Teacher Curriculum Interview

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It was not easy for me to find an English teacher who is willing to allot his or her time for my interview concerning his or her curriculum on the whole. I have wanted to know the curriculum of the Gwanak camp of Seoul English Village near my house. There are three English Villages managed by Seoul Metropolitan City. And the Gwanak camp is the third one, which was opened in May, 2010.

Like almost English institutes, the Gwanak camp of Seoul English Village has classes only after about 3 p.m. because elementary schools usually end their classes after 3 p.m. during term-time, so I cannot visit and meet the native teachers because I had to go to work around this time.
Before the interview, I searched the curriculum on the whole in advance.

The Gwanak camp of Seoul English Village has many various programs and they are almost for pre-schoolers and elementary school students, but there are some programs for middle school students. This is going to manage morning classes, which will be more various during vacation.
They have four kinds of curriculum on the whole: regular program, weekend program, library program, and after-school program. Regular programs are made up of theme English programs and world culture English programs such as world tour, world leaders & heroes, cooking, virtual fitness using wii, world cultural events, save the world, disability experience, and so on. Weekend programs are the programs, which students enjoy with their parents altogether, and which is managed only on Sundays. Library programs consist of two parts; one is literally about book rental services and the other is providing reading and discussion clubs. And the last after-school programs give students opportunity to acquire English every day in natural way.
Each class has one native teacher and a Korean sub teacher. And one class consists of about ten students, and this depends on the type of the class.

Here is the website of the Gwanak camp of Seoul English Village.
http://gwanak.sev.go.kr/

I interviewed one of the coordinators. Her name is Ronda Rose. She is teaching students and taking charge of managing curricula on the whole. Here are questions, which I asked.

* Would you introduce yourself briefly, your name, nationality, major in college, and so on.

Teaching context
1. Could you tell me about your teaching career? How long have you taught? How long have you been in Korea as an English teacher? And which institute are you teaching now?
2. Which grade and level do you teach?
3. What kind of materials and equipment or technology do you usually use in your class?
4. What kind of teaching methods do you use in your class?

Vision of teaching and learning
5. What do you think teaching and learning is and should be?
6. Do you want to remain as a teacher in the future? If so, what kind of teacher do you want to be?
7. What do you think of Korean English education on the whole?

Curriculum knowledge
8. What do you think the curriculum is? Do you think the curriculum is necessary to every teacher in class?
9. Do you organize your curriculum by yourself? Or do you follow the curricula, which are fixed? Or both?
10. Have you ever undergone the difficulties concerning curriculum in your class? If so, how have you dealt with them?
11. If you are taking charge of designing the big picture of curricula, what kind of curriculum do you want to make?

Assessment
12. How do you assess students’ learning? Paper-based tests, observation?
13. What aspects do you think teachers should assess students?
14. What do you think the relationship between curriculum and assessment is?

She was very busy since as I mentioned she is teaching and also managing the curricula on the whole as a coordinator as well as teacher, so she said to me she could allot only ten minutes for me. Actually I waited almost one hour because I had to wait hoping that the meeting would be ended as soon as possible. Her answers are so clear to understand, so I would like not to enumerate one by one. She is a qualified teacher majoring education in college and she is attending graduate school in Korea, and she has taught various levels and grades of students more than thirty years, so she is really experienced teacher. She thinks curriculum is really important to teachers whether the teachers are novices or quite experienced because the curriculum is a guideline for students. And the curricula of the Gwanak camp of Seoul English Village is designed by the team, so their curricula have fabulous varieties. And she considers students’ needs as the most important factors to design curricula. English village wants students to learn English in natural ways and to enjoy their learning, so they do not make students take a test at the end of each level. And she thinks that curriculum and assessment are different from each other, but through assessment teachers can adjust their curriculum.

I was sorry that she was very busy, so she could not allot her time to interview. Actually, all staff looks very busy since the Gwanak camp of Seoul English Village is brand new so they must have something to do a lot. I am sure that the Gwanak camp of Seoul English Village will develop and be prosperous because of their exciting and interesting various programs and curricula, which have a distinction from other curricula of the institutes.