Working & learning from others around the world

Today John and I leave South Korea and return to our family and friends in
Australia. We have had nearly 2 weeks of farewells, special lunches and gifts, the Korean people are very special to us and their warmth and kindness will be remembered forever. We hope to return to
Korea in 2 years time to continue our working and learning journey. This year has been extremely rewarding for us both, we could have travelled to any country in the world at the end of 2006 but we choose
Korea because of my previous experience with the warmth and dedicated approach of the people – we were not disappointed.

We celebrate 2007 as one of the greatest experiences of our lives. On Sunday we will be in Australia and I will return to Geelong HS,
Australia in 2008 and I will take my Korean experiences into my many classroms. I will share my work at teachertube, http://www.teachertube.com/uprofile.php?UID=12757, and my Korean class blog at http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=97161. I hope to work with more schools on wikis in 2008 and develop projects such as this year at http://thefourcornersclassroom.wikispaces.com/. My photo collection at http://picasaweb.google.com/home will be used extensively next year and my portaportal will be invaluable in remembering all of my resources, http://guest.portaportal.com/gailatschool.

Goodbye Korea and thank you

I have been facilitating a global project at

http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=98617

A number of schools have submitted their digital stories and soon we shall view them and make comments. Some of my students have produced podcasts on a range of topics using podomatic at

http://gcasey.podomatic.com/

This year I have had a wonderful time with my students building online communities. Teaching 200 students each week and using one blog interface with them has made me feel like I have my own little online world at
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=97161.
For me, the advantage of using the classblogmeister community is that I have become part of a dynamic group of worldly online teachers where we share ideas, visit each others blogs and are invited to global projects.

My new project uses wikis, it is called the 4corners wiki project and involves schools from Canada, New Zealand and
Portugal. I have never really used a wiki for a global classroom project and I really love it the whole concept of wikis and their dynamic nature. The students use the project wiki at:

http://thefourcornersclassroom.wikispaces.com/ and the teachers communicate via the wiki at:

http://thefourcornersstaffroom.wikispaces.com/

First students introduce their country as a pre project then they choose a global issue  to discuss.

I have discovered a great educational blogging site – I really love this blogging interface. I have set up all 200 of my students with their own individual blog. It is so easy to set up classes with this new interface. I have control over moderating the student posts as well as all comments. Each student has their own password & user name. I love this new blogging site……… Check out:

http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=97161

I am teaching at Uijeongbu Science High School. I have introduced a number of my classes to blogging and I hope to introduce them to digital stories a little later in the year. Our semester 2 blogs are at: http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=97161.

Durng semester 1 we worked with 5 classes in Australia. These classes used blogs called:

Wombats:  http://wombats.globalstudent.org.au/
Koalas: http://koalas.globalstudent.org.au/
Emus: http://emus.globalstudent.org.au/
Kangaroos: http://kangaroos.globalstudent.org.au/
Platypus: http://platypus.globalstudent.org.au/

I am also trying to develop individual blogs for specially talented students. The first student is Cathy at http://cathy.globalstudent.org.au/

These classes are also linked to our main semester 1 blog at http://uijeongbu.globalteacher.org.au/. Visit this site to see pictures and information on our Science Day and the visit from out Sister/Brother school from Taiwan.

Visit http://uijeongbu.globalteacher.org.au/ to see my students work.

 I have a 12 month contract to teach at Uijeongbu Science High School. This is a specialist high school for gifted maths and science students. Although it is a public school it is a very special school and the facilities are incrediable. All students board at the school and school is usually 6 days per week. Normal classes start at 9:10am with a 7 period day finishing formal classes at 5:00pm. Dinner time is at 6:00pm and formal study for all students starts at 7:00pm until late. The school is a high school for students of grade 1 (year 10), grade 2 (year 11) and grade 3 (year 12) although most students are accepted into university after grade 2 and do not need to complete grade 3. Students and teachers work very hard.

The facilities at this school are truely wonderful. Here are my classrooms – English Lab 1, English Lab 2, English Seminar room.

I (Gail Casey) teach 10 different English classes (5 different grade 1 classes 5 different grade 2 classes. I have each class one period per week. I also tutor English to groups of teachers for 10 periods per week.

Changing schools in your own state or country can be a great experience. Changing schools to a non English speaking country while learning how to live and cope with day to day banking, buses, shopping etc is an experience that I continue to appreciate and enjoy. The Korean teachers around me believe that they are learning from me but the truth is that I continue to learn from them both personally and professionally.

 Oh, all of those kids at Incheon just loved Stanley - but he needed a bath before heading off to Seognam!

The students were wonderful at the Seognam English winter camp and gave us an insight into teaching students of all ages in South Korea. Days were very long – starting at 9:00am and finishing at 7:30pm. Korean people are very thoughtful people who continue to show respect and kindness to us as we explore their country.
          

Incheon is about 45 min drive west of Seoul. This winter English camp was run at the Sky 72 golf club house which is right next to Incheon Airport (a very small island joined by a 6km bridge to Incheon). The students were Elementary school age. The area had magnificant views of the sea, golf club and airport. It was a great experience and it helped us settle into teaching ESL and living in a foreign country.

 John (Gail’s husband) has been very busy keeping a diary of our travels and experiences through Thailand, South Korea and China. Check out “John’s Diary Part 1″ by clicking the link to the Page on the top RHS. Feel free to leave a comment for John’s Diary by clicking the comments link above.

The Adventures of Stanley & friends

  Jodie came into my shop and bought me to give to her mum for a christmas present – my name is Stanley. How lovely it was to be going to a real family in a real home! I tried to be brave and uncovered one of my eyes.

I was a bit scared but Jodie’s mum (Gail) was nice. Then I found out that Jodie’s mum and dad (John) were travelling overseas for 12 months! OH NO……. I covered both my eyes.

Check out my adventures by clicking on the page “Adventures of Stanley & friends” – feel free to leave a message for us by clicking the comments link above.