My Picasa Photo Album

Here is the link to my Internet Photo album. I have not yet added many photos to it but eventually, after I buy a digital camera, will try to put in alot more. I wanna take some photos with my Language Institute class at Waikato because they are fantastic students and good friends already. Just click on the picture above for the album.

Enjoy^^

My Korean Speech

I really want to post as much as I can in Korean but it really vexes me that i cannot find a computer to type Korean into. I will try to at some point post my speech here in korean, but this might take a little while 'cause I first will need to write it out by hand, then get one of my Korean friends to type it in on their computer because I don't have Korean font capability.

Like I said, I actually changed my topic the morning of my speech because it was to be about the similarities between my cultural heritage, Irish Immigrant culture from the 1950's, and Immigrant Korean culture in the 2000's. However I had some argument/disagreement with my parents about my attending Korean School that morning and felt embarrased about my culture at that moment so decided not to give my speech. In the end Kyo Gam Teacher convinced me to just go up and say hello because people wanna see who i am so in the end I went up and the words just came out...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MY SPEECH~~~~~~~~

The speech was as I said 'off the top of my head' so I don't have it written down of course, but it was basically a little introduction to myself with the preface that to know about what I love you first need to know about who I am and my values. I discussed my education and work history in Hamilton and Auckland and the reason that lead to me change my life direction to start a master of applied linguistics at waikato in 2007. This reason was because I found that I needed to give meaning to my life and use my skills and I hate sitting behind a desk all day!! A career in education uses my talents, enables me to meet some wonderful people and most importantly gives meaning to my life.

So what does that have to do with loving Waikato Korean School you ask? Well...Waikato Korean School is founded by a group of parents who want their children to know their home country and culture and is rooted in a deep respect for education and its innate value. I agree with this. I then gave the quote by Nelson Mandela 1994 "Education is the greatest weapon we have to change the world". I said that I believe in this and I think that the people in front of me do to.

Secondly, I said that B S Skinner, an American Psychologist said in 1990 "Education is what is left when everything you have learned has been forgotten". I explained that Education is not maths, or science or economics - it is much more than these things. It is our responsiblity to give our children the values and Korean culture that shows them who they are and why they are here. If we want to have a good future in this world, then education is the main hope we have. I said that Korean School teaches the Korean children in hamilton to love themselves and their culture and this is so important, so I love Korean School for this.

Finally, I said that Education....long pause..................is....love. In my opinion that is. I said that I do not believe that you can really hope to teach someone, really hope to give them true education without giving a part of yourself through your love. All good teachers know this. And I feel alot of love around everytime I come to Korean School and the atmosphere of love is what their children need in order to receive a good education. I said this is the second reason I love Korean School.

~~~~~~~~~~~THE END~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every single student at Waikato Korean Schhol was encouraged to go up and say something, even if it was only to say Anyong~haseyo! Some small children of 5 or 6 could only go up and hold their teachers hand but i thought that was great and they were pretty cute^^

Korean Speech Competition

From left to right: Andrew, Chrissy, Richard, JK (Our Teacher^^), Me, See Hyun








On Saturday I gave a speech for the Korean Speech Competition held by the Waikato Korean School at St Andrews Church Hall in Hamilton. The speech topic was to be "Why I love Korean School" and I ended up doing ok despite changing my topic only minutes before going on so having to make my speech 'off the cuff'.

I really enjoyed the chance to speek Korean here and thought so many of the young Korean students were courageous and cute for trying as hard as they did.

다시 여보세요 ,

나는 4월안에 나의 붕괴다음에 나의 과정의 최대량안에 느리고 그러나 확실하게 위로 붙잡고 있다. 영어 학원에 가르치기의 나의 첫번째 주는 좋 학생은 환상적 이었다 - 그것을 순전히 쉽게 했다! 잘 이제까지는 간 까 어느것이Aswell, 나는 나의 ApplLing-555과정을 위해 나의 5개의 관측한 가르치는 종류에서 지금 2장의 완료했다. 다음 3개의 학습은 진보적으로 준비 및 사전의 고려를 더 요구할 것이다 그러나 나가 그것까지 이다 것 을 나는 생각한다.

대학에 나는 대학에서Nicholson을 피해 회의를에 달라고 하는 약간 돌파구 성공이 정면을 변화해 그것 지원하고 싶는 그리고 대학 문제점에 들을 것이다 학생 음성을 위해 제공한 플래트홈을 학생을 관심을 끌어 얻기안에 나를 있은 부. 항상을 통해서 학생을 접전하, 대중의 의견을 얻기 위하여UniversityManagement에 의하여 들은 제일 또는 효과적인 도관이 아닌 것을WSU이 이것을 위해 제일 장소 이던 그러나 우리가 양쪽 합의한다 고 너는 생각할텐데.

또한, 나는 열을 수 있는 회사 교환의 신형을 위해 나의 아이디어에 관하여 나에게 말하고 싶는 웰링턴 (www.nzx.com)안에NZX에서 누군가에게서 충격 전화를 받았다. 그들이 나를 위해 행복하면 나가 너를 나의 아이디어가 이던 것 알는 시킬 것이다 이blog에 알는 시키면 너를 하자마자 이것은 일종의 극비 이 단계에서는 그러나 이다. 명확하게 공부된 증권 거래소 나가 나의 대학 학위안에 경리를 공부한 것을 알 (나가!!그것안에 일하고 싶지 않으면 비록) 나는 약간 이 지역안에 관심사 그리고 전문가적 의견이 있는다.

내일 한국 학교를 위해 나의 연설을 내일 까지는 완료해야 한다, 있는다 완료할 것이다 다수 다른 지정을 가Pauls대학에서 나의 개인 보습 학생 및 가정교사를 데려오기 위하여 간 갖고 있고, 일요일에 어머니날 이다 - 나는 잊으면 안된다!!

다시 만나십시요
오웬!!

Progress (Baby steps)

Hello Again,

I am slowly but surely catching up in most of my courses after my disruptions in April. My first week of teaching at the Language Institute was good and the students were fantastic - they made it so much easier! Aswell, I have now completed two out of my five observed teaching classes for my ApplLing-555 Course which have gone well so far. The next three lessons will require progressively more preparation and forethought but I think I am up to it.

On the University changes front I have had some breakthrough success having had a meeting with Shun Nicholson from the University IT Department who wants to support me in getting students more interested and providing a platform for student voices to be heard on University issues. You would think that the WSU was the best place for this but we both agree that they are not always the best or most effective conduit through which to engage students and get popular opinions heard by University Management.

Also, I got a shock phone call from somebody from the NZX in Wellington (www.nzx.com) who wants to talk to me about my idea for a new type of company exchange they can open up. This is sort of top-secret at this stage but once they are happy for me to let you know on this blog I will let you know what my idea was. You may know that I studied finance in my undergraduate degree and specifically studied stock exchanges so I have somewhat an interest and expertise in this area (even if I dont wanna work in it!!).

Oh, well I have got to go and pick up my student from St Pauls College and tutor him in Economics and Accounting, plus I have gotta finish my speech for Korean class tomorrow, plus I have a number of other assignments to complete, and it's Mothers Day on Sunday - I had better not forget right?...

See ya
Owen

Forging Ahead at Waikato University

Things have been pretty hectic for me recently with my course, the Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching, getting to the busy end of the first semester and so I have a few assignments to hand in. I am still really enjoying this course because I connect with the material having experience teaching in ESL in Korea already, and I have a passion for teaching and also understanding other cultures. My Three papers: CALL (Computer Aided Language Learning); Curriculum: Materials, Design and Methodology; and Teaching Practice and Observation, are all very interesting to me and I am very engaged in class discussions and group assignments.

On the work front I have also been busy doing a couple of one-off Saturday nights at 'Gails of Tamahere' being a waiter for some weddings. I also got myself some tutoring work helping two 6th form chinese students with their economics and accounting homework and understanding the courses. Tutoring in economics and accounting is something I have been doing since I was 16 due to my deep understanding of these subjects and I really enjoy helping people 'unlock' the material for themselves. Finally I have been accepted as a part-time casual language teacher at the Waikato University language Institute on Monday and Tuesday Afternoons. This is the job I really wanted because it will look great on my CV and is good preparation/experience for when I graduate. I am currently teaching the General English LSP (Listening, Speaking, and Pronounciation) Class and I really enjoy the students who come from all different corners of the globe to little old hamilton to study English.

I also enrolled in Korean School which is every Saturday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm and this is as one other classmember commented 'the highlight of my week'. Last week we had a drawing competition and went out to lunch and this week we are practicing writing some speeches in Korean. It is great fun for me already having some knowledge of the langauge and culture and the online Google Group we created is great for me to practice using CALL-type activities as a student.

Last Wednesday during Cultural Hour at Waikato University, I presented some great speeches in my 'Civil Rights Oratory' which I had prepared for over two months earlier. It was a success even though it rained and I am happy in some ways to get it behind me to concentrate more on my studies. I feel I have done my small bit for the 'culture' here at Waikat Uni.

Finally, at University I am slowly getting some of my ideas heard such as: getting names put on some of the building blocks that are currently only named by letters; setting up a S.E.A.T. (Student Environmental Action Team) to do activities to help our environment on campus; setting up a University 'college' or 'house' system that students can belong to; asking the University Administration to look into instituting some compulsory core courses at Waikato like at Stanford; and finally I am hoping to set up University clubs for Human Rights and Volunteering to name a few.

So been pretty busy, but I still get time to relax.

Get back to you soon!

Owen McCaffrey