What did you learn?

Although we have recently returned to the U.S., we will continue to post thoughts and stories from #AgEd2Korea participants to reflect on the breadth, depth and diversity of our experiences in Korea.  This blog showcases some of the answers to the question, "What did you learn through this experience?"

Deanna teaches at Suwon H.S. for the Agriculture Sciences

"I learned that international travel develops more awareness that I had ever thought it could or would." - Deanna

"I learned that students can get excited about learning all across the world if you just show them that you care and take time to try to understand them and help them, no matter what barriers you are faced with."  - Jason

"I learned that the Republic of Korea is a very open welcoming society that has a lot of advancements and are on the road to keeping their country green and sustainable. I also learned that the relationship between the North and South is far more complicated then I could ever imagine." - Rachel

"Through my experience in Korea, I learned that students will be students no matter where they are from. I have also learned that even with language barriers, that deeper level learning can occur if the teacher is passionate and uses hands-on skills to teach the lesson. I also learned that non-verbal communication is sometimes more understanding and clearer than verbal communication." - Jess

Abby interacts with elementary school students

"I learned that just because there is a language barrier, does not mean you cannot interact with others." - Abby

"I’ve learned why we have to be aware and we have to encourage our students to be aware of what is going on in the world around them because they never know how something or someone from their home can somehow influence the world." - Amanda

Meaningful Interactions

Although we have recently returned to the U.S., we will continue to post thoughts and stories from #AgEd2Korea participants to reflect on the breadth, depth and diversity of our experiences in Korea.  This blog showcases some of the answers to the question, "What was your most meaningful interaction with a Korean person?"

Deanna and her SNU Teaching Partner

"My most meaningful interaction was with my SNU teaching partner. Not only did he help us with translations and logistics, but he helped us to structure our lesson and make it more impactful for the students in the classroom. He could have sat back and watched as we prepared a lesson but he was engaged and inqusitive the entire time. It makes me wonder how I would have responded in his situation." – Deanna

"My most impactful interaction was when we got to meet the Vice Minister of Education, Dr. Na. I am always excited to meet another OSU Alumni, and one who has made such an impact on the education system, just makes it that much more exciting. He had some very insightful words about finding your passion and dedicating yourself to it. If you are not building your passions, you will not have a very rewarding life." - Kelli

Lesson Planning: Kelli, Hee Song and Janae

"I loved working with my SNU teaching partner, Hee Song. She was absolutely awesome! She really had a presence in the classroom and I really enjoyed being able to team-teach with her. What really surprised me though was the note she left me on our last day together. She wrote that my passion for teaching helped to ensure that she was in the right profession as well. It was an incredible complement and she has impacted me in just the same way."
– Janae


"When I went to Insadong for the second time, as I was shopping I had a group of 13 year-olds and their teacher run up to me and speed quiz me on camera as an English project in order to help them learn to better speak English. They were a great group and they were so excited to talk to me and enjoyed talking to me in English & Korean and it was great to see students that excited to learn new languages." - Amanda

"At Buseong Elementary in Gwangju, I asked a 6th grade student how she was doing and she responded in English by saying, “I am happy!” This was evidence of the successful implementation of the school’s mission statement, which included 'Happy Students'.” - David

Jeremy's class at Yeoju High School

"My most meaningful interaction with a Korean has been with the students at Yeoju High School. They were so excited to have us in their classroom and learn about agricultural education in America. They were the friendliest, most respectful students I had ever met and they made me want to come to Korea and teach here for a while!" - Jeremy

"My most meaningful interaction with a Korean was when Jason and I were coming home from a late night out on the town and we met Jim, a Korean student from SNU. Jim was very kind, patient and engaging. We met Jim on the subway, we all three walked home even stopping long enough to grab a bite to eat and drink, just like we had known him for years. He even answered his phone to his girlfriend saying he had met some new friends and would be home late." - Chris

Jessica, Cassidy and Abby having lunch with a Suwon Teacher

"My most meaningful personal interaction with a Korean was probably the day that we went to lunch with the Suwon teachers for bugolgi. It was meaningful because although there was a language barrier, we had a normal conversation, just like I would have with my friends. We talked about our school day, what we love about our jobs, and about our family. It was neat to share those things, and I didn’t feel pressure to make sure I was speaking perfectly. They were just happy to interact with us, like we were with them. I wish I would have exchanged contact information with them, a lesson learned, but I really enjoyed lunch that day, and wish we could have had more one on one time with just the teachers. " - Abby

Teaching Team: Stacia, NeungSu and Jessica

"My most meaningful interaction with a Korean is my work with my SNU teaching partner NeungSu. Through teaching together I really had to rely on him to translate to our class. We also had to work on our own communication together for him to be able to help translate. It has definitely helped me realize how to speak more clearly and how to work with a partner in the classroom. Out of the classroom he has also given me a lot of insight into Korean culture. I have had the opportunity to ask him all about his traditions which was
a lot of fun to learn about." - Stacia

The journey has just begun...

Four days left...

This trip has been an amazing opportunity, and unfortunately while our time here in Korea is quickly coming to an end, our journey has just begun. On this trip we've made lots of memories - traveling to different schools, visiting museums, and eating lots of food - but the biggest impact this trip has made on me already has been meeting and getting to know people, especially with the other 19 people in our travel group. 

While all of us got to know each other a little bit over the course of our spring course, there is only so much you can learn about a person during a two-hour, once a week, online course and even within the first few hours of this trip, over three weeks ago, we were learning new things about each other. I have always been told that you don't truly know someone until you spend all your time around them, and spending a month together in a foreign country can certainly speed along that process.

One of my last sunsets in Seoul enjoyed with friends

"The great difference between voyages rests not with the ships, but with the people you meet on them" - Amelia E. Barr

The above quote reminds me of just how important who you travel with can be just as important as where you are traveling to. For me, this experience would not have been as influential if not for my travel companions, our partners at the universities, and even the random people who came up to me on the street, whether they wanted to talk to me in English or just wanted to help if I was lost. 

If you had asked me a week ago where I wanted to look for teaching jobs post-graduation I would have said somewhere in the Northeast, not necessarily only in Pennsylvania but in that region. But now that I've had several serious conversations with our mentor teachers on this trip, learning all about their programs and the surrounding programs, this is the first time I've considered moving states away to teach. While I think I've always been open to moving for a teaching job, the distance I would go is much greater now than it was before. While I don't think I'm ready yet to consider moving across the ocean to teach, I am looking forward to visiting Florida and other states, learning about their agricultural education programs, expanding my net of possibilities. 

This experience has been eye-opening for me, not only in learning about the Korean culture, but also about our own, and how we look at and treat the people and world around us. Every encounter I've made while here has been a positive experience, and I think that all of us would agree that no matter whether it was the students we were micro-teaching, the university students we worked with, or the random strangers we met while wandering Insadong, we have learned more from each person we've met than I think we even know right now. 

The great group of people I've shared this experience with.

Creating friendships across the world has been amazing, and thanks to wonderful technology like Facebook and Twitter, we can stay updated on each other's lives very easily, but I am also looking forward to when we meet in person again. The other Penn State students and I will be around each other a lot even after we get off the plane, but I am looking forward to meeting up with all the teachers again come National FFA Convention in October, and maybe even a trip to Florida sometime soon. And maybe one day we'll even meet up in another foreign country, whether planned or chance. 

Going home at the end of this week will be great, but I know that I am already missing the wonderful friends I have made on this trip and the positive difference this experience has made on me is largely due to the people I've traveled with. While this Korean experience is coming to an end, our journey together spreading the message and importance of agricultural education has just begun.

Finding a Home Away From Home

These past two weeks have just flown by, and the pace is not slowing down for the second half of our adventure. We have learned so much about Korea's culture and agriculture, and we've all experienced a lot of "firsts" - from riding a cross-country train, to learning (or at least attempting) the Korean language, getting our fill of spicy foods, and even enjoying some karaoke with our friends from Seoul National University. But amongst all of these new experiences, the highlight of our #AgEd2Korea adventure for me so far has felt like both a "first" and like coming home - our visits to Suwon High School for Agricultural Sciences!

Suwon is the first of our agricultural high school visits and luckily here we were able to split our visits up into three days, which allowed us to tour all of the facilities and micro-teach a lesson of our choosing in two different classes. It was a great time. Suwon has been the highlight so far for me because it is so different yet so similar to my school, WB Saul High School for Agricultural Sciences in Philadelphia, PA.

Student Landscape Design Greenhouse

At Suwon the students are divided into three major tracks - plant science, food science, and mechanical sciences, where the students then more topic specific courses as they advance through school, very similar to the plant science and animal science tracks at Saul. The facilities at Suwon are amazing, and again I could find similarities. Suwon has dozens of greenhouses which it utilizes for various student projects, such as bonsai trees, individual student landscaping displays, and student driven research. There are many large food science labs inside the school, to allow space for all sorts of cooking and baking experimentation. There are also mechanical shop buildings, filled with any shop equipment you can think of from welding hoods to tractor repair areas. They even had a rice harvester!

While Saul may lack some of the facilities available at Suwon, there was a common theme among both schools that I really enjoyed - partnerships. Community partnerships are very important to Suwon High School, which aligns with what we have learned about the importance of cooperation and teamwork in the Korean culture. At Suwon these partnerships are very visible in the amount of community volunteers we saw on-campus. While students are in classes, community volunteers work in the shops and greenhouses, maintaining the shops and greenhouse projects. We saw volunteers working on large-scale flower arrangements for an upcoming festival which came about through the partnership the city of Suwon has with the school.

FFK Emblem Banner

Students have regular school hours from 8am until 4pm, then from 4pm until 6pm is dedicated time for the students to work on their individual projects, work with clubs and other student organizations like FFK, and also time for students to receive extra instruction from graduates of Suwon High School. These graduates come back to the school after work to provide the current students with real-world knowledge and skills they have gained in the work-place as a way to "pay-it-forward" to the next generation.

The importance of community partnerships is vital to any program but I think it was returning graduates helping at Suwon that reminded me of Saul the most. While we also have partnerships with various agriculturally-related businesses in the area, such as the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) we operate on our property, allowing community members to purchase fresh food from the school, similar to the market Suwon operates, we also have many alumni involved with our school who want to "pay-it-forward." I am just one of many alumni who help chaperone school trips, work with students in preparation for shows and competitions, and come out to support the school at banquets and other events.

Chicago HS Hat. Soon a Saul Hat?

I think that Saul and Suwon have a lot in common with each other and could learn a lot from each other. Another aspect of community partnerships that was really fascinating to me was that Suwon expands their community internationally, with exchange programs with Future Farmers of Thaliand (FFT),  Future Farmers of Japan (FFJ), and with the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences in the U.S. Since they already have an established relationship with Chicago, I would love to help develop a relationship between Saul and Suwon and hopefully eventually between Suwon and my future agricultural education program, wherever that may be.

Week 1 = Complete!

안녕하세요!!! (Hello!!!)

Our first week here in Korea has been eye-opening in so many ways, from the food to our micro-teaching lesson planning, to our struggles with the language. So far we have just skimmed the surface of our #AgEd2Korea experience, but already I know we have a much greater appreciation for other cultures and especially the struggles that English as a Second Language students face in our US classrooms.

David bowing to receive his Korean certificate

Today has been an exciting culmination to our first week. First we started our day off with graduation from our Language School. I'm not sure who was more excited for the break for our brains - us who have been and will continue (to varying degrees) to struggle with reading, writing and speaking Hangul or our amazing SNU teachers who have had wonderful amounts of patience for all our questions and fumbles with the language. While I'm sure we were not their best language class hopefully we were their most entertaining.

As a sort of celebration of our basic grasp of the language, today was the beginning of a sightseeing weekend! We spent our day having a guided tour of some of Seoul's most beautiful and historically important monuments and museums. Led by our trusty guide Ramona, in her bright pink blazer so we wouldn't lose her, we began by having photos in front of a large beautiful fountain and in front of the Blue House, their White House.

Sarah at the Presidential Desk

We then went to our first museum of the day, the Cheongwadae Sarangchae Museum, and specifically their exhibit on the wild flowers of Korea which were absolutely beautiful. There were many beautiful pieces of artwork but the most impressive to me was the paintings that also incorporated pressed flowers, bark and branches. Besides all the beautiful flowers we all had a great time taking photos in their presidential exhibit, enjoying our fifteen seconds of fame  as we sat at the presidential desk replica.

The highlight of the day was where we went after the museum, the Gyeongbokgong Palace, one of three restored traditional palaces in downtown Seoul. The palace was amazing, capturing a collective "wow" from our group as we crossed through the gate into the palace grounds. The buildings' interiors and exteriors were beautifully painted and constructed, showing off the importance of a harmony and connection with nature in the Korean culture, with its highlighting of animal deities and its construction mirroring the surrounding mountains.

The Group at Gyeongbokgong Palace

The architecture of the palace buildings was beautiful but the rich history of the palace, and the Korean culture itself, is what made our first "tourist" day special to me and the group because it's amazing to experience and learn about a culture and country that is so much older than ours. I can't even look far enough into the future to imagine what a museum or monument would highlight about our country and our culture when it has reached an age close to where Korea stands now.

I can't wait to see what new piece of culture we experience next, and I hope everyone at home is enjoying following along with us!

안낼히가세요 (Goodbye!)

아만다 (Amanda)

First: Trinidad, Next: Korea!

Wow! I can't believe that this class is almost at its end and our trip to Korea feels so far away yet so close at the same time! Through all of our class meetings, guest speakers, and readings we have learned a little about what makes our two cultures different and similar, but I don't think it will really sink in until we are fully immersed in the country. I'm excited for more Korean food and to see their agriculture and their agricultural education classrooms in person, but I'm less excited for the language struggle that I am sure some of us will still be experiencing once we get there.

Papaya farm in the mountains in Trinidad

There are so many things left to do to prepare, but I think the best preparation I received recently was my trip to Trinidad and Tobago a few weeks ago. That trip was my first trip out of the country and I learned more on that trip than I probably even realize myself right now. I had a lot of eye-opening experiences visiting their agricultural divisions of their universities and touring farms and meeting with farmers and extension agents.

Everywhere we went I got to see how far-reaching agricultural issues are impacting everyday people, whether they realize it or not. Firsthand, I saw issues surrounding the lack of water, inputs, and labor, all things that I think we as agriculturalists all know exist but maybe we don't see it in our everyday lives, at least I don't usually. We got to hear from the principal of their university, who told us about their country's need to enhance their agricultural industry and become self-sustaining, and about their battle to engage more youth in agriculture, something I think all of us would agree is important anywhere in the world.

Sunset at the Caroni Swamp, a nature reserve

While we were traveling, we were welcomed openly, everywhere we went, and encouraged to ask questions about their culture and encouraged to learn about it ourselves - whether it was eating fresh fruit right from the tree, with names I can't even pronounce, or enjoying their music, or admiring their beautiful craftsmanship, I can't say that I have ever been that welcomed by strangers, even when traveling to new places in the U.S.

Traveling outside of the U.S. not only taught me more about Trinidad & Tobago, but it taught me more about my fellow classmates and my professors who went with me, and it taught me more about myself, but more importantly it reaffirmed how important what we want to do is - it reaffirmed how important it is to educate others about agriculture.

Waterfall in the rainforest in Tobago

One of the best memories I have from my trip is when a classmate and I were on the beach in Tobago, chatting with a person from Trinidad about how beautiful the islands were, and he asked us what brought us to his country. The smile and expression on his face when we told him we were studying agriculture is one I don't think I can forget - I don't know that I have ever met someone become that happy at the word. He was a farmer, at the island with his family for a weekend vacation, and he was overjoyed to know that our group was focusing on agriculture and he said that he was excited because "of how important it [agriculture] is and how important it is to teach others about it." This is why I think we become involved in agricultural education - to tell the story of farmers and agriculturalists whose work impacts us everyday, no matter whether they are in the northeast, the south or even in the Caribbean.

And if I learned all of this during one short week in Trinidad & Tobago, I cannot wait to see what we learn during our month in Korea!