Sia Caldwell made a big shift across the ocean at the start of this year to South Korea to teach English while completing a student exchange.

In spite of Sia’s Samoan, Tuvaluan, European heritage, she fell in love with the Korean culture during high school years.

And now the 22-year-old is regarded as a local.

“Whenever I speak, Korean people assume I’m of mixed ethnicity, and when I tell them I’m not, they assume I’ve lived in Korea since I was little. So, when people learn the truth that I’ve only been in Korea for 8 months, they’re shocked.”

In 2014, Sia said she was a target for bullying when she was younger because of her size and from there changed school for her final year.

“I met a group of Koreans at school, started going to a Korean church and before I knew it I was surrounded by Koreans.”

She says there was always the issue of a language barrier. Naturally, Caldwell decided the way to solve that problem was to learn the language through conversations with her friends.

Fluent speaker
“I can speak Korean comfortably, confidently and fluently. But I can’t read and write very well since I learnt the language through conversing with others.”

In 2015, Sia enrolled to study Korean at the University of Auckland but was told she was “too ahead” to be a first year student.

“I was told that my Korean language skills were too advanced, and I needed to move up to second year.”

There were some complications and from there she moved to Auckland University of Technology.

After a few shuffles to find the right major that fit her, Caldwell settled on a choice that combined two of her passions; English and New Media studies.

“I realised that I loved teaching English as a second language and I love media. When I found out there was a degree offering the subjects conjoined, I immediately chose that.”

This year Sia is currently on a student exchange at Soongsil University in Seoul, Korea to further her studies.

Great experience
“I think it’s been a great experience so far and has taught me a lot of lessons. It’s very eye opening to go to a country and live there and see how different the culture, people and traditions are compared to your own.”

As well as studying, Sia is teaching English as a second language to primary aged school kids which she says is an “interesting job”.

“By teaching English in Korea, you get to meet some adorable kids, you get to work flexibly, be paid really well and the rent here is very cheap.”

Caldwell has created a YouTube channel, Sia Korea, combining videos of her and animations dedicated to her experiences of living and studying in Korea.

“I decided to start a channel to show people the life of living in a foreign country and the amazing things I see – but also to share with everyone the truth and the hardships that come with living overseas.”

Although she’s enjoying her new home country, Sia admits she does miss a few things from New Zealand.

“I miss my family and friends and I miss all the dairy products.”

Leilani Sitagata is a reporter on the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project.

About 30,000 primary and intermediate school teachers and principals went on strike for the first time in almost a quarter century today.

A total of 1479 schools were closed – about threequarters of the number in New Zealand – with an impact on more than 400,000 children across the country.

Thousands of parents took the day off work to look after the children in the first teacher strike since 1994.

Many children too part in the protests with placards declaring “It’s time for more teachers so our kids get the education they deserve” and “Teachers are superheroes”.

The rallies sought attention from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government for better pay, conditions and incentives to attract new teachers.

Ardern said in a speech on the steps of Parliament that the teachers had gone on strike “too early” and more negotiations were needed.

Leilani Sitagata is a reporter on the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project.

Despite being expelled from secondary school and suspended from teachers college, AUT Professor Welby Ings’ new book is about a lifetime of inspirational teaching.

Disobedient Teaching: Surviving and creating change in education was launched at Auckland University of Technology tonight.

Professor Ings says he wrote the book because he has for a long time questioned the “dehumanised systems of learning” and New Zealand’s preoccupation with micromanaging teachers.

“In the book, I question the obsession we have with assessing performance, and argue for higher levels of creativity in learning, teaching and educational management,” he says.

Disobedient Teaching takes a stand against our national obsession with testing and reporting. It calls for higher levels of teacher agency and learning that operate away from the restrictions of performance indicators, predetermined criteria and tick-box teaching.

Professor Ings argues that “positive disobedience” is a fundamental teaching behaviour among successful practitioners, and the ability of excellent teachers to change learning and learning environments is predicated on it.

His book examines creativity, assessment, passion, our obsession with “success”, and how teachers influence change. To do this it tells stories from the chalk face. Some are funny and some are heartbreaking, but they all happen in New Zealand schools.

Disobedient Teaching suggests that the essence of what makes a great teacher is the ability to stand up to, and change educational practices that have been shaped by “anxiety, ritual and convention”.

In the face of New Zealand’s increasing and uncritical political obsession with accountability and reporting, his book argues the transformative power of teachers who think, critique, defy and act.

• Professor Welby Ings criticises NZ ‘performance obsession’
• Disobedient Teaching