KOTESOL PROCEEDINGS 2019

LGBTQ+ Community in the Korean Classroom

Maria Lisak Chosun , , Korea

This workshop was to create community among educators committed to making inclusive classrooms. Participants were welcome to share their experiences around teaching (or not teaching) LGBTQ+ topics in Korean classrooms, and how to better scaffold lesson planning for inclusive dialog. Participants were encouraged to bring resources and materials to teach English in their context, from elementary school to the adult community classroom. Discussion questioned materials and practices that sanction heteronormativity as well as how to deal with bullying in the classroom. Discussion also focused on how to write up experiences into publishable critical memoirs as a path to continued professional development in social justice pedagogy.

STARTING THE WORKSHOP: NEGOTIATING THE SPACE

The workshop started by opening decision-making to attending participants. This approach is similar to Pennycook’s (1990) negotiated syllabus. Participants decide about how to welcome late comers; whether pictures, videos, or audios are acceptable; and how to arrange the room space for collaboration. Attendees are invited to agree to a “tacit contract” as a goal to safeguard the learning space. Goal-setting decisions are framed by connecting to prior learning around LGBTQ+ issues in education at past KOTESOL events. This beginning acts as an exemplar for how to make inclusive classrooms. KOTESOL members have been meeting at conferences to discuss how they as educators can be more inclusive especially around LGBTQ+ issues. Some of the goals that they have set for themselves have been to open spaces safe for discussion about their classrooms, schools, learners, and selves. The experience at the Korea TESOL International Conference in October of 2019 was an extension of these discussions initiated at the Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Conference in 2018. A series of workshops and presentations have been given at KOTESOL chapter and conference events since the spring of 2018. It is important to note that educators and members are coming together to discuss topics that are sensitive within the conservative host country of . Additionally, at the 2019 Korea TESOL International Conference there were several other workshops, panels, and research presentations on LGBTQ+ topics. This particular workshop welcomed participants to share their experiences around teaching (or not teaching) LGBTQ+ topics in Korean classrooms and how to scaffold inclusive dialog. This workshop was conducted on Sunday morning after many participants

Maria Lisak 205 Advancing ELT: Blending Disciplines, Approaches, and Technologies had attended the Saturday events and gatherings, allowing for Saturday’s panels and research to act as prompts for discussion. In the opening time of this workshop, we cultivated our class culture by tapping into the values and objectives of past KOTESOL events. In March of 2018, previous workshop experiences focused on “Participants’ Perspectives on LGBTQ” (Collado, 2018), “Making Our Classrooms Safe for LGBTQ+” (KOTESOL Social Justice SIG, 2018), and “How to Be Better Allies” (Kaufman, 2018). In October 2018 at the Korea TESOL International Conference, there was a panel on “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identities: Fluency for School and Society” (Jones, et al., 2018) as well as a special workshop by Scott Thornbury, “Gay is a Global Issue.” The visibility of LGBTQ+ topics within the domain of English language teaching has been an important collaborative effort by KOTESOL members since 2018. This initiative continued with the -Chungcheong November Symposium in 2018 accepting the session “Students Discuss Queer Topics: How Educators Can Foster Communication” (Lisak, 2018). In 2018, Luis Roberto Caballero Orozco attended all chapter conferences presenting on using critical pedagogy in the EFL classroom. These workshops highlighted inclusive practices for LGBTQ+ topics. A social justice poster presentation was also initiated at the Daejeon Symposium, which created dialog around LGBTQ+ issues: “Social Justice A-Z” (M. Kaufman)

RUBRIC DISCUSSION AND CREATION

Participants discussed in small groups their experiences around teaching (or not teaching) LGBTQ+ topics in Korean classrooms. In between discussion times, examples such as the Bechdel Index, the Heteronormative Quiz (Rochlin, 1995), and the Queer Literacy Theory Frame (Miller, 2015) were briefly introduced as models to help create inclusivity rubrics for educational purposes. The Bechdel Index looks at the gender balance in speaking roles in movies. The Heteronormative Quiz de-centers the focus on heteronormativity in daily discourse. The Queer Literacy Frame shares principles to guide classrooms. This experience of making an inclusivity rubric helps to assess materials as welcoming or unwelcoming attitudes for diverse perspectives. Participants shared with their small groups as well as to all attendees how they evaluated openness and welcomed diverse perspectives, especially when dealing with bullying situations that arise both inside and outside of their classrooms that impact their learners.

NEXT STEPS

Time did not allow for more sharing around how to write up experiences into publishable critical memoirs (Burns & Johnson, 2019) as a path to continued professional development in social justice pedagogy (KOTESOL Social Justice SIG, 2015). An invitation for collaborative support systems is open to participants to write about their experiences teaching in South Korea while supporting needs of the LGBTQ+ community. The workshop closed by discussing future KOTESOL opportunities to continue to discuss inclusivity on LGBTQ+ in education contexts.

206 LGBTQ+ Community in the Korean Classroom KOTESOL PROCEEDINGS 2019

THE AUTHOR

Maria Lisak teaches administration and welfare at Chosun University. She is a lifetime member of KOTESOL and currently serves as the Social Justice (Critical Educators in Korea) Special Interest Group’s online moderator. She is an active Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter member committed to reflective teaching practices. She is currently working on her EdD from Indiana University in literacy, culture, and . Email: [email protected]

REFERENCES

Burns, R., & Johnson, J. (2019). Reconciling the personal and the professional: Coming out from the classroom closet. In S. J. Miller & N. M. Rodriguez (Eds.), Educators queering academia: Critical memoirs (pp. 21–28). Peter Lang. Caballero Orozco, L. R. (2018, May). Using critical language pedagogy in the EFL classroom [Workshop session]. Daegu-Gyeongbuk KOTESOL Chapter Meeting, Daegu, South Korea. Collado, A. (2018, March). Participants’ perspectives on LGBTQ [Conference session]. 2018 Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL Regional Conference, Gwangju, South Korea. Jones, C., Okamoto, E., Caballero Orozco, L. R., Bachtell, M., & Royalty, H. (2018, October). Sexual orientation and gender identities: Fluency for school and society [Conference session]. 2018 Korea TESOL International Conference, Seoul, South Korea Kaufmann, M. (2018, March). How to be better allies [Conference session]. 2018 Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL Regional Conference, Gwangju, South Korea. KOTESOL Social Justice SIG. (2015). Social Justice SIG (Critical Educators in Korea) online archives. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mwNHwshb-2bp5SJyXs1o6 DQSNEv0u-mYtJsZ5xkxGMM KOTESOL Social Justice SIG. (2018, March). Making our classrooms safe for LGBTQ+ [Conference session]. 2018 Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL Regional Conference, Gwangju, South Korea. Lisak, M. (2018, November). Students discuss queer topics: How educators can foster communication. 2018 Daejeon-Chungcheong Chapter KOTESOL November Symposium, Daejeon, South Korea. Miller, S. J. (2015). A queer literacy framework promoting (a)gender and (a)sexuality self-determination and justice. English Journal, 104(5), 37–44. Pennycook, A. (1990). Critical pedagogy and second language education. System, 18(3), 303–314. Rochlin, M. (1995). The language of sex: The heterosexual questionnaire. In E. D. Nelson & B. W. Robinson (Eds.), Gender in the 1900s: Images, realities, and issues (pp. 38–39). Nelson. Thornbury, S. (2018, October). Gay is a global issue [Conference session]. 2018 Korea TESOL International Conference, Seoul, South Korea.

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