The Students of ULI

ULI was a language academy meant primarily for young adult and adult learners of English. This meant that my students were mainly business people, homemakers with spare time and money, and university or high school students. On occasion, younger students (elementary school age) were admitted. This was a big mistake. It altered the dynamic of the classroom. I remember one day having a seven-year-old girl brought into my adult conversation class. She cried non-stop. What the hell?!

Many of my students worked for the company that was building the bullet train (KTX, as it came to be known) railway system in the mid 1990's. There was nothing remarkable about them as students; I simply remembered that they were working on an important project that was helping to modernize Korea. Good for them.

I seem to remember a Mr. Lee and a Mr. Choi, two nice gentlemen who showed up everyday for their conversation class. Mr. Choi, as I recall, worked for Bausch and Lomb in Korea, and he gave me a whole bunch of free contact lenses. I also recall an elderly gentleman, 70 years old, who was a retired opera singer, I believe. He sang Happy Birthday to me on my 24th birthday, my first in Korea.

In general, I was amazed at the respect shown by Koreans towards me, in spite of the fact that I wasn't a very good teacher for them. They brought gifts on my birthday; as well, they took me out for lunch, or we would go for drinks after evening classes were finished. Some tried to set me up with private lessons.

The most memorable group of students at ULI were the people who comprised JBC, the Just Because Club. This group of university and post-university students included my future wife. They not only spent time as students in my classes, but they also allowed me to party with them after work, especially on Fridays.

I came to enjoy teaching these people. They were mostly fun to argue with, and I would rather just talk to people than try to teach them grammar or other boring shit any day of the week. In general, that's what students want anyway. They just want to try to converse about meaningful topics, and to develop friendships with their teachers. That was my strength, I think. This is also part of the reason why I would find myself less successful as a teacher of children years later. I simply relate better to adults.

And that's that.