Author: Dr. David Shaffer

David E. Shaffer is Vice-President of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter of Korea TESOL (KOTESOL). On behalf of the Chapter, he invites you to participate in the teacher development workshops at their monthly meetings (always on a Saturday). For many years, Dr. Shaffer has been a professor of English Language at Chosun University, where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses. He is a long-time member of KOTESOL and a holder of various KOTESOL positions, including First Vice-President and Publications Committee Chair. Dr. Shaffer credits KOTESOL for much of his professional development in English language teaching. He is also editor-in-chief of Gwangju News.
Language Teaching Teaching & Learning

Teacher Traits for Teaching Great

Dr. David Shaffer

As an educator, no one wishes to be merely a mediocre teacher. We all wish to be thought of as very good or great teachers by our colleagues, our institution’s administration, and probably most importantly, by our students. There are numerous traits that contribute to making a teacher great. In the previous two installments of this column, we discussed ten of them (Gwangju News, May and June 2023), but I would be remiss to limit the discussion to those ten when there are so many more important traits to consider. I do not wish to suggest that a single teacher must excel at each of these great teacher traits, but it is obvious that the greater one excels at each trait and the more traits that one excels at, the more likely they are to be thought of as a great teacher. The great teacher traits presented here – as well as the ones presented earlier – are in no particular order of importance. I consider them all to be of equal importance.

Language Teaching

Traits That Make a Teacher Great

Dr. David Shaffer

By Dr. David Shaffer Every teacher wants to be a good teacher. But like all good things in this world, it takes effort. It takes an effort to consider what … Read More

From the Editor

From the Editor

Dr. David Shaffer

Welcome to June, and to the June issue of the Gwangju News! It was 22 years ago this month that the first issue of the Gwangju News was published – … Read More

Language Teaching

Traits That Very Good English Teachers Exhibit

Dr. David Shaffer

Have you ever sat back in your most comfortable chair and reflected on yourself as a teacher? Have you thought about what the most important traits are for an English teacher to possess and then considered how strong you were in each of those characteristics? This is something that we all should do, and do regularly, to improve ourselves as teachers. I think it is safe to say that no teacher is equally strong in all good teacher traits – if such a person were to exist, they would probably have moved into the business field, where they could rake in an income that would place them in a much higher tax bracket than that of teachers.

Let’s consider the following (short and by no means exhaustive) list of teacher characteristics and, as we do, reflect on how strong (or how weak) we may personally be in each of the characteristics, and consider what we can or should do to strengthen ourselves in that teacher trait. As you are reflecting, you need not stop with the items listed below; add your own items and reflect on them also.

From the Editor

From the Editor

Dr. David Shaffer

It’s May again. For many people, May brings forth pleasant thoughts of spring – warm breezes, short sleeves, blossoming flowers, budding trees, outdoor activities, and traveling. This issue of the Gwangju News brings you articles related to these topics.

Language Teaching

Chatting About and Chatting With ChatGPT: Evaluating a Chatbot as a Language Learning Tool

Dr. David Shaffer

Here we will discuss what ChatGPT can do, what it does well and not so well, and the impacts that it might have in the fields of education and second language learning for both teachers and students.

From the Editor

From the Editor

Dr. David Shaffer

Welcome to a new month and a new issue of the Gwangju News! The spring month. The month of “April showers [that] bring May flowers.” These words, whose origin date back centuries to a 1610 poem, have never been more appropriate: We need an abundance of April showers this spring to replenish our city’s rapidly depleting water supply. Let us conserve our remaining water this spring so that we have some remaining for the summer.

Language Teaching

Looking for a Coursebook

Dr. David Shaffer

A new session is beginning at your school, and you need to select a coursebook for the EFL course that you will be teaching. What to do? Go to the ELT bookstore in your area to check out the coursebooks available.