Hi, my name is Park Haneol. I’m a sophomore majoring in Psychology. I have attended GEO program since I was a freshman. It’s my 4th time to participate GEO. When I joined GEO for the first time, I was in Level 1. Now my level is intermediate (level 3) which isn’t a lot higher than the first time. But regardless of which level I’m in, I’m still enjoying the program and think about doing it again. Because there are the things I really like about this GEO classes.
First, we could be accustomed in speaking English. In GEO, we especially focus on speaking and communicating with the language. I think it’s really necessary for people who are not familiar with it. Most of that people are freshman. Unlike high school, university focused on practical use of English. So professors and TAs kept inducing students to speak English not only reading silently. It’s really awkward for freshmen. They only focused on reading for the Korean SAT. In my case, when I entered university, I couldn’t adjust to the new English speaking environment. After I got a C+ in a English course, I realized I needed to improve my speaking English ability so decided to join the GEO program. GEO especially concentrated on teaching speaking English, so for a few months later I could gain more confidence of speaking. Moreover my grade improved to A+ from C+ in the English course. Like this, when it comes to speaking English, confidence is really important. So, getting used to speaking English in GEO class was a great experience for me.
Second, I can be friend with kind foreign professors. In GEO, there are many professors who are kind and always try to have conversations with their students. With their efforts, shy students open up to foreigners. When I first joined GEO program, I was really afraid of foreigners. It felt like foreigners and I were totally different people because of the appearances and languages. I even avoided eye contact with the GEO professors and foreign TAs. But regardless with my defensive attitude, professors kept trying to have conversation with me. They kept saying ‘Hi’ to me in class, even if I didn’t answer. After few months, I felt comfortable with them. Because I realized that kind of attitude was really bad for all the people, even if they are foreigners. So I started to say ‘Hi’ first. Frankly speaking, I still feel awkward when foreigners come close to me, but now I’m much more comfortable with that. Like this, if we get used to something that we afraid of, we can get over that. So, if you are afraid of foreigners, you can get over your fright with GEO. You can meet lots of kind, generous foreign professors!
For these reasons, I really like GEO class. If you want to use real English, you really need confidence to speak English and get over the fear of foreigners. Both can be accomplished from GEO class. I know these benefits of GEO classes, so I’m really looking forward to joining GEO program next semester!
Park Haneol is in Class Intermediate. She is a student for GEO Intensive 31.
