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Of GCED


As many may be wondering, KOMTEP is built upon the idea of GCED. Although, Republic of Korea is the one initiating the idea of this exchange programme, Malaysia has never failed to participate since 2014. The foundation of this programme is to not only giving teachers opportunity to experience teaching overseas and exchange culture, but to be more aware of the notion of Global Citizenship Education (GCED).
There is no exact definition this ideology, but it is best understood as ".... a form of civic learning that involves students' active participation in projects that address global issues of a social, political, economic, or environmental nature". It is very important to have a sense of GCED to encounter the culture gap between countries hence, making understanding even more possible. It is hoped that with certain level of understanding and tolerance with each other, future dispute or disagreement is avoidable.
Even so, this idea is not new. It has been laid out in various versions before and now it is becoming more relevant especially with the fourth global goal of sustainable development; which is to provide Quality Education.
From this experience, I realised that, in order for me to become a global citizenship educator, there are so much that needs to be done and it all begin with the open mindedness to accept the others for all that they're lacked off as well as all that they're food at. Honestly, coming to a place with a new language for me to be explored isn't a pleasant experience, but it is worth it and I learn so much from it too.
If I were to compare the way they speak here and the way we speak back in Malaysia, I would say that Malaysia is very lenient when it comes to formality in speech as we didn't have that much difference as compared to the Koreans. The simplest scenario would be greetings. In Malaysia, a simple "Thank You" is sufficed and applicable to all at any situations, however in Korea, there are different ways of saying it. The variations may include, 감사합니다 (gamsahamnida), 고맙습니다 (gomapseumnida), 고마워요 (gomawoyo) and 고마워 (gomawo)! So by coming here, I get to first-handedly experience all these. I might be familiar with one or two words after watching Kdramas but it does not portray the actual reality of lives here.
All I'm saying is, as difficult as it may sound, despite giving education on how to read and write, us teachers must also bear in mind to teach our school kids to be more aware of the different culture around them. Remind them to understand instead of being quick to judge. Honestly, I've got no idea where did some of the Korean kids heard this from but I occasionally greeted with السلام عليكم 😊 Isn't that GCED already? #komtep2019


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