Hello. My name is Walter Foreman. My middle name is Andrew, but like many people, I hardly use my middle name. I was born in 1972, so by my logic, that makes me 35. But you might think that I’m older than that; like 36 or 37. But in the end, age is just a number, so I don’t think about it too much. I was born in Canada so that makes me Canadian, but I prefer to think of myself as human first, and Canadian second; that way there are fewer differences between me and the people I meet when traveling; everyone is human! However, people are still curious about my hometown in Canada. I grew up in a small city with a big name: Saskatoon. The city of Saskatoon is in the province of Saskatchewan. So my ‘hometown’ is Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. What a mouthful!
I came to Korea in 1998, and with the exception of 1999 and 2004, have lived here ever since. In 1999 I traveled across Canada with my then fiancée and now wife (we were married in 2002 and yes, she’s Korean). In 2004 both my wife and I moved to Australia to study. We both got master degrees from the University of Sydney. Mine in Professional Communication and my wife’s in Applied English Linguistics. I really enjoy teaching listening here at KNUE. In my listening class, I try to maintain a balance of practical and theoretical knowledge. I feel that too much practical work, especially in a listening class, is not teaching listening, but merely testing listing (and you don’t need my help with that!). On the other hand, too much theoretical work is just that, theoretical and lacks any basis in reality. I think of it in this way; what’s the best way to learn to drive? Is it to just jump into the car and drive? (all practical) or is it better to just read books about driving? (all theoretical). Or is it best to combine the two, to learn something about the process of driving and then actually drive the car? For me, the answer is obvious; the combination is the key.
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