Statement  of Purpose

I do not remember exactly when I started having an interest in English.  I believe that it was when I was in junior high school.  Since then, I sat in front of the TV for hours in a row watching CNN news that I could not understand, even though I was so anxious and made my best endeavors to understand what an anchor was trying to deliver. 

Strongly motivated and, mainly, frustrated by the fact that I was having a hard time to understand and comprehend the news, I made a pledge to myself that I would do everything that I could to learn English so that some day I would be able to carry on a conversation with native speakers as well as to feel comfortable listening to news.  Then, I began to realize that such a wish became less wishful when I entered college.  After graduating from college, I worked as an English instructor for a while until I strongly felt the necessity to further my education at a graduate school that is renown for its excellent curricula as well as quality.  This is the primary reason why I am applying for the graduate program at your school.  Speaking of my academic background as well as other fundamental reasons for desiring further education in this field, I have demonstrated in a rather simple manner as below:

First of all, I did not major in English when I attended college.  When I was senior in high school, I was not even sure about my future path in life.  Hence, as a number of high school students residing in South Korea would do, I followed my parent¡¯s guide and recommendation without any particular rebellious acts on choosing a major at college.  Hereby, influenced and mainly encouraged by my parents, without knowing what I would like to do with my life, I applied for a Child Development & Education major.

However, during the summer vacation of my freshman year, I was given a chance to study at an English language private institute for the first time in my life.  I have to be honest with how great the experience was.  The English conversation time with an American instructor not only gave me so much pleasure, but more importantly helped me open my eyes about the American culture at a significantly great level.  Indeed, it was the most interesting as well as pleasant experience among all the studies I had ever done until that time.  In fact, I never missed any single class in which I had several opportunities to meet a lot of foreign friends. 

In addition, since I was so excited about learning English, I even spent a significant time studying not the subjects that I was supposed to prepare for regular exams, but instead English vocabulary as well as English idioms or expressions during the regular test time periods.  I believe that the primary reason for my passion for English was rather simple.  Studying English was just a lot of fun for me.  Thus, as my interest and passion toward English grew, so did the level of my English.  I started to understand and catch the phrase or expressions that actors and actresses say in Hollywood movies.  Meanwhile, the fact that I could carry on a conversation and enjoy jokes with native English speakers was certainly amazing to even myself.

Even when I was in my senior year at college, instead of seeking for a clear goal for my future career, I only wanted to get a job with which I could exercise and improve my English ability.  It was then that I, by coincidence, got an opportunity to be a full-time English instructor at YBM Education, one the largest and best English language private institutes in South Korea.  Given the coincidental opportunity, I began to realize what my life goal would be. 

Although it was for only one year, I taught conversational English to students ranging from Kindergarten students to junior high school students.  Meanwhile, though it was hard at the beginning since I had not been professionally trained as an English instructor, as more time went by, I certainly was attracted to teaching.  Mutual interactions with the students were always enjoyable and as I got to know the joy of seeing the students¡¯ abilities increase steadily I started to enjoy the sense of achievement as well as accomplishment.  In the meantime, the experiences that I have mentioned above also gave me a strong desire to become an even better instructor.  I desperately felt the need for in-depth studies at a great school, which would provide me the necessary tools and capabilities for the instructor I wanted to be.  For the purpose, I felt that I did not have a choice, but resigning from the job I had enjoyed and loved so much.  Therefore, without hesitation, I decided to study abroad. 

Looking back over my college life, I would not say that it has been highly satisfactory.  This is because I only spent an extensive amount of time in traveling and studying English, resulting in not being able to put my best endeavors on my major.  Certainly, had I realized that putting efforts on my major was as important as improving my English capability, my academic performance on the subject would have been much better than it is now.  However, I am not discouraged.  In fact, I would like to thank God for enabling me to realize my mistakes and for providing me the opportunity to realize what I need to accomplish.  If I am allowed to study at your graduate school, I will faithfully prepare to study for classes and do my utmost to accomplish what I did not during my undergraduate days.

Lastly, the reason why I am applying to your school is simple.  I want to not only improve my teaching capabilities of English for Koreans, but perform the duty in a more efficient manner.  More importantly, I would like to devote myself to help Koreans improve their English abilities as well.  Of course, without any doubt, I will not be able to change the way Koreans have learned English or the level of English. However, I strongly believe that I can make a certain difference.  Hence, given the opportunity to study at your school, I can confidently ensure that I will not only devote myself to broaden my teaching capabilities, but provide my best endeavors to utilize it to increase the current level of English that Koreans have shown by joining the existing Korean English instructors, who have been playing significantly important roles in evolving the level of foreign language education in South Korea.

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