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SMOE-EPIK Orientation,
First Step toward A Successful Year in Seoul
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Written by Rachel Lee
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After months of endless hard work for selecting new Guest English Teachers (GETs), the EPIK Team was finally ready to welcome them to Korea. As EPIK Orientation is the very first event for newly arrived teachers, the EPIK Orientation team did their best to provide a memorable experience. Three Orientations were held at different venues according to GETs' place of employment. From August 17th to August 25th, EPIK and Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) hosted an orientation at Kyung Hee University in Yongin City (right outside of Seoul) for 350 GETs who will be working for schools in Seoul. GETs from seven English-speaking countries - Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the USA and the UK, were welcomed by EPIK team members at the EPIK desk at Incheon International Airport upon their arrival.
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Medical Check-up, Welcoming Dinner
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Medical Check-ups were done on Day 1 to make sure everyone was physically fit enough to start a life in new environment. This also helped GETs get the medical check results quickly in order to get their alien registration card later on. In the evening, teachers were treated with a Welcoming Dinner. At the Dinner, GETs who had their birthdays during the Orientation period celebrated their birthdays with a huge cake and everybody had an opportunity for breaking the ice.
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The Opening Ceremony marked the beginning of the Orientation. A Director of English Support Team at NIIED and a Senior Supervisor of English Education Team at SMOE greeted teachers with welcoming remarks. A Q&A Session with an SMOE Coordinator helped teachers with general questions about teaching and life in Seoul. A Taekwondo (Korean traditional martial arts) Performance by Midong Elementary School students and Traditional Korean dances such as Seungmu by Kyunghee Girls' High School added more excitement to the Ceremony.
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The 9 day Orientation was intensely scheduled with lectures and activities. Highly qualified lecturers with lots of experience in the English education field were invited to provide informative sessions to GETs. Lecture topics included A Brief Introduction to Korean History and Culture, SMOE-EPIK Life, Communication Skill, Edutaining Activities, Lesson Planning, Co-teaching, Classroom Management, Cooperative Learning, Elementary School Curriculum in Korea, Secondary School Curriculum in Korea, Adapting Materials, English Fever, Camps & After School Classes, Reading & Writing. One GET said "I never expected the Orientation would be as tightly planned as this, but I'm glad that I'm learning so much from each class."
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Survival Korean Classes were also available to teachers. Level-differenciated classes were offered under different topics - How to read Korean alphabets, Writing your name in Korean, Greetings, Self introduction, School vocabulary terms, Easy conversation, Various topic conversation for advanced learners. Some GETs had difficulties learning the Korean language for the first time but they all agreed that learning Korean would help them understand their students' difficulty in learning English. It was very interesting to witness some teachers trying to practice Korean words or phrases that they learned in the classes while speaking with their peers.
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Four Korean movies were shown during the Orientation. GETs who were interested in Korean culture experienced a glimpse of Korean popular culture through the movies. Carefully chosen by the EPIK team, the movies covered different genres including comedy, drama, war, romance, action, adventure, and thriller.
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A Field Trip to Korean Folk Village
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On the 21st of August, GETs visited Korean Folk Village near Kyung Hee University. The Korean Folk Village is well known for its open-air space with Korean traditional houses and artifacts providing first-hand experience of Korea's traditional culture and lifestyle. It is one of the most popular tourist spots in Korea.
After a guided tour of the Village, teachers watched the Nongak (Farmers' Dance) performance and Jultagi (Acrobatics on Tightrope) performance. Both GETs and EPIK staff enjoyed a rare opportunity to witness Korean traditional culture.
Lunch at the Folk Village was also an intriguing experience for GETs since the eateries were located at the traditional market place. Ordering Korean food in Korean and eating it at an open-air market place was a particularly enjoyable part of the field trip.
The second half of the trip was set for pottery experience, a self -guided tour of the Village and watching a Korean traditional wedding ceremony. GETs were divided into two groups to make Ong-gi (brown glazed earthenware). Teachers showed great interest in pottery. They engraved patterns and pictures on the surface of the pots and they could keep the pot as a keepsake. During the self-guided tour of the Village, GETs had some free time to enjoy the Village. During the final part of the trip, teachers enjoyed watching a Korean traditional wedding ceremony. Despite the scorching heat, teachers enjoyed the trip.
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After 5 days of arduous work in classes and meetings, GETs finally had an opportunity to show off their knowledge and skill in teaching. Lesson presentation groups of three or four teachers chose a lesson topic, made a lesson plan and demonstrated a mock lesson. It all went out very well and teachers could apply what they had learned at lectures to the presentation. One teacher mentioned, "After the lesson presentation I got more confidence in teaching. Real classes in my school will be more demanding but my fear is gone at least. I also learned a lot from other teachers who have previous teaching experiences. That helped me very much."
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Closing Ceremony and Farewell Lunch
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On the 25th of August, the last day of the Orientation the Closing Ceremony was held. Closing remarks were given by the Director of the English Support Team at NIIED and farewell remarks were given by one of the class representative teachers. An Award of Certificate was given to each class leader on behalf of his or her class members. A 10-minute video clip of 'Memory of SMOE-EPIK Orientation' was played. This special video retrospective of the past 9 days brought back memories of the Orientation to everybody and teachers loved it. Also, teachers did not forget to give a big hand to the Orientation staff to express their appreciation at the end of the Ceremony.
During the Farewell Lunch, GETs exchanged each other's contact information and talked about their schools with excitement. After lunch, teachers boarded the buses to leave for Seoul to meet their school teachers. The EPIK team bid farewell to teachers and wished them the best of luck for their new life in Seoul.
In spite of demanding Orientation timetable, teachers were all very cooperative and remained enthusiastic throughout the training. 2010 SMOE-EPIK Orientation was a great success. EPIK is looking forward to having another fruitful year of working with great teachers who will contribute a lot to English education in Korea.
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