Gifted Students English Camp Jan 7-11, 2008

The second week in January I taught at an English Camp at the Gyeongbuk Foreign Language High School. The students were middle school students who were very advanced in English. Most of these students have left a serious impression on Angelica and myself and there were even a little tears at the end of it all.




A good number of the students lived in English speaking countries such as the US or Canada. And you can pretty much tell which ones they were, not only from their accents, but also from the assertiveness and willingness to talk and answer questions in class. Their understanding of sarcasm was also great! Sarcasm does not exist here in Korea or in the culture so to have students respond and laugh at the little side comments Angelica and I made were a bit of a surprise. Usually our students don't understand and we can speak pretty freely but not here. And it was a great feeling.

complete album here

My students called me "Strict but Sincere" I didn't and still don't know exactly how to take that but it touched my heart when one of the students said to me on the last day that he felt more confident in speaking English after having me as a teacher. One of my biggest issues with my students, or Koreans in the classroom in general, is that they are so afraid of making a mistake they will not speak in class. They come to the camps or trainings to learn English but refuse to actually speak it which contradicts my role as a Conversational English Teacher. So I encouraged conversation and giving one's opinion and Angelica had the students Debate on select subjects.



The debates were actually the kids favorite part of the camp. Angelica explained to them what exactly it was and what it meant to be Pro or Con and the students debated on the three subjects of; Same Sex Marriage, School Uniforms (mandatory of all schools in Korea), and Capitol Punishment. I'm sorry I don't have a video of those cause they did their research, provided statistics, and gave full arguments all in English. We were very proud of them.


The girls in the photo above I call the Crying Gang, because at the end of the camp they cried to see us go. So did Angelica, but I did pretty well at holding back any visible tears. Starting from the left you have Anna, Jackie, Erica, Miss Sassy Pants, and Hair. For a full explanation of the students and their "names" please look at the full album in the link provided above. And once again thank you for sharing in this part of my life.

Video Gallery: The following videos are of my students presentations on either fashion, or select comedians. Most videos are only one minute long so take some time and look at my students hard work!