Sophia Quattrocchi

Dr. Cho

C&T 491

2 June 2019

Reflective Journal 1

I love studying Korean and International Studies, but I’m uncertain about my future

career path. I wanted to participate in the TESOL summer program in order to gain teaching

experience and to see if English teaching could be a possible career for me in the future. Many of

my classmates who went on this program found it very rewarding and now want to be English

teachers. I didn’t know much about EFL teaching, but I wanted to learn more about it through the

TESOL program.

So far I have absolutely loved my experience at Kyunghwa. Even though we have only

been at Kyunghwa for a week, the girls are so kind and excited to meet us. Many of the girls

come multiple times a day to talk to us and I’m already learning some of their names. It’s so

rewarding when they come talk to us or even when they remember my name in the hallway. I

have so much fun talking with the students, and it’s rewarding to see them practice their English

speaking, especially when they have lower levels of English proficiency. Despite them being shy

about their English skills, they love talking and getting to know us, which is so rewarding. Even

though our introduction PPT presentations got very repetitive, the excitement from the students

was motivating and made me excited to present for each class.

Some of the challenges was making sure to present in shorter, simple sentences in order

to be understood by the students. It got easier with practice, and it was easy to tell if the students

understood based on their reactions. Another challenge was getting the quieter students to engage
in the small group discussions. Sometimes the students, usually the first graders, would be so shy

and insecure about their English speaking and wouldn’t want to talk or ask questions. I would

have to ask these students questions, but sometimes one girl in the group barely spoke. It will be

a challenge to make sure all students are participating and practicing their speaking skills in the

classroom.

I have already learned so much from the students in the classroom, but I have also

learned so much from Greg in just one week at Kyunghwa. Greg’s energy is so inspiring and he

gets the students so motivated and excited to learn. His energy makes a huge difference in the

students’ attitude in the classroom. Also, he always makes sure he is understood by the students

by enunciating and checking for their understanding. Greg is so knowledgeable about English

teaching and is so passionate about what he does. He has been so helpful in answering our

questions both inside and outside the classroom. He is overall an amazing English teacher and

person, and I just want to do a good job and work hard to impress him. My goal for this program

is to learn as much as I can from Greg and from hands-on teaching in the classroom. I’m excited

to get to know the students more and hope to make a positive impact in their English education.