A Warm Visit to Dangseo Elementary School, Seoul

11/3/2016

The main building of Dangseo Elementary School

The Korea Study Tour of YWPS simply couldn't be done without a school visit. And our thirst for knowledge and cultural exchange brought us to this government school in Seoul - Dangseo Elementary School.

Arriving this morning (3 Nov), we were immediately impressed by its physical openness and the sense of liveliness from the excited children trying to use English to communicate with us. The school was built in the 80s and the School Head, Mr Lee, has just taken up the position for a year. So, this school is rather new.

Getting into the campus, there were several things that struck me:

It is always most effective to impress others with your unique cultural acts. These junior students played us a traditional tune with a great Korean flavour. Their outfit was so sharp! Their attitude was so welcoming!

The Head of School Mr Lee in the library. Note that he was wearing indoor footwear as a usual custom in this country. This gives one a "home" feeling in the school.

Mrs Ho and Mr Tam were glad meeting students passing by in their rush hour for lunch! The School Head was proudly watching over.

Mr Richard was so popular even in Korea! He was obviously overwhelmed by the super excited girls welcoming a foreigner!

Mr Dick "intruded" their maths class with most of them still outdoors working on a maths activity. Mr Dick found that students there were learning about angles. This teacher did not find us disturbing at all!

Their energetic and animate English Native-speaking Teacher was doing a fun sharing with a senior class. A female translator was assisting throughout the lesson.

Happy classrooms bring happy learning! Every classroom in this elementary school was very well decorated with students' colourful work. Students seemed to enjoy viewing the pieces too!

A farewell handshake between the two School Heads.

In reflection, this visit clearly fostered a good cultural exchange between YWPS and Dangseo Elementary School although there was much more room for concrete exchange in curriculum planning. We love that they were all being so friendly during our 2-hour stay and that their children were so aggressive and curious! Children all over the world need the same passion to become great learners!

Finally, here are two more pictures for your inspiration:

These children were so proud of their own country and traditions. Every one of us was moved by this heart of theirs.

Mrs Lam in the School Head's office. There's something "sparkling" in this picture, can you see it? Haha...

More visits to come. It is so far a great adventure for us teachers who are always hunting for good teaching and learning ideas around the world for our boys in YWPS! Stay tuned!

Dr H C Lee

26 Comments

Matthew Chan

11/4/2016 11:47:26 pm

Seems like a fruitful day!

Mr Richard

11/5/2016 07:42:24 pm

Nice pictures and a great experience.

Edwin Chan

11/7/2016 04:34:42 pm

The school looked large and wide to me. The cultural music performance done by the students must have been very interesting! The classrooms were decorated in beautiful drawings of the students there. Perhaps we could do that too!

Mike Wong

11/7/2016 05:42:22 pm

To me, the school looked very spacious and very huge too. I absolutely adore those colourful drawings and decorations surrounding the classroom. Looking at the photos, the school was very tidy and clean, both the interior and the exterior, compared to ours. Maybe we need to work harder to make our school a little bit cleaner. The cultural music performance must be great, they wore traditional Korean clothing looked quite focused. I wish I was there!

Lucas Martins

11/7/2016 05:53:01 pm

I totally agree!

Anson Ng

11/7/2016 05:54:51 pm

The education between ours and theirs were pretty same.As they had some similar and difference,we should learn from them in order to upgrade our learning skills and ways

Jonathan Chan (Enhancement Class)

11/7/2016 06:07:00 pm

These things in the school makes my eyes open wide and I absolutely adore the habits in that school. Wearing indoor shoes makes you feel you are at home. This is so warm and the students and teachers are just like a big family. And the colorful atmosphere makes me feel joyful. I guess this kind of decoration gives students the energy to learn, and makes the students to cheer up when they are not in good mood. They have good musical sense too. The students love to play instruments of their country. This is new for me and I think Ying Wa can learn from this school. Korean culture is shown in this school too!

11/7/2016 06:28:02 pm

The students and teachers there are very welcoming😉. They performed their cultural music because they love their country💒💒💒💒💒 and I strongly think that we should do the same when we have visitors.👍👍 👍 (By the way their traditional costumes are in fact amazing). Their school is huge and spacious, with a lot of special rooms. I also LOVE how the school concentrates on not only education but also the students by giving them milk every recess, yogurt, veggie and seaweed for lunch. ( You can tell I’m jealous.😝😝😝😝😝😝) I would like to visit the구일 초등학교 !!!!

Justin Lo

11/7/2016 06:36:12 pm

i think that all of the teachers, principle(headquaters) and the students in the school are very passion. I found that their method to welcome visitors are very similiar to us but they did better. We should learn from them and they learn from us to let 'us' better toghether.

Scott Wong

11/7/2016 06:38:34 pm

I think the classrooms have a wide area for the students to learn which makes them more focused and fresh because it doesn't make it too stuffy. I went to Korea for one time and I learnt that they had no summer! Did the teachers learn about that? I hope that does not happen to our school. Looking at the photos, I think they are very tidy and neat. Also, their classrooms are very hi-tech ,they use televisions. This is very fresh news, I think Ying Wa should learn from this school.

Joshua Lam

11/7/2016 06:56:57 pm

I think that the school is very big and the students look very happy. My favourite picture is the happy classroom one and I hope that our school can also decorate with our wonderful and colourful artworks all around the classroom. I love the idea on wearing indoor shoe and I absulotely adore it, as it is the best way to make us feel comfortable and cozy. School is always my second home! We should have such a huge amount of passion fill and put in school activities as the students and the teacher in the Dangseo elementary school.

Matthew Chan (Enhancement Class)

11/7/2016 07:01:23 pm

First, I want you to know that the upper comment isn't written by be. This is Matthew Chan from the Enhancement Class. I think it is very meaningful that Ying Wa often gives teachers the opportunities to visit other places and learn in different aspects that can equip them to become a more experienced and better teacher. This is unique from our school.
Watching the photos from this website gives me thinking of a similar experience. I am the Junior Ambassador( Dragon Ambassador) for Hong Kong and I had a trip to Japan during the summer for some exchanges. I had a two-day school visit and I had the chance to have classes with the Japanese students. I find both regions' schools are quite alike! Both of the schools wore indoor footwear in the school, and the students are all so passionate and friendly to me. This is a similar experience to me.
I hope all the teachers had a great time in Korea and hopefully, they can share their own experiences and observations to us!

Dr H C Lee

11/9/2016 02:37:29 pm

Thanks Matthew for your quality reflection. More reflections from other teachers will surely come!

Hilton Chan

11/7/2016 07:18:14 pm

I agree with the point 'Happy classrooms bring happy learning' as an warm environment at school makes students feel like home so it won't make performers feel nervous and uneasy.
Also,the walls look rather colourful to me so that anyone who went near Dangseo Elementary School will be curious about what's inside and won't just turn their back and walk away.

James Tam

11/7/2016 07:43:13 pm

There are huge difference between two schools.I think having a translator is really good for learning cause it is more convenient. The outfits of the children were attracting.

Mr. Richard

12/2/2016 12:53:14 pm

Convenient, yes! But, do you think there are any negative 'side-effects' from having the local Korean teacher there to translate?

I can think of at least one. Do you want to guess what it is?

Andrew Chan

11/7/2016 08:20:47 pm

I think that Ying Wa Primary School has a few similarity with this school.(except for their lunch)(it seems quiet yummy too)I hoped that we can learn from the students in Korea, 'be proud of their own country and traditions.'

DDavin CChoy

11/7/2016 09:03:59 pm

The classroom and all the decoration is so beautiful I I would like the school if the school gives me some"home" feeling. It is so funny that all the foreigin people will have special treatment！！！！！

Oscar Chan

11/7/2016 09:40:02 pm

Certainly and absolutely a amusing visit, in my opinion. I can see from Mr. Richard's face that he was quite enjoying throughout the visit. :) I'm sure that the other teachers were engaged completely too! I would definitely agree with Dr. Lee that a stupendous opening like performing your own country's unique cultural acts is all you need for impressing your visitors. Moreover, I really found it humorous that the head of the school in the library was wearing indoor footwear(slippers). I would be very surprised if Mrs. Lam was wearing slippers stalking 'round the school...
Lastly, I think that there is something in this school that is very well managed. The school is, according to the photos, very neat, tidy and clean. I think that the Ying Wa Boys need to train to have a habit of cleaning their own stuff after creating a mess. I would really like to have the pleasure of visiting this school.

Holmes Wong

11/7/2016 09:53:55 pm

This is a very interesting tour. The thing that surprised me the most is that Mr Richard is popular! It also surprised me that even the principle of the school wear indoor footwear! Do you wear them when you are in their school? Why do the students learn about angles? Are the having religon lessons? Why do they need a english translater when they are having lessons? Do the students there speaks good english? It will be a very different feeling if we can wear indoor footwear to school. Please Reply

Preston Wong (Enhancement Class)

11/7/2016 10:21:39 pm

I think that this school is in plain sight in Korea, but seeing this in Hong Kong would really weird an extraordinary! I like the indoor footwear thingy and it adds a welcoming feeling to the atmosphere. The teachers seem to be enjoying themselves as well!

Rooney Choy

11/7/2016 10:28:21 pm

Thanks Dr. Lee for sharing the Tour of Korea Study. I was immediately impressed by the “footwear” of the School Head. To increase the home feeling, did our YW teachers also change the indoor footwear at Seoul school? I found the “sparkling” point in the last picture…haha, handsome Dr. Lee!

It was surprising that Mr. Dick joined the study tour? He told me before, he has fear to ride on plane. Also from the article, I found the same culture as Ying Wa, Happy classrooms bring happy learning!

11/9/2016 02:40:33 pm

Thanks for spotting me in the picture! Good eyes you have! Mr Dick did overcome his fear of flying this time. You should congratulate him!

Lo Hoi Hang

11/7/2016 10:58:33 pm

Thank you for sharing your visit to the Korean school. I figure out that their lunch should be tasty as they all rushed to the lunch hall and guess what? I find the sparkling thing in the picture, it should be you in the mirror. Did you actually do that in purpose?

P.S. I want to ask Mr. Richard, how does it feel to be surrounded by a bunch of girls?

11/8/2016 07:35:03 am

Hoi Hang, let me ask you, how would you feel being surrounded by a bunch of girls?????

11/8/2016 10:58:27 pm

Um......I don't know. I think maybe embarrassed or weird.

A Warm Visit to Dangseo Elementary School, Seoul

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