New Curriculum

On Thursday I had to make my way down to Beomeo to get orientation for out new curriculum. I met with Matt (who is a sub/office guy at Moonkkang and lives in Sangin, and who is also quickly becoming a great guy to hang out with) and met Jarrod (who I would see weekly if he didn't live across town).

We went to Starbucks to see our options were decaf or ice coffee.

We sat down at Dunkin Donuts and chatted for a while before going to orientation.

The curriculum seems very "fun". More group work and less studying. Part of me likes it, as it will be more communicative. The kids may actually learn to use English to talk. Part of me questions how many parents will agree to pay for less test and more communication, especially since the Korean MOE has decided that studying English to communicate is silly, and so has brought back the old CSAT testing (looks like a math test, multiple choice etc.). Also, it is all material that was meant for China, and includes science and history for, I assume, older learners (I wrote some of it actually). I'm not sure how a presentation on peasant revolts in early modern France can be made fun (or how much relevance it will have to the students - when will they use vocabulary such as 'monarch' or 'peasant' in their day-to-day lives?), but I guess I'll find out in the coming weeks. For now I am keeping an open mind, the new speaking classes introduced two months ago are great (although they looked great from the beginning). On the plus side I can burn the A6 writing books and never look at them again.

I guess we'll see if parents value communication over testing, and whether the kids do find it as fun as it is claimed that they will. If it iworks out well, it will be a great change actually..... if it works out well.