40 Language Teaching
Teacher Training at JIEI The Jeollanamdo International English Institute Interview by Dr. David E. Shaffer
www.gwangjunewsgic.com
April 2020
EDUCATION
In this issue of the Gwangju News, we have decided to interview two members of the GwangjuJeonnam Chapter of KOTESOL who are teacher trainers at the Jeollanamdo International Education Institute (JIEI). The JIEI is a government-funded training center in Yeosu serving the entire province and is now in its second year of operation. Kristy Dolson and Peter Lucarotti graciously agreed to this interview to tell us about JIEI and their teacher-training experiences there.
Gwangju News (GN): I’d like to first thank you both for so happily agreeing to do this interview. Could you start by giving us a bit of information about your lives before Korea? Kristy: It’s an honor to be interviewed by the Gwangju News, thank you for the opportunity. Korea has really shaped who I am and how I think of myself as a person and as a teacher, so I think it’s safe to say that I had no life before Korea. Peter: Thank you for reaching out to us for an interview. I’ve been in Korea for a while now, so it’s honestly a bit difficult to think about what I was doing before moving here. I’m originally from the east coast of Canada and moved out west to pursue a career in journalism. That didn’t work out, and Korea allowed me to move my life in a different direction. I’m incredibly grateful for that opportunity. GN: What brought you to Korea, and what did you do before joining the teaching staff at the Jeollanamdo International Education Institute (JIEI)? Kristy: I figured out in middle school that I wanted to live in Asia, and teaching English overseas seemed like the best way to attain that goal, so I attended Brock University’s Concurrent Education program to test my passion for teaching. After graduating with my Bachelor of Education in 2011, I applied to the Jeollanamdo Language Program (JLP). I taught for five years in the Foreign Language Center of Hwasun Elementary School, which turned out to be a perfect training ground for teaching EFL and
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provided enough downtime to allow for the pursuit of my personal and professional goals. Peter: Honestly, I never had any intention of living abroad. I moved to British Columbia to study journalism and began working as a sports writer at a daily newspaper. Unfortunately, I got into that business just as the 2008 recession hit and that whole industry went through really tough times. I was lucky to keep my job, but the hours were insane. It reached a point where it was obvious that I couldn’t keep going. Korea offered me a chance to reassess what I wanted to do. I had friends in Beolgyo who spoke highly of the JLP program. I was placed in Boseong at the Girls’ Middle School. I taught there for seven years before taking time off to study Korean and spend some time with family back home. I started at JIEI the following summer (in 2018). GN: Why did you decide to move from teaching English learners to training English teachers? Kristy: To be honest, when I left the Foreign Language Center [in Hwasun], I thought my EFL journey in Korea was over. I figured I’d gone just about as far as someone who wasn’t inclined to get a master’s could go. And then, while I was back in Canada trying to figure out my next step, a colleague reached out and suggested I apply for the position at the Jeollanamdo Education Training Institute (the pre-cursor to JIEI) that she would soon be leaving. It was the job of my dreams! So it wasn’t so much
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