Joo won Moon

My name is Joo won Moon, and I am originally from Korea. I took the ECE certificate and English courses at Cañada College. Five years ago, when I served as a Sunday school teacher, I became interested in children who have different characteristics, interests, curiosities, and abilities, especially children with special needs. In my home country, the institutions and schools that currently exist for children with special needs are not sufficient to help them, and most Koreans do not care about educating physically, and mentally disabled children. Some parents even want to hide their children who have special needs due to social stigma. Therefore, I particularly want to help these children.

 

 

I decided to study ECE first in order to build up my basic knowledge about the characteristics and typical development of special needs children in the U.S. While America has a longer, more solid history of early childhood education and special education than Korea, some Korean Universities even use translated ECE or ECSE books or references that come from America. My cousin recommended Cañada College as a good school that offers a useful ECE program that would help me both to improve my English skills and develop my knowledge in an ECE setting.

While studying in the ECE program, I learned about children’s various characteristics, cultures, and developmental milestones as well as about positive behavior support, how to plan a useful curriculum, the composition of a helpful classroom setting, and basic knowledge of children with special needs. I also took a practicum class which allowed me to train for three months as an intern in a practical preschool setting. During this time, I observed how teachers prepared their lesson plans and took care of their students. In addition, I saw how each child is different in his or her behavior, thoughts, temperament, and areas of interest.

The information and training I received in the ECE program was particularly helpful in my master’s program at San Francisco State University, where I studied early childhood special education (ECSE). As a result of the skills and knowledge I had gained in the ECE program, I was able to more easily approach and understand both the ECSE program and the children with special needs that I encountered. I graduated with my MA from SFSU this spring. I am truly happy about this achievement and I appreciate everyone who helped me along the way. I also appreciate the ECE program and Canada College itself. It was the first school I attended in the U.S. and it helped me to achieve my first goal. My final goal is to be a program coordinator for children with special needs and I am in the process of working toward this. I hope that all current and future ECE students at Canada College are able to accomplish what they desire. Thanks.