Meet the New Teacher – Sin-Hee Kim – Secondary Science and Biology Teacher, Year 8 Tutor

Sin-Hee was born in South Korea and moved to Toronto, Canada at the age of 10 with her family. She earned her BSc in Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto and then her BEd at York University in Science and Biology. She has taught in London and Jakarta.

“When I moved to London for my first job, it was my first time living abroad. At first it was a bit scary but really it was moving from one big city to another. Once you get used to it, you can enjoy another country and the culture. I really enjoyed travelling, I particularly liked Spain and Portugal; nice weather, good food and the people were very relaxed. That makes Thailand a good fit for me with amazing food, good weather, and friendly people! Thailand has always been one of my favourite countries to visit so I am thrilled for the opportunity to work and explore more.

I really enjoyed the ECAs at my school in Jakarta and am looking forward to getting involved here. I have already completed the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award training for staff and will be going on IAs this year. I am also very interested in environmental sustainability and have enjoyed working with students to raise awareness; I want to continue with that here through the Student Environmental Committee. When I’m not at school, I enjoy cooking as I find it really relaxing. I have taken Thai cooking classes before and it was a lot of fun. If I have a strong craving for something, I try to learn to cook it. I also like yoga and running.

The Science Centre is one of the most impressive facilities I’ve ever seen in a school. I love the solar panels on the buildings as they are great for sustainability. We are leading by example. The Science labs at Bangkok Patana are very modern and highly effective in mediating student learning. They work extremely well with giving the students the freedom to explore and investigate. There is so much work they can do and fully supports the way of moving to students to a flipped classroom to explore.

I believe it is important to make a connection with students to better understand what their needs are. Many students believe they don’t like Science or are scared of Science because they don’t think they are good at it. I really loved it as a kid, and I want kids to see it as something interesting and approachable. I feel it is crucial to make them genuinely interested and care about the subject. When I was in Grade 8, I had a great teacher who was really strict but made me realise I could be good at it.

Science is constantly changing, and I don’t want to just focus on teaching students existing information, but to think about what they can do with Science, using innovation and technology.

I know for many teachers it school is another part of their daily life, but you never know how you are going to influence someone and their future, like my Science teacher did!”

Learn about all our new teachers here: https://www.patana.ac.th/new-teachers-2019-20/