"Good good morning GMPers, welcome welcome welcome back to the show. We are so happy to have you back here today!" Is this statement familiar to some of you? ThisSM is the opening statement of famous KBS radio program Good Morning Pops. The Sookmyung Times (SMT) interviewed the host DJ (Disk Jockey) of the program, Jake K. Lee(LEE)
SMT You are the host DJ of the famous KBS radio program Good Morning Pops. Please introduce Good Morning Pops for Sookmyungians.
LEE Good Morning Pops has been running for 22 years and I am the 4th host DJ. My co host John Valentine and I call our audiences GMPers which simply stands for the mane of our radio program. We have recieved tons of letters from various age groups, 7 year olds to people in their 70s. Good Morning Pops is devided into four different sections and each section runs for 20 minutes. The four different sections take vocabulary, movies, pop songs, and daily conversation. We also invite guests and interview them. The famous British pop singer Mika and Korean singers like Crown J, Tablo, and V.O.S have visited us as guests.
SMT Do you have any memorable episode?
LEE Of course, I have many episodes as Good Morning Pops is a live radio broadcast. For example, there was a time when the music didn't come out accidently. As always, I ordered for music to play but when I realized that the music was not prepared, I quickly added, "Oh! The music is not coming out. Shall I sing it for you?" and actually sang it myself. For another episode, as Korean population is decreasing I often say a statement like "Okay, find a GMPers, get married and have 25 children!" and a couple who met through our radio program appeared and really got married!"
SMT What inspired you to study English?
LEE It started from a cultural interest. When I was young, my father played American pop songs with the record player and I enjoyed listening to them. I often sang along, even though I could not understand the lyrics. Then, I found the language English interesting. I wanted to know about it and learn about it. I searched American dramas or TV program to watch and this made me more curious about its culture and language. My interest in English language and its culture leaded me to explore more about English,
SMT Please give Sookmyungians secret tips to learn English.
LEE Everything comes down to a simple trick;psychological problem and psychological barrier. You need to break down your psychological barrier first. To break down your psychological barrier, start with just one thing a day. When you are starting with a one thing, this can change you into a different person.
People who think that they are not good at English, probably he or she is able to find more than one hundred different reasons why their English is bad. However, change your focus just a little bit. Then, the same person will find more than one undred good reasons why their English is so good. It is this simple just like flipping sides of one coin. Change your mind set which is the most important thing. Then you will be able to change everything that you have. Remember, whatever you focus on, you will get more of it.
SMT Do you have any other advices to Sookmyungians? Maybe something realted to life rather than learning English this time.
LEE You need to know what you really like. If you don't know what you really want to do in the future yet, you are having not enough experiences. Stop just thinking about it but go for it now. You need to try many different new things and experience more. I also want to suggest you to read more books of various areas. One of the problems of Korean students is that they read books realated to their major only. In this way, you can't see the bigger picture. Put what you know, what you learnt, what you think in to practice. Then, you can make your dreams come true.
