My Story
"Whereas speech is heterogeneous, language, as defined, is homogeneous. It is a system of signs in which the only essential thing is the union of meanings and sound-images, and in which both parts of the sign are psychological"
-Ferdinand de Saussure
Course in General Linguistics, Chapter III: The object of Linguistics (1916) |
Hello, and welcome to my website! My name is Young Mee Suh and I am a first generation Korean American who was born and raised in the United States. I have grown up in Brooklyn, New York and currently reside in Queens, New York. I started this website as a project while attaining my Masters degree but now, it has become a way in which I can log my journey as a teacher of English to adult speakers of other languages. I hope that this can help log my progress and growth as a teacher as well as provide a way in which I can share my experience with other TESOL professionals.
My family was always deeply connected to our Korean roots and I was never able to forget that aspect of my heritage and culture. It was a very long and difficult journey to truly understand and accept my dual identity as Korean and American. There were times when they clashed greatly and I simply did not understand how I could possibly pick a side. In an effort to better understand these two aspects of my life I decided to begin learning Korean. This began my interest in linguistics.
Language, as I have come to learn, is so much more complex than a dictation of identity. It is the essence, the flow of a culture, a person's soul. I think that is why I have had such a fascination with literature during my undergraduate studies at CUNY Hunter College as an English literature major and now, my love for learning about language. More than that, my own experiences as a linguistically diverse individual (English, Korean, Mandarin Chinese) I understand just how much of my essence is poured into my language.
What this means to my educational philosophy as well as my teaching philosophy is too complex to be written here in this brief introduction about myself. But what I will say, is that I understand the harsh irony of the American dream, the 'American' language, and the American culture. I understand the struggle that language proposes as well as the socio-cultural complexities it unfortunately brings to our lives as humans who are a part of a bigger world. But it doesn't come without hope. Maybe learning English as a Second Language provides students with a means to hope--whatever that may be for them. Whatever English may mean for them, I hope to be able to provide them the skills to navigate through the complex puzzles and mazes of the English language and not lose themselves along the way.
My family was always deeply connected to our Korean roots and I was never able to forget that aspect of my heritage and culture. It was a very long and difficult journey to truly understand and accept my dual identity as Korean and American. There were times when they clashed greatly and I simply did not understand how I could possibly pick a side. In an effort to better understand these two aspects of my life I decided to begin learning Korean. This began my interest in linguistics.
Language, as I have come to learn, is so much more complex than a dictation of identity. It is the essence, the flow of a culture, a person's soul. I think that is why I have had such a fascination with literature during my undergraduate studies at CUNY Hunter College as an English literature major and now, my love for learning about language. More than that, my own experiences as a linguistically diverse individual (English, Korean, Mandarin Chinese) I understand just how much of my essence is poured into my language.
What this means to my educational philosophy as well as my teaching philosophy is too complex to be written here in this brief introduction about myself. But what I will say, is that I understand the harsh irony of the American dream, the 'American' language, and the American culture. I understand the struggle that language proposes as well as the socio-cultural complexities it unfortunately brings to our lives as humans who are a part of a bigger world. But it doesn't come without hope. Maybe learning English as a Second Language provides students with a means to hope--whatever that may be for them. Whatever English may mean for them, I hope to be able to provide them the skills to navigate through the complex puzzles and mazes of the English language and not lose themselves along the way.