In this fun bilingual course, you can learn all about the differences between American and Korean work cultures.
More E-Learning Courses from GIFLE
More E-Learning Courses from GIFLE
More E-Learning Courses from GIFLE
January 11 – 18, 2021 – Using English in the English Classroom for Elementary Teachers
Core Modules:
Engaging Students Through Storybooks: Adrienne Seo
Building 21st Century Skills with Practical Activities: Elizabeth Baldwin
Using Multicultural Literature: Daniel Moonasar
Online Tools for the Classroom: Angie Lee
Project-Based Learning: Betsey Norman
January 20 – 22, 2021 – Using English in the English Classroom for Secondary Teachers
Core Modules:
Literature-based Performance-based Assessment: Adrienne Seo and Angie Lee
Global Citizenship Education: Betsey Norman
Creative Innovation: Daniel Moonasar
Debate for Writing and Speaking Fluency: Elizabeth Baldwin
March 29 – June 11, 2021 – School Visits
During this program, all instructors visited twenty-five (total) public schools in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea to do action research, teach classes, and provide teacher training workshops to Korean public school teachers.
April 12 – June 18, 2021 – English Conversation Program
Core Modules:
Book Club: Angie Lee
Small Talk and American Culture: Autumn Wright and Betsey Norman
Interaction of the Week: Eric Flynn and Elizabeth Baldwin
June 28 – July 1, 2022 – EPIK Teacher Training Program
Core Modules:
Engaging Students Through Read Alouds: Angie Lee
Action in the Classroom: Betsey Norman
Speaking Practice Through Theater: Elizabeth Baldwin
Professional Development in ESL: Autumn Wright
Navigating Korean Culture: Eric Flynn
July 28 – August 4, 2021 – Level One Certification Program for Secondary English Teachers
Core Modules:
Effective Teacher Talk: Angie Lee
Day Starters: Betsey Norman
Total Participation Techniques: taught by Justin Howard, course developed by Elizabeth Baldwin
Assessing Multilevel Classes: Autumn Wright
Template Based Teaching: Eric Flynn
August 11 – 13, 2021 – Local Officials Program
Core Modules:
Writing Professional Emails: Autumn Wright
Travel English: Phrases and Scenarios: Betsey Norman
Presentation Planning and Script Writing Workshop: Angie Lee and Eric Flynn, assisted by Justin Howard
August – November, 2021 – School Visits
During this program, all instructors visited fifteen (total) public schools in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea to do action research, teach classes, and provide teacher training workshops to Korean public school teachers.
September 11 – 16, 2021 – Secondary Professional Development
Core Modules:
Literature-based Performance-based Assessment: Developed by Angie Lee, Taught by Angie Lee, Autumn Wright, and Eric Flynn
21st Century Skills: Developed by Betsey Norman, Taught by Betsey Norman and Justin Howard
October 6 – October 16, 2021 – Elementary Professional Development
Core Modules:
Process Drama in the Hybrid Classroom: Angie Lee
Games and Activities for Multiple Expressions: Eric Flynn
Creating Nonfiction Storybooks Through CLIL: Autumn Wright
Multi-platform Units for the Elementary Classroom: Betsey Norman
October 12 – November 12, 2021 – English Conversation Program
Core Modules:
Book Club: Angie Lee
Small Talk and American Culture: Autumn Wright and Betsey Norman
Interaction of the Week: Eric Flynn
October 27 – November 2, 2021 – English Conversation Teachers
Core Modules:
Supplementing the English Classroom: Angie Lee
Authentic Language and Materials in the EFL Classroom: Betsey Norman
Alternative English: Eric Flynn
Station Rotation in the In-Person, Online, and Hybrid Classroom: Autumn Wright
November 30 – December 1, 2021 – Global Leaders Program
During this program, principals from around Korea came together to discuss different ideas about education, and how to implement new things into the public school system. All instructors worked together to facilitate this program.
Translated by David Kim
Listening
[10영01-01] Can get details after listening to conversations about familiar general topics.
[10영01-02] Can understand the topic and main idea after listening to conversations about familiar general topics.
[10영01-03] Can understand logical relationship after listening to conversations about familiar general topics.
[10영01-04] Can identify the speaker’s intention or purpose after listening to conversations about familiar general topics.
[10영01-05] Can infer the speaker’s feelings or attitudes after listening to conversations about familiar general topics.
Speaking
[10영02-01] Can listen, read, and explain details about my daily life or familiar general topics.
[10영02-02] Can express main idea after listening or reading about everyday life or familiar general topics.
[10영02-03] Can express opinions or feelings about daily life or familiar general topics.
[10영02-04] Can ask and answer questions about information of daily life or familiar general topics.
Reading
[10영03-01] Can read familiar, general topics and understand the detailed information.
[10영03-02] Can read familiar, general topics and understand themes and main point.
[10영03-03] Can read familiar, general topics and understand the logical relationship of reading.
[10영03-04] Can read a familiar, general topic and understand the purpose and intentions of the writer.
[10영03-05] Can deduce the feelings and attitudes of the writer by reading about familiar general topics.
[10영03-06] Can read a familiar, general subject and deduce implicit meaning.
Writing
[10영04-01] Can listen, read, and record details about everyday life or familiar and general topics.
[10영04-02] Can listen, read, and summarize briefly about everyday life or familiar and general topics.
[10 영04-03] Can write thoughts and feelings about everyday life or familiar, general topics.
[10 영04-04] Can write compositions describing the objects or surroundings.
[10 영04-05] Can compose simple forms, e-mails, notes and more.
[10 영04-06] Can write compositions describing pictures, diagrams etc. about daily life or familiar, general topics.
Translated by David Kim
Listening
[9영01-01] Can identify the purpose of the conversation after listening.
[9영01-02] Can get detailed information by listening to conversations about objects from daily life or familiar general topics.
[9영01-03] Can get details after listening to conversations about pictures, photos, or diagrams on everyday life or familiar general topics.
[9영01-04] Can understand the plot, theme, and main idea after listening to conversations about daily life or familiar general topics.
[9영01-05] Can deduce speaker’s feeling or attitudes after listening to conversations about daily life or familiar general topics.
[9영01-06] Can deduce the speaker’s purpose after listening to conversations about daily life or familiar general topics.
[9영01-07] Can infer sequences of events and the relationship between events after listening to conversations about daily life or familiar general topics.
[9영01-08] Can infer cause and effect relationship between events after listening to conversations about daily life or familiar general topics.
[9영01-09] Can deduce situations and relationship between speakers after listening to conversations about daily life or familiar general topics.
Speaking
[9영02-01] Can describe people, things or places.
[9영02-02] Can express one’s opinions or feelings about daily life.
[9영02-03] Can describe pictures, photographs, or diagrams about everyday life.
[9영02-04] Can explain the methods and procedures of daily life.
[9영02-05] Can introduce oneself.
[9영02-06] Can ask and answer questions about people or things around you.
[9영02-07] Can ask and answer questions about a location and its surroundings.
[9영02-08] Can ask and answer questions about personal life experiences or plans.
[9영02-09] Can ask and answer questions about sequence of events or events concerning your daily life.
[9영02-10] Can ask and answer questions about the causes and effects of things or events in your daily life.
Reading
[9영03-01] Can read sentences in segments to understand the meaning.
[9영03-02] Can read and understand details of everyday life or familiar general topics or subjects.
[9영03-03] Can read and get detailed information from pictures, photographs, or diagrams of everyday life or familiar general topics.
[9 영03-04] Can read texts about general, familiar topics connected with everyday life and understand the plot, theme and main idea.
[9영03-05] Can read texts about everyday life or familiar general topics and infer the feelings and attitudes of the writer.
[9 영03-06] Can read articles on everyday life or familiar general topics and deduce the intention or purpose of the writer.
[9 영03-07] Can read texts about general topics that are familiar with daily life, one can infer the sequence of events and the relationship between events.
[9 영03-08] Can read the writings of everyday or familiar general subjects, one can deduce the causes and effects of events.
[9 영03-09] Can read the writings of everyday life or familiar general subjects and infer the connotation of words, phrases or sentences from context.
Writing
[9영04-01] Can write sentences depicting the objects and surroundings, concerning everyday life.
[9영04-02] Can write a sentence expressing your opinions and feelings about everyday life.
[9영04-03] Can write a sentence describing pictures, photos, or charts about everyday life.
[9영04-04] Can write sentences about experiences and future plans from their personal life.
[9영04-05] Can write short and simple compositions about yourself, familiar people, and everyday life.
[9영04-06] Can write simple invitations, thank you notes, congratulation notes, consolation notes, diary, letter, etc.
Translated by David Kim
Listening
[6영 01-01] Can hear and understand two or three consecutive instructions or explanations
[6영01-02] Can listen and understand the details of simple conversations about familiar topics in daily life.
[6영01-03] Can understand details after listening to easy and simple conversations about a picture or diagram.
[6영01-04] Can understand details after listening to easy and simple conversations about a comparison of two things.
[6영01-05] Can summarize information after listening to easy and simple conversations.
[6영01-06] Can identify the purpose of the conversation after listening to easy and simple conversations.
[6영01-07] Can understand sequence of events after listening to easy and simple conversations.
Speaking
[6영02-01] Can describe a picture, object, or action in one or two sentences.
[6영02-02] Can introduce the people around you in an easy and simple sentence.
[6영02-03] Can describe people and surroundings in an easy and simple sentence.
[6영02-04] Can describe a location and its surroundings in an easy and simple sentence.
[6영02-05] Can ask and answer questions about details of a simple picture or diagram.
[6영02-06] Can ask and answer questions briefly about your experience or plan.
[6영02-07] Can ask and answer questions about familiar topics in your daily life.
Reading
[6영03-01] Can read aloud easy and simple sentences with proper stress, rhythm and intonation.
[6영03-02] Can read easy and short texts about a picture or diagram, and get detailed information.
[6영03-03] Can read easy and short texts about familiar topics regarding everyday life, and get detailed information.
[6영03-04] Can read easy and short sentences, and understand the main idea, summary, and purpose.
Writing
[6영04-01] Can listen to and write easy and simple words and phrases, based on understanding the relationship between sound and spelling.
[6영04-02] Can use uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet and punctuation correctly in sentences.
[6영04-03] Can write sentences previously learned verbally.
[6영04-04] Can express one or two sentences when shown something from daily life or a picture.
[6영04-05] Can write a simple invitation, thank you, and congratulations by referring to an example.
Translated by David Kim
Listening
[4영01-01] Can hear and identify the sounds of the alphabet and words.
[4영01-02] Can listen to words, phrases, sentences, and identify stress, rhythm, and intonation.
[4영01-03] Can understand basic words, phrases, sentences, and understand meaning.
[4영01-04] Can understand the meaning by listening to easy and familiar expressions.
[4영01-05] Can understand simple instructions and explanations of one or two sentences.
[4영01-06] Can listen to easy and simple conversations about things and people around you.
[4영01-07] Can listen to easy and simple conversations about familiar topics in everyday life and get detailed information.
Speaking
[4영02-01] Can repeat alphabet sounds and words after listening to them.
[4영02-02] Can speak with proper stress, rhythm, and intonation.
[4영02-03] Can express in simple and easy words, phrases, or sentences about pictures, objects, and actions.
[4영02-04] Can do self-introduction in one or two sentences.
[4영02-05] Can instruct or explain things in one or two sentences.
[4영02-06] Can exchange easy and simple greetings.
[4영02-07] Can ask and answer questions in an easy and simple way about familiar topics in everyday life.
Reading
[4영03-01] Can identify and read uppercase and lowercase letters.
[4영03-02] Can read a word by sounding out the letters.
[4영03-03] Can read along with easy and simple words, phrases, and sentences.
[4영03-04] Can read simple words or phrases and understanding the meaning.
[4영03-05] Can read simple sentences and understand meaning.
Writing
[4영04-01] Can write the uppercase and lowercase letters.
[4영04-02] Can write words or phrases that were dictated.
[4영04-03] Can write easy words and phrases about daily life or pictures.
Incorporating pop culture into the language learning classroom is a great idea on several different accounts. It naturally grabs students’ attention, allows the language to be experienced in real and authentic ways, teaches slang and colloquial English, and, of course, is tons of fun!
It can be pretty difficult for teachers to find resources surrounding pop culture to bring into their classroom, or even know what to discuss. No fear! We at GIFLE have compiled some of our favorite pop culture resources for classroom use.
General and Miscellaneous Resources
The general resources listed here can be used for all different sorts of pop culture, from pop culture in fashion to celebrity news.
Pop Culture Happy Hour is an NPR podcast that covers a variety of different topics. It’s a great way to get students listening – or even to curate some ideas of your own about what to bring into the classroom!
There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to what’s included in the New Yorker culture section. It includes everything from trending pop culture to television shows to modern news. At the top of the page, the sections are divided into things like “books” and “food” though, so if you’re looking for something a bit more specific it’s easy enough to sort through.
The OG source of all things pop culture! Buzzfeed became famous in the early – mid 2000s for its listicles and quizzes surrounding pop culture, and while many would say it’s been dethroned as the absolute queen, her rule still stands. Students will love the easy-to-read articles and fun pop culture quizzes they can find on this site.
Vice is primarily known for being a news site, but it also has plenty of pop culture content to use in the language classroom! Simply go to the menu and you can select from “games,” “entertainment” and more. They also have a ton of videos that you can consider using in the classroom.
This one is perhaps the odd one out in the “general resources” list. Modern Gurlz is a YouTube channel that centers largely around fashion and fashion in pop culture, and how the two influence each other. The presenter speaks slowly and uses simple language, so it’s great for language learners.
Music Resources
Honestly, when it comes to using music in the classroom, your students are probably the best resource that you have. It’s likely that they already listen to at least some music in English, even if it is just the most recent tracks by BTS. When asking your students for music, make sure to vet it properly for both language and whatever’s in the music video. It will save you – and your students – a lot of embarrassment in the long run!
Popheads is a subreddit that discusses all things pop – new music, artists, and even some celebrity gossip. It’s a great tool to get your students reading, and possibly even discussing music with others. Be warned though, this is Reddit so the discussions can get a little crazy!
AJayII is a Youtuber who does in-depth analyses on songs and albums, and gives her thoughts and immediate reactions. She’s one of the most popular music reviewers on YouTube, and it’s not hard to see why! She has a friendly, easy-to-understand persona that will engage students and get them listening – and reading the comments in the videos to see what other people thought.
PopCrush doesn’t feature music and music reviews so much as it spotlights trending artists. It offers interviews with popular singers and bands, gives short form news stories on topics such as how Corona is affecting the entertainment industry, and even has some more listicle-y videos about celebrities who can’t swim. The majority of PopCrush videos are under ten minutes, with a lot of them even being under five minutes, making them the perfect length of time for classroom use.
Television Resources
It’s pretty easy to find out what television shows are trending now. You can simply open up Netflix and see what’s on the first page, or even ask your students! Here are some resources for looking at more in-depth analyses of television and movies.
Pop Culture Detective describes itself on Youtube as “Video essays exploring the intersections of politics, masculinity, and entertainment,” and we think that’s a pretty good summary! These videos can get quite in depth but they’re excellent for having students think critically about television and film. Bonus: some of the videos have Korean subtitles!
The Take looks at popular movies and TV shows and analyzes tropes, stereotypes, and offers guides for how to think about entertainment and even Hollywood in general. They have videos on almost everything you can think of, from tall girls dating shorter boys (and why that’s a newsworthy story in Hollywood) to discussing the different ways Corona was displayed on screen.
Lindsey Ellis retired from YouTube last year, but her legacy as a super-smart film critic remains. She discusses movies and other pop culture phenomena in hilarious, insightful ways.
Pop Culture Cooking Channels
To those of you who don’t think that food is a part of pop culture, think again! Restaurants and different foods can trend on Instagram just as quickly as anything else. (Remember when rainbow bagels went viral back in 2016 and then promply disappeared off the face of the earth? We do.) Cooking channels are some of the most popular content on both YouTube and Netflix, so in our opinion it’s worth looking into!
Binging with Babish is great for pop culture in a couple ways. First, of course, it’s one of the most popular cooking channels on Youtube. Secondly, Babish focuses on making food from movies and TV shows. Most of his episodes open with a short videoclip of where the food from today is coming from, ranging from Harry Potter to the Avengers.
Maangchi has been described as the Julia Child of Korean cooking, and it isn’t hard to see why. She has one of the most popular cooking channels on YouTube where she teaches people how to make Korean food. Originally from Yeosu, Maangchi’s food often has a distinctive Jeollanam flair. If you’re teaching students like I am, a simple conversation starter might be asking the class how her version of a dish differs from what they’re used to.
The You Suck at Cooking YouTube channel is a pop culture phenomenon all on its own. Part cooking, part comedy, and part music video, this channel really defines being categorized. The anonymous chef makes simple recipes and often uses his own way of speaking to explain them (for example, referring to the “oven” as “un-doe”) and puns (such as putting a corn husk on his pet dog’s head for “corndog”). This is a great resource for higher-level students to get used to more casual English. His videos are generally pretty short – around five minutes – and very creative, which can help inspire your students when speaking.
Book Resources
Goodreads is similar to a social media site, but for books! Users can rate books, write reviews, follow their friends, and, of course, discuss books and authors. It’s also a great source for students to keep track of what they’ve read, and to decide what they’re interested in reading next.
Reddit, of course, has a lot of robust threads on different books to check out! Be warned, the in-site search function doesn’t work all that well, so it’s generally best to search for individual books using a search engine.
This is a fun YouTube channel! The host, Dom, discusses different books, their movie adaptations, how they differ, and his opinion on the book versus the movie. Since, let’s face it, a lot of students will probably just try to watch the movie rather than fully reading the book (who wasn’t guilty of this in high school?) this is a great resource to use to help them see the differences and what they missed out on.
Video Game Resources
I’ll be honest, I don’t play videogames myself. Nobody in the office, I think, could call themselves a true gamer. GIFLE is a research institute though, so we don’t let the lack of firsthand knowledge get to us; instead, we call in the experts! So, to write this section I contacted the true professionals over at at Player Unknown Battlegrounds (also known as PUBG) in Seoul to get the latest intel on where to find information and the hottest games.
Skill Up’s YouTube “About” description simply reads “how bout them video games?” which does surprisingly well to sum up the channel. The presenter reviews and talks about tons of different games and shares his thoughts about them. He uses a lot of clips from actual gameplay, which is sure to engage students.
This is the last Reddit recommendation, I promise! Reddit is a great way to, you guessed it, read up on the latest games and get people’s [unfiltered] thoughts and opinions about them, as well as to catch their hype surrounding the games.
E3 Recap is a resource that collects announcements for all sorts of new and upcoming games and consolidates them into one convenient page. On the homepage, it shows the information about when the game is coming out, along with a game trailer from YouTube. At the top, there’s a filter so students can look up different games even according to what platform the game will be released on (from Nintendo to VR). Students who are interested in gaming will love getting to know what new releases are in store.
IGN is an entertainment and game website that dates all the way back to 1996. It has just about all the information about video games you’d want on it, and chances are, your students are already probably at least passingly familiar with it.
There you have it, our best resources for finding and using pop culture in the EFL classroom. Did we miss anything big? If you have any other resources to use, please share them in the comments below.
EUEEC (Using English in the English Classroom for Elementary) is a methodology program for elementary school teachers within Gyeonggi Province in South Korea. During this program, we’ll go over basic skills to use in the elementary school classroom; talk about how to flesh out an elementary school textbook chapter into a robust, engaging lesson; and, of course, give our participants some fun, practical activities they can easily implement into the classroom.
We’ve got a few rounds of EUEEC this year (the first was actually back in January!) and the next one took place from October 11th.
Here’s what we did in October.
Additionally, you can look back at what we did in April here.
Autumn’s module was all about quick, fun formative assessments that teachers can use to figure out their students understanding in the classroom. She went over formative assessment techniques, how to get feedback to students quickly, and, of course, had a lot of discussion time to get real practical ideas and tips from teachers actually in the classroom.
Betsey’s module looked at Critical Multicultural Education, how it differs from traditional Multicultural Education and the transformative teaching practices that are embedder in the pedagogy. Trainees also looked at why Multicultural Education is needed in the Korean Elementary and EFL classrooms and the challenges associated with Multicultural Education teaching. Trainees were asked to reflect and share about their own teaching practices and prepare an Action Plan for future goals related to Multicultural Education in their own classroom.
In Eric’s EUEEC session, trainees learned all about teaching Western culture in their classrooms. They learned the benefits, pitfalls, and methods, as well as a variety of activities they can use in their schools.
In the Classroom English Module taught by Chris, trainees identified Classroom English, discuss strategies on how to teach it and chose expressions that are suitable for each grade. They also looked at some examples and trainees had the chance to create their own table for reference and use for the future
In this module Kristina introduced different ways to motivate and get students to actively participate in speaking and task-based learning the classroom. It looked at taking regular learning exercises and making them into engaging and challenging activities that even the lowest level student couldparticipate in.
The other rounds of EUEEC will take place in November, and December, so if you couldn’t make it to the October training, we hope to see you later in the year. As always, you can find more information and sign up on our Korean site.