By John Redmond
Atlanta native Stephen Campbell has been awarded the Native Speaking English Teacher (NSET) award for 2010 by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) last December.
Campbell, a teacher and champion soccer coach, who came to Seoul in August 2008 is from a semi-rural community outside Atlanta, Georgia where he lived for over 20 years. He spoke to The Korea Times of his adjustment to living in Seoul
“I came to Seoul to teach for SMOE in August 2008. Before that, I lived in the same ZIP code in a semi-rural community outside Atlanta, Georgia for over 20 years. It was a big adjustment, as was going from a three bedroom house with a big lawn to living in a smallish officetel.
“I began teaching in 1986, and coaching in 1990 ― I am a Georgia state champion soccer coach. Working in independent schools, you wear a lot of hats; while I began as a math and science teacher, I eventually taught computer, became school webmaster and photographer; I ran the summer camp program at my school for several years. I've also performed duties for the State office in Georgia, including administrating the Spring Soccer League and chairing the Literary Committee,” he said.
Campbell teaches at a boy’s high school in Gangseo-gu, where he was made aware of pros and cons of gender exclusive schools.
“I teach at a boy's high school in Gangseo-gu, though when I first showed up, no one thought to inform me of that fact. My first class that first day came in, and it was all boys. I knew something about the school system, and knew that classes are often single-gender. Then by the time the second and third classes shuffled through, all boys, I wondered where the girls were. Finally, at the end of the day, seeing 1500 students streaming out of the buildings, I realized where I was.
“Gender separation in high school has its advantages, but it also has disadvantages. For one thing, students here lack opportunity to develop socialization skills, especially since so many of them go straight from school to `hagwon.’ Not spending much time around a lot of girls their age, I think boys might tend to objectify them,” he emphasized.
Teaching English Conversation has proved to be a bit of a challenge as Campbell has confronted many obstacles, especially student interactions.
“The subject I teach is English Conversation. My classes are 36 to 40 students, which provides a challenge in itself, never mind the fact that students are quite shy about practicing their spoken English. So having a lot of open-ended conversation exercises, the kind of thing you'll find in so many resources, like ‘Discuss three current news events with your partner,’ or ‘With your partner, choose and describe three favorite foods in your country,’ ― that kind of thing is hopeless.
“So I try to use activities that are task-based, where students must use English with each other in order to accomplish some other task. Having groups compete works nicely, sometimes; but I don't give out candy to high school students! I tell them their reward is the respect and admiration of their peers; when that stops being funny, I tell them it's the satisfaction of a job well done. I do sometimes take photos of the winning teams, and post them on my bulletin board. The photo gallery is a popular feature of my classroom.”
Campbell’s approach to teaching Conversation English sees him exploring methods not commonly associated with standard classroom procedure.
“Some things that work well include an activity called ‘Running Dictation,’ where students of a team take turns memorizing and reporting small sections of a text, until the team's ‘recorder’ has copied down the entire document; ‘Student Teacher’ where each student is given something to memorize and explain, like a proverb or idiom, and then has to go around teaching it to other students; I sometimes do a highly structured pair conversation activity, but like I say, open-ended conversation just doesn't work well in my situation.
“I have my own classroom in the ‘English Only Zone’ with a nice computer and SmartBoard, a good sound system; I can arrange and rearrange the desks to suit my lesson. One of the best activities is the Youngil Job Fair, where I convert the classroom into interview stations, and students have to match their traits and skills (that I've given them in a worksheet) with the jobs being offered, so they go through a job interview process several times. The Toy Convention is a favorite, where toy manufacturer's reps. and store buyers go through interviews to find products that match up with their needs. That is a lot of work, because I've had to find toys, and create English-language packaging and promotional materials for all the booths. I call it the ‘Kid Power Toy Con’ because none of the toys use batteries, and they are also non-violent, no guns or knives, and don't have pop culture references, like movie tie-ins.
“One week during the year, students come to class only to find it transformed into a crime scene ― there's crime scene tape and body outline in the hallway right outside. In pairs, they are a famous consulting detective and his friend, and they have to solve the crime rather like those choose-your-own-adventure books. After you get information from one station, you have to choose where to go next.”