Most Gwangju News readers and local ESL teachers are familiar with Dr. David Shaffer. He provides answers and insight about teaching English in the Gwangju News monthly column “Letters to KOTESOL”. Beyond the small blurb of information below his picture there, most of us don't know about “Dr. Dave” and his long history teaching and living in Gwangju. Stephen Redeker caught up with Dr. Dave last month.
Shaffer grew up in west Pennsylvania, USA and arrived in Gwangju in 1971. He's been here ever since, and began his teaching career at Chosun University in 1976 where he is currently a professor at the English Language Department at the College of Foreign Languages. Besides teaching, he dedicates much of his time giving about a dozen speeches every year at various ELT conferences in Korea and other locations in Asia. Among his tasks as President of the Gwangju-Jeonnam chapter of KOTESOL, he is arranging for invited speakers to give speeches at their monthly and annual meetings. Shaffer has studied Chinese character calligraphy and has advanced to the highest proficiency level; a rare accomplishment. He has also published many books and research periodicals based on English and Korean language education. Among other awards, he was awarded the Minister of Internal Affairs (ROK) Award in 1984 and received the Korean Times Contemporary Korean Culture Translation Award in Poetry in 1994.
The following is an interview with Dave about his history and interests here in Gwangju:
Gwangju News: When did you come to Korea?
Shaffer: I came here in 1971, with the Peace Corps. I came for a two-year service and extended that for about four years total (the maximum Peace Corps service time was five years). I was in Gwangju for my Peace Corps service. After that, I came to Chosun University. That's where my career teaching English began.
GN: Tell us about your Korean name.
Shaffer: My Korean name is Shin Dong-il. I got it from a name maker who was also a fortune teller. It was part of our training when we first arrived. She created my name and told me my fortune. I presume that she chose “Shin” because it's a Korean name that sounds closest to my family name “Shaffer”. “Dong” matched the “D” sound from my name “David}. She counted the strokes and included one of the five elements that go into a “lucky” name (the character for “wood” is contained in it). Also, “Dong-il” means “east-first”. It fits because I came from the east and I'm the oldest son in my family. It all worked out. I've been to other fortune tellers who told me it's a really good name.
GN: You've been in Gwangju for about 40 years. You have seen many changes over the years. What was Gwangju like back in the early days?
Shaffer: When I first came to Gwangju, almost all the cars on the streets were either taxis or the black chauffeured cars of businessmen. The average person did not have a car. You saw a lot more bicycles on the streets and lots of old buses. You also saw oxen pulling carts on the streets, many of which were making deliveries of packages. There were very few buildings over five stories high because anything over that would require an elevator. Nobody wanted to go through the expense of installing an elevator, so only a few buildings (like the tourist hotel) were higher. There were open ditches on the sides of the streets for sewage. Most homes did not have plumbing; there were outhouses outside the homes. People used newspapers as toilet paper. Sometimes they were cut into squares and placed on a nail for easy use. At that time, the president was always pictured on the cover of the newspaper, but you would never find the cover page in an outhouse. Out of fear, people did not want to get caught in an outhouse desecrating a picture of the president. You didn't have these huge apartment complexes like you do today. People lived in small homes and some had new houses which were two-stories. The family would almost always live on the first floor and rent out the second floor. There was an entrance on the outside to the second floor and usually that was the only way up there.
GN: Do you have any specific memories of the May 18 revolts that occurred in 1980?
Shaffer: I was living in Sansu-dong at the time (near Chosun). That was an active area at the time. The citizens were patrolling the neighborhoods in buses; they were knocking on the sides of the bus with their bats and clubs. They had also commandeered these little personnel carriers that looked a little bit like small tanks. Everyone was angry, and the young men were worried that they might be drafted by the citizen armies to fight. The women were also scared so many people were in hiding at the time. One of my wife's friends stayed with us because she lived alone and was too frightened to stay there at home. It was a difficult time.
GN: You've been teaching English for a long time in Gwangju. How has the field changed from then to what it is today?
Shaffer: It's gotten more professional and it's gotten older. When I first arrived, most people came for one or two years just to save up some money and continue on with their travels. Most did not see teaching English as a career. For teacher training, there were not so many courses offered then. There were no online courses as there are today. Students and teachers did not have many teaching materials. When I first started, I went to the bookstore to get a textbook. “Laddo's English” and “Spoken American English” were the only two books available. They taught the audio-lingual method: listen and repeat, again and again. Tape recorders were expensive and those students who could afford one did not have many options. There were very few tapes for learning English. The tapes were also really expensive, sold in big sets.
GN: Tell us about your involvement with KOTESOL.
Shaffer: I got involved when it began. A fellow professor at Honam University heard about it and contacted me about starting a chapter in Gwangju and joining. I wasn't very active the first few years but later I began getting involved with publications. I became an officer and have been doing that for the past 10 years. I think it's very worthwhile. Through Korea TESOL I've improved my English teaching and improved in many other ways.
GN: How can people get involved with KOTESOL?
Shaffer: People can visit the website for information (kotesol.org, koreatesol.org). The best way is to attend a meeting. We have meetings every second Saturday of the month. They're open to everyone. You should come to the International Conference coming up this October. I've been heavily involved with the past 11 conferences and I think ours is the best and definitely the largest. This year we have 11 invited speakers, who are great people in our field. By Stephen Redeker
Gwangju International Center (GIC) is a nonprofit organization helping Korean and international residents to come together and collaborate on community building in Gwangju. GIC runs programs for international cultural exchanges such as GIC Talk, Korean language class, GIC tour, and the Gwangju homestay program. This article was originally published in Gwangju News, a monthly English language magazine produced through the GIC, which is written entirely by Korean and international volunteers. One article will be translated into Korean every two weeks.
For program participation and support, please contact 062-226-2733~4, www.gic.or.kr