Week 13: SSAEM- Sharing Stories of Asia Pacific Education Movement

On 29th November 2018, I attended SSAEM- Sharing Stories of Asia Pacific Education Movement  conference and participated as the presenter. I presented my project "Teaching English through Fusion of Malaysian and Korean Drama". I also get to listen to other teachers from Malaysia and other countries presenting and exhibiting their projects. It was fascinating to learn from them.

Week 12&13 : Alia's Korea-Malaysia Teacher Exchange Programme 2018

In week 12 and 13, cultural lessons and project was carried out. The project "Learning English through Fusion of Malaysian and Korean Drama" was carried out successfully. The students paid attention and did carry out the activities very well. There were few challenges in carrying out this lesson. First, is students had low proficiency in English in terms of understanding the script and reading aloud. Hence, it took some time to explain the lessons and practicing the script. They were closely guided with translation, actions, pictures and videos. Moreover, their team also helped them during their practice/rehearsal time by teaching and correcting each other on how to read the script, in other words, peer teaching.  In the end, the students understood well and able to read aloud well.

Another challenge was the students had low self-confidence or were really shy to go to the front and speak English. However, this was overcome as soon as they get to wear Malaysian costumes and act out a story from a different country. They were excited to experience, even just for a few minutes, how it is like to be a Malay. Moreover, they were less scared as they were not alone and had to perform in front of the class with their team members.

Overall, this activity has given the opportunity to the students to practice speaking and reading aloud in English. They have shown positive behavior in trying to speak English and they were able to speak well. There is still room for improvement. I believe with more practice, students can become better in English.

Moreover, analyzing 2 folklores has encouraged the students to be aware and analytical in comparing values practiced by 2 different countries. Students realise the similarities and differences of 2 countries and realise that as human, we practise the same universal values, in terms of these folklores, children must always love and respect their mother. Students were also amazed whilst discovering about Malaysian culture,history and architecture. The students showed their appreciation for the culture as they shown how enjoyable and excited they were while wearing the Malaysian traditional clothing and learn few Malay words while performing.

It is hoped that readers’ theatre is used by other teachers as an English teaching and learning technique as it could provide opportunity to the students to use English orally and increase students’ confidence to use English together with their peers as well as allowing the students to discover and experience different culture. Hence, students will start to have a wider view of the world and appreciate the beauty of each culture.

Suggestions to enhance students’ creative thinking skill are students could also do spontaneous role-play presentation by giving them a picture and they create a story and perform base on the picture. Students could also create a new story by combining all the characters from different folklores from different country in one story. Then, the students will start to pay more attention to each of the character’s culture and think of a way to fi t them in one story.

In conclusion, this project has proven that readers’ theatre is useful and effective to build confidence in using English language orally. Moreover, it is beautiful and colourful that various cultures were exposed through folklores and theatres to the students. With the awareness of the similarities and differences of various culture, understanding, respect and harmony can be built through communication. By using lingua franca, society can achieve an understanding easily albeit the different views.

As an educator, experiencing teaching students in another country makes me realize that even though we are from different school in different countries, the challenges in education is almost the same. I am glad to learn and exchange knowledge with the teachers and students in the past 3 months and realize that we should address educational challenges together and improve our global education in order to create an advanced world nation together.

During the final week, the school brought us to an Educational Fair in KINTEX,Seoul. It was an interesting environment I get to experience. There were universities and colleges promoting their places such as medical, fashion, agricultural and aerospace. Each booth has different activities for children and teenagers. They get to build robot, structures,mathematics games, car models, airplane models  and listen to short briefing. It was interesting. 

Week 12

Week 13

Week 10&11 : Alia's Korea-Malaysia Teacher Exchange Programme 2018

The project has been carried out extensively this past 2 weeks. Students had practiced the script and had rehearsal as a group. Then, they presented the drama for scene 1 until 9. At first, the students were shy and had low self-confident to present as they kept on mentioning that they are not good in English. However, as a teacher, I told them to try and speak. Then, I prepared for them costumes, which arebajumelayu, bajukurung and hijab. The students got really excited to try one the outfit, be in character and wanted to perform their best. By the end of the project, it could be seen that the students were reading aloud, improving their pronunciation, vocabulary, showing self-confidence and team work in using English with their friends in front of the classroom. Post-test was given to see the effectiveness of the activities. Results shown that they had improved in their vocabulary as the number of students improved is more than 50%. Finally, after this project ended, I have compiled all the activities and created a “Reader’s Theatre in South Korean Classroom: An Exploration Of Malaysian-Korean Folklore”module as part of “Global Citizenship in Education” initiative and material to be used by teachers for future GCED drama lessons. It is beautiful and colourful that various cultures were exposed through folklores and drama to the students. With the awareness of the similarities and differences of various culture, understanding, respect and harmony can be built through communication. By using lingua franca, society can achieve an understanding easily albeit the different views. As an educator, experiencing teaching students in another country makes me realize that even though we are from different school in different countries, the challenges in education is almost the same. I am glad to learn and exchange knowledge with the teachers and students in the past 3 months and realize that we should address educational challenges together and improve our global education in order to create an advanced world nation together. Besides project and lessons in class, the school had given us opportunity to learn to take up ceramic lessons and cjoined cooking academy: make cheese bread with the students. I learned these skills and appreciate the art and knowledge in creating them. I would like to expose my Malaysian students to these skills too. Next, the school also had a school trip for us to Nami Island and rail bike. At the rail bike, we experience the amazing view of Chun Cheon by cycling and the track had led us to 3 creative tunnels, such as elf tunnel, bubble tunnel and music tunnel. I was amazed by how creative the track was. Nami Island was amazing as it was filled with beautiful nature. The students and I ate at a halal restaurant there for lunch, hence the students were exposed about halal food through this.Next,I am also amazed by the teachers’ team work as they had a small celebration and foot soccer tournament to celebrate the vice principal’s homecoming. I really like how simple it was as it does not consume other teacher’s time to prepare the event but still able to gather theteachers.This is how to build the spirit of teamwork. I also learned that the government provides fire mentainance check twice every year. I was also lucky to listen to a career talk by Musical theater production and watched them perform. I really admire that the way teacher create programmes in school as it shows that the teacher treats students like an adult by exposing them to serious content, such as career. Few subjects thatI feel amazed about is technology and career subject. These subjects allow students to explore the potential careers they can venture into.

 Si Tanggang's Drama Project

Week 8 & 9 : Alia's Korea-Malaysia Teacher Exchange Programme 2018

Last week,I was observed by APCEIU. I taught the students about ‘Kompang’, a Malay hand drum and how to play it. The students enjoyed the lesson. After that, they learned the song ‘lagu 3kupang’ and sang with my partner.Then,we played the kompang and the guitar whilst the student sing the song. It was a good lesson. Then, twostudents,my partner and I were interviewed by APCEIU.I was asked how did I find teaching in Hong Cheon and what do I want to bring back to Malaysia. Thisprogramme has broaden my horizon in terms of education system, especially how Hong Cheon had shown efficiency in working,not wasting time as well as team work among teachers, parents and students. They have shown me the significance of having a supportive school that allows more programme to be able to carry out smoothly and successfully. I also realise as a teacher, this programme has encouraged me to keep on bringing the world to the students in the classroom, either in HongCheon Middle school or SMK Taman Daya 2, Malaysian school. I would like to keep on exposing to the students about differences and similarities within various culture,religion and values that the world’s nation hold on to. This will provide students with bird’s eye view of the world and teaching them about understanding, appreciating and respect each other, showing to them potential and opportunities what’s out there.Besides,last week, I joined School festival and at the same time, my partner and I organized “Hong Cheon Malaysian Day”. The poster and pamphlet were prepared by Hong Cheon Middle School beautifully and professionally. Each department such as Mathematics department, Science department, technology exhibit students’ beautiful work. Parents’ Teacher Association also had a booth, selling tteoboki and other Korean snacks. There was also art booth where they paint students’ cheeks. There was also traditional games going on. We also had our 6 Malaysian friends came to Hong Cheon. Together, we set up a Malaysian booth, exhibiting a banner, Malaysian flag, banner, information on comparison between Malaysian and Korea, booklets,pamphlets,kompang,tiger,tampin, traditional clothes and Malaysian food, roti jala and Malaysian curry. I taught the students and teacher how to make roti jala and they tried to make it and eat it. Students and teachers also tried Bajumelayu and hijab. We hoped that our booth had given interesting input and view about how wonderful Malaysia is. Then, in the afternoon, we performed traditional dance, kpopdance,sanga Malay song and Kpop song whilst playing instruments. It was an amazing day to introduce our culture. We also enjoyed Korean culture by watching the students, teachers, principal and parents perform on stage. Students were playing orchestra, playing the Beethoven with the piano, singing rap song,ballade song and perform Kpop dance. At the backstage, students, parents, teachers and other performers encouraged each other and said "fighting" and congratulated each other after their performance. I also saw students performing. The orchestra was majestic. They played avengers music with avengers video on thescreen. Then there was a student who played piano beethoven perfectly. He was skillful. Then there was Korean drum performance. It was amazing. Then, there were group of students performing singing and rap song. Then there were 2 students and teacher perform kpop dance. The principal performed using sexophone and showed our pictures in the background. Then,teachers and parents also played sexaphone.It was amazing to see all of them working together, giving a great performance. From everyone’s feedback, everyone enjoyed the festival and the performance. They get to learn about Malaysian culture from our performance and booth.Seeing students’ professional performance was unbelievable. It felt like the teachers treat students like professionals and produce professional product. After the festival, the schoolhad a sports’ day. The sports were soccer ,futsaland foot volleyball. The tournaments are among classes.I also had a chance to visit Special Education class. They explained that the teacher attends to the student one at a time. A class only consists of 6 students. If the students are more, then they will create another classroom. In their timetable, they will study in special education class as well as enter normal class. They are encouraging the special students to mix witty other people. They also have their own textbook for Hangeul, English and mathematics, but the level is lower than actual grade. After that, we had a sharing session with the principal. The principal is interested in saxophone. So he created sexaphone club and invited teachers and parents into the club. They performed at school festival! The principal explained that organizing school festival, sports day and school excursion is to helpstudents to relax and explore their interest besidestudying. Next day, it is the school trip day. All classes went out for school trip base on the venue they choose with their homeroom teacher.This is an interesting programme as it widens the students’ experience as well as bonding with each other. Besides, carrying out my project plan is harder than I imagine as students were a little passive and reluctant to come out to the front and perform drama. However, I the project plan hasencouraged them to learn new vocabulary and practice reading aloud when they were practicing their lines. Some were inferior, saying they are not good in English, but encourage them to try. I had 2 presentation. I hope I will get more drama presentation next week.Based on my conversation with a teacher about the school system, I learned that it is free to enter Elementary and Middle school but students have to pay a little to enter high school. Textbooks are given free to the students, but if they lose it, they need to write a letter to get a new one. Students starts semester in March and ends in July. Then they will have summer vacation. After that, they start their second semester in August and ends in January. That will be the beginning the winter vacation. Teachers are evaluated by other teachers and students. I hope to learn more about the school system to comprehend the school culture better. Lastly, I am also grateful that I get to experience in organizing Malaysia Day in other school, that are Daeso Elementary and Seoul Technical High School and we carried out various activities such as dancing, cooking,playing instrument, trying out Malaysian outfit and accesories. I got to experience communicating with elementary and high school students and observe their school environment and culture.It was great!

Week 8

Week 9

Week 6 & 7 : Alia's Korea-Malaysia Teacher Exchange Programme 2018

There were few events happening these 2 weeks. I taught grade 1-7 and they were able to finish the hands-on activity,that is making Malaysian Hat. They enjoyed the lesson. Then, I was invited to have dinner with the principal and Parents-Teacher Association. Meeting with parents was pleasant. We discussed about Malaysia and we discussed about how determine Korean parents are in sending their children to academy after school, ensuring thestudents achieve good results. They also explained how supportive they were of the school and the students. They explained they had a programme by having a market. By the end of it, they donated their profit to the needies. This school has shown that parents support is important, making a good team work among parents and teachers in school, create a very supportive environment for school. Then, I went to Daeso Elementary School to handle Malaysian Day. We had a tent and 2 tables and we prepared banner, flag,brochures about Malaysia, tampi, Harimau, kompang, a plan and Kuihcincin. We had information about Malaysia on the board too. Then, we handled the dancing session. Every 7 minutes, 20 primary school students will visit our booth.We taught them 2 types of dance called Waubulan and Endang,After dancing, they visited our booth, viewing our materials and enjoyed the snacks we served. We did about 15 sessions of the short dance. It was a great Malaysian experience for the young students and they had fun! I was also glad to experience handling younger students. I also learned Korean language,especially from Lina who was explaining the dance stepsusing simple Korean.We worked together that day.Then, on 12^thOctober, I went to APCEIU for mid-term review. Listening to other teachers was very good as I got to learn from other teachers’ experience as everyone went to different school, learned new knowledge and comprehend everyone’s different challenges. There were teachers posted in elementary school,midde school, high school and even special needs school. It was amazing listening on how they handledsituation and solved the problems. It was also inspiring to know, for example, in a high school, students learned about filming from experts.I am very inspired that Korean education system that expose students to advanced knowledge at school instead of at university. Then, during some of my lessons, some of them did not go smoothly as students were not focused to the class. Hence, I used a teaching technique which is rhythmic clap. If they are not focused, I would do the rhythmic clap and they would respond by continuing the clap.This is a good and positive way to capture their attention instead of shouting their name. I also have a quiz and reward and these help them to pay attention to the important key words on that day. Moreover, some students were able to complete the task given. My project plan also is in the first and second phase, where students are in the process of understanding Korean and Malaysia stories, characteristics, setting and exploringtypes of facial expression and intonation. I am a bit worried if the students will be a bit shy for the next lesson, that is reading and acting out the script. So, I will prepare a little reward and assigned roles to the students to ensure they carry out their role properly. Besides,I also ask the homeroom teacher, asking how the school is managed if students have discipline problem in the class. She said, first, the teacher will motivate the students to pay attention to class. If the problem is serious, the student will be sent to the discipline department. Then, they will call the parents and the students will be suspended.Students are not happy when the teachers called parents, so they will try not to make any discipline problem. The homeroom teacher also showed their roll call book. The students’ name is typed only on the first page. Then, the teacher would only note which student is absent. Then, the teacher would use the first 10 minutes (9.00am) to share information or advice. The students also submit their handphone to the teacher. There is no assembly. Then, at 3.20 pm, students are on duty to clean up the classroom and on Friday, there are students assigned to clean the corridor. I am glad to know this information as I learn that this process is efficient and effective as well as instill the value of responsibility to the students.On Wednesday until Friday, I joined multicultural club camp at National Youth Space Centre, Goheung. I learned about this small robot that is controlled by a software in the computer. At National Youth Space Centre, students are taught to use the software and navigate these little robots and the mission is to capture QR code on the wall using the little camera on the robot. Students are also exposed to descriptions of stars and planets using advanced technology. Students are shown an inspirational video on teenagers creating a rocket. Then, they are shown a shuttle cock and how it changes the direction when it is hit. The task they had to do with a given shuttlecock and paper is they have to combine them and make the shuttlecock only move in one Direction and bit change movement. This is to make stuents think creatively and use physics and understand centre point and air pressure related to the shuttlecock. I am grateful to experience this camp as I get to see the facilitiers that Korean has to educate young generation and how equip the facility is. 

Week 6

Week 7

WEEK 5, DAY 34: Alia's Korea-Malaysia Teacher Exchange Programme KOMTEP 2018

Today and yesterday are examination day for grade 2 and 3 students. Thus, the school arranged that the grade 1 students to go on a field trip today. Interesting process of examination here. This is my 3rd experience during the examination period.
First was English listening test. Second was English writing test. These 2 days is examination for all subjects. Hong Cheon Middle school has exam starting at 9am and ends at 12pm. Teachers would be invigilating the whole period and not base on the usual timetable.
After 12 pm, students could go home and rest. Teachers as well. So, yesterday, the school organized teachers' excursion after 12pm.
I think they are trying not to pressurized the students as examination is really hard. According to my mentor, each school has different arrangement on examination process.

These are my notes and thoughts on homeroom session and school system.
1. students on duty for the week must clean class at the end of the day. On Friday, they have to mop the classroom.
2. On Friday, there will be students assigned to mop the corridors.
3. Homeroom teacher has a register book where she would write all students name on the first page. Then, they would circle who is absent. They would not rewrite the names each month.
4. Students submit and retrieve their mobile phones at the beginning and end of the day and put them in a special handphone bag. The homeroom teacher would take good care of it.
5. Announcement is made by the homeroom teacher or the speaker. No assembly.
6. Korean flag is pasted in front of each classroom.
7. No record, but state the theme and topic taught in class everyday.
8. Grade 1 has no examination. They said Korean education system is trying to make Middle School as a period where children explore their interest and decide what they want to be in the future.

These are my observation in the school I am attending. It may differ to other schools, but I hope this is a good insight.
Overall, I find that the things done efficiently. Not wasting time but focus more on the big idea and purpose of schooling.

p/s: Today, 5th October, is my first birthday in Korea. All my colleagues did a great birthday videos and had a video call with dad. Life is kind and good :)

WEEK 4&5, DAY 23 - 34 : Monday, 24th September 2018 - Wednesday, 5th October 2018

This is the summary of my learning experience in Korea for week 4 and 5 in visual form. Learning happens throughout my stay, not just in school, but through discussions with teachers, students, locals and Malaysian colleagues. More future activities to come!