One of the activities I was really looking forward to on this trip was the opportunity to observe teachers here in Korea. I wanted to view the teaching strategies as well as how teachers interact with students in the classroom. While our time in schools is only a small window to view the teaching culture of Korea, I was surprised by the similarities of watching a classroom in Korea and reflecting on my own teaching practices.
The visit that stuck out to me the most was to Seosang Elementary School. Not only was the technology in place at the school impressive, but it was the visit where I was able to watch a teacher teach in Korean for around 15 minutes. During that time, I was able to observe a whole class game, transitions between activities and the start of an interactive science lesson. Even though I could not understand the instruction in Korean, I could see the teacher effectively conveyed her meaning using pictures, gestures and having students read text along with her to ensure understanding. These are all strategies I use in my English Language Learner classroom to help students follow along with instruction.
Another aspect of the classroom I enjoyed was watching the teacher interact with students. She clearly had a good relationship with her class and students felt comfortable answering without raising their hands, but always seemed on task. Much like teachers I have observed in the United States, she used a multitude of strategies and nonverbal communicative skills to get her message across to students and help them feel valued in the classroom. One example came during the game they were playing, a Korean version of Kahoot, one student got the answer wrong while everyone else was right. The student had her hands on her head and looked dismayed. The teacher smiled, looked at her and they discussed the answer together to see why the student's answer was not correct. The teacher pointed to different words in the sentence and you could see the universal look of understanding cross the student's face. Once the teacher checked again to make sure she knew the correct answer, the whole class read the sentence again so that the student did not feel singled out and to re-teach the concept to the entire class.
While this is a very short example and by no means reflective of the entire pedagogical culture of Korea, it reminded me of the relationship that I try to have with my students and the way I try to run my classroom. It was interesting to me to see a teacher teaching using strategies that I have see in the United States in a different language, and that the teacher was so effective that I could understand what was happening in the classroom without knowing Korean. The opportunity to see a teacher in another country and another language was a powerful reminder that teaching is a universal language, and that no matter what language you speak anyone observing your room should see the positive relationships you have built with your students.
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