Teacher for a Day

One of my most memorable experiences in South Korea was participating in the "Hello Friends"
program. We were volunteer English Teachers for a day. We went out to schools in the outlying
areas and taught English to children who didn't see native English speakers on a regular basis.
We were always greeted with cheers and excitement. We felt like rock stars as we were escorted into the school. Typically a group of us went to the school and we would address the group as an assembly, singing songs with them.


Following the assembly, we would divide them in smaller groups so we could interact with them individually. I don't know who learned more the teachers or the kids!
The students had a range of abilities for English so we had to find ways to involve all of the students, so we planned activities and games so they could practice their English.


Often the students would demonstrate some particular aspect of their school and they would share it with us. In this picture the students were well know for playing Korean traditional instruments and they demonstrated their skill and attempted to teach us! It was a lot of fun!
We had opportunites to travel to various parts of Korea, including Busan, Jeju Island
and Yeosu.. Each of the Hello Friends trips included a visit to a local attraction in the
area.
These are just a few of the pictures from
Jeju and Yeosu, two beautiful parts of Korea.
I will describe them more fully in another
blog post.