Farrington High School Visit Report

 

Farrington High School Visit Report

 

Part C; General Report About Your School Visit   

- By SOONCHUL WOO

(Finally, please write a paragraph general report about your school visit experience. Include what impressions you had and what you learned the most. Compare what you see between the teachers, students, curriculum, atmosphere, and any other comments such as what you would implement or bring back with you. You may also discuss how you felt about your presentation(s) to the students)

 

 

 *A Photo posted on the web site of Farrington High School library

 

Wednesday

We were assigned to Farrington High School. on Wednesday we arrived at Farrington High School at 7:30. Principal, Alfredo Al Carganilla welcomed us as we visited him in the principal’s office in the morning on the first day. He provided good service including delicious snacks with coffee and many kinds of soft drinks. And his hospitality made our first meeting very comfortable and pleasant.

He mentioned a short history of Farrington High School, and we learned that it was founded in 1936 by Governor Wallace Rider Farrington and its official name is Governor Wallace Rider Farrington High School. Today, with over 2,500 students and 170 faculty, Farrington High School has one of the largest student populations of all Hawaii's public schools. And I was impressed with the schools Vision Statement, “Hoʻokahi Manaʻo, Hoʻokahi Kaiaulu, i ke Aloha a me ka Pono”, which means “Working Together, Learning Together, In Balance and Harmony.

During the meeting, he introduced to us Mr. Kim who is a Korean and our coordinator teacher. He was very kind and we exchanged some conversation and he told us about the school visit schedule. And after the meeting, Mr. principal himself guided us to the first classroom.  

The first class was in A262, which was a computer room, where Ms. Ibara taught students using computers on ‘writing a letter to editor: Response to Rifkin or Braithwaite.’ Most students were from Asians of Polynesians to whom English is Second language. The teacher Ms. Ibara was very kind and generous as she taught students. Though some students make noises, coming and going in the classroom, she put up with them and controlled them well without speaking loudly. I was much impressed with her attitude and teaching method. Students are in general very good and they tried to participate in the activity positively. And I was also surprised at the general atmosphere, though the teaching hours were 85 minutes, they were so well adjusted to the system.

 

* Ms. Ibar’s class at A262

 

The second period was most interesting and memorable, for we were interviewed by student reporters in front of TV camera. It was Ms. Ho’s media class. She taught about 20 students and her job was to help and train students do many kinds of broadcasting activities. It's amazing that the school’s TV broadcasting is done by students themselves through Ms. Ho's guidance. Some of the interview questions were as follows, “What is your life in Hawaii? “What brought you in Hawaii?” What’s the difference between Korea and Hawaii?” “Tell us about the life of Korean students.” “What’s your plan in the future?” and  so on. And one of my special questions was “My experience as a home room teacher of an actress, Mun Keun-young. They were all enthusiastic and participated in the activity happily. . .It was a very special experience that we were interviewed at the school broadcasting studio. After the meeting, we gave them presents we brought from Korea. Though the gifts were just highlighters, students were really happy

with them. 

* Ms. Ho’s Media Class at Broadcasting Studio

   * With Ms. Ho’s students

 

The third class was in A211, which was led by Ms. Fahey who is a history teacher. The topic was about Crusaders. She explained about Crusaders very energetically throughout 85minutes. She gave an impressive lecture on Crusaders using power point material and the students’ response and participation were also good. During the class she mentioned the movie, ‘Kingdom of Jerusalem that she had shown them in the last class and had students compare the movie and her explanation, which I thought was a good technique. Anyway we were impressed that did not distract from listening to and participating in the class. I was also happy that I could enjoy her enthusiastic lecturer and review the history of Crusaders.

 

    * Ms. Fahey’s class at A211

 

The lunch time was very happy. We enjoyed the Hawaiian meal at Principal Carganilla office. What a hospitality it was!

 

The last class was in A211. Mr. Yim was in charge of the class. His subject was Economics, but he had no class and we talked about the presentation we would give to the students. He said that he would reach retirement age and would leave his job this year. He is a Chinese and he knew a lot about the history of Korea. Mr. Kim, our coordinator teacher joined us later and we talked about the presentation and they persuaded us to do a presentation related to the custom and culture of Korea.

* Mr. Yim’s class at A211

 

Thursday

The next day, Mr. Pricipal Carganilla welcomed us and offered us again some delicious food and soft drink at his office. one of the impressive things was that he himself bought and brought them, which is in difficult to happen in Korea.

The first period was a Farrington High School library tour, which was also amazing. Ms. Tomomits,u who is a Japanese, in charge of the library. He explained about the library system in a special room. We were surprised to hear her explanation, because the web site of the school provides all kinds of materials including audio and video materials. Though the school buildings are old-dated, the library has the most advanced technology. In addition, parents and other members in the community are free to use the materials in the library and they can access all the materials that the web-site of the school library provides. And important thing is that she let us know the ID and Password, and she advised us to access and to use the materials freely in Korea. She said that Farrington High School pay 18,000 dollars a year to a media company that provides and updates the materials every day. I think the money was very reasonable compared to the advantages which students, parents and teachers could have. Every day the web site has about 19,000 hit a day. How amazing it is! And I recorded her explanation with my cell phone camera. one of the interesting things was that though she is a Japanese, she loved Korean TV programs and she knew more than we did.

* Farrington High School library Visit with Ms. Tomomitsu

 

 

The second class was in Ms. Oishi’s A257, where all the students in group gave presentations of Hawaii, for they were attending the subject, ‘tourism operations.’ The power point materials looked very useful for us to show to our students in Korea, so after the class I asked them to allow me to copy their file, and I got some of the materials. Ms. Oishi recorded their performances and gave them feedback briefly.

    *Ms. Oishi’s class at A257

 

 

We had lunch at the school cafeteria, which was an amusing experience, for it was the first time for me to eat lunch in school cafeteria in USA. We talked with some students.

The third class was also special. Ms. Baldwin gave a class about ‘the teaching methods’ and she had her students participate in assessment activity in group activity where students pretended to be teachers and evaluate their friends. And the next topic was “ A footnote to Youth.” Reading a short story, teachers and students interacted with each other, which was so impressive. And I also read the story, which was a little bit sad story about youth’s marriage and I think that students realized about the reality of romance and marriage life, anyway I felt happy to be a student again.

* Ms. Baldwin’s class

 

The last class was Ms. Lau’s class. She manages a health academy. In academy like Ms. Lau’s class, students did a very practical lesson. In the class, they practiced a medical lesson about nursing and they participated in a nursing program. one of my Korean teachers, Mr. Joo was taken his blood pressure. It was a very special experience.

* Ms. Lau’s class

 

Friday

On Friday we gave a presentation successfully at Mr. Yim’s class. We dealt with brief information about Korea and showed some pictures and talked about student’s life in Korea. And we taught them some basic Korean language and a famous Korean folksong. Lastly we demonstrated one of the Korean traditional games called ‘Jegichagi”, which means ‘kicking a Korean shuttlecock. They really enjoyed the game and our presentation.

* Mr. Yim’s class at A211

For three days we had a wonderful experience that we’ll never forget. Along with the beautiful nature in Hawaii and lots of amusing activities and hospitality of Hawaiian people, we’ll remember the school visit forever.

I really appreciate all the professors and faculty’s kindness and help, and I thank you all with my whole heart for giving us wonderful opportunities.

Mahalo^^