English for Korean Students at an Arts High School

Abstract

Most English learning materials for high school students in Korea are aimed at students who are attending general high schools; furthermore, they focus on studying for the National College Entrance Examination. Such materials give students who specifically study the arts few opportunities to be exposed to authentic English and the culture of the target language. As a result, students may lose interest in learning English. In order to provide a more meaningful learning experience for students of English, textbooks and teaching approaches should consider the students’ interests, prior experiences, attitudes, learning skills and background knowledge. This textbook is designed to teach first year students at a Korean arts high school. The students’ English proficiency level at speaking and writing are assumed to be intermediate-low and their reading and listening proficiency are assumed to be intermediate-high level according to the ACTFL proficiency guidelines. Unlike other high school students who generally study according to the national curriculums, which focuses on preparing for the college entrance exam, the target students chose art as their main subject of study when they were in middle school. Therefore, most target students already have some background knowledge on famous artists and significant events in art history. Furthermore, most of the students have a positive attitude towards Western culture and they want to communicate in English. Although they have decided to study art as their major, they do not have many opportunities to explore art-related jobs in the real world. Moreover, their curriculum is similar to that of other high school in Korea in that it focuses on preparing students for the national entrance exam; the only difference may be the additional performance test for art students. However, as a teacher, I believe that it is important to give students an opportunity to discover what they want to do in the future during their teenage years. Considering these factors, I selected art and culture as the themes of this textbook to reflect the target learners’ needs and interests. In addition to the topic, each unit presents relevant jobs in the art field. The textbook is designed for classes of around sixteen students of mixed gender, who will meet for two hours twice a week.