Training

So the reason I haven't been posting this last week was due to the fact that I was in Seoul at teachers training! YAY! When I arrived in Korea I expected to be whisked straight from the airport to a week of intensive teacher training. Since I had zero teaching experience and zero degress concerning teaching I just presumed that I would immediately be forwarded to teaching 101, or how to teach when you really have no clue. Since I moved to Korea however, this wasn't the case; when I arrived on day one I was deposited in the capable hands of Eunyeong and was whisked off to school, where I taught the first day I was there. Oh Korea I love you. Anyway, four months later I finally got my training, which was amazing! I met some truly inspiring teachers that all live near me and I got hooked up in a network of teachers that is korea-wide and that's extremely helpful. I also got the exciting opportunity to BE the student, sure I just gradauated Uni in May and it really hasn't been that long since I was the student but my perspective has drastically changed. Instead of thinking "GAH! Will this never end? Will they never cease speaking? Must my ears bleed and my brain decompose before we are allowed to leave?!" I was thinking "Oh, that's a great way to model what I want my students to do. YOU CAN DO THAT?! oh yea, slower, more articulate, stop speaking like they understand, so maybe that's why they all stare at me blankly, I wonder if I just did..." Can you see the difference? Instead of just passively sitting I was actively learning! What a concept! Anyway, this week was a great opportunity for me to learn some new skills and to perfect some old skills as well as to meet new people. Some of the better quotes and comments from this week are as follows:

During one of our group-wide lectures the speaker was talking about the differences between Korean culture and American culture: "There I was with my Phillipino friend and an American friend at a coffee shop, we all ordered black coffee and Mark (I just made that up so I don't have to continue typing Phillipino) ordered a brownie. Well the brownie arrived at the table and Mark placed it in the center. I looked at the plate and realized that there was only one fork, I glanced about and realized that only one fork was going to be brought to us. The conversation continued and Mark began eating, I kept looking down at this delicious brownie, then back up to Mark's mouth as he slowly began eating the brownie. When he was about halfway done it became blatantly obvious to me that he wasn't going to share with me, the Korean part of me wailed "How could you betray me like this?"" This is an excellent of example of Korean culture! If you don't share with everyone involved you have most certainly betrayed them! It's good to remember that there definitely IS a cultural divide and that i'm the minority!

"You are a conversation teacher. Your goal is not to teach them grammar or prepare them for a test. Your goal is to get them to initiate and sustain communication." Good to remember as I plan lessons. Much more difficult to actually carry through to the classroom!


The most interesting and engaging speech that I attended was by a teacher in his second year here in Korea, he gave us two tips:
1. Steal everything
       Essentially he stated that other teachers are our greatest resource and that we should continually be working with one another and sharing materials. 

2. Be prepared to bomb...
       Being a teacher means that you are going to fail, make terrible lesson plans, and lose kids along the way. That's part of teaching, but if you can realize your mistakes and correct them, the next time you make those mistakes they will be different or not as devastating. GOOD TO KNOW! Sometimes I feel like i'm never going to get the hang of teaching and that I should just stick my head in the sand and hide. Whew, i'm really glad I don't have to do that.

Anyeong!