Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter September Meeting
----- Morning Schedule -----
11:00-12:30: Reflective Practice Special Interest Group (RP-SIG) Meeting
Topic: Action Research: Plan, Action, and Effect (Tyson Vieira facilitating)
Place: Starbucks, Chosun University Back Gate Branch
(Map: http://www.istarbucks.co.kr/store/store_view.asp?seq=593)
----- Main Meeting Schedule -----
Time: Saturday, September 13, 2014, 1:45-5:00 p.m.
Place: Chosun University Main Building (Gwangju), 4th Floor, Rm 4211
1:45 pm: Sign-in and Meet-and-Greet (Admission is free. Future membership is welcomed.)
2:00-2:50 pm: PRESENTATION 1
All-New Language Learning Games for the EFL Classroom
Jacob Boer (Samgak Elementary School, English Program in Korea, EPIK)
2:50-3:10 pm: Refreshment Break
3:10-4:00 pm: PRESENTATION 2
Teaching Portfolios for Professional Development
Tyson Vieira (Jeollanamdo Language Program, Provincial Office of Education)
4:00 pm: Swap-Shop Session
Everyone is invited to Share one of your Teaching Ideas, Classroom Activities, and ELT Games, Books, etc. (Handouts welcomed.)
4:30 pm: Announcements / Drawing for Door Prizes / Closing
----- Evening Dinner Schedule -----
End-of-Summer Dinner "Camping" Experience
5:30-9:00 pm: BIG Self-Bar, downtown Gwangju
Web: http://koreatesol.org/content/gwangju-jeonnam-kotesol-dinner-camping-exp...
Presentation Abstracts and Presenter Information
1. All-New Language Learning Games for the EFL Classroom
By Jacob Boer
The national elementary public school English curriculum puts a tremendous amount of emphasis on playing short games with almost every teaching hour in the classroom. For young learners, games are a low-stress alternative to time spent on rote memorization and standardized testing. This is a desirable approach to teaching young learners because having fun and using their imaginations comes natural to children and is essential for naturally developing language skills.
This will be my fifth presentation with the Gwangju KOTESOL chapter (all-new activities in each presentation) on the topic of EFL games and materials that I have created for my classroom. With time permitting, I would like to share six activities, the Kimchi Game, Halli Galli, Dominoes, Whose Is It?, Spy Game, and Cover Up. The Kimchi Game is a fun reading activity where students practice reading sentences from a dialogue and are gradually eliminated from the game until there is a winner. Halli Galli is an already well-known and popular card game in Korea that I have adapted for uses in the EFL classroom. Dominoes is also a well-known game in the West, but Koreans are not familiar with it or its rules. The rules of Dominoes can be adapted to serve as a great EFL game. Whose Is It? is a fun game allowing students in a large group to ask, guess, and answer who has a hidden item. Spy Game is a versatile activity, which can be used for most lessons, that allows students to ask and answer questions, and try to trick their friends. Finally, Cover Up is a fun game for small children to practice their speaking skills, and think and speak faster. All these games have been classroom tested and have proven to be quite popular.
The Presenter
Jacob Boer has lived and worked in South Korea for five years. Like many who came before him, he thought he would only stay a short time. But, he has found Korea to be a very exciting land with many great opportunities and adventures. Jacob currently teaches at Samgak Elementary School with the English Program in Korea (EPIK) and does teacher training and conversation sessions for the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education. He also lectures at native teacher training workshops and at orientations for new EPIK teachers on lesson planning for the elementary school curriculum and PowerPoint use in the EFL classroom.
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2. Teaching Portfolios for Professional Development
By Tyson Vieira
Whether paper-based or electronic, a portfolio as a form of teaching reflection and development is becoming more prevalent amongst teaching communities and academic fields. Over 1,000 colleges and universities are now experimenting and using portfolios in their undergrad and graduate programs (Mues & Sorcinelli, 2000). Many institutions are using portfolios as an alternate graduating achievement to the traditional thesis or are cutting their thesis programs entirely. An advantage that professors claim in regards to portfolios is that it provides a demonstrative competence in a variety of areas related to the field. With the rising prevalence of technology in teaching, increased globalization within our industry, and additional roles being assumed by teachers, the use of a portfolio demonstrates the importance of a holistic approach towards reflective practice, growth, and representation (Heinrich, Bhattacharya, & Rayudu, 2007).
Generally, teaching portfolios are coherent collections of materials representing one’s teaching philosophy, experiences, achievements, and practice. However, it varies greatly depending on one’s audience, purpose, context, and individual needs. Since teaching portfolios can be a reflective activity tool, each portfolio can be a personally unique representation of the teacher’s accumulated knowledge, practice, and skills. Components of a teaching portfolio may include a teaching philosophy statement, course syllabus, lesson plans, uses of technology in language teaching, video recordings of one’s teaching, and more.
As a follow-up on the success of our July RP-SIG meeting, this collaborative workshop will focus briefly on teaching portfolios, what they might contain, the benefits they provide, and how to prepare portfolios for lifelong reflection and professional development. Despite the growing popularity of teaching portfolios, many professionals do not have one, and some have not even considered using one. Therefore, a handout containing a broad list of component possibilities will be provided. We will then divide into small groups, based on the age group and proficiency level one teaches and possibly even on the target audience one would create a portfolio for. Each group will create and discuss what their portfolio would consist of and explain why they chose each segment. After each group has completed their portfolio (using a template handout), they will present it to the class for further analysis and discussion. In addition to the short presentations and discussions on the various aspects of teaching portfolios, we will observe examples of portfolios created by graduate students and professional instructors, along with websites to get started.
References
Heinrich, E. E., Bhattacharya, M. M., & Rayudu, R. R. (2007). Preparation for Lifelong
Learning Using ePortfolios. European Journal of Engineering Education, 32(6),
653-663.
Mues, F., & Sorcinelli, M. D., (2000). Preparing a teaching portfolio. Retreived from
https://cndls.georgetown.edu/media/documents/teachingportfolio.pdf
The Presenter
Tyson Vieira works in the Jeollanamdo Language Program (JLP) under the Provincial Office of Education. Prior to his present position as a teacher at Muan Englishtown, Tyson taught for two years at five different elementary schools in Haenam. He earned an M.A. degree in TESOL from Azusa Pacific University in the U.S. He is involved with the National English Ability Test (NEAT) as an item writer and various JLP projects such as English Camp coordinator, curriculum development, and he writes for JLP’s newsletter, Bibimbap. Tyson is an active member of KOTESOL and also serves as the co-facilitator of the local Reflective Practice Special Interest Group (RP-SIG).
