Bluewater District School Board Chair Jennifer Yenssen and Director of Education Mary Anne Alton have returned from a week long trip to Korea.
“We held nine formal meetings with different educational institutions throughout the Korean Peninsula to discuss partnering opportunities and those discussions were very positive,” says Board Chair Jennifer Yenssen.
It was West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles who suggested a meeting between Korean representatives and Bluewater. The Municipality has been exploring business opportunities in Korea and the need for improved English language instruction was identified as a key goal. During the summer of 2009 students from Korea participated in a home stay program in the Durham area.
A partnership would initially involve Bluewater staff and Korean staff and students.  These partnerships could include teachers going to Korea for short or longer term English Second Language (ESL) teaching contracts, Korean administrators coming to Bluewater for professional development, Korean ESL teachers spending time during the summer in Bluewater improving their English, or Korean students coming to Bluewater for two, three or four week summer camps. Trustees approved the information-gathering trip at the January meeting of the Board.
“For many of the educators we met with, the focus was on improving the ability of Korean children and adults to speak English,” Ms. Alton said.
Current Korean (ESL) instructional strategies are not creating the level of oral English proficiency desired, and many ESL “teachers” in Korea do not hold teaching qualifications.
“Canadian English is seen as a standard form of English and that makes Bluewater a desirable partner,” Ms. Alton says. “Many of the Korean representatives have an interest in visiting Bluewater to pursue partnerships for students and staff.”