September 21st saw our first meeting since the summer break. A popup market was held in
conjunction with our meeting, opening early to welcome shoppers and attendees. We had
silk bags and clothes and sweets, jewelry, Turkish-Arabic food, Hanji ornaments and
accessories, crocheted art and calligraphy. After a short time for shopping we had our first
presenter. KC Washington showed how to use active listening to make connections between
students, which increases interest and helps develop conversation. A good conversation is
like a tree because one sprout can have many varied branches in every direction. She also
stressed that active involvement enhances learning and listening skills. We practiced
several activities to help find connections between participants which can ease the language
challenges of conversation through shared knowledge and interests.
We took a break to visit the vendors and make some more purchases as well as partake in
the refreshments.
The second presenter was Kristina Kauss who also stressed the importance of making
connections but this time through roleplays of a fun nontraditional sort. We used animals
because it is easy to give human characteristics to them without the limits of being human.
She talked about Aesop’s story about the mouse saving the lion in return for sparing his life.
Each group member chose an animal – hamster, tiger, giraffe, cat or elephant. Each
participant had to take on one role per group and write and perform as the animal, then
switch their chosen animal with the others.
Both presenters showed us how to do this with a class and had complete participation from
each attendee. We enjoyed ourselves and were quite happy to share our answers. For both
the time went too quickly.
Jeonju North Jeolla September 2024
News article prepared by chapter member Ingrid Zwaal.
Ingrid Zwaal is a long time resident of Jeonju, Canadian, a D&D player, writer, a member of
Kotesol for over 20 years, and although a dog mom, she is a strong supporter of single cat
moms.
