TV personality Choi Eun-kyung, who began her career as an announcer, has explained why she abandoned her plan to become an English teacher.
Choi appeared on the Tuesday guest segment of KBS 1TV’s current affairs and culture program “Morning Forum” on Tuesday. She said she studied English education at Ewha Womans University but ultimately chose a different path, first joining a foreign company and later switching to broadcasting.
“I didn’t go to a teachers college because I wanted to be a teacher,” Choi said, adding that she majored in English education at her mother’s suggestion because she needed to find a job.
She said her student-teaching assignment at a boys’ middle school made her realize she was not suited to the classroom. “I really couldn’t teach,” she said, recalling that instead of stopping students from fooling around, she would go along with them. She said students asked to dance and sing, and she let them, praising them for doing well.
Choi said a principal later reprimanded her, telling her she could not run a class that way. She said the experience made her feel she was not good at teaching and that she even caught herself thinking some students might be fine without studying, leading her to give up on becoming a teacher.
Choi said she turned to a foreign company because hiring conditions were better at the time. “Back then it was different from now, and it was easier to get a job,” she said. She said she graduated in 1994 and was hired right away after taking an exam.
Although the job offered a favorable five-day workweek, she said she found it boring and quit to prepare for announcer auditions.
Choi said she had never imagined appearing on TV, believing only “doll-like” people were on screen. She said she began to consider broadcasting as training academies started to open and she realized that announcers delivered the news. She said she enrolled and began to pursue the goal of becoming an announcer.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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