SKKU TESOL Fall Special Lecture 2!!!!

질문 사항은 테솔 행정실(02-760-1317~8)로 연락주시길 바랍니다.

많은 참여 바랍니다^^

CAPE scholarship recipient, Jihee Claire Han's reflection of CAPE(Workshop for Asian-Pacific Teachers of English)

Imagine, and you can see the world before you!

This note comes 2 weeks after I came back to Korea from Hawaii. But I still remember the valuable experience at the 90 CAPE Workshop for Asian-Pacific Teachers of English held in Honolulu. So now, before the awesome memories disappear in the midst of my hectic daily routine, I would like to write some notes, looking back on the experience at Hawaii.  

Having researched on Second Language Acquisition and gleaned some information on that field before I applied for the SKKU TESOL Program, I found out that the University of Hawaii at Manoa is well-known for the SLA. From that time, participating in CAPE workshop at UH has been my priority goal and I have imagined it every single day. As the early summer sunshine in June touched my head, I finally heard the good news from Professor Michelle that I was accepted to receive the CAPE Scholarship! Completing so much assignment in the balance of competition and cooperation for about 4 months of SKKU TESOL, I was getting exhausted but I had kept dreaming of Hawaii. And finally I got it.

On August 6^th when it was at the peak summer holiday season, I arrived at the Honolulu Airport. The beautiful awesome sky that I have never seen let my all stress out and I felt like I was dreaming. The most exciting thing was that I could meet prestigious professors in the SLA field who appear in so many English education books and articles. One of the professors whose name was Richard Day made a strong impression to me. He taught us ‘Readers Theater’ making us rehearse one play. The technique was quite similar to strip story activities which I often used at my high school, but it also differed in utilizing each role of the play script. Also, Richard Schmidt, who is very famous for the ‘Noticing Hypothesis’, gave us time to have heated discussion about his theories. I expressed my opinion that Noticing or Conscious Raising is quite fascinating theory but it takes much time and it could be effective only for those who have already studied 2-3000words explicitly. We ardently argued that question together for a while and realized that finding the answer is also up to teachers.

In addition to time with the renowned professors, I could spend quality time with people from different countries such as China, Japan and Philippines. We have English education in common but we have all different languages and cultures. But this could be a good point to understand and learn their languages and culture rather than an obstacle to hinder communication with them. In particular, while we rehearsed the song by John Denver ‘Country Road’ to unveil at the CAPE reception, I felt that we all were getting closer to each other as time passed. Near the end of the last day in Hawaii, I gave and took email or SNS addresses to keep in touch with them and still I often write a letter.

By the time of getting used to the glow of the sunset in Waikiki Beach, I had to leave the awesome island and come back to Korea. But I am still missing Hawaii. I have never studied abroad nor been exposed to English speaking environment. This always made me less confident in speaking English But the participation in the CAPE Workshop gave me a chance to become more confident in English and experience bigger world.

   Lastly, I really thank my professors at SKKU for giving me this great chance. Without their help, I think it would be hard for me to participate in this program. And I also thank Professor Yoo, who is the president of the Center for Asian-Pacific Exchange. Thanks to him, I could enjoy 10-day workshop at Hawaii safely and comfortably. Now I take a step forward to achieve another goal in my life. I believe if I keep imagining it, it will come true.

  

Imagine, and you can see the world before you!

9월 16일 Special Lecture