[Student] Ms. P. S. M. from Korea, a teacher trainee of Graduate School of Education of Yokohama National University (YNU)
[Tutor] 1 KSGG member
[Period] 10 months from May
2011 through March 2012
[Place for tutoring] mostly held at
YNU Foreign Student Hall
Ms. P. is an elementary school teacher in Pusan in Korea. She took a year’s leave of absence and came to Japan as a teacher trainee. In Yokohama National University she studied how to educate elementary school pupils, how to organize a class, etc. Before coming to Japan she had studied Japanese for a long time in Korea. As she had no problem in daily conversation in Japanese, I had only to correct her wrong expressions or pronunciations while chatting.
Through our chat I came to know more of how Koreans think and what kind of society Korea is. What impressed me in particular were the entrance examination war, the tough job hunting conditions of students, and the hard life of salaried workers. I learned Korea is harder to live in than Japan in general.