Teaching English through Table Tennis

says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
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Sep 2011
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I am in my last few weeks over here in Korea during a very prolonged stay. I have a ton of friends and one of them called me up yesterday and asked me to stop by his TT club. I did not know this friend had already opened a Korean Ping Pong place, this evening, I made my way to that part of my city in Uijeongbu where he is at and checked his place out.

His TT club is typical for a basement Korean TT club... 4 tables, a lot of people, balls flying everywhere, people doing their TT thing, a sectioned off area for coach giving multiball training for lessons... My friend Mr. Kim is now coaching at a club he made, he is a Div 2 athlete like me. I hit with some of his members, which were typical you find at a Korean club, many Div 5 and some div 4 players. I had a match vs him and won 3-2, he really improved in a lot areas since he coached, especially NOT giving me underspins I crave, he knows I can crush underspin or spin the daylights out of it. This guy used to crush me in Hyundai TTC the first few years I was in Korea, but the last couple I have a good record vs him.

We left his club at 11PM, went upstairs to ground level to a 7-11 convenience store only a couple meters away, bought some beers and popcorn, and shot the shyt while enjoying a cool breeze. (American expression for having a relaxed conversation.) What he told me was he is primarily giving TT lessons to beginner Korean school children, but during each lesson, he drives home several useful phrases out of a basic database of several hundred he has them repeat as he gives multiball or single ball... Wow, I never saw that in Korea before. He plans to up the English as they get better. Mr. Kim graduated from the Koream Language Uni in Seoul.

To get everyone to understand the English learning culture in Korea (and also much of Asia) a parent has to get their children EVERY extra edge possible to learn better English (especially reading comprehension, since the standard tests are full of that) so that they have a better position to have that thin edge advantage over others. That is true, but literally EVERYONE is doing extra English training after school many hours a day, so this is a very UNIQUE approach I have never seen.

Our Korea Foreign TTC ace Joel kinda did something like this when he was coaching near Seoul Uni, but he was essentially giving a TT lesson saying most of the stuff in English. He attracted a LOT of new TT players to that club, especially YOUNG players who are still in school. That is important as our sport in Korea is having fewer and fewer young players. Most TT players are Over 40 or Over 50, like 70-80% of them.

My friend wants to establish this and also expand his club later. I think it is a good idea and suggested he change the name of his club to Howon English Village Ping Pong...or something like that. (Howon is the name of the neighborhood where his club is at) I also suggested that he post here on TTD and share what he is doing. It looks like a good story if he can sustain and grow it.

I will have time enough to go there once more before I fly out of Korea and I should take pics and post them.

I also hope he will join TTD and talk about TT here.
 
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says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
Well-Known Member
Sep 2011
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13,211
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Read 27 reviews
Here is a pic I took with the owner of this place.

William (left) and Kim Sang Soo (right)

Hweon TT1.jpg
 
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