week+5+Sept.+29


 * Week 5 reflections of the school observation**

Discussion :

The major differences of school culture between Korea and your country: What did you learn? Compare the differences between yours and Korean schools :
 * From the experience at the practicum school **
 * How was the relationship between teachers and students?
 * Students' engagement in class activities?
 * Do you think Korean students are shy not to speak in the class when asked?

Culture t home
 * How was the home culture inter-connected to the schooling?
 * How did parents take care of their children's school life?
 * Big difference of greeting guests at student's home?
 * Gender roles at home?

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__Answers, Matteo Lindner:__ Basically, I would say the relationship was good and mutually respectful, though rather impersonal. I couldn't observe any teachers who communicated with the students on a more personal level, for example by telling jokes or private stories or by asking students about their well-being. The degree of authority was generally higher than in Austria, but varied from teacher to teacher. All the students behaved well - I didn't see any disobedient students, only sleeping ones occasionally.
 * How was the relationship between teachers and students?
 * Students' engagement in class activities?

My experience was that students' engagement in class activities is not valued at all in Korean high schools. An English teacher told me that all that counts is attendance (it doesn't even matter if students fall asleep as long as they are there) and the scores in exams, unlike in Austria, where the grade has to consist of the evaluation of the students' participation in class to at least 50%. Because everything is focussed on the results in exams, Korean students do not learn to be creative. We tried to play a get to know game in class, in which each student should say one sentence about why he/she is special. It didn't work very well. It took the students forever to come up with one sentence and they started to say the same thing the person before them had said (E.g.: I'm special because I like soccer.), which is exactly what this game is NOT about. I don't think Korean students are too shy to speak, but they just don't have no practice in being creative. I'll use two art lessons as an example for this point: In one of them, the students were given the shape of a fish - the same fish for everybody - on a blank paper and had to draw a colorful fish within the shape. In the second lesson, they were given a template of the school's name and had to fill the characters with color. I never had to do anything slightly as dull even in primary school. This may sound harsh, but I was seriously shocked by their art class.
 * Do you think Korean students are shy not to speak in the class when asked?

Culture at home: In our homestay family there are two sons - one middle school and one high school student. As far as I understood, the boys usually stay in school all day long from 8 a.m. to 10 or even 11 p.m. The interconnection to the home culture is that the father also works all day long. We didn't talk much about the children's school life. The only thing the father said was that he knows that his sons are spending too much time in school, but they must study hard to be successful now and in their future. He explained us that Korea's rapid economic development has left its traces and is the reason for the highly competitive school culture. Since the students are at school all day, I assume that the parents don't need to help them with studying or doing their homework. There was no difference. When we arrived the mother said "Come on in" and "Please sit down!" When the father came home from work he shook our hands and we started to have smalltalk. In this home the mother does not work. The father earns enough money in an intermediate Samsung job. The mother takes care of the cooking and housework. I don't know for sure which parent takes care of the sons' education, but presumably it will be the mother.
 * How was the home culture inter-connected to the schooling?
 * How did parents take care of their children's school life?
 * Big difference of greeting guests at student's home?
 * Gender roles at home?

Here's a picture of me with the family and the delicious dinner! :-)

Triin's answers •How was the relationship between teachers and students? I think the relationship between teachers and students was very good. You could feel the authority but you could also feel the friendly athmosphere. It was a bit different from Estonia. But students were really quiet in classroom and teacher could easly turn her back. •Students' engagement in class activities? Most of the time teachers were talking. I saw only 1 or 2 lessons where students also were allowed to speak. Usually they were just listening to the teacher. •Do you think Korean students are shy not to speak in the class when asked? As we were thinking of playing get to know game where every student had to stand up and say why is he or she special, they didn’t want to speak - they were too shy. Estonian students are always ready to speak in classroom. I think students should be allowed to speak more in classroom. Maybe it was because they had to speak in English, but they can’t learn language without practicing it.



Culture t home

•How was the home culture inter-connected to the schooling? As I understood the sons of our homestay family stay in school until 10-11 PM. So they go home for sleeping. •How did parents take care of their children's school life? When I met with the boys few days lates we had a talk about parents and school. I asked them that if they have some difficulties then who will they ask to help them? And they said that parents don’t know much about their school things. When they need help they have teachers in school who are there to help them. •Big difference of greeting guests at student's home? Greeting is same in Estonia. Our Korean family was very polite and treated us like friends. This is almost the same in Estonian homes. •Gender roles at home? I noticed that family mom was the one who had to do everything while dinner. In Estonia father often helps and does most of the things during dinner because usually mom has made the food.

**preparation for the field trip to Seorak Mountain**



Please be prepared how to do mountain climbing.