Mon. 7/8
This morning we had a teachers’ meeting first thing. I had the chance to introduce myself to the
entire staff and thank them for being such gracious hosts. Then I had the chance to work with some of
the classes today! In the morning I presented
to two 11th grade girls classes, and in the afternoon two 12th
grade girls classes. The presentations to the 12th grade classes were not originally scheduled, but the students were interested so I was happy to do it. Class sizes are
large here – about 35-40 students per class!
During my presentations to the students today, I discussed the American
education system and school life. The
students had the chance to ask and answer questions throughout the presentation. They were definitely a little bit shy to
speak in front of the class. The Korean
English teachers explained to me that students’ experience with studying
English is mainly limited to reading and listening. English classes involve studying grammar and
translating. If asked to speak in
English, many students are self-conscious about speaking in front of their
peers or making a mistake. But I
provided some sentence frames (like fill-in-the-blank sentences) to help them
think about and answer the questions I posed throughout the presentation. I gave the students a chance to write their
answers first, so I think this helped when I then asked students to share their
answers. It was interesting to discuss
the similarities and differences between our schools with them. I think the things that surprised them the
most about school life at Fairfax High School is that students do NOT have to
wear uniforms, some students drive to school, and school ends at 2:05pm J. In Korea, the driving age is 19 or 20 and as
I mentioned in a previous post, students here stay at school to study well into
the evening.
After school we spent the evening at home. I continued with my Hangul lessons. Yeji’s brother helped me practice my
pronunciation this evening.
Tues. 7/9
This morning at school I met with two classes and one small
group. The small group is made up of six
11th grade girls chosen by their teachers to meet every Tuesday and
Thursday for a discussion class. Since
today was our first meeting, we did introductions and get-to-know-you type
questions. At the remainder of our
meetings we will discuss topics of interest chosen by the students.
The next class was a 10th grade boys’ class in
which I gave the American education system and school life presentation. The last class I met with this morning was a
10th grade girls’ class. The
purpose of this class was for conversation, so we discussed the topic of
travel. We created a list of question
and answer sentence frames together.
These sentence frames provided them with some support while
speaking. I had the students speak in
pairs and then asked for some volunteers to come to the front and speak with me
and then with their partners. They were still
super shy to speak in front of the class!
In the afternoon, Yeji and I met up with Lee and Minju to
visit Seong-joo Elementary School in Changwon.
Over the next two weeks, we will be traveling to several schools around
the area as arranged by the Office of Education. The Office of Education chose Seong-joo
Elementary School in particular because it has a very good reputation and hosts
a student practicum program in which university students studying to become
teachers come to Seong-joo to do their observations. Seong-joo is the only school in Changwon that
hosts a student practicum program. We
were able to tour the school and stop in on a few classes. It was a very nice experience. The classrooms are very colorful! Here are a few pictures from the afternoon:
In front of Seong-joo Elementary School with our teacher
hosts and a few of the English teachers from this school –
An after school activity for the 4th grade
students in the gym – ssireum wrestling (Korea’s traditional national sport) –
A 6th grade class. The students are sitting in cooperative
groups! In this picture, a group
of students are reading a passage from “Harry Potter” (in Korean) – similar to
a reader’s theater style activity –
In the technology room.
There are two special technology rooms here – one for the lower grades
and one for the upper grades. Each
homeroom class gets to spend one school day a month having their lessons in the
technology room. There is a huge TV-like
screen in the front of the room that is connected to an iPad and has
touch-screen capabilities. The picture
below is of a Google Earth image near my house!
It’s difficult to see, but the thicker road in the middle of the picture
is Centreville Road. It was really
cool!
Wed. 7/10
This morning I met with two classes. The first class was a conversation class for
10th grade boys. We did the
same activity as described yesterday with the topic of travel. The boys are just as shy and reluctant to
speak out loud in English as the girls!
During the second class of the day I had the opportunity to observe one
of the English teacher’s classes. The
topic of the class was preparing for a job interview. The teacher gave the students the opportunity
to brainstorm about this topic first, read some information about job interview
tips, and then ask questions about the vocabulary and reading content. Then the teacher and I did a mock job
interview together as a model for the students.
After that, the students worked in pairs to prepare their own responses
to job interview questions. A few pairs
of students volunteered to act out their interview in front of the class. The students were really getting into it! Throughout the lesson, the teacher gave most
of the information and instructions in English, only sometimes translating to
Korean. I was impressed!
This afternoon a few of the English teachers and I visited a
nearby middle school – Bong-myeong Middle School – to observe one of the
English classes there. This school visit
was arranged by the department head here rather than the Office of
Education. There is a native English-speaking
teacher, Laura, from England who co-teaches English classes at
Bong-myeong. The department head here at
Gyeongwon High School wanted to give me the opportunity to observe a
team-taught class. It was a fun class to
observe! The topic of the class was pop
music and the students had the chance to do various listening activities
connected to famous pop songs and then a writing and sharing activity at the
end.
After talking about the school and the class we observed
with the staff there, headed to a café in town with the other English teachers
from my school to chat. I actually
haven’t talked about food for a few days now, so I feel like it is about time
again! ;) At the café we had a dessert
called pat bing soo. It consists of
shaved ice, sweet red beans, fruit, and often pieces of rice cake (which are
sweet and chewy). It doesn’t sound like
much but it is delicious and refreshing!
On another note, finished reading “The Book Thief” this
evening (loved it!) and started on “Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai
Undercity.” I only made it through the
first few pages before falling asleep but the book immediately hooks you!
Thurs. 7/11
This morning met with the small discussion group again and
then two other classes for the American education system and school life
presentation. During the discussion
group, we talked about topics that the students chose beforehand – shopping,
role models, culture shock, and pets.
The other two classes were a 10th grade girls’ class and an
11th grade boys’ class. That
particular boys’ class was the most challenging group yet. Of course in any large group of high school
students (particularly boys), there will always be a few that don’t pay attention, sleep, or talk
during the lesson, but there were a lot in that class J. After that class finished, the other teachers
said that class is one of the most difficult classes for all teachers. So then I didn’t feel as bad
haha.
Also at one point this morning, a student from a 12th
grade class approached me about presenting to her class.
Right now my schedule only includes working with the 10th and
11th grade English classes.
Since time is tight, I think the line of thinking regarding my schedule was: the 12th grade students have
already finished their university entrance and final exams and are almost
finished with high school. Hence, they
are also mentally finished with high school J. Last week after I did the unscheduled, extra
presentations for two of the 12th grade classes, I think word got
around, so a few of the other 12th grade classes are also
interested. We found a spot in my schedule
to accommodate their request!
This afternoon we visited another school as arranged by the
Office of Education, so Lee and Minju were there as well. We visited Masan High School which is an all
girls’ high school in Masan city, another part of Changwon.
 |
| Speaking class at Masan High School |
We visited this school in particular because they
have a
special English program there. The
school has a section of the building designated as “The English Wing.” Over the past few years they have been trying
out a new program and approach to teaching English – integrating more speaking
and writing into the curriculum. As I mentioned
in a previous post, most English instruction here only involves reading and
listening and that is because the exams that the students take only include
those two components. Masan High School
employs two native English-speaking teachers, and those teachers lead the
speaking and writing classes with a Korean English team teacher. We had the chance to observe an 11th
grade speaking class, so there was a native English teacher and a Korean
English teacher.
The topic of the class
was “At the Airport” and it was very interactive. Here is a video clip of two of the students performing the dialogue in front of the class:
When we had the chance to debrief and chat
with the teachers after the lesson, they shared with us that beginning this
year, they have started to administer a speaking test as part of the students’ English
exam. This test is taken through a
computer program and then evaluated by the teachers. I asked the teachers if they have noticed a
difference in students’ overall English language skills since implementing this
type of program, but since it has only been in existence for a few years, they
said it was still too soon to tell...
Fri. 7/12
Had two classes this morning – 10th grade boys
and 11th grade girls – for the American education system and school
life presentation. In the afternoon we
visited Myoungseo Elementary School. This
school was also chosen by the Office of Education for us because it has a
special English program there. There was
even a sign out front to welcome us!
They have a special after-school program in which students receive
extra English instruction through an interactive computer program. The students receive some instruction and
practice with the main lesson objective from their Korean English teacher
first. Below is a picture of the
computer lab where the students have class.
In the picture to the right, the Korean English teacher is presenting the main
objective of the lesson.
Then, the students use the computer program for listening,
speaking, and reading practice related to that lesson’s objective. What is cool about the speaking portion is
that students have the opportunity to interact live with a native English
speaker. The native speaker is signed
online at the same time as the students and leads a mini practice lesson with
them. Here is a picture of what the online program looks like:
Since this after-school program is limited, during the
regular school day, the school employs a native English teacher to work with
grades 4, 5, and 6. The school also has
a tech-friendly classroom in which each work station is set up with an iPad on
which students can interact with a similar computer program as the one
described above. A few of the 4th,
5th, and 6th grade classes get to use this classroom once
a week for their English instruction.
This English program like the one at Masan High School is in
its early stages of implementation. It
is my understanding that these schools were chosen by the Office of Education
to test out the effectiveness and feasibility of these kinds of programs. If deemed effective, I think the hope is that
one day they can be expanded to other schools.
Only time will tell. I think if
students are exposed to this kind of interaction with English throughout their
elementary, middle, and high school educations, that will probably have the most
long-lasting impact.
It has been a busy but fun week. We’re taking it easy tonight because we have
plans to visit the cities of Geoje and Tongyeong over the weekend. These cities are located on the southern
coast of the peninsula, so we’ll be on the sea!
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