Tag: teacher

Education

Stimulation and Recognition: Expanding Children’s Sensorial Experience in the Classroom

Gwangju News

Montessori has developed a very specific and deliberate methodology to take advantage of the formations of development that exist in children from three to six years old. Until this point, children tirelessly absorb the sights, sounds, and messages of their environment and those around them. At the age of three, a child’s heightened sensitivity to order can be used to guide the fascinating task of learning to organize and decipher existing knowledge. In addition, by adding deliberate movement, you can improve the use of your senses while enhancing your awareness of mathematical principles and patterns that exist in the world around you. 

Language Teaching

Traits That Very Good English Teachers Exhibit

Gwangju News

Have you ever sat back in your most comfortable chair and reflected on yourself as a teacher? Have you thought about what the most important traits are for an English teacher to possess and then considered how strong you were in each of those characteristics? This is something that we all should do, and do regularly, to improve ourselves as teachers. I think it is safe to say that no teacher is equally strong in all good teacher traits – if such a person were to exist, they would probably have moved into the business field, where they could rake in an income that would place them in a much higher tax bracket than that of teachers.

Let’s consider the following (short and by no means exhaustive) list of teacher characteristics and, as we do, reflect on how strong (or how weak) we may personally be in each of the characteristics, and consider what we can or should do to strengthen ourselves in that teacher trait. As you are reflecting, you need not stop with the items listed below; add your own items and reflect on them also.

Language Teaching

Looking for a Coursebook

Gwangju News

A new session is beginning at your school, and you need to select a coursebook for the EFL course that you will be teaching. What to do? Go to the ELT bookstore in your area to check out the coursebooks available.

Language Teaching

Never Bored with Board Games!

Gwangju News

Think about your education, if you can remember back that far. Kindergarten was full of games and songs to teach you how to do things. I can remember Grade 1, when my teacher made sitting up straight to answer questions in class fun and exciting. She taught us to behave and be quiet through games like this. I even remember us crowded around each other, trying to barely breath so we could hear a pin drop. I swear I heard it. When did we stop making class and learning a good time?

Language Teaching

Special Interest Groups for English Teachers: Interview with Reece Randall

Gwangju News

There is a new guy in town, though he is not new to Korea or to Korea TESOL. Taking up a new position at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) is Reece Randall. He is also the new second vice-president of KOTESOL, and one of his roles in that position is to oversee the organization’s special interest groups (SIGs). In this interview for the Gwangju News, we ask Reece, among other things, to explain what SIGs are and how they work.

Language Teaching

Learner Journals and Portfolios for Language Improvement

Gwangju News

This article reports on a quite successful, combined journal-portfolio project with 76 university students over a one-semester period. Its purpose was to determine satisfaction with the project, its effectiveness in improving autonomous learning program design, and its effectiveness in improving autonomous study habits.

Language Teaching

Gwangju Peeps, KOTESOL Peeps: Where Are They Now?

Gwangju News

Expats are a quite transitory group. Many are very active in their adopted community, and then one day they are gone. You lose touch with them, and as the saying goes, “Out of sight, out of mind.” Well, what we have done is contact a number of former Gwangju residents who were also active members of the Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL Chapter and asked them what they are up to now and how their experience here, including their KOTESOL experience, may have helped them in life after Gwangju.

Environment Language Teaching

Environmental Awareness Through English Teaching: An Interview with Julian Warmington

Gwangju News

If you have been around Gwangju for a while, you have likely heard of Julian Warmington – that pack of energy from New Zealand. Julian taught for years at Chosun University. During that same time, he also spent years contributing to a fledgling Gwangju News, where he wrote articles, served as co-editor, and later served as editor-in-chief. Julian was also considerably involved in Korea TESOL, serving for several years as editor-in-chief of The English Connection, KOTESOL’s quarterly magazine, as well as founding and being a driving force in KOTESOL’s Environmental Justice Special Interest Group. In this interview, we touch on all of the above but focus on how EFL instructors can instill in their students a strong sense of environmental awareness.