A Day of Professional Development: KOTESOL International Conference 2012

On October 20th and 21st Sookmyung Women's University held the 20th KOTESOL International Conference. During this time teacher's and ESOL enthusiasts gathered to see presentations ranging from topics such as mobile language learning to gaining more participation from students. Yet most importantly it felt like a time to celebrate the profession of teaching English as a second or foreign language.

I for one enjoyed the presentations I attended and especially found the conference well organized and entertaining.

The opening ceremony (seen above) showcased key speakers and introductory speeches by the University's President and other figures.

A hot topic in the ESOL profession must be how new technology can be used by the teacher and students. Certainly the plenary presentation touched on this in their "Mobile Language Learning: Turning Challenges into Opportunities" by Mike Levy and Glenn Stockwell. Although, I am somewhat conflicted on being told how mobile devices can be used for education because I think for most of us this comes naturally. I would have liked instead to see actual lessons presented where the use of these devices pan out. Instead of a hodgepodge of how it all could work.

Yet the presentations I attended offered more focus on subject areas, which I was keen to gain more knowledge on.

The first presentation I went to was in the morning and was called, "Reading Fluency: Rationale, Measurements, and Interventions" by Elton LaClare. I found his presentation simple and to the point with no real fancy flare to it. Yet that was good as the subject he talked about is important to think about when teaching. How do we assess our students reading skills in a way that will be accurate but also useful to the student? He showed several ways one can do this and web tools that can help. Overall, a good presentation.

After lunch I stepped into the presentation, "The M & M's of Teaching English to Young Learner: Using Music, Movement, and Multiple Intelligence" by Kathleen Kampa. Now I should have known before heading in that this would feel more like an ad campaign for Oxford books, but it didn't hit me till later on.

Her presentation was very lively, useful and on point with getting kids up and moving in class. Certainly I agree that young learners need movement, music and lots of action to help them learn English. I would say I teach young learners but I feel there is a distinct difference between a 9 year old vs. a 6 year old. For one I couldn't really get my sometimes bitter students to get up and sing and clap. But don't get me wrong I do find physical ways to get them involved.

Kathleen's presentation was to show us how these interactive attributes can be executed in the classroom. However, I think she had everyone doing the exercises a little too much. I would have rather liked to hear more about the effectiveness of these devices, then swinging my arms around and touching my toes. It also made me feel like a horrible teacher for not teaching my kids this way. And I really wanted to ask her, "Do you think someone could teach in this style for 8 hours a day?" It reminded me of my hagwon days, and how they (parents and supervisors) expect you to be this active, cheerful person for every class, and the unrealistic nature this creates.

So I didn't quite swing my arms enthusiastically or shout out "triangle" as loudly as other folks. But if I am ever to be a room with 6 year olds again, I'll know what to do. Just turn every task into a chant, smile and swing my arms a lot.

Thankfully the next presentation I went to hit the nail on the head for what I was looking for. Jackie Bolen of the blog, "My Life! Teaching in a Korean University" gave an excellent presentation called, "Teaching: the Small Stuff that Actually Matters".

She outlined 10 useful items that teacher's can use to focus on when developing their career in the classroom. Although this presentation was set for University teacher's her general point can be transferred to other levels. I particularly agreed with her point, "Don't hide" as I for one think it is best to be out and about in your classroom. Not sitting or standing behind your desk, but up and around the room. Sure teacher's need to take a rest at some point, and this could be done during work time. But generally one should show they are in command of their classroom and let students know they are there to be involved with them.

After taking part in presentations one could wander through the hallways checking out materials and booths with sponsors of the program. However, this became quite dizzying and it kind of made me late to a few presentations.

Outside there were tents up with coffee and snacks for lunch. I enjoyed a pastrami sandwich from Suji's.

If you are interested in developing yourself further as a teacher, or would like to start understanding this profession more, than I highly recommend attending these functions. You can start by joining the KOTESOL organization, which will later give you discounted entry into these events. If anything attending workshops or conferences is a great way to network and meet other people interested in going beyond griping, to talking about how to improve the results in their students. For one of the key speakers said it best, "...we are here because we aren't just satisfied that our students are quiet and parents have stopped complaining ...", we are here to go beyond what is asked of us. 

Winter Camp 2012 Wraps Up

Wow! Camp has come and gone in what feels like the blink of an eye. However, I can say I'm pleased with that reality. Camp this time around (compared to last summer) was a bit easier. I think it is because I had the higher level class, although at times they started to test me.

I found that it was good to get the book done and play review games and other silly activities with them. They seemed to like it most when I was less serious about things and delved into their creativity. I recall on the lesson about "The Emergency Room" I got into a thing about the number, "119". I told them that Korea copied America because we have "911". From here on one student started to boldly lecture me about how America copied Korea. I then proceeded to tell him how Korean people wouldn't even have a telephone to use that number with, if it weren't for Americans inventing it. This led to one student telling me that Steve Jobs is Korean and that he invented the phone. I corrected him that Steve Jobs is not Korean but did invent the iPhone.

That was a fun moment.

Otherwise, the open class went pretty smoothly. At my school parents come to view the students give presentations. Throughout camp the kids work on a role-play and make crafts. So I had them present their role-plays and crafts to the parents. Some kids were ultra shy and at the golden time refused to come up. It was a little strange as in class they were very energetic.

During the open class I didn't make much eye-contact with the parents. To be honest these folks still scare me a little and I know they are judging me, even if they don't officially have to do it. But I compensated this by speaking and asking the presenting students a lot of questions.

These kids have truly grown up a lot since the first day they arrived, and I am really proud of them. After the open class the kids go down for a closing ceremony in the auditorium. Here each group shouts a chant that has been designed by their camp teacher. One of the low-level groups did a really good job giving a great chant. I watched as one of the very lowest of the kids stood up enthusiastically and shouted out English with a huge smile. I think this school does a good job with teaching English, in this respect.

Well that's camp! Now I have one week off for the Lunar New Year. What am I going to do? Oh yes....lesson plan. ><

Have a Jolly Golly Christmas It's the ...

I'm currently on my Christmas vacation that will last till the New Year. To give the kids something special we (the English teachers) dressed up in a Santa outfit, played songs and handed out presents. The kids had a splendid time, except for a few that were displeased with their presents. Hey! It's not my fault kid! The presents were brought in by other students and randomly put into a bag.

To be honest, this year I'm not too much of a fan of this holiday. For one, I am reminded of my recent break up with Korean boyfriend #2 and the good times we had last year. You can see in these posts (here and here) that he visited me in San Francisco. As you can imagine, I am little beside myself this season just wondering why such a difference.

But life moves on and lesson plans need to get made, which is mostly what I am doing this Xmas vacation.

I think having this stable job and even just the promotion of going to 2nd grade and being a team leader, has me grounded. The work is keeping me busy and the good times had with the children are helping me feel the holiday spirit. But I'm hoping next year's holiday season will be a festive and warm one with someone to share it with.

Happy Holidays~

Win Them With Your Smile

Open classes are over! All that stress and anticipation has left me like a deep drop in a waterfall. Anyways, I might be bad at making metaphors right now because I really can't believe the results.

I was praised by the parents and the principals. I was told they especially liked me and really liked my smile. Imagine! All I had to do was prop up a huge smile the whole time.

Actually, it is kind of a life-story of mine that I win people over with my smile but that I always forget this. During class even when awkward or bad things happened I just smiled at it and got the kids back on pace. There were a few mishaps, I finished a little early at the start and one kid cried in the afternoon.

But the end result seems all worth it and I finally feel like I have gotten real approval at one of my jobs here in Korea. I hope to take this win and carry it over in to the rest of my days. I've learned a lot teaching in Korea and know that all my experiences culminated to this day of doing it well. Now I know I just need to keep cool with the homeroom teachers and continue doing well in the classroom, and all should be good.

Tom is staring at me so I better go play with him. byeee

Sink or Swim?

I could let the current sweep me away or I could let the mountain defeat me and give up. Or I could strap on some flippers or put on some serious hiking gear and get to the top. This is the metaphor I am using today because it relates to the realization I came to about my job.

Stress has been building up and sleep has been deteriorating, and it is not the kind of life I want to have. Usually, what one does is blame outside factors and never really look in the mirror. This time I have decided to look at myself and see what I can do to improve my life.

You might be asking what has been so stressful? Mostly I have been worrying about what the homeroom teachers think of me and with open class coming I started to doubt myself. I also knew there were issues with our department that I wanted to fight for, but felt defeated because in Korean society the loudmouth-aggressive person is usually left behind.

Instead, I started chanting to myself, "Think of the future, Joy!" Telling myself that I need to look at these micro issues and see how they fit into the big puzzle of my future plans. Do I really need to worry over the trivial day-to-day stuff? No. What I need to concern myself with is the big picture.

Classes have been good and bad, and the misbehaved students sometimes really push my buttons. I have come to realize that the students are not the ones who need to change, but instead it is I who needs to do the changing.  I figured out that my students are likely drifting off into patterns of misbehavior because they aren't "with me" in the classroom. In other words, I need to recreate my teaching style so to have successful classes. To do this I noticed that with the classes that I really give them a great and energetic beginning are the ones that finish with smiles.

Instead of letting the pull of "typical first-grader stuff" drag me down the mountain, I am going to pick my feet up and meet the challenge. Of course, though my mind starts to draw a blank. Thankfully there is the internet and I can research up on ideas.

Anyway, I think summer is here whether it is June or not.

Looking Up

Yesterday was Sports Day for my school, and it was my duty to keep watch of one class of children. There I was, out on the field standing behind the long line of children as they did their salute to the Korean flag. The parent's were in the bleachers looking down at their children and us. As I stood there I couldn't help but look up at the Korean flag and the big blue sky behind it, and wonder just how I got here. Thinking, how did I get to this point in my life where I was standing on Korean soil, participating in a National celebration with these people, certainly gave me a profound feeling.

Perhaps, my deep thinking was due to that the night before I didn't get very good sleep. The days leading up to Sports Day were kind of stressful. There has been one particular student who we haven't been able to "crack." What I mean is that he has been misbehaving a lot and doesn't seem to respond to anything we have tried yet. My frustration peeked when I talked to his homeroom teacher who wants us (the foreign teachers) to figure out on our own how to help him. I generally disagreed with her that it is not only up to us to manage him, when she has a role in it too. But we agreed to work on it together and find solutions.

This job, although essentially a lot better than the ones I have had in the past, is still full of typical Korean workplace troubles. I haven't escaped from poor communication and confusion. However, because of my experience I know how to handle it more. At work I try my best not to blow up when there are last minute changes, or in this example when no one is really clear on punishment policies. Yet, it seems the stress is still within me, and that is why I didn't sleep well Wednesday night.

I have come to realize that we just need to have a group meeting on what we can do for the little boy, and so that does mean I need to research methods for teaching "challenging" students. (My mom had a more technical term for it, but I don't remember).

Really though, I have today off and don't go back to work till next Wednesday. So I really just want to get back to that realization I had on the field of understanding where I am in the world.

Till then...

Happy Children's Day
Happy Mother's Day
Happy Buddhist's Birthday.

Culmination of Challenges

Today I am writing this post but if things go grammatically wrong do forgive me. Work has been culminating into a pool of half good and half bad. The good half are the groups of children that function in the classrooom, and the bad half are the groups of children that are dysfunctional in the classroom. What has ended up happening is that the bad half drains the life out of me and makes me wish I wasn't a teacher.

The good half, on the other hand makes me feel warm inside when a toothless-girl smiles at me and we giggle together. This half makes me believe that I can transform the subject of "Math" and turn it into "Math English." I feel hopeful and full of life!

Yet when I get dragged down by the bad half I wonder what can I do? How can I manage them? How can I make it so that they are so engaged they won't end up being bad. Then I think how futile it is when one kid in the class has some kind of disorder and ends up being a nuisance. Like an infection his "wildness" spreads and distracts me and everyone. Trying to discipline the kid doesn't work well since he doesn't understand me or is just playing a game.

The bad half reminds me that the First grade in general is showing signs of many problems. It makes me wonder why communication is so poor. Makes me wish the Korean homeroom teachers took more action to help us or at least suggest things we could do. I end up feeling resentment and anger towards people I want to respect and have a good relationship with.

Today I am the middle of this whirlpool of self-pity and it feels like I can't get out of it. As much as I say to myself what I will do next time, I know there will always be these challenges. I don't want to care and think too much about it.

These are the challenges that my new job has presented me. Yes, I can say with all honesty that I would rather be here at this school than at my previous jobs (public school). I cling to the hope that I will get use to these situations and know how to handle them better.


I don't know how to end this post. "Finisheee"

Discovering My "Mean Teacher" Self

When I was told I was given first grade I knew it was going to be hard. But now that I have actually been experiencing it the experience of it is a lot worse than what I imagined. The sum of things is that the morning classes are darling, but the afternoon classes are evil. I attribute it to that they have a lot of energy by the first afternoon class and then are completely drained by the third.

Because of this there have been several classes that fall into the category of "horrible." They lack in the ability to get ready for class, listen to me and generally keep themselves in check. Yes I know they are first graders and their attention span is not as yet developed. But really things can get to a point where I feel like I am losing it.

What has saved me is discovering the "mean teacher" inside myself. This kind of teacher is the one who will yell at the class in a deep and serious tone. It is the person who gets in their small seven year old faces and tells them to sit down and then asks, "Are you going to be a good boy today?" And guess what? It's been working, and the more I use it the better it gets. On top of this I have a management system of a "red" and "yellow" card. Yellow card means you have to stand and then red card means they are taken to their homeroom teacher.  This has been working too.

Well that is work in a nutshell. Still have a lot to prepare and really want to spend a weekend without it being blown away by extra work. Today I am not doing any afterschool homework and instead I am blogging and playing with Tom.

Let's hope I get out there and actually get a chance to use my shiny new camera!

First Day Tomorrow

Today we finished the level tests and it was again another whirlwind. It was speaking test day and my part was to watch the kids in their classroom while they waited their turn. The morning class did well with the activities I haphazardly put together, but the afternoon class was a complete disaster. Because of this I learned their English skills are pretty high. I don't want to complain about the homeroom teachers, but I would have appreciated more help from the afternoon one. However, if I don't do my part to communicate this than I have my fault areas as well.

Tomorrow starts our first day of full classes, which will be a total of six. Somehow, I managed to organize myself to have a plan in place for the next 3 days of classes. I was going to just use the time for self-introduction, class rules and get-to-know me games but I cut that stuff short to start the book.

Right now I have very little manipulative materials. Such as counting blocks, shape blocks and just anything the kids can put their hands on. I will have to improvise and likely go to the store till our shipment of supplies come in. One thing about working for an elementary school is that they order all the supplies for the first semester at the beginning, so if you need stuff later it's too late. Of course, though we are looking through our books to figure this out.


It's one of those weeks where no matter how much sleep you get it doesn't really count because your brain is fried from the stress.

Anyways...keeping my chin up and hopeful that things will settle down.

First Week Wrap Up

Hello everyone. Here is the part where I say sorry for not posting too much,  which is due to exhaustion from my first week back at work, unpacking and catching a cold.

The first week back at work wasn't really that bad. I recall my first week teaching in Korea and in comparison this was piece of cake.

To understand what I am doing these days here is my new schedule:

• Mon: 2nd Grade x2, 6th Grade x 4 = total of 6 classes (4 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.)
• Tues: 2nd Grade x2, 6th Grade x 3 = total of 5 classes (4 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.)
• Weds: 2nd Grade x1, 6th Grade x3 = total of 4 classes (4 in the morning)
• Thurs: 2nd Grade x1, 4th Grade x3, 6th grade x1 = total of 5 classes (4 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.)
• Fri: 2nd Grade x1, 6th Grade x3, 4th Grade x1 = total of 5 classes (4 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.)

That turns out to be that I am teaching 2nd, 4th and 6th grades. There is another foreign teacher at the school and she takes the other classes. This also means I have two Korean coteachers.

My new school is a bit different from last, whereas we do not have our own English classroom. Instead we travel to each class carrying a basket of our supplies. This is one aspect that I am going to have to get use to as I can't decorate a classroom or use certain kinds of supplies. But what I am noticing is that the attitude of the students is a bit different when the teacher visits their classroom. They seem not to be as excited to learn English or in the mood.

But I am starting at the end of the semester and so the kids are ready for their holiday break and to graduate.

The biggest upset and hurdle I faced last week was teaching 2nd grade. I have taught this age before but not on a daily basis and with a class size of 36. So it is a new ball game. Also I tend to not really understand what 2nd graders want. So I went through a few rough patches but I think I understand now what it is about. Planning will be key and making sure they aren't bored with the storybook materials (required part).

The coteaching part seems to be okay this time around. The main coteacher, I guess since she does most of the talking and coordinating, is actually an older woman. So I tend to agree with her and try not to stress her out. The other coteacher is quiet as a mouse especially when we are in the teacher's room. Teaching with her though doesn't seem to be a big deal.

What's new this time around is that I have to take lesson planning seriously. I am required to hand the lesson plans in promptly and have them reviewed. To me this is no big deal since a teaching job should require lesson planning. I do feel sheepish that I never really accomplished this at my last school due to miss-communication. The general classes don't really require a whole lot of brain work to make the lessons. Really you just end up copying what is in the teacher's manual and then pepper it with games and activities.

Last week was a rush of getting use to the new schedule and coteachers. Along with all this I had to crank out my lesson plans for the weeks to come. Thankfully I only really have to plan till the 24th since my vacation starts at that time.

But in January I will have winter camp to teach for 2 weeks. They already had a plan drawn up but after checking it out I realized it needed more materials so I spent a good chunk of time fattening up the winter camp agenda.

All in all, I can say that I really like my new school and coworkers. Including the house this job is really great. Of course nothing is perfect and the flaws in this job are that it takes me 40 minutes to walk to school. Mostly because I am a slow walker, so if I walked faster I could get there in 30 minutes. That and not having an English classroom are the only weaknesses in this job. But hey 30 minutes of walking near a river and past some trees is fine with me. Exercise plus nature enjoyment.

I have lots more I want to post with more stuff from Japan. But as I said I have a little cold and still need to get things squared away in my home. Till then...