Asia is a hotbed for English education, and it has been for well over a decade. If you're making the move to teach English in South Korea, this episode will give you ideas and things to consider as you're making your decision and will help you with advice if you decide to make the move.

If you're already teaching in South Korea, you will find this episode interesting, and we'd love for you to share your opinions and best advice below to help others to be more informed.

We're talking with Luke Kim, the founder of Luke Look English. He will share a very unique perspective that many have never thought that much about... "What is a Korean person's advice to an ex-pat who is moving to South Korea to teach English?"

Luke shares some of his ideas and advice on:

- deciding to make the move
- adjusting once you're in South Korea
- expanding your options to make more money
- teaching adult students

Luke and Jesse discuss ways to treat yourself like a professional at your EFL teaching job. 

Whether you're beginning your English teaching adventure, or you've spent a few years in South Korea, or any country, there is valuable information that you can take that will help you get to the next level in your teaching career... or after you are finished.

Remember to subscribe and keep an eye out for helpful clips from the show!

Bad news: Learning English is difficult. Good news: It's not as difficult as many people think.

Do you know what the key to improving at a language... or anything else is?

Time and times.

You need time to perfect your skill, and you need repetition (times) of doing it correctly. This is the key to improvement. Think of learning a new language in the same way you think of learning a new sport, instrument, or any other skill. It's NOT impossible, it just takes time and repetition to improve.

In today's episode, Jesse discusses this idea and shares some insight from his own life and path about how he's applying this to his progress is things he's learning. Experience is the best teacher... if you learn from it. This is why repetition is so important. Repetition is experience.

If you remember from Episode 33 of the More Than English Podcast, if you can dedicate just 10 minutes a day toward learning this new skill, you will be shocked at how much you can learn.

You will also be able to learn valuable expressions and phrases to become more fluent in English. Share this with somebody who is learning something new. 

What are your keys to learning something new? Share ideas and tips below to help out the community.

Do you have a high English level, but you have a difficult time with your listening? It can be frustrating, right?

Why is listening to a foreign language so difficult?

​In today's episode, Jesse will explain strategic steps that you can take to improve your listening comprehension. Jesse will give you three tasks to do next time you're listening to an interview, a Ted talk, a YouTube video, or any other thing that you want to listen to. Follow this advice and these tasks and improve your foreign language listening immediately.

1. Don't try to pick up every word.

Are you missing the forest for the trees? If you focus on a single word that you didn't catch, you might miss the bigger idea about what you're listening to. What do you do in your own language when you miss a word? You probably pick up the general idea from the rest of the message.

Ask yourself 3 questions:
a)  Who is the intended audience of this listening?
b)  What is the main idea of what I'm listening to?
c) What were some supporting points of that main idea?

2. Focus on what you know instead of what you don't know.

Too many times, we can become discouraged about the things we don't know. If we become discouraged from that, we'll be discouraged all the time because we'll always not know more than we know. That's the point of learning, isn't it? Sometimes, it's good to notice our progress as a bit of encouragement.

3. Have a notebook and write down new words or expressions.

This will help you out a lot. It will keep you focused and encouraged because if you will learn more about the things we don't know. By writing down new words and expressions in REAL context, you will learn them on a deeper level and have a visual record to continue to study from.

What's the difference between a reason and an excuse? Sometimes, we HAVE reasons for not doing what we need to do, and sometimes we MAKE excuses. If we understand the difference, it can help us be more productive in our day. In this episode, Jesse is going to explore this questions and share his opinion about the difference. Do you agree with him? Share your comments and your opinion. Find episode notes and more resources at sweedacademy.com

Simply put, it comes down to your motivation for giving it. Why are you saying it?

An excuse - tries to blame it on the excuse. (You're trying to excuse yourself from the culpability.)

​A reason - you accept responsibility for the error and explain what happened.

You make/ come up with an excuse.
​You have a reason.

If you're faced with a situation where you've made a mistake and you need to account for it. Go with the truth. You'll earn more respect that way, and in the long run, you'll benefit from it. People often forget about mistakes that are made. People rarely forget about trying to cover up those mistakes or lie about them.

Did you know we have a variety of courses available, some of which are absolutely FREE?! Check them out below. Participating Membership gets access to all courses PLUS discount 1-on-1 lessons. Click the box below to see.

I would like to take you through a typical first lesson with one of my students. Typically, for a first lesson, we look at your goals. Let's look at your goals. I will teach you how to set goals, and how to use English to make a plan to accomplish those goals.

This is going to be an interactive episode, so I'd like you to get a pen and a piece of paper to get ready to write down your goals. Also, take a photo of your goals and tag me on Instagram @SweedAcademy

You don't have to make 3 goals. If you only have one goal, do these exercises for that goal!

Here are some important things to keep in mind when creating your goals.

​You should be able to check off your goals.

Goals should be:

- Concrete
                Ex. NOT "I want to improve my listening."  ---> "I will be able to understand a Ted Talk."
- Specific
                Ex. NOT "I will improve the guitar." ---> "I will learn 2 barre chord songs."
- Measurable
                Ex. NOT "I will be successful." ---> "I will make 10,000€ in the first quarter."

Goals are NOT "I want to..."

Your goals SHOULD be written "I will..."

Write your goals down and post them somewhere you can see on a REGULAR BASIS.

Do you feel like you're not improving in your English? There are many complicated parts of English that students find very difficult. Maybe you're studying grammar, vocabulary, phrasal verbs, expressions, verb tenses, and other details in English. In this episode, Jesse teaches you a trick to try when you get stuck with your English and you feel like you're not improving.

The secret is... Less is More. Focus on only one grammar point, vocabulary, or expression that you're having trouble with and become obsessed with that for one week. Jesse will go into further detail with this in this episode.

Visit sweedacademy.com/podcast for episode notes and a listening quiz.

I’ll be honest… - (Fluency Builder) Transition to say something a bit surprising or unexpected
To have you stumped – To make somebody confused about something
Look at the big picture– (Expression) Get the general idea about something
Less is more – (Expression) Simplification leads to better results
To get lost – To be confused and to lose information about something
Take one principle- (Expression) Use ‘take’ sometimes to mean ‘use’. 
Over the next week– ‘Over’ here means ‘during’. We use this for durations of time.
Forget about it– (Pronunciation) 
To catch something – To understand a principle or idea. Normally subtle.
To be immersed in something – To be completely surrounded by something
Math formula– (Vocabulary) Math equation to find an answer
Set a goal for yourself – Use the verb ‘set’ to say ‘make’.
 
Did you catch any other phrasal verbs or expressions you like? Write them here.
_____________________________________________________________________________

1.“Let’s take a look at the finer details that ______________at times.”
2. “Choose one concept and I want you to become obsessed with it _______________.”
3. “Maybe the first day, you might _______________.”
4.“The next day, you might ______________.”
5.“Then by day 3 and 4, you’ll become so ___________________ that these principles will start to pop out at you.’ 
6.“You try studying so much, and you end ___________________.”
7. “__________________, I have trouble teaching those.”
8.“Language isn’t meant to be used as ____________________.”

1.Practicing listening exercises with background noise can help your listening.          T / F
2.“To knock your socks off” means to impress somebody.                                             T / F
3.Language is simply a mathematical formula of grammatical rules.                         T / F
4.Phrasal verbs are impossible to learn and use naturally.                                          T / F
5.According to Jesse, the more you study, the better.                                                    T / F     
6.This strategy may take a few days to sink in and start working.                               T / F     
7.Memorizing grammar rules is a good way to master a language.                           T / F
8.This tip will work for everybody who is listening.                                                       T / F
9.Jesse thinks it’s important to have a specific goal to work towards.                        T / F
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Answers: 
II – 1. may have you stumped 2. over the next week  3. forget about it  4. catch one or two  5. immersed in it  6. getting lost  7. I’ll be honest  8. math formula 
 
III- 1.T  2.T  3.F  4.F  5.F 6.T  7.F  8.F 9.T