[kimyushin]

Thank You Ma'am for your generous reply. I apologize for replying late. Your advice made up for my lack of experience to teach other teachers. The training structure you suggested gave me an idea where to begin and how to shape the training structure we needed. The first part of the training was conducted last Saturday March 17, 2007 from 3:00-5:30 pm

I was able to follow the first half of your advice:
1. I narrowed down my objectives: I only focused on teaching Level I kid and teenager students: these are students who can only utter words; they have a difficult time stringing words together; if ever they do string words, usually they only use nouns and verbs and the word order they follow is the Korean Subject-Object-Verb pattern.

2. I focused on teaching the practical application of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories: the Comphrehensible Input and Affective Filter theories. I deemed that these are the only relevant ones we needed to study given the available time and background of our teachers; some of our teachers are not yet familiar with SLA.

3. Instead of teaching the theories like a lecture, I gave them statements which they would have to label as true or false. The statements are about SLA and the descriptions of a LEVEL I student in class for example:

DURING A CONVERSATION CLASS A LEVEL IA STUDENT MUST FOCUS ON SPEAKING SKILLS, INSTEAD OF LISTENING AND READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS (TRUE OR FALSE).

After they chose an answer, I ask them to explain the basis of their answers. Some of their answers already adhere to the principles of SLA without them knowing it. I just connected their beliefs to what the SLA theory says. Others gave wrong answers because of their misconceptions on language acquisition. I explained the proper place of their belief in relation to SLA theory. Their answers were not completely wrong ; they were only applied to higher level students; their method did not fit the need of a Level IA student. In the end, they were able to absorb the basic ideas of SLA theory: to make the class comprehensible and to motivate for the student.

The discussion and the elicitation made them realize the principles of SLA without them knowing it.

After the discussion and elicitation, we divided into pairs. One teacher pretended to be a Level I student while the other was a teacher. We used only one type of material:a picture-based story:Action English Pictures. Even though it was only role-playing, it yielded fruitful results:

a. The teachers had fun portraying level I Students; they remembered their students mannerisms and expressions. The fun motivated them to really get into the play; they lost their inhibitions.

b. They also saw the various ways their co-teachers teach the same material.

The demo was quite short despite being 2 hours and and 30 minutes; we will continue the training next next week March 31, 2007. We will further focus on teaching methods and the application of SLA principles on these methods.

The training was simple but direct. It attained what it was supposed to attain.

By reading your advice and the advice of the other teachers, I was able to prepare an elegant but potent training session that did not assume too much beyond my age but also did not fail to deliver what was necessary. I am deeply grateful for being generous with your know-how, which I am sure you gained through the years of teaching.

Once again, thank you very much.