[Interview] Thomas Frederiksen, English instructor & writer from Denmark
Thomas Frederiksen, English instructor & writer from Denmark
Thomas Frederiksen is the author of an English textbook series. Writing together with his brother Anders, the two have published 10+ books aimed at teaching natural and realistic English. He also works as an actor and has appeared in shows like TVN’s Namja-chingu (A Boyfriend), and in the movie “Swing Kids”. Thomas was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, but after growing up in various countries, he has spent the last 10 years in Seoul.
Q1 meyourself, for example, who you are, where you were born and what you do in Korea.
A1: My name is Thomas Frederiksen and I’m working in Korea as a writer and actor. I was born in Copenhagen, Denmark but have been living in Seoul for the past ten years.
Q2. How can you speak English fluently so that you can work as an English instructor here in Korea? You are from Denmark where English is not an official language.
A2: Well, when I was 4 years old, my family moved to Miami, Florida. I also lived several years in Nice, in the south of France. So basically all of my schooling up until university was in English, as I attended various international schools while growing up in these different countries. But I’d say I didn’t really become a “good” English-speaker until I started writing for myself. During my twenties, I wrote a ton of poems, essays and letters, and it taught me to really consider the way I construct sentences and choose my words. once I started analyzing my writing in that manner, it helped turn me into a great English speaker.
Q3 I was surprised that you have been involved in many different jobs like a freelance model and actor, in addition to the sector of English education. Can you tell us about them?
A3 Sure! About 5 years ago, I got a chance to combine my main job, teaching English, with my interest in acting, and I became the acting teacher of an amateur English musical class. I would teach acting and English to the students, and then we’d perform a musical at the end of each semester. When I first took the job, I didn’t really know much about acting, but through hard work and countless hours of practice with our students, I managed to build my skills and my understanding of acting. After that musical class ended, I didn’t want to give up acting, so I began working as a professional actor doing TV dramas, movies, commercials and so on.
Q5 You have also been in Korea for more than 10 years. I’d like to know how and why you came to live in Korea. How is your life here in Korea?
A5 I first came to Korea as an exchange student in 2007. I was attending EWHA Women’s University, but rather than studying, I spent almost every day going out and enjoying Seoul. I would walk all day and discover new streets, new restaurants, new people … it was such a fun time in my life! After my exchange period was done, I realized how much I missed that experience, so after I graduated, I decided to move to Korea to live. When I arrived here for the second time, I had no job, no home, no plan at all. I didn’t even know where I was going to sleep that first night. But it all worked out, and now I’m pretty satisfied with the life I’ve built here.
Q6: What do you think is the best way you'd like to recommend to our readers in learning English?
A6: I think it’s important to combine your English studies with something that you enjoy. I saw firsthand how the students in my musical class would improve their English because it was integrated with our stage performances. I guess they didn’t really feel like they were studying English, just “using” English to act, so some of that pressure was removed and they could enjoy themselves on stage.
7They say we live in a global village and in fact, some people enjoy their life as so-called global nomads. In this situation, global citizenship above national citizenship is often emphasized. Can you tell us about that, too?
A7 Yes, I’m a big supporter of that international mindset. I think that’s the future, to be honest. In the past, we told people to love one country, one culture, one set of people, and we compared countries to find out who was richer or happier or better. But that’s not really possible anymore. Instead, the people who don’t feel attached to just one country can travel and live and feel comfortable almost anywhere in the world. That’s what global citizenship is about, and I think the majority of you students will also be living like that in the future.
Q8 Finally, do you have any message or words of encouragements for our readers, especially our young readers?
A8 I know a lot of the readers are probably concerned with studying and their future careers. So, I’d like to give them two pieces of advice. The first is: “To ensure your future stability, make yourself irreplaceable”. What I mean by that is that since the workplace is so competitive, you have to make yourself stand out by having some unique ability, skill or knowledge. one way to do that is to combine your abilities in unique ways, like I did with English, writing and acting. And so my second advice is “Make sure that you mix what you are doing for a living (your job) with something that you love to do (your passion)”.