Sookmyung TESOL was commissioned by the Ministry of Education to conduct advanced English teacher training in collaboration with Seoul City and Gyeonggi-do Office of Education. After the 6-month training, our university successfully completed the program on August 16 and 23.

The intensive English teacher training program consists of 5 months of domestic training and 1 month of overseas training. In the domestic training, the participants studied and researched various subjects such as Classroom Practices, Intercultural Communication, Critical Thinking & Media, and Material Development. In addition, with class participation at the “Seoul American School,” the participants had the opportunity for comparative research on diverse educational environments and were able to complete the onsite training by planning English education customized to each level through the class exercises at the Mapo Elementary School and Korea Middle School Attached to Korea University.

The overseas training visit to the University of Chichester in the UK and the University of Queensland in Australia for a month, providing university lectures and hands-on courses at local elementary and secondary schools, gave an opportunity to uplift cultural thinking by interacting with teachers and students from other cultures.

Even after the six-month program, our university plans to provide various benefits and follow-up training such as 1) one-on-one feedback on lectures after returning to classes, 2) classes linked to the American Embassy’s American Center, 3) Korea TESOL international forum, 4) diverse special lectures, etc.

Since its inception in 2007, Sookmyung＇s TESOL intensive training for English teachers has been a representative program which trained more than 1,600 English teachers in public education. With the aims to reinforce professionalism and internationalization capacity of English teachers, it has become a mecca for English education. 

TESOL Head Professor Gyung-suk Yeom said, “It is very meaningful to help experienced teachers in the field develop new visions and frontiers of English education through in-depth training.”