Join us at the KOTESOL Membership Lounge (Discord server) for an AMA ("Ask Me Anything") with Phil Owen, a former KOTESOL president, KOTESOL treasurer, and English Language Fellow for the U.S. State Department!
Phil will be joining us from Oregon (USA) from 11 a.m.- 12 p.m.; feel free to ask questions on the Discord server (#ama-8-24-2020-phil-owen) in advance of the event.
About Our Guest
Originally from Nebraska (USA), Phil got the idea it would be nice to teach English and travel a little while still in university. Such programs were not readily available, but there was a good one at the University of California, Los Angeles. Phil went there for graduate work and got to study with some of the leading thinkers and scholars in ELT. He spent two years in sunny California before returning to the Midwest, an enthusiastic proponent of communicative language learning and active classrooms.
In Omaha, Nebraska, he began teaching in earnest with refugees from Laos – a country he could later visit, recalling the stories he had heard. Over time, he worked in several language schools and programs. But he soon decided that kind of employment did not contribute to long-term well-being. Phil moved to the state’s Department of Social Services for a day job and sometimes spent evenings teaching classes for new Americans. Eventually, Phil spent five years in Minnesota and attended seminary. Thereafter, he returned to Omaha to work in a campus ministry and, again, to teach on the side.
Finally, in 1999, when job, family, and financial situations had changed, Phil reconsidered his interest in teaching and travel and applied to several schools around the world. Kunsan National University responded quickly with a reasonable package, so Phil moved to Korea for a one-year contract. He left 17 years later when he hit Korea’s retirement age. Before retiring, Phil was active in KOTESOL’s Jeonju-North Jeolla chapter. He served as program director for the KOTESOL International Conference for many years, as conference chair in 2012, and as KOTESOL president from 2007-2008. Phil was a frequent presenter at local, national, and international conferences, aiming his presentations at practical techniques and classroom ideas almost anyone could adapt.
After his Korean retirement, Phil was picked up by the English Language Fellow program of the U.S. Department of State. He spent almost two years in Burma/Myanmar working with government employees in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw. There he worked a lot on general office English and improving conversation skills, sometimes this included topics of current interest (e.g., gender equality, disarmament.) A high point of his time in Burma was working with parliamentarians on analytical skills and argumentation. Finally, Phil got to help train local teachers, working on both their English and teaching skills. All of this while living in a 5-star hotel with breakfast buffet and heated salt-water infinity pool.
With all this under his belt, Phil returned to the States in 2018 to a town new to him, Portland, Oregon.
