This is not out of the norm at Sogang University’s Korean Language Education Center, but these students, all of whom are 15-18 years old, are here as part of a special program sponsored by the U.S. State Department.
Each student had their own unique reason for coming to Korea and joining the National Security Language Initiative for Youth.
“I started watching Korean dramas and listening to Korean music and I got tired of watching them with subtitles,” said Zaneh Williams from Maryland.
“This is a chance to see the world on my own and have a bit more independence,” said Gabrielle Hanley from Virginia.
The students study Korean for four hours in the afternoon, with a strict “no English” policy.
Learning Korean is “fun, but really intensive. We learned reading and writing in about a week,” said Gabrielle.
But she said understanding Korean vocabulary and sentences is the hardest part.
Even students in the beginner classes have already mastered Hangeul, the Korean alphabet.
These students are not only here for Korean, but also to learn the culture.
“We’re partnered up with university students around Seoul to take a group of us out to different places,” said Gabrielle.
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| U.S. teenagers attend a Korean language course at Sogang University’s Korean Language Education Center in Seoul. Yonhap News |
The students also live with host families to help speed up their progress with the language and culture.
“The host families have really been taking care of us.”
“Hanging out with the kids (host sisters) a lot, they’ve shown me real Korean life. We do a lot of fun stuff together. I really like how they value the family, and family togetherness,” she said.
The students had to compete against 1,500 other applicants for 600 spots. They were chosen based on academic performance, essays and interviews.
“I’m grateful for this opportunity. (The government) never told us that they would be giving us a full stipend. You don’t get this opportunity too often,” said Zaneh.
The students are encouraged to continue their studies in Korean after the program, and that is what some students plan on doing.
Zaneh plans to study Korean when she starts her college career. When asked what she will do with her knowledge, she said “either work for the government, or I plan to go to law school and be an international lawyer.”
Before coming to Korea, the students answered a questionnaire to help match them up with host families. The host families are all volunteers.
The NSLI-Y, originally started by the George W. Bush administration, offered students a chance to study Chinese and Arabic during summer sessions in China and Arabic-speaking countries. In 2009 after Barack Obama took office as U.S. president, the program expanded to include Hindi, Korean, Persian (Farsi), Russian and Turkish. And now, students may study for up to a year. These languages are not traditionally taught in the U.S school system. The languages were chosen based on the political importance and number of people speaking the language, among other things.
During the NSLI-Y’s first year, 2006, it funded only 46 students. Now, the 2009 program has increased its participants to 390 students, more than the previous three years combined.
The purpose of the program, as described in a grant proposal, is to increase mutual understanding, strengthen ties and develop friendly peaceful relations between the people of the U.S. and other countries. Through it, the U.S. government wishes to prepare these students to become global world leaders.
source:Korea Herld
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