Miss Yu Jeong Oh(Olivia) and Miss Areum Han (Petra) are two experienced teachers from South Korea. Thanks to a strong relationship we have with the University of Chichester, we were asked to host a two week placement for both teachers in Bishop Luffa School. The aim of their school attachment is to develop their teaching competencies and to give them a flavour of the English education system. To support and organise this placement, both teachers were attached to a different Faculty for each day they were with us where they observed and participated in lessons across the key stages.
It was a real pleasure spending time with both Olivia and Petra. Please take a few moments to read their impressions of their two week stay with us. We wish you both a safe return to Korea and continued passion and enthusiasm for you teaching back home.
Mrs Stella Richi, Faculty Coach and Teacher of Spanish
Inspiration from Bishop Luffa School by Yujeong Olivia Oh
I would like to thank all teachers including Ms. Stella Richi, the students, and University of Chichester for allowing me this opportunity to have great experience in Bishop Luffa School. This school gave me happy memories and inspiration for teaching. While staying here for two weeks, I found two particular strengths of Bishop Luffa, which made it outstanding. First, Bishop Luffa teachers are very professional in teaching their lessons. While observing over twenty classes, I couldn’t find any teachers who hadn’t prepared enough for their teaching that day. They were really confident at all times. All teachers followed their lesson plans which were written in advance, which made every single minute during the classes meaningful. What was impressive was the teacher’s varied use of real-life experience, such as a horse riding in a math class to teach probability, I-pads in a language class to google other countries, and a documentary video clip in a science class to teach issues on IVF. Their enthusiasm and efforts to link knowledge to the real world helped students to “experience” rather than to “be taught.”
Second, students love to participate in the classes and school events. Considering the fact that it was at the end of year, students’ academic passion was unbelievable. Almost all students kept concentrating on what teacher said, discussing the topic freely during and even after the class. They often raised their hands to ask questions or to share opinions. In addition, these lovely students prepared their festival 100 percent themselves, which I believe encouraged them to develop responsibility and autonomy. Students enjoyed performing or watching creative plays, a unique tradition of Bishop Luffa, and sports days as well. Here, all students were guaranteed to show their potential either in or outside their classrooms.
Just like the school motto, “Everyone Matters,” teachers, students, and parents care each other. I’ve seen so many students smiling and laughing in the classroom or in the square, and was glad to see happy students. I hope that in your heart, inspiration from Bishop Luffa lasts a long time. I will miss the school very much.
Great experience in Bishop Luffa in 2019 summer by Areum Petra Han
From the beginning of July, I had an inspiring 2-week experience in Bishop Luffa. It was a truly meaningful time for me to observe the beautiful dynamic between teachers and students, which was based on the school motto “Everyone Matters.” I also had a chance to interact with students when teaching them about Korean culture. I would like to share what impressed me during my visit.
First of all, the teachers in Bishop Luffa has a strong passion and enthusiasm as facilitators and motivators. Even though my visit was almost at the end of the year, teachers did not just waste lesson time. Rather, their classes were well-planned so that students could follow the directions step by step. For example, in a science class of Year 10, the teacher offered a review time in paired discussions to remind students of the previous content. Then, he smoothly led the students to the next topic which was related to the last class. In addition to this, the PPT slides were thoroughly pre-organized and students had an opportunity to come to the screen to classify elements according to the scientific rules that they just learned. In terms of the Spanish teacher Stella, she is such an amazing motivator who raises students’ expectations on themselves. Indeed, she made learners get involved in the language learning with high self-confidence.
Next, what impressed me a lot was the students' attitude and behaviour in the school. They behaved politely as well as enthusiastically during the class. At the same time, they also knew how to show their talents in various school events. To be specific, when I observed a Sixth-form humanity class, I found many students raising their hands to present their opinions about the teachers’ explanation. They did not hesitate to ask or answer and it did not matter if they were right or wrong since they are in the learning process. Comparing Korean students, who easily get scared of being wrong, the Bishop Luffa pupils actively presented their opinion. Outside of the classroom, they put a lot of effort preparing for Drama Day and showed off their acting talents in the school play. I could not believe that they prepared all the props and wonderful acting on their own. In conclusion, the balance between academic and extracurricular activity is a most powerful motive of this school.
Finally, I thank Ms Richi and all the other staff in Bishop Luffa for supporting us and sharing fabulous educational ideas with me and my colleague. The incredible memory of this school will be a strong motivator for me in my future teaching professional development in Korea.