Patrick Killelea

C&T 491

6/19/2019

Reflective Journal #4

In this journal entry, I am going to discuss some of my learning experiences from KU’s day at

Gangnam University. I was chosen to be one of the presenters and had to prepare a 7 minute

speech about my experiences teaching in Korea. Before hand, I was worried about speaking

too fast because I had too much content for 7 minutes, but after hearing the Gangnam

student’s speeches, I became worried that my slides might be too difficult to them

understand. I was the last speaker, and as I took the stage I noticed that most of the students

in the back of the auditorium were asleep or looking at their phones. So, if had a time machine,

I would redesign my speech to make it more engaging and simpler to understand. The lesson

that I learned is that is have to know the composition of the audience before writing or

presenting.

While watching the presentations yesterday, I realized a few elements that made them either

more interesting or boring. The best Gangnam University presentations were used videos,

pictures and humor to break up the monotony of a 10 minute speech in an auditorium with

dimmed lights. Some of the elements of the poor presentations were monotone speaking

voices and slides with too much text. These speakers were too busy either reading text or

trying to get through their material that they forget to interact with the audience. So, in the
future, I must never forget to be engaging whenever I am up in front of an audience or even a

classroom of students. While teaching, I sometimes work too hard to get students to learn new

words or grammar that I drill too much with breaking up the routine which becomes tedious for

my students.

Another important takeaway from the Gangnam University trip is how amazing cross-cultural

experiences can be when both parties are equally interested and excited to spend time

together. Both parties get a better feel for the culture by spending time with a new friend from

that culture. It gives them the freedom to ask questions that they haven’t been able to ask and

to practice language skills outside of a language classroom. Talking with a native speaker allows

speakers to negotiate meaning and find a way to communicate with the main road is not

available. The saddest part of the leaving is that many the KU and Gangnam students may not

have another opportunity to practice their L2 with a native speaker or learn about the other

culture so closely.