Published by the Gwangju International Center since 2001
In the Montessori philosophy of education, the concept of a “prepared environment” is emphasized to encourage these children’s physical and mental independence. “Prepared environment” refers to the overall factors provided so that children can engage in activities to satisfy their desire for exploration and learning on their own.
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.
To kick off the new year, we’ll unshelve our trusty Farmers’ Almanac and put its sage guidance and folksy humor to good use in the pursuit of understanding Korea’s modern agricultural craze: sowing apartment complexes in the middle of nowhere. What could possibly go wrong? So, without further ado, let’s hop in the car and head to the countryside – oh, and feel free to ask any questions along the way…….
Happy New Year, fair readers and listeners! The past year has been another very strong one in new music from both the old pros and the young upstarts, but you know, there’s just too much of it out there. Thankfully for you, I do this full-time so you don’t have to listen to the latest amateur outfit’s “epic” debut (I’d have added another word to that description most of the time), or that old band you love making an incredible return to form with their 348th career LP (which sucked, let’s face it… we still love ‘em but c’mon).
The band describes its music in online bios as “seomin punk,” with seomin meaning “the commoner class or ordinary people.” But it’s not to be confused with working-class pride, a common theme among many other punk bands.
“There is a great deal of interest in all matters North Korean among scholars, experts, and policymakers here. That also means some of the top experts on North Korea in the world are based here. There are several archives and libraries here that are extremely useful to my research. More specifically, I came here to Gwangju to take advantage of this great research opportunity with the Asia Culture Center (ACC).”
“Art is said to be spoken in various languages, depending on the viewer, but my self-portraits are my view of my art in my 20s, when I was intensely concerned about human instincts and nature. They expressed the power of love to blossom new lives in the midst of the fear of people who could not be free from the pain of those times. The theme of my works was then about the myth of love that provides the energy that humans have been pursuing.”
While developing the skills, discipline, and physicality required to become a champion is no doubt taxing, she offered the following advice to those who would like to follow in her footsteps: “If you always train with joy and do your best, you will get good results. Go for it!”
