On a lovely early Fall day I headed to Sookmyung Women's University in the Yongsan area. This campus is quite lovely and set atop a hill near a park. If you ever get the time I would suggest exploring this area as there are many restaurants, cafes and dessert shops nearby.

I came for the event Seoul Cambridge Day XII, as suggested by the KOTESOL organization. This event brought together teacher's and professionals to hear lectures on Cambridge materials and teaching methods.

I arrived early and enjoyed light snacks while browsing the selection of TESOL materials and mingling with other professionals.



Throughout the days lectures we were promised raffle prizes, of which I won none. A Kindle Fire was up for grabs, but alas was not passed along to me. However, I took in the lectures and ambience as best I could.

First lecture was by Steven Gershon who presented us with a topic about Writing and how that is one of the most challenging topics to teach in this profession. So he gave his thoughts on how to tackle this by using a process based method of teaching. Although I don't teach writing directly I thought his remarks were quite useful in what challenges students the most with writing.

The next lecturer was Gary Anderson who brought everyone up to speed on how Technology works itself into the classroom. For the most part it was what we already knew, except for the Interactive White Board technology which I have yet to use. I think mostly he remarked on how technology can be useful both inside and out of the classroom, by having students build e-portfolios.

I stuck around only for the next lecturer and didn't hear Gary give his final talk. This person was Judy B. Gilbert who gave an interesting and entertaining talk about pronunciation and ways we can make it more interesting for the student. Before she started we were handed little baggies including a kazoo, rubberband and a feather. All of which can be used to help students understand stress points in words and their "p" and "b" pronunciations.


Overall it was a fun experience with many new things to think about when it comes to teaching English. I was impressed by the volume and scale of the Cambridge University Press materials, and noticed that I already had a few copies at home. They supplied us with kimbop, pastries and snacks during break time, which was thoughtful. I would definitely recommend attending this event next year along with joining the KOTESOL organization if you feel like further developing your teaching skills. Also check out this Cambridge English Teacher website which I believe offers resources and tips.