ESGI News - October 2008

좋은아침학생들. Unless you are fluent in Korean you probably are not able to read the preceding sentence. The translation is, "Good morning students." Learning to read can be as difficult for a child as trying to interpret a foreign language. Imagine the challenges Kara Hodson faces, teaching bilingual kindergarteners to read in English in Pyongtaek, South Korea. "My world is bigger than the United States or Korea. Korean Flag

Many of the students I teach are part Korean. Others come from or have a parent from a third country," Hodson explains. "I have a new appreciation for students who are learning to read. I understand the struggle to understand the relationship of letters and sounds."

This is Hodson's fourth year teaching at the "International Christian School" in Pyongtaek. She says she is amazed by children's ability to learn languages. "I had a student who can speak three languages at age 5. She will most likely be fluent in all three languages!" These multilingual students differ from Hodson's U.S. students in other ways. "The major difference I see is during center time," Hodson says. "There is more of a group mentality. The students work in close proximity to each other. In the United States, my students spread out all over the classroom."

Hodson is the only kindergarten teacher at ICS. The nearest international school is an hour away. Communicating with parents who do not speak English is also difficult, Hodson says, but this is balanced by a cultural advantage. "Asian parents place a South Korean Flag

high value on education and learning English," says Hodson. "The parents ask for extra work for their child. They are very appreciative of me as a teacher. Being a teacher in Korea commands more respect than teaching in the U.S."

Hodson has limited access to teaching resources especially English kindergarten resources, so she sought help on the Internet and found it in the form of ESGI. "I need to know where my students are in learning English and other subjects," Hodson says. "ESGI assessments help me decide if a child should be tested for English Language Development classes."

Hodson uses ESGI to test, "letter-name recognition, letter-sound recognition, patterning, shapes, numbers, identifying colors, color words, and sight words," she says. "It's a great resource!"

Kara Hodson, originally from Texas, has no immediate plans to return to the United States to teach. For now, she is content to explore Korean culture and others with her students. "I love impacting a child's life. I enjoy helping them succeed as they learn," Hodson says. "I love that my students enjoy coming to school and can't wait to go to first grade next year."
Educators of every culture know that enthusiasm for learning is the translation of successful teaching.