So far there are a few of them scattered around Jamshil.

“Americans can’t speak Korean, so it’s no shame for Koreans to be unable to speak English. So you should be proud of coming here to learn English. Have self-confidence even if you can’t speak English.”

On the afternoon of the 8th in the citizens’ center in Macheon2-dong in Songpa-gu, Seoul, the “Lively English Classroom” saw over ten elementary school students learning English from a teacher who appeared to be a college student. The teacher is 22-year old Hong Jae-won, who acts as a public employee with certification from the citizens’ center in Jamshil6-dong.

Mr. Hong, a business administration major at New York University in the United States, is known as “the public English Teacher who came to our neighborhood from America”. Since last spring he has been volunteering as a free English teacher for middle school students in a study room in Cheonho-dong, and eventually wanted to do something more effective. Then an opportunity arrived.

In October Mr. Hong heard that Songpa-gu Director Kim Yeon-su would be inspecting Jamshil6-dong and wrote Mr. Kim a letter. He proposed a system of free English lessons from public employees. Director Kim quickly set up a system of lively English classrooms for teenagers. Since the 1st Mr. Hong has been an English teacher here twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays) after work.

The first lesson was on the 1st, when Mr. Hong appeared with candy in one hand and teaching materials and an English alphabet puzzle in the other hand. But the children held their heads down when the unfamiliar new English teacher invited them to gather around, and seemed to have no self-confidence. By the time of the third lesson on the 8th the children began calling him by his English name “Danny” instead of “Teacher”. And they were competing to raise their hands to express their thoughts in English. Mr. Hong answers questions from the children, who sit on their desks just like in an American classroom, and becomes one with the students as he opens their eyes while they gather in close.

Maybe I shouldn’t pick nits, but my American teachers never let me sit on the desks…