About
Sun Kim-Barden is a teacher advisor and ESL teacher at Bimini Adult Learning Center in Los Angeles (a site of Belmont Education and Career Center). She has been teaching adult students ESL for Los Angeles Unified School District's Division of Adult and Career Education and Los Angeles City College for thirteen years and she has taught EFL in Taiwan for two years. She has been a teacher trainer for the California Department of Education California Adult Literacy Professional Development project as well as an instructor for Oxford Seminar's TESL Certification Course at California State University Northridge and California State University Los Angeles.
For more information about Bimini Adult Learning Center, please visit http://bimini.pbwiki.com.
(With Huell Howser from California's Gold show)
VIDEO TESTIMONIALS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOyfORe8xw
Part 1 of Video Testimonials
Part 2 of Video Testimonials
TESTIMONIALS from Educators:
Sun Kim has been a teacher trainer for California Adult Litercy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) for the past three years. She was recommended for this exclusive training because of her outstanding presentation and facilitation skills. Sun has all of the qualities of an exceptional teacher trainer. She is thoughtful, reflective, and highly skilled in all the essential areas of workshop delivery. I had the pleasure of working with Sun this year as she prepared and presented a six hour, two part CALPRO workshop for adult educators of all disciplines. In my observation, I found Sun to be an accomplished and intelligent presenter. Participants were engaged as she skillfully led them through the workshop content in an interactive manner.
Liz Koenig-CALPRO-LAUSD Professional Development Center Manager
Sun Kim presented Questioning Strategies for teachers from all over Southern California to help teachers use learning strategies to develop higher-level thinking skills. We have invited many experts in education to train our teachers, but by far, teachers found her presentation to be the most interesting and helpful.
Lance Quitana- CALPRO- Baldwin Park Adult and Community Education
I had the pleasure of working with Sun on a professional development manual for the adult division of Los Angeles Unified School District, Together, we co-trained district teachers in ESL techniques and lesson planning essentials. Sun's training was always of the highest caliber. She was consistently well prepared, flexible, accommodating, and skilled at handling everything from hostile participants to difficult physical environments. Over the years Sun has participated extensively in her own professional development: attending conferences, training of trainer sessions for the district as well as for the California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO). She is committed to a standard of excellence, which makes her stand out. I don't think there are any limitations on what Sun can accomplish as a teacher or a trainer.
-Jayme Adelson-Goldstein, Author of Oxford Picture Dictionary, Curriculum Writer and Teacher Trainer, UCLA Extention Instructor
Testimonials from Teachers trained by Sun Kim:
I got much more than I expected from the Questioning Strategies workshop and I will look for ways to apply them in my classroom.
The workshop opened my mind to possibilities I never dreamed of.
Needed more time to cover the useful information. This workshop was interesting and informative. The extra materials on brain research were most interesting and stimulating for ideas. Her workshop was more interesting than previous workshops taken three years ago. I'd love to take more workshops from Ms. Kim.
The workshop got me to use the strategies in my lower level ESL class. It gave specific and clear exercises. It will definitely help teachers and students to think and act out to the box.
I got great ideas to take back to my classroom. I found mind mapping fascinating and would like to learn how to effectively muse it with students.
This was a very stimulating workshop. I want to read more and apply the techniques which I learned in Ms. Kim's presentations.
At first I thought this workshop on Questioning Strategies was for academic teachers, but Ms. Kim was able to give practical ideas I could use in my ESL class.
I suggest that other presenters follow the way Ms. Kim presented the training modules. She presented the training in a very easy going manner that made the dense research-based information easy to ascertain. I enjoyed the way these two presentations (Questioning Strategies to Improve Instruction 1-2) were conducted. I wish other presenters were as easy going and clear as this one.
I suggest that CALPRO/other presenters create more presentations giving teaching strategies like this one (Ms. Kim).
TESTIMONIALS from Students:
I'm so glad I had Ms. Kim as my teacher. I've lived in Los Angeles for over 15 years, but I couldn't speak English. I was embarrassed to open my mouth, but Sun Kim taught me how to speak on my own! I didn't have the confidence or knowledge to put words together into sentences to express myself, but after learning from Sun, I can speak intelligently. Thank you for helping me communicate better.
Maria Salazar- Los Angeles, CA
I studied with Ms. Kim at Los Angeles City College in an ESL writing course. She taught me to express my ideas more fluently. I was not able to write essays well before taking Ms. Kim's class. She made writing simple, easy and fun. As a result, I passed the proficiency test which allowed me to advance to regular English classes without taking more ESL classes. Now I am able to transfer to a university much faster. Thank you Sun Kim!
A. Alekian- Hollywood, CA
I have lived in Los Angeles for 20 years and studied English in high school and college in Korea but couldn't speak it well. I was frustrated because I studied so many years and couldn't open my mouth. Sun Kim helped me and my husband make the mind and communication connection for us. Now we are more comfortable speaking with Americans. Thanks so much! You are the best!
Susie Lee- Los Angeles, CA