“Redefine Your Tomorrow,” Sookmyung University TESOL 20th Anniversary Event
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- Writer 커뮤니케이션팀
- 보도일자 2016-05-31
This event that was held with the slogan “Redefine Your Tomorrow” was prepared to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Sookmyung’s TESOL, which opened the renaissance for education of English teachers by introducing a global standard curriculum for the first time in Korea.
The commemorative event was participated by School Commissioner of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Jeong Bok-yeong, School Vice-commissioner Cho Gyeong-sun, Principal of Seoul Sinsu Middle School Ryu Seong-nam, including prominent figures from city and province education offices, representatives in the publishing circles, home and abroad prominent scholars, and English teachers. They gathered to look back on the accomplishments of Sookmyung’s TESOL and discussed about the new future direction of English education and teacher training as well.
From 11am at the campus Samsung Convention Center’s Centennial Hall, a forum was held with a panel of our university’s TESOL faculties, and heated discussions took place concerning the present and future of TESOL. Soon after, special webcasting lecture was progressed by the best experts in the area of educational evaluation James Dean Brown PhD (University of Hawaii Manoa) and Carol Chapelle PhD (Iowa State University) with the title “Developing and Using Rubrics in Language Assessment“ and “Technological Innovations in Language Testing,” respectively. They presented on what kinds of synergies will be created in the field of English education from the latest AI developments of AlphaGo and how they can be utilized in the research on creative education.
After the forum and special lectures, another special event was held at the front lobby of the Samsung Convention Center, where the participants completed a large wall of puzzle called the Wishing Wall after writing their hopes and wishes for the next year on each puzzle pieces.
Despite the reductions in the English education market due to worsening employment market, the TESOL graduates of our university (average age of 34) achieved an amazing annual employment rate of 85% (2008 ~ 2015). This accomplishment owes to the efforts of our university that actively opened the doors toward employment such as holding job fairs every semester to encourage employment activities of our graduates.
On this day, a job fair and book fair were again held in the lobby of Gemma Hall from 12pm. The events were participated by more than 20 companies such as YBM Sisa, Rosetta Stone, DYB Choisun Language Institute, JLS, and Mu:M English, where employment counseling as well as on-site interviews were held. In addition, a seminar on study room entrepreneurship in line with the recent “one man company” trend was held, which were participated by Neungyule Education, HB English Home School, Jump English, Mu:M English, Renaissance Learning English Library, and Rosetta Stone.
From 2pm at the Centennial Hall’s Shinhan Bank Hall, a public education teacher forum called IIETTP Fair was held. IIETTP (Intensive-In-service Teacher Training Program) has produced more than 1,300 graduates up to now concerning elementary, middle, and high school English teachers through the commissioning from the Ministry of Education and Office of Education. This event was participated by both graduates and students, and English teaching practices of elementary and middle school teachers in the Seoul and Gyeonggi region were presented.
Meanwhile, with adoption of the word “beyond” as the meaning to “go beyond the boundaries,” Sookmyung’s TESOL is opening a new horizon in English teacher training by going beyond the limits of culture, time and space, and conventional teaching methodologies. Programs are being serviced not only through the existing SMU, YL, and PL programs, but also through a 100-hour integrated program that was newly created through a repackage format SM-EL Teach program, and it is emerging as a new indicator toward new English teaching models in line with the digital 21st century. The Head Professor of TESOL Graduate School Yeom Gyeong-suk said, “In celebration of the 20th anniversary, our university that has been leading the expertise in English teaching training through ceaseless innovation will achieve a new leap forward beyond the rapidly changing educational environment.”