get the same answer.
Yesterday I went to watch my students at the official speaking competition. Once again I could sense their fear . Having flashbacks of the incident from the school contest I prayed that my girls would be ok and not have to face the embarrasment of forgetting their lines.
Although I am incredibly proud of my students for making it to the finals that was not what I was worried about . What worries me is the message we are sending to these children and the long term impact that such events can have on a student . What if one of my studentshad failed the contest yesterday? Not only are we telling them that their english ability is not good enough but we are also indirectly telling them that they will never achieve their dream and that their opinions are irrelevant as they are unable to verbalise them correctly.
For the students who do not pass the contests one can imagine that they perceive themselves as failures and a failure at learning the english langauge . So when the next opportunity arises for them to share their hopes , dreams and opinions they are reminded of the time when they were told that their english speaking ability is not good enough and so the chances of them expressing their dreams and opinions with us again are unlikely.
What kind of pereperception of the english langauge are we creating for our students ? I want my students to learn to love the english langauge . I want them to be able to express their dreams and views of the world with confidence without having to worry about someone grading them for it . But how can we possibly expect someone to engage and love something when it instils nothing but fear ?
These are thoughts and questions that I have found myself struggling with over the past few months . This topic goes way beyond a speech contest and I feel that if we truly want to help Korea to embrace the english langauge then the entire system needs to change.
I believe that as foreign teachers we have the ability to help change the system. Can we change it completely ? Unlikely , but for those short 40minutes that we see each a class we have the power to turn that dry boring english into something fun. So I challenge myself and all the other teachers out there . Let us help our students to see that english is not something to be feared but something that will place them at a huge advantage and help them to achieve their dreams in the future.
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