Readers of the Dobcross Diary will remember the entertaining stories of derring-do in the jungles of South America sent in by Dobcrosser, Liam Bluer. We are delighted to report that his adventures continue. Now in the Far East, Liam hasn’t forgotten his home village. Here is an update on how he is getting on now.

 “Greetings from the land of fermented cabbage and spam gift sets, where I am an object of ridicule to young children because I don’t know my own blood type, and where the natives actually correct MY English because I don’t speak it with an American accent. Welcome to South Korea.

 I’ve been here for six months, teaching English in a “hagwon”, which is an academy for children to attend every day after regular school. It can be somewhat disheartening to work in a place with a sign outside proclaiming it to be an “ENGILSH SCHOOL”, and where students respond to assignments like Describe a whale (5-7 sentences) with answers like “IT IS A HORSE”, but I keep telling myself I must be getting through to some of them.

Most South Korean children go to three or four hagwons every night, and it is quite normal for them to study from 8am until 10pm, or even midnight! Of course, they don’t know any different, and they are always slightly appalled when they discover that there is no such thing as a hagwon in the UK. In fact it is quite effective to calm an unruly class down not by shouting, but by coolly explaining to them that when I was their age I finished school at 3pm, and after that was free to play with my friends, not buried beneath a mountain of homework. I know it’s cruel, but it works.

While I am proud to be a Dobcross boy, I have come to realise that the verbal skills I picked up there are not the greatest asset to my teaching abilities. This may come as a surprise, but of the nine foreign teachers at my school, including a Welshman, a Scotsman, and a New Zealander, it is my accent that the Korean staff and students find hardest to understand. I have even had to stop giving entry tests to new students because so few have any idea what I’m saying, despite my best efforts to speak slowly and pronounce all my Ts.

Having to regularly explain to children that English does not come from the USA can be infuriating, but if that’s all a free ticket to Asia costs then it’s nothing to whinge about, and I must say I’m having a horse of a time.”