8th Army’s Part Time English Teachers

In a classroom at the Garweol welfare center in Seoul on February 4, a blue-eyed man in his 50’s is correcting his students’ English pronunciation. His students imitated his lip movements with their eyes wide open.

“Repeat after me. The accent should be put on the first syllable in the word ‘address,’” he said.

The man’s name is Don Rohauser (52) who works with the U.S. 8th Army as an army civilian employee. He has given free English classes every Saturday with his Korean wife and co-worker Hahm Ae-gyung (46) since February 2005.

The Rohausers lead a volunteer group consisting of soldiers and army civilian employees in charge of English education for residents at Garweol welfare facilities with support from the Pearl S. Buck foundation, since 2001.

Yesterday was the first day of English classes. The class was made up of 32 students of various ages ranging from a 23 year-old college student to a 71 year-old grandmother.

Kim Ok-nyeo (35, female), a social worker at the Garweol welfare center, said, “Thanks to word of mouth advertising about the popularity of the classes taught by U.S. soldiers, even people living in Gyeonggi Province come to take classes here. There are 25 people on the waiting list for the elementary class, and 20 on the list for the intermediate class.”

The goal set by the Rohausers in their classes is to boost their students’ confidence in English. Even in the beginner’s class, they instruct students not to use Korean.

Kim (47), a resident of Bucheon City, Gyeonggi Province, said, “Even though it takes me about an hour to get here, I’m learning English here to teach my children English in person. It is more effective to learn English from native speakers here than it is by taking classes at an English institute.”

The Rohausers are in charge of the beginner’s class every week; the intermediate class is taught by four U.S. soldiers who teach in turns.

One of the intermediate class teachers said, “Our class has four seniors in their 70s. They are eager to study hard and that is very impressive. I’m happy to help elderly folks learn.”

Rohauser said, “I haven’t felt any sentiment against the U.S. which I feared. The residents have been so kind to us and I always thank them for that. I would like to return the love I got from Koreans by doing what I can.”

ditto@donga.com