54: Born in Korea, Made in Brazil

In this week’s Patch, we talk to Maria, a hagwon owner and entrepreneur here in South Korea. Maria responded to one of our Facebook posts inviting hagwon owners to come on the show and share different perspectives of the English language academy AKA the English hagwon. Maria was kind enough to give us an hour of her time, and her story didn’t disappoint!

Maria had a fascinating childhood by most people’s standards. She was born in South Korea, but emigrated to Brazil with her family when she was a child. As a multicultural individual, she often explains her cultural experience like this: “I was born in Korea, but made in Brazil.”

During the interview, Maria shared stories about growing up in Brazil, attending an English language international school in Brazil, and then returning to Korea as an adult to teach and eventually run her own school.

As adherents to the communicative language learning method, Maria’s teaching philosophy is especially interesting to us. She provided an interesting perspective on not only the administrative side of running a hagwon but the underlying communicative educational approach she employs at her school as we

Thanks again for coming on the show and sharing your story, Maria!

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