34 Language Teaching
Teaching Content Courses in the Students L2
Gwangju News, May 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
TEACHING & LEARNING
An Inter view with Phillip Schrank
When we think of teaching lessons in English in Korea, we immediately think of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) and, most often, of the instructor being an expat, native speaker of English. However, what has been trending in recent years, especially at the tertiary level, is teaching content courses (e.g., engineering, history, mathematics) in English. To understand better this aspect of teaching, we have sought out Phillip Schrank, a university professor in our Gwangju community, for this interview. — Ed.
K
OTESOL: Thank you, Phillip, for making time for this interview. While the main focus of this interview will be your perspectives on teaching content courses in English, it is always helpful for the readers to have some background information – things like where are you from, what did you do there, and what initially brought you to Korea? Phillip: Thank you for having me! I am originally from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in the US. I also lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for almost 10 years; and about a year each in Ames, Iowa, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. In the US, I spent most of my time working in financial affairs. I worked through university and graduate school as a teller in a bank. Then after I graduated, I worked as a fiscal officer for a university. Even though I consider myself a bit introverted, I did not really enjoy working in financial affairs. I missed human contact in my work. Usually, the only human contact I would have was when I would contact people who owed money to the school, which was almost never a pleasant conversation. I left that career and worked as a coffee shop manager for a while before I wanted something new again. One of my greatest regrets in university was not taking advantage of study abroad opportunities. When I left the coffee shop job, I figured teaching
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English abroad would be a good way to scratch the itch of living as an expat. I wanted to go somewhere that was very different than America, so Asia seemed like a good choice. At the time, in 2009, Korea was the best option. I contacted a recruiter ▲ Phillip teaching in one of his and quickly went university content courses. through the process of getting my affairs in order. I think I contacted a recruiter in early to mid-February and on March 16. I was in Gwangju and in front of my students less than a day after I arrived. KOTESOL: So, while in Korea, you first taught English as a foreign language (EFL) and now content courses in English. Could you give us more detail about these teaching situations? Phillip: My first jobs in Korea were teaching English to elementary and middle school-aged children at a couple of academies. Later, I was able to get a job at Salesio Elementary School here in Gwangju while I was completing my MA in ESL. Then I moved to
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