Blog Archives

Networking Thursday - Volume 39

10/26/2017

Things have been a little slow on the gust submission front so I'm going to share a personal story from this week.

On Monday and Tuesday I served as the MC for the Global Symposium on Ageing in Seoul, an event that was co-organized by Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) and the United Nations Population Fund. My oldest client works closely with KOSTAT and arranged for me to serve as the conference MC. This was a meaningful opportunity for several reasons.

First, I got to audition as an MC for an event planning company that might use me again. I enjoy hosting conferences and this is the second government organization that has asked me to MC their events. Hopefully more opportunities like this will present themselves in the future.

Second, I was able to introduce myself to several new potential editing clients. Serving as MC means everyone in attendance sees you when you make an announcement so when you approach someone to say hello during a coffee break they are more receptive than if you were to approach them as a total stranger. They naturally ask about your day job and quite a few said they would contact me about editing.

Finally, I sat at the same table with the director of international relations for a government organization at dinner and one of my clients who was sitting with us introduced me to the director and talked me up big time. The person in that role is definitely the person you want to meet for future work opportunities in editing, training, and hosting international events.

When an interesting opportunity comes your way I hope you not only take advantage of it in the short term but also use it to create long-term opportunities for yourself as well. Hopefully, I will be able to share some of the dividends that came from this event in a future post.

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Networking Thursdays - Volume 38

10/19/2017

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This week I have a personal "pitfalls of networking" story to share.

It's not easy telling someone you can't recommend them for a job but sometimes it's the right thing to do. About ten years ago the director of the EFL program at the university I worked at asked my opinion about a teacher that had left the school without giving proper notice to take a job in Seoul. A few years later he moved to another school back in Daejeon so I had seen him around and, since we shared many of the same friends, I saw him out socially.

For some reason, he wanted to return to his original position at my university and that was when the director casually asked me if I thought he had "matured". While I wasn't close to the guy and knew that he was prone to make bad decisions I did think he had changed somewhat and would be grateful for the opportunity so I told the director I thought he would be better this time.

Fast forward a couple of semesters and the guy took a job in another country and pulled a runner just before the exam period. To make matters worse he had a going away party so everyone knew except for the director. Long story short, I ended up losing credibility with the director twice because I stuck out my next neck for someone who didn't deserve it.

As I said, it isn't easy telling someone you can't recommend them but when you put your stamp of approval on someone you because responsible for their actions and anything negative they end up doing reflects poorly on you, so choose wisely.

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Networking Thursdays - Volume 37

10/12/2017

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Richard Sung is currently a Master’s student at the KAIST Graduate School of Science and Technology (STP). His interests include philosophy of science, psychology, and foreign language studies.

When I was an undergraduate student, I took two courses taught by a professor at KAIST. One was named “Current Affairs in English” while the other was named “Business English Projects.” Though the two courses had different objectives, they relied on the same educational principle: It is entirely up to the students to determine how they will make the most of their time and resources. In other words, rather than following a pre-designed syllabus with selected text books and articles, the students were expected to come up with their own topics of interest, project objectives, research plans, and ways to evaluate their performances as well as the success of their projects. In other words, it was all about autonomy and drive.

At first, naturally, I was surprised by the sheer amount of freedom given to the students. Unlike the majority of the courses I had taken, the two courses were very much akin to survival programs that not only shed light on difficulties of orienting oneself, but also the thrill of becoming more resilient and proactive in the face of uncertainty and pressure. With such impression in mind, I quickly became enthusiastic about the atmosphere of the two courses, and I was fortunate enough to share my enthusiasm with motivated peers that helped me to discover more colorful aspects of undergraduate life. There were many fascinating projects with various interests and objectives, ranging from initiating public awareness of media neutrality in India to engaging in the dilemmas of demand and supply in the renewable energy market where many crowd-funded programs compete for success and support. Though everyone had his or her sense of tension, the class groups were able to share their experiences and efforts with a sense of enthusiasm not easily found in other programs.

After a number of colorful projects, as per the grading process, I had the consultation session with my professor to determine my understanding of my performances as well as my expectations. Since I had neither a broad background in entrepreneurship nor education in disciplines pertaining to my programs, I tried to evaluate myself according to two basic perspectives: motivation and coherence of methodology. Though I was initially nervous about expressing my opinions and concerns, I was able to honestly talk about my performances and limitations, which eventually became an exciting experience. I was happy to see myself discovering a certain sense of closure to engage with my initial impressions of the two courses. Furthermore, my professor appreciated my reflections, which made the sessions memorable.

And after my time in the two courses, I mustered the courage to ask my professor to formally express his confidence in my ability to understand and anticipate what I want the most from my education. After some discussions, I was fortunate enough to receive his recommendation, which helped me to continue my journey as a graduate student.

Overall, the two courses were unique in the sense that they helped me to rethink the meaning of capacity. This may be a very “sciency” analogy, but I can say that the two taught me how to be more aware of the direction of the vector of personal drive. Though respectful attention is necessary for meaningful learning, through my experiences in the two courses, I have come to better appreciate how personal drive can antecede the immediate breadth and intensity of many syllabi and programs offered to a student. It is a kind of experience I would recommend to any student, especially a student who wants to know more about how to make the most of anything he or she may come across along the path of learning. At the end of the day, with the right sight, one will hit a thousand.

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Networking Thursdays - Volume 36

10/5/2017

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This week's post is one of mine.

It's hard to complain about a ten-day break but long public holidays can be rough on freelancers. This year in Korea two holidays combined to make a really long holiday period. I was hoping for a project to work on and it was just my luck that a friend wasn't able to take a proofreading job with a publishing company that she had been working with on a freelance basis and was looking for someone to recommend to them. This friend has helped me before by connecting me with some teachers she knew in Istanbul and we have chatted on Facebook about freelance opportunities.

She contacted me this time about my availability and interest and then recommended me to the publisher. Sure, I had to send them my CV and negotiate the terms but now I have a project that I can work on during my free time over the holiday period and not take a big hit in my income this month thanks to her.

It sure is nice to have people who think of you when they aren't available to do a job themselves and you can bet that I'll do everything possible to return the favor when I have an opportunity to pass along.

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Presentation Skills that Teachers Should Display

10/1/2017

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Fall is a busy academic conference season and while I don't plan to attend any conferences this month, I do have some fond memories of presenting and networking at conferences in Vladivostok, Taipei, Shizuoka, and Seoul in Octobers past. I have attended some great sessions at these events but it's always the bad talks that tend to stand out in my mind and I think it's because I can't understand how an educator can have such poor presentation skills. We do this every day!

Let's take a look at 10 basic presentation skills and how they fit into classroom teaching, yet sometimes become forgotten during a conference presentation.

1. Eye contact/eye rotation

Teachers need to look at their students. We need to build a connection with them and establish trust. This is difficult to do if we aren't looking them in the eye. We also need to maintain control of the class, watching to see who might be dozing off, checking their phones a little too long, or getting ready to cause a disturbance. The longer we teach, the more natural it becomes to rotate our line of sight through the different areas of the class. Front-middle, back-right, back-middle, back-left, front-left, etc. Everyone in the audience needs to feel like you are speaking directly to them and making eye contact is a critical aspect of that.

2. Not turning to talk to the screen

I understand that speaking in a new environment can be daunting and, as a teacher, you might be used to being able to look at your computer's monitor when using a PowerPoint deck with your lesson but there are several reasons why a speaker shouldn't have to turn around so often and stare at the projector screen. First, you shouldn't have so many words on the slide that you need to read from them. Second, you should know more about the topic than the audience. Just talk to them about the content of your lesson/talk. Finally, you are supposed to be speaking TO your audience and you can't do that with your back turned to them.

3. Speaking volume/microphone awareness

While many classroom teachers may not have classes big enough to merit using a microphone, they should be used to speaking at a volume so the students in the back row can hear them comfortably. The same thing applies when speaking at a conference. For larger venues where a microphone is needed, be sure not to let the microphone drop if you are holding it or turn away from a fixed-position microphone to look behind you at the screen.

4. Speaking speed

Teachers who teach native speakers can more or less be excused for this one but teachers who teach English (or any language) to second language speakers should be used to speaking slowly and monitoring their vocabulary levels. We need to be aware of these key delivery elements when speaking at conferences as there will often be a variety of English listening abilities among our audience members.

5. Appropriate use of visuals

Whether we are using pictures in a textbook, from supplemental texts, off the internet, or in a PPT, the purpose of our visuals is to show so we don't have to try to tell something and have our students imagine it. Similarly, in a conference presentation, we want to reserve space on our slides for photos, data, and key words to help the audience understand what we are trying to explain. The speaker can then focus on providing explanations and details to compliment the visuals.

6. Familiarization with tech

The first time many teachers got a TV in their rooms with a computer connected to it, hilarity must have ensued. I'm sure half the time it was a student who showed the teacher how to push the TV/AV button on the remote control to change the input from the TV received to the computer. Hopefully, that was a valuable lesson to check the tech before class starts. In any case, it is not uncommon to see conference speakers bomb because they didn't check in advance to see if the internet was connected, whether their video would play without installing additional programs, if there were speakers in the room, or a number of other potential technical issues that could happen during their talk.

7. Hooking

Good teachers explain to their students WHY they are covering certain material or undertaking a given activity. Telling students how learning or experiencing something could benefit them later in their academic career or after they graduate can increase student motivation and reduce the likelihood of bad/distracted behavior. Conference speakers should also start with a hook, explaining how the content is relevant to the audience and could benefit them when they go back to work.

8. Energy/enthusiasm

I often tell participants in my teacher training workshops that I'm glad they are now able to remember what it's like to be stuck on the other side of the classroom for hours at a time. The best situations are when there are multiple trainers and I ask them to compare and contrast the sessions. Invariably, the "best" trainers had a high energy level and were "passionate" about their topics. If that is what you prefer as an audience member, wouldn't you strive to appear that way when you are in front of the room?

9. Time management

I still talk with some of my friends about the time the plenary speaker "stole our lunch". He was the speaker just before the lunch break and kept talking until 12:15 which meant people didn't hit the restaurants down the street until 12:20 at the earliest. The long lines meant many people were late getting back to the 1pm sessions, all because this "experienced" conference speaker couldn't (or wouldn't) keep track of his time. In his defense, he did appear to be an ivory tower academic more than a humble classroom instructor but surely he had spent years in the classroom prior to that. As teachers, we are always checking the clock to see how long we can let an activity go on and making sure we save a few minutes at the end of class for reminders and questions. For some reason, at a conference that skill can fly right out the window.

10. Q&A

Speaking of questions, are we not used to asking for questions at the end of an activity or class? Surely we have developed delaying tactics and the awareness to discern a general question that everyone would be interested in from a specific question that sounds like something we should discuss with that one student after class. Granted, at some conferences, Q&A sessions can be a minefield and a few attendees will want to make your session all about them but a confident, seasoned teacher should be able to manage the room and put arrogant or socially-inept audience members in their place.

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Networking Thursday - Volume 39

Networking Thursdays - Volume 38

Networking Thursdays - Volume 37

Networking Thursdays - Volume 36

Presentation Skills that Teachers Should Display

Tim's Thoughts

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