[무료 책 선물]대기업 때려치고 미국 대학 교수가 된 토종 한국인! 영어로 수 백명 앞에서 강의할 수 있게 된 영어공부법 | 펜실베니아 주립대 윤형준 교수님

I have never studied abroad. I work for Penn State as a professor. I couldn't understand at all. I forced myself to those situations where I have to use English. 에서해지 내쳐라. It's not to memorize, but—

You prepared a special gift event for our viewers today, right? Yeah. Can you please introduce yourself?

My name is Hyungjun Yoon. I work for Penn State as a professor in Workforce Education and Development program. Also, I'm a vice president for Daejeon Group. My responsibility is around talent and organization development.

So what brought you to the U.S.?

Yeah, I was working as an office worker in HRD function at LG Display. And then one day I decided to go to the U.S. So it was my senior year in 1999, and I wrote a 7-page-long document laying out my interests and Innate personality type and the major tasks or goals that I want to accomplish in different life stages. So my plan was to work in Korea in an HR function for 3 to 5 years or so and then move to the US to study in the field of career development. I wanted to help 10 million people's dreams to come true, and for that I thought Maybe I need to be in a situation where I can be influential. So one way was to become a professor. Yeah, that made me to go to US.

Wasn't it a little bit scary though, like having a stable job in Korea and then kind of leaving everything to move to a new country?

Yeah, that one thing that I struggled a bit was whether I quit the company and leave or take a leave of absence. But one of my mentors, he was my supervisor, his advice was just to quit the company, quit the job. The phrase that he used was in Korean, do not leave something behind so that you can rely on. He urged me to create that environment for my success.

That's so interesting because I feel like in the US we always say don't burn the bridge. Yeah, so it's a different perspective.

Right, right, right, right.

Wow, I like that. Yeah. Had you studied English before?

Yes, through school and also when I worked for LG, we had internal English program. I attended English conversation class almost every day.

How was your English when you got to the U.S.?

I was able to comprehend the class content, but it wasn't enough to function as a worker. At Penn State Career Service, I served as a receptionist, and one day recruiter came up to me and asked for something, but I couldn't understand at all. She just left out of frustration, not, not left the facility, but left the reception area. So that was very frustrating for me. Also, I couldn't speak very fluently at the time, but gradually, maybe after 3 years or so, I felt comfortable speaking English.

What do you think helped you the most language-wise?

I forced myself to those situations where I have to use English. So in my first semester, I volunteered to take 3 internship opportunities. at Career Services. I met with the assistant associate director and asked her, do you have a job opportunity for me? So even if I feel I'm not ready, I just apply and go for it. And gradually you become ready for that.

That's great advice. I think that's a big part of learning a language. A lot of people feel a little bit scared to try something and make a mistake. But you say just forget about that and go for it. What about for people who are studying English in Korea But, you know, maybe don't have the opportunity to go abroad, study abroad, work abroad?

I would emphasize that listening is very, very important. If you cannot listen, comprehend, maybe you cannot speak the language, I guess. So my suggestion is to understand your own passion areas and try to watch YouTube videos or listen to podcasts regarding my interest area. I kept listening. While jogging or walking. It's not to memorize, but try to be highly familiar with the sounds. At the beginning, I couldn't understand a lot of those, but at the end, I was able to understand.

But now you're lecturing in English in front of native English speakers, right? How is that?

I think I'm still nervous in many cases, especially when I'm in front of about 100 students. My strategy at the beginning was not to speak I prepared a lesson plan and the flow and then created questions so that they can discuss among themselves. So that was one strategy to overcome my weaknesses. But I have never received any complaint from students about my English skills. It's not because I'm perfect or I'm highly fluent, but because they liked the expertise in my area. They learned something. Now I hope to develop storytelling skills. Still, I think that's lacking. So I keep learning.

You published a book. I've got it here, Lifecraft. Can you tell me a little bit about it?

Literally, it's about crafting your life. I put Lifecraft in one word to make it a bit playful. Like, you know, StarCraft. It's like managing your life plan and managing your life as if you are playing a strategy game. In order to play the game well, you need to understand what you have and also understand your environment and the rules of the game. So it starts with understanding your innate personality type, utilizing the Enneagram. And I help people to understand their life themes as well and their values, life values and work-related values, and put those together into one sentence mission statement so that that becomes their life purpose. And I help them to pick a moment in the future that they really want to achieve and help them to strategize How to get there and reorganize their life to achieve their priorities. So that's the essence of the book.

Can you tell me about a success story? Maybe someone who has gone through your program and had good results?

I'm maybe the first example. So far, I achieved more than 95% of what I planned.

That's great. So you learned through your own experiences, and now you're kind of helping other people do the same.

Right, right, right. One story that I can share is a Moroccan student. Her whole mission was to become a leader to transform or contribute to Moroccan economic development and also initiate socially responsible businesses. And her plan included completing her master's degree in China. When she was writing the life plan, she was not admitted to the graduate school. But right after that, she went to the exactly same university for the graduate study. She worked in China for 2 to 3 years, and then she became McKinsey consultant.

Wow.

So yeah, she's thriving right now. So people have enough, and what's left is to connect dots. First step would be to stop, stop and reflect. It is possible for them to discover what their strengths are, what they pursue.

Once they crystallize who they are, then they can expand it to different spaces and I feel like a lot of people, when they feel stuck or unmotivated or lost, they feel like they need to do more. Like, oh, I need to do this, I need to do that. But I kind of like that you said you need to take a step back, think about who you are, what you want, and then proceed.

Yeah, last year there was a massive layoff from the federal government in the US. I offered a 2-day workshop in the Washington, DC area for the displaced workers. One of them was a PR-related person, so who had to edit those PR-related materials. She found out that she enjoys helping others to strengthen their writing. Right after that, maybe within a week, she started her business as a writing coach. So it was really nice.

So you do a lot of consulting about this, right? Can you help me out? Can you try it with me?

Yeah, sure. Can you recall a moment that made you highly proud and fulfilled after making considerable effort?

I worked as a social worker in New York City before coming to Korea. I worked with homebound seniors, and I had one client who was very difficult to deal with. She complained a lot, was never in a good mood. The whole office knew her because she called 10 times a day, like complaining. And it was my last day at the job, and she said to me, you did a great job. I'm not unhappy with you, I'm unhappy with myself. And that moment to me just felt like a breakthrough. You know, the whole time I was thinking I didn't have a connection, but then the very last day she felt vulnerable enough to open up to me. So, wow, that was a very proud moment in my career.

So From your stories, what skills do you think you've used?

I think I used empathy.

Empathy.

Patience.

Patience. Yeah, that was a big thing.

Yeah. Yeah. And kindness, I guess.

Kindness. And what were some of the values that you exhibited along the way?

Trying not to judge community. Maybe resilient.

So we've identified maybe at least 6 to 7 strengths in different forms. So my follow-up question is, how are you using those strengths right now?

I think at the end of the day, I love teaching because I want to help others. Similar with social work, I wanted my client to live a happy, fulfilled life. And I guess I'm trying to do the same by helping people learn English.

And you've been very patient with many different guests. So I was able to Thank you. Some of my strengths include facilitation. Also, one of my values would be humanity or helping others like you. My ideal situation is to find those circumstances like offering workshops. Maybe to differentiate your service from other English education providers, maybe you can further utilize empathy. So envisioning or thinking about the potential future moments Or opportunities is very, very important. So that's maybe the next step. I teach a gen ed course at Penn State, and my goal is to have 600 to 700 students at a time. So I created an AI platform also called iCraft. The platform can provide individualized attention and also guide students on a step-by-step basis. It will be mostly conversational. You can Type your ideas and then AI would summarize and guide you to the next steps and so on. My goal is to make the platform available at different universities and for organizations to help students and workers to understand their identity and their career path.

And actually, you prepared a special gift event for our viewers today, right? 10 of our viewers will be getting a free copy of LifeCraft. If you leave a comment below talking about your strengths or something that you want to accomplish, we'll do a drawing and hopefully you can win a free copy of LifeCraft. Thank you so much for coming today.

Thank you for having me.

Anytime.

Bye!