Busan KOTESOL Chapter's Reflective Practice Symposium
Busan University of Foreign Studies
2~6pm  Directions Below

Presenters and Session Summaries 

Principles and Practices in Second Language Teacher Development Through Exploration of Teaching
Jerry G Gebhard

The purpose of this talk is to explain principles underlying an exploratory approach to teacher development, as well as to engage the audience in applying these principles. The talk begins with a discussion of four principles that build the foundation for exploration. These include:
1. The goal of exploring is to see teaching differently.
2. It is easier to see teaching differently if we take a nonjudgmental stance.
3. It is easier to see teaching differently if we describe, rather than prescribe.
4. Development through exploration is enhanced through reflection.

After discussion of the four principles, the audience will be asked to study a set of photos, one photo at a time. Each photo shows the same scene (statues in a centuries old Cambodian temple) from different angles. The audience will be asked to explain what they see in nonjudgmental descriptive language. With each photo, the audience can add description generated from seeing the scene from different perspectives.

Relating this experience with the photos, I then discuss how teachers can non-judgmentally describe and reflect on teaching in their classrooms, as well as make interpretations and generate alternatives ways to teach.

Jerry Gebhard is Professor Emeritus at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Professor of English Education at Pusan National University. He is a author of over 100 articles in the field of English education and several important books.

Start Reflecting Today

Michael Griffin

Reflection and reflective practice seem to be quite the buzzwords in the TESOL field these days. It seems that many teachers are eager to get involved but might feel a bit blocked or unsure how to get started. In this workshop, attendees and the facilitator will consider the various decisions that need to be made in order to get started reflecting with journals, student feedback, portfolios, critical friends, and co-workers. There will be a strong emphasis on how to get started with reflection. Attendees can expect to work in small groups to discuss potential questions and pitfalls associated with different ways of reflecting. It is hoped that attendees will leave the workshop with a plan in place to get started with reflection.

Michael has taught EFL for nearly 10,000 hours. Unfortunately (for both him and for his former students) most of those hours were before he got into reflective practice. Currently working in the Graduate School of International Studies at Chung-Ang University, Mike is also a licensed SIT/World Learning Best Practices in TESOL Teacher Trainer and teaches Curriculum Development on the New School MATESOL program. In KOTESOL, Mike is co-facilitator of the RP SIG. Personal email:[email protected] SIG email: [email protected]

The Role Reflective Practices Played for the Integrated Program at Dongguk University, Gyeongju
Lyndon Hott

At Dongguk University, reading and writing courses have traditionally only been taught by the Korean faculty while the native teacher faculty would teach the conversation courses. This changed in late 2009, when the native faculty were given an opportunity to form a committee of teachers to develop an integrated syllabus for three different English courses (reading, writing and conversation) for pre-intermediate level students. Only a couple of the teachers had ever taught writing before the program began. This lack of experience played a large role in the development of the program and led to a large amount of trial and error. It also intensified the need for close collaboration between the teachers of the program. When creating the syllabus, there were many things to consider, including: the different forms of assessment, the textbooks, how to approach the courses, the designing of supplemental materials and the needs and the realities of teaching freshmen students. These areas were evaluated at the meetings the team held throughought the semester. This presentation will illustrate the collaborative process between the teachers of the Integrated Program and the different reflective tools the team utilized from March 2010 to December 2011. These tools were instrumental in the success of the program. Hopefully, this presentation will inspire teachers to collaborate and reflect more on their teaching.

Lyndon Hott has been an English Instructor in Korea since 2007 where he has taught high school, middle school, elementary school and university students. He is currently working at Dong A University in Busan. He earned his M.A. in TEFL/TESL through the University of Birmingham, England. He is also the current Vice President of the Busan-Gyeongnam KOTESOL Chapter. Lyndon can be contacted via email at [email protected]

A-B-Cs in Reflection
Terry Faulkner

Do you work by yourself? Do you work in a situation where colleagues are unavailable to give you advice on what you’re doing right or what you could do to improve your teaching? Have you ever asked yourself “Am I doing what is best for my students?” or “How can I gauge the quality of my work?” Teachers in South Korea are often brought over to teach English without any teacher training and are rarely provided feedback on their own classroom practices.

This presentation will therefore aim to inform teachers who have no formal or professional outlet for reflection and development how to take it upon themselves to see what is really going on in their classrooms and find ways to improve areas where problems may exist. Some examples include keeping a reflective journal, participating in action research and using graphs and checklists as means to keep track of teacher behaviors in all stages of the teaching process.

Terry Faulkner is currently a lecturer at Yeungnam University in Gyeongsan located near Daegu and has decided to remain with the Busan-Gyeongnam chapter because of the great quality of teachers and professionals there. He has an MA in TEFL/TESL from the University of Birmingham U.K. and four years of university teaching in China and South Korea, as well as a smorgasbord of other EFL experiences.

Reflective Practice: Formulating Your Teaching Experience
Josette LeBlanc

Reflective practice can be a magic formula for better teaching. The trick is that you are the only one who possesses the knowledge to make it work. Luckily, this formula – based on the Experiential Learning Cycle (see Dewey, Kolb, and Gibb) – is not out of reach. During this workshop, the audience will reflect on a classroom experience by spinning it through each step of the cycle: description, interpretation/analysis, and action planning. Audience members can expect to leave the workshop with a solid understanding of how to use the Experiential Learning Cycle to deepen their reflective practice and their awareness of what goes on in their classroom.

Josette LeBlanc (MA TESOL) has always been interested in the art of contemplation. However, her reflective practice as it relates to teaching began during her studies at The School for International Training (The SIT Graduate Institute). It is here, via the program’s emphasis on experiential education, that her appreciation for reflective inquiry strengthened. Since then she has become a devoted reflective teacher.

Josette is currently working as a teacher educator in the in-service English teacher training program at Keimyung University in Daegu, where she tries to instill in the participants the same passion for self-inquiry. To contact her and learn more about reflective practice, please visit her blog: www.tokenteach.wordpress.com

Directions to the Event - Busan University of Foreign Studies