Posted by Hello, I am Daniel Shin. I am currently living in Ottawa, Canada with my mom. I want to share what I have felt when I first came here.
Being a Korean, manners are really important to me. I was taught to never shout at adults, don’t interrupt them, and to follow what they say. However, Canada was different. They have less respect for the teachers, which surprised me. In Korea, you can never talk back to the teachers, but here, they do.
Another thing that surprised me was the education level. South Korea is a competitive society, so you need to be better than the others. However, here, everybody is okay if they get a low grade. They don’t care about it and prefer playing a lot.
I think this is because of the curriculum. It was a surprise when there was free time during the schedule (DPA). In South Korea, we had math, English, Korean, science, music, arts, etc. every day. However, here, the school itself gives more free time to the students, which is probably why the students play a lot compared to Korean students.
Even though the education is really easy here, there is one subject that I have a hard time with – French. Because I didn’t learn French in Korea, I had a terrible time understanding the class.
See you next time!
