EPIK Co-teaching Video Contest Entry

EPIK (English Program in Korea) has a contest every year for the English teachers in South Korea. There are 3 categories:

1. English Co-teaching Video: contestants create a video that showcases an English Conversation Class and the methods used by Native English Teachers and their Korean co-teachers.
2. EPIK life video: contestants create a video that highlights life is Korea. They discuss teaching, food, culture, traveling, etc.. and present a picture of what it is like to live here.
3. EPIK Volunteer Essay: contestants write an essay describing any volunteer work they have done with teaching in Korea.

I love teaching and Josh loves making videos. So it seemed obvious that we had put something together for the Co-teaching category.

I chose one of my favourite classes to be recorded for the contest. They knew a week in advance that Josh would be joining and recording our lesson. Although it can be nerve racking being in front of a camera, the girls did a fantastic job participating in this lesson. Josh did an amazing job recording, editing, and composing the music for this video. Although we didn't win the video contest, working with Kate, Josh, and my students was a great experience.

The lesson we taught follows the rotating groups method highlighted in my Divide and Conquer: Four classroom management tips that work blog post. The topic lesson is titled My Story: Past, Present, and Future

For your viewing pleasure, the following video introduces my amazing Co-Teacher Sunhye Kim (Kate) and our fantastic second year girls English Conversation Class:

Summer & Winter Camp: Korean Vacations vs. N. American Breaks

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South Korean summer and winter vacations are a bit different than North American breaks. 

In Canada winter vacation means a time to relax, sleep in, watch movies, or hang out with friends. If you are ambitious and prepared, you might go skiing or build a snowman. Summer vacations are similar except the ambitious spend time on the beach, or at a lake. 

In South Korea a vacation means regular classes are replaced with specialty classes. During the "time off" students are expected to sign up for enrichment classes. Somehow these classes have been translated ‘camps’.

For me, the words "summer camp" invoke images of campfire singalongs, and late-night swimming. Similarly, "winter camp" makes me think of hitting the ski hills or going sledding. In South Korea, these words mean sitting in a classroom for 2-3 hours Monday-Friday. 

When I came to terms with this, I decided I would create the best possible experience for those students who chose to sign up for my English Camp. While following the guidelines of providing an educational experience, I tried to incorporate as much fun and freedom into my classes as possible. 

Here is an outline of my English Summer Camp:

The theme was English speaking countries.

In groups of 3-4, students were instructed to do a research project on one of the following countries: USA, Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland.

They had computers, poster board, construction paper, scissors, glue, crayons, pencil crayons, and markers at their disposal.

I gave them very basic guidelines of what they had to include:

•Country’s name: Capital City + Map

•Population

•Famous food

•Famous people

•Famous Music (Introduce a band or singer from your country and play one of their music videos for the class)

•Popular sports

•Tourist attractions

•Political leaders (President / Prime minister/ King / Queen )

•Any Other interesting facts!!!!

~Be prepared to present your poster to the class on Friday

~Each group member must speak during the presentation

~Presentation should be 8-10 minutes

~The best poster & presentation will be rewarded

My camp was only 2 hours: 2:00pm – 4:00pm. Several groups were so devoted to their projects they asked to continue working after class. I gave them the key to my classroom and headed to the beach. One of my students told me that her group stayed until 7:00 one night working on their project.

I created an upbeat Summer Camp Playlist on grooveshark that included some of my students’ requests. This became the soundtrack of our summer camp. Each day music would be playing for my students as they entered the room and while they worked on their posters. Class began with a fun 30 minute warm-up activity; then, my students were given the rest of the class to work on their projects.

I soon found myself amazed at the high quality projects. As far as I know, Korean students aren’t given a lot of creative freedom in their day-to-day classes. The system seems very teacher centered and test based. So -although my students weren’t used to this type of learning environment- they thrived.  

As a teacher, nothing compares to the buzz that happens when students are focused on a task they enjoy. They are having fun. They are learning. They are growing. My students proved themselves to be creative, artistic, innovative, and diligent. Witness:

Here's a video I made that shows my fabulous students in action. Music credit to John Mayer.

 The Final Products:

That's me up on the map with fellow Canadian hero's
Stephen Harper & Justin Bieber 

Rainy day in England

Russell Crowe was claimed by the NZ group

Not only were these projects an interesting way for my students to learn more about English Speaking countries, they were also great to use as informative and decorative classroom posters.