Well the typical monsoon weather has started with a bang, literally. Huge thunder storms and thunder claps all morning and it has properly poured down! School has been excellent again today, much of the same, there is a bit of stress around with final examinations starting next week. So I thought today I would be a bit more reflective on my time so far…

“Transformation took place through a dedication to education”  – Prof. Peck, Sat 29 June

Korea has changed massively over the last 50 years, one of the fastest countries to develop, definitely, and this is due to the dedication to education parents and students show. Every parent wants their child to succeed at school and every child want to go to the top universities, they are expensive but this doesn’t hold the 90% back.

However, as successful as this education system appears on paper, Prof. Peck explained and I have witnessed that it does lack creativity. I have been thinking about his honest statements on Korean Education: students here are brilliant at learning to succeed in exams, they quickly learn information and then apply it to an answer, but their is no original thought or creativity from this text book process.

Prof. Peck talked honestly about how Korean students are intelligent but industry requires more creative minds, not those that can copy already excellent products. Surely, knowledge is something, but is this formal way of learning exam answers inhibiting young learners creativity?

The lessons I have observed this week have not yet ‘wowed’ me in a T&L sense, but I hope this is due to the urgency of next weeks exams. Professor Peck’s concern is coming from the top of Korean education and he mentioned we may well see both a traditional style and a new creative approach to teaching apparent in practice as the latter is slowly being distilled into schools. It humours me to think; Korean Education wants to take ideas from our system in the UK and Mr Gove has suggested our structure should be more like theirs. A vicious educational circle perhaps.

Annyeahaseyo! So, today started with Frosties for breakfast, that very traditional Korean cereal, another treat from the lovely family I am staying with. We had time for a quick Korean lesson, Hena the daughter of the family began to teach me the alphabet and a few more basic phrases. I can now read the days of the week! They then kindly gave me a lift to school today where I met Sun-A, Paul (CCE Manager in UK) and Sol (Korean Organiser APCIEU), we were given a thorough tour of the school and discovered an Art class being taught to parents!

We then observed a music lesson and had a very intriguing meeting with Mr Kim (principal) over more Iced coffee. Lunch today consisted of dried fish soup, spiced chicken and cheese, kimchee and plenty of rice! Paul and Sol departed for Seoul and I observed a boys PE lesson – dance! Each group created their traditional dance routine to Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’. They were fantastic and as a reward the whole class and I were treated to lolly ices (Scousers, I hope you are reading).

[SIC – I think you’ll find in Toon, and everywhere else, they’re called ice lollies – Ed.]

15:30 soon rolled round and myself, Sun-A and Suwhee (Art Teachera) went to Gwangju Gallery of Contemporary Art, which was very interesting indeed. Plenty to see and a diverse selection of some quite moving pieces – all generated from the 1980 civil conflict in South Korea.

As a final treat of the day, we had a traditional sit down Korean meal that must have consisted of 20 separate dishes, if not more. Truly delicious!

Keep up to date with the trip through Twitter and Instagram feed: @MardenArt

For visual updates make sure you go to: http://mardeninkorea.weebly.com/index.html

I have made it 4 hours south to Gwangju via bullet train and was introduced to a very friendly and welcoming Korean family, who I will be staying with this week. They treated me to some traditional food then some ice cream and a walk around the local area, with the odd Korean lesson along the way. I am learning, slowly.

First day in school.

I took a taxi into school – Unnam Middle School, for the first morning as I was told the bus could be quite complicated, especially for my limited Korean, perhaps tomorrow… but even the taxi driver struggled to find the school. I met Sun-A’s (Korean Host Teacher) class first of all, they were very excited as they had just finished their 45 minutes of daily cleaning. Yes, Korean schools have no cleaners, the students have to take up that responsibility!

I was then invited to meet with the principal, over iced coffee we talked about Unnam school and Marden, he seemed to like the clip on tie idea and showed a lot of interest about our handbook. I quickly changed into a pair of compulsory ‘school slippers’ before going to observe a science lesson where students completed a practical experiment to see how different temperatures made Coca-Cola react / bubble the quickest – they were even allowed to drink it afterwards. From first sights, a Science lab is very similar, a house style as such wasn’t present but learning objectives and tasks were delivered through a large TV and projector. The biggest difference was to hear the teachers voice echo around the room through her microphone and speakers!

I have had a tour of the school, met many teachers and have even been given a desk in the staff room. Lunch was great, lots of rice and traditional Korean side dishes – the no.1 rule being red things are generally very spicy! I observed an English lesson after lunch, again delivered through a microphone this showed how speaking English is highly valued and regarded over here. I made my own way back to my accommodation but had forgotten that it was 32 degrees and very humid outside after being in the comfort of air conditioning and fans all day. Thankfully rain is on the way..

Mr. Prytherch will show this video to students in South Korea, our Year 8 students telling them a little bit about life at Marden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5FqW43rbL8&feature=youtu.be

June 27th, Mr Prytherch is flying to Seoul with 15 other teachers from the North East, as part of an educational partnership we have established with schools in South Korea. During his time there will be opportunities to teach our own ‘House Style’ lessons about British Art and British Culture, observe and learn about Korean lessons, attend educational conferences in Seoul and to bring back any new ideas.

As part of this visit, the first question was how can we instantly allow our students to interact and engage with what is going on 8 hours ahead in Korea. So, this section of the website has been designed to allow a constant commentary of Mr Prytherch’s time in South Korea through images, videos, diary entries and discussion points. If you are interested, keep logging on to discover more as there may also be short tasks that can be carried out during one of your PSHCE lessons.

Finally, if there is anything that interests you and would like Mr Prytherch to find out more information please feel free to contact him:  [email protected] 

Keep up to date with the trip through Twitter and Instagram feed: @MardenArt

For visual updates make sure you go to: http://mardeninkorea.weebly.com/index.html