First Workshop:
Global Goals, Local Classrooms:
Integrating the UN SDGs into Young Learner EFL
Abstract:
How can ELT educators in Korea move young EFL learners beyond mechanical grammar practice into authentic, communicative language use? The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a compelling, purpose-driven framework for modern Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Far from being too abstract for young learners, global topics like ocean protection, climate action, and healthy communities tap directly into children's innate curiosity, empathy, and sense of fairness.
This interactive workshop demonstrates how integrating the 17 UN SDGs into young learner EFL lessons creates authentic communicative purpose. Participants will explore why young learners respond with high enthusiasm to global themes, how goal-based tasks naturally foster functional vocabulary and active speaking skills, and how to simplify complex global concepts into age-appropriate, engaging classroom tasks.
Attendees will walk away with an actionable toolkit of low-prep games, visual storytelling methods, and task-based project templates ready for immediate application in young learner EFL classrooms.
Speaker's Biographical Profile:
Catherine Marcus is an active KOTESOL member and publicity coordinator, as well as a global citizenship instructor and international project manager. Specializing in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and experiential ELT, she designs and delivers interactive global education programs for primary and secondary students. She bridges authentic language acquisition with real-world global topics, empowering young EFL learners in Korea to build communicative English fluency while developing intercultural competence and environmental awareness.
Second Workshop:
Practical Classroom Activities for Promoting Global Citizenship:
A Cosmopolitan Perspective
Abstract:
This workshop explores global citizenship through the lens of critical cosmopolitan literacies, a framework oriented around an ethics of care and critical thinking that can productively be applied to classroom activities in order to understand and maximize their transformative potential. The session will first offer a definition and key tenets of critical cosmopolitan literacies, and then it will consider a selection of easy-to-implement activities—some already familiar to participants—that can help bring the principles of cosmopolitan openness to language classrooms. Participants will try a few activities and discuss their reactions to them, before reflecting on their own classrooms and the ways in which they can similarly cultivate more open attitudes, global mindsets, and cosmopolitan orientations through their personal pedagogical choices. Ultimately, the workshop aims to offer participants not only new activity ideas but also a fresh perspective on familiar practices that can productively be adjusted to cultivate various aspects of global citizenship.
Speaker's Biographical Profile:
Dr. Lindsay N. Herron has been a visiting professor at Gwangju National University of Education in Korea since 2008. The current president of KOTESOL, she has an EdD in literacy, culture, and language education (LCLE) from Indiana University; an MSEd in LCLE; an MA in cinema studies; a postgraduate certificate in learning sciences; a CELTA; and the CELTA YL Extension. Her research focuses on the multimodal interactions and critical cosmopolitan literacies of language learners participating in cross-cultural exchanges.
