Gwangju-Jeonnam August Chapter Meeting

Schedule

1:30 pm: Registration and Welcome

2:00 pm: ELT Presentation 1
                Reflective Teaching: Improving the Learning Context
                By Allison Bill (Jeonju University)

2:45 pm: Refreshment Break

3:00 pm: ELT Presentation 2
                Facebook and English Learning in Korea
                By Jeremy Bissett (Chosun University)

4:00 pm: Special Presentation
                Korean Highlights: Four Decades of History
                By Dr. David Shaffer (Chosun University; Chapter President)

4:30 pm: Announcements  //  Drawing for Prizes  //  Closing

                (Admission is free.   Membership is encouraged.)

                (The Gwangju Communicator - Chapter Newsletter attached below)

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The Presentations & Presenters

Presentation 1: Reflective Teaching: Improving the Learning Context

Reflective teaching is not a new concept. However, it seems to be one of the latest buzzwords in ELT. If we are honest with ourselves as teachers, we tend to keep teaching the way we always have, regardless of whether it is working. We may want to change, but we don't know what to change or how to do it. Reflective teaching is one way to confront this dilemma. Reflective teaching involves considering what is happening in the teaching context (in and around the classroom, the students, and the teacher) that might be affecting the teaching and learning process, and seeing what might make a difference.

This presentation will start with an overview of teacher-directed professional development options. Then we will look specifically at one reflective teaching model, which includes different kinds of knowledge that teachers should seek to develop as well as basic characteristics of reflective teachers. Finally, we will brainstorm how to become reflective terachers in the Korean EFL context. Participants will be encouraged to choose and commit to one reflective teaching goal in order to improve their teaching.

The Presenter

Allison Bill started her own second language learnong at age five. She completed her B.Ed. in Elementary French Education at the University of Ottawa, and her M.A. TESL/TEFL at St. Michael's College in Vermont (USA). She is currently studying for her Ed.D. at the University of Exeter (UK). Allison has taught FSL in Canada, and EFL in France and Korea. She is a native of Ottaw, Canada. She has lived in Korea since 2000 and teaches at Jeonju University. Email: allison.bill1@gmail.com

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Presentation 2: Facebook and Language Learning in Korea

Research into how the internet and social networking sites can be used as a language learning tool will continue to be an ongoing process. One of the reasons for this is that today’s students are the first generation to grow up with internet technology. They are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach. Students have changed drastically; today’s students are “digital natives” – “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games, and the internet.

What makes social network sites unique is not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but rather that they enable users to communicate and make visible their social networks. One of the main concerns with social networking sites is how computers can transform the way people learn languages using socially oriented software. In order to do this, a framework needs to be established that takes into account learning in social environments, where people are interacting with other, looking at what kinds of interactions are taking place and what they mean in terms of language learning.

From my study, I believe that it has been shown that having foreigner contacts on Facebook leads to an increased use of English, and that it is not necessary to travel abroad to gain foreigner contacts. Also, Facebook can be used as a tool to learn English in Korea, and it is a better tool for learning English than Cyworld. However, it is still unclear as to the best way to use Facebook effectively in the Korean classroom.

The Presenter

Jeremy Bissett is originally from the Chicago area in the USA. He received his undergraduate degree in political science and history from Northern Illinois University, and his master’s degree in education from Columbia International University. He taught middle school and was a school administrator in America before moving to Korea in 2002. He is presently a fulltime ESL instructor at Chosun University and is currently pursuing his doctorate in Applied Linguistics at Chonnam National University. Email: jerbissett@yahoo.com

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Special Presentation: Korean Highlights – Four Decades of History

The past forty years have been a time of great change in Korea’s history – sometimes spectacular, other times shocking and tragic. This short presentation will guide the audience chronologically through news highlights of Korea's past four decades, beginning with the election of President Park Chung Hee (and near election of Kim Dae Jung) and the subsequent beginning of the Fourth Republic, through the Gwangju Uprising, the bombing of KAL 858, the Seoul Olympics, the “IMF” crisis, and becoming an “advanced nation.” The presenter gives his unique perspective on each of these events from his vantage point in Gwangju as they took place.

The Presenter

David Shaffer came to Korea in 1971 with the U.S. Peace Corps. After more than four years of volunteer service, he joined the faculty of Chosun University, where he is currently a professor in the Dept. of English Language of the College of Foreign Languages. While residing in Korea, he has witnessed many changes in the nation – political, economical, and social. Email: disin@chosun.ac.kr