This blog post introduces how to effectively convey English skills naturally built through American TV shows and English reading in your Korean-English Cultural Content Studies academic plan.
Writing about academic experiences and reflections
English always felt boring and difficult. I lived as if I had no connection with English from a young age, and naturally, my grades weren’t good. With no interest, my scores couldn’t improve, and with no improvement, it became even less fun—a vicious cycle that repeated itself. Then one day, a friend strongly recommended I watch an American TV series. I thought to myself, ‘TV shows are all the same, right? What’s so special about an American one?’ and dismissed it as unimportant. But once I started watching, the story changed. My first exposure to ‘American dramas’ had a completely different charm from Korean dramas. I discovered unfamiliar yet fascinating cultural differences in the characters’ lifestyles and values. Most surprisingly, as I watched repeatedly with subtitles on, I suddenly realized I was starting to understand the English without even trying.
It felt like an indirect journey to another country. As I encountered diverse lifestyles, cultures, and values through American TV shows, I felt my own perspective gradually broadening. Once English became familiar to my ears, grammatical structures and expressions started catching my eye. As listening became enjoyable, studying English itself became fun. Before, I focused solely on memorizing words and translating sentences one by one. But after watching dramas, I developed the ability to grasp entire sentences and understand the overall flow. This helped me establish my own learning method, enabling me to solve problems faster and more accurately. Especially, becoming accustomed to the fast-paced dialogue in dramas made tackling listening questions on tests much more manageable.
Ultimately, through TV shows, I improved my English skills and, most importantly, realized the value of ‘studying with enjoyment’. Forced studying doesn’t last long, but if you find interest and can immerse yourself, you gain the strength to overcome difficult moments. While working hard is important, I learned that only by becoming someone who genuinely enjoys the process can you persevere to the end and achieve good results. No matter what challenges come my way, I resolve to be someone who finds joy within them. Even now, I continue to seek out new American TV series to build my listening skills, and the English and new cultures I learn through this process enrich my life even more.
Key School Activities and Reflections
From a Simple Computer Club to Creating Special Events
I belonged to a club focused on learning various computer programs. We mainly managed the classroom computers and learned software, but honestly, it was considered a rather unremarkable, so-called ‘uninteresting’ club. Even during school festivals, we were always assigned to a corner spot and received little attention. But I wanted to change this perception. So, I proposed we hold our own unique exhibition at the festival.
My idea was an exhibition of parody movie posters where we swapped the main character’s face with a teacher’s face. Since I was learning Photoshop at the time, I thought I could use my new skills to create fun and innovative content. First, we selected movie posters and chose teachers with unique speech patterns or personalities, or those popular among students, then obtained permission to use their photos. Then, I superimposed the teachers’ faces onto the posters and replaced the original taglines with witty phrases related to each teacher to enhance the final product.
Since our booth was still assigned to a corner spot, I focused on pre-event promotion to draw people in. I posted eye-catching flyers titled ‘Poster Exhibition’ on the classroom bulletin board, sparking students’ curiosity days before the event. As a result, on the day of the festival, far more friends visited our booth than expected. Many students specifically wanted a poster of their favorite teacher, and we heard reactions like how seeing the posters made the teachers feel more approachable. Through this experience, I personally realized the ‘power of content.’ I learned that good content doesn’t just attract attention; it connects people and can completely transform existing perceptions. This experience sparked my goal to learn more about content creation and explore diverse ways to produce it.
Starting an English Reading Group
Having enjoyed watching American dramas, or ‘mid’, to improve my English skills and maintain interest, I began wanting to challenge myself with not just dramas but also English literature. So, I started an English reading group with a few friends who were also very interested in English and, like me, wanted to experience English-speaking cultures more deeply.
In the group, we read untranslated English-language novels step by step, starting with easier books. When reading the same book, we had deep discussions about the content and themes. When reading different books, we shared the plot, our impressions, and memorable passages. At first, reading English originals wasn’t easy, but having the ‘group’ schedule forced me to keep reading.
Gradually, my reading speed increased, and my ability to infer unknown words from context improved. Most importantly, engaging with English literature helped me better understand English-speaking cultures and ways of thinking, naturally leading to significant improvement in my English skills. It was truly killing two birds with one stone: gaining cultural understanding and enhancing language proficiency.
These two activities brought about important changes in me. My experience in the computer club taught me how creative ideas and execution can capture people’s attention and transform an atmosphere. The English reading club taught me the value of perseverance and challenge, as well as the joy of engaging with new cultures. Moving forward, I intend to build on these experiences to learn, challenge myself, and grow in even more diverse fields.
Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation, and My Reflections
Showing Consideration for a Classmate with a Physical Disability
In my second year of high school, there was a classmate who had a slight physical disability. Honestly, at first, not just me but other classmates also found it very difficult to know how to interact with him. We struggled with how to approach a friend with a disability, and we worried that being overly considerate might seem inappropriate, yet showing no consideration at all felt disrespectful. But this friend, despite their slight physical limitations, always had a kind expression and a bright smile. As time passed, I found myself wanting to become closer friends. Finally, I gathered my courage and decided to approach them first.
When we first talked, I thought, ‘Instead of treating them based on my own assumptions, I should treat them the way they want to be treated.’ So I tried to have a deep conversation. During that process, my friend said, “I’m just a little physically challenged, but I’m no different from anyone else. I’d rather you didn’t treat me too specially.” They also confided that receiving excessive consideration just because of their disability made them feel trapped within the label of ‘disabled person,’ which only made them feel sadder.
Hearing this, I decided to treat my friend naturally, like any other friend, rather than treating them specially based on their disability. However, I didn’t hesitate to actively help when they needed assistance with physically demanding school activities or commuting. As we lived understanding each other this way, we quickly grew close and continue to share a deep friendship to this day.
This experience made me think more deeply about ‘consideration’. I realized that consideration isn’t simply born from my own one-sided feelings, but rather comes from empathizing with and understanding the other person’s heart, then finding and adapting to the way they truly want to be supported. I also learned that consideration based solely on the thought, ‘That person is pitiful, so I should help them,’ can actually cause hurt. Since then, whenever I consider someone, I always try to think from their perspective one more time and have a direct conversation to help them in the way they want.
