Faculty of the Month: Lim Jeong Hee Teacher

Hello Cheongshim! October was packed full of events, from midterms to Korean SAT mock exams but it also offered one of the longest holidays of the year, giving us a rare opportunity to slow down and reconnect with Korea’s rich traditions.  As families gathered to celebrate Chuseok, the holiday reminded us not only of gratitude and togetherness but also of the deep roots that shape our culture. To explore the meaning and evolution of Korean traditions, we interviewed our history teacher, Ms. Lim Jeong Hee for our October’s faculty of the month. Thank you so much, Ms. Lim for readily agreeing to this interview! 

Q. What inspired you to become a history teacher?

“Well, I think I really enjoyed my school life during my middle and high school years. In middle school, I met many inspiring teachers who influenced me to dream of becoming one myself. And in high school, I began to think seriously about which subject I wanted to teach. Back then, it was quite popular among students to read historical novel series like <The Taebaek Mountains>, <Arirang>, and <Land>. For example, <The Taebaek Mountains> deals with ideological conflicts after independence while <Land> begins from the Donghak Peasant Movement and continues up to Korea’s independence. Through these novels, I realized that history is made up of the pains, struggles, and choices of people living in those times, which led to becoming a history teacher.”

Q. History requires a lot of time and effort to study. What do you think is the most effective way for students to learn history? 

“These days, it seems like many students are struggling with unfamiliar vocabularies while they study. Searching them up, you’ll find historical events and concepts floating in your mind. It’s helpful to thread them one by one in your mind, connecting the small beads by understanding the causes, consequences and the links between them. I think finding something to be fun always helps to be better at it, so I hope students will find fun in studying history by thinking of them as tales. 

History is a vast subject so it’s impossible to know everything, But I think it’s a subject filled with moments of realizations and enlightenments-you’ll find yourself going “Aha, this was the story behind this!”.

Q. Your teaching methods and materials seem to differ by grade or semester. Are these approaches newly designed each year, or are they based on long-standing traditions? What kind of learning effects do you intend with them?

It’s been about 8 years since I started teaching 8th and 9th graders, so I suppose there’s a bit of a tradition now. (laughs) The basic framework is similar every year-presentations, map-making, and writing, but I try to evolve them through feedback I receive from students. For instance, if I find students going off the track on writing assignments, I change the thesis to something that suggests the question better. I would say there wasn’t a year when I was fully satisfied with my classes-there is always room for improvement.

Q. I remember when there used to be preview assignments and slowly focusing more on additional handouts rather than the school textbook itself. And for 9th graders, we are assigned to write “Class Journal”. Can you tell us more about them? 

“There are also thoughts behind those materials too. Through the Google Docs assignments, I wanted to encourage students to preview and review textbook content. It might seem too typical but previewing and reviewing really enriches discussions during class and opens new dimensions to view the contents. But I noticed more students simply copying or using ChatGPT to do their assignments, so I decided to leave the task to the students to do themselves. This year, I introduced a new method “class journal”, where students write down questions on the topics we covered and the answer to them. I am happy to find that many students are improving-their questions are becoming more thoughtful and some even self-reflect by saying, “I think this part of my writing could be better”. It also helps me understand their interests and writing skills and altogether more about each student, so I think I’ll continue this method.”

Q. Many students describe you as a warm and thoughtful teacher who teaches with great passion. How do you approach students who are going through difficult times? And what is your personal teaching philosophy?

“Sadly, I think there isn’t much I can do directly when students are struggling. Early in my career, I sometimes stepped into students’ friendship issues to help them myself, but I learned that even small interventions can have big and unpredictable ripple effects that weren’t always good. So now, all I really do is listen to them and encourage them that it will get better, and I often tell them “At school, I’m like your mom. You can always come to me.” I am just grateful to hear that students think of me that way. 

As for my teaching philosophy, although I really wanted to become a teacher, school is honestly just a workplace(laughs) . But as I meet new students each year, see them grow and watch them graduate, I try to be a small part of their growth.”