Model Schools in Korea: Classrooms on Steriods and Bred for Excellence

Daegu, South Korea. Kids chirp in unison after the teacher. Maybe they break into song as they break from their row and scurry along, moving their desks into their level groups. It reminds me of an elementary ROTC school.

They call them "model schools" and last month, I got to attend an open observation of one. What's a
model school?  Until now, I'd only heard about the mystique of them:

• Korean teachers who enter endless contests to bolster their point value by taking additional training workshops, employing innovative classroom techniques and are awarded excellence in their styles of teaching...

• Students whose English-speaking levels boosted their own schools' high ranking amongst other schools...  Model school-- a kind of school on learning steroids.

Now, one of these schools was opening its doors to display its proven effectiveness and other educators were invited to take a peek at what made its programs "role model" exemplary... (Read more here at GRRRL TRAVELER)

A model teacher introduces the target expressions for a dialogue around the lesson's subject matter.