08. Language of Korean School and Korean School!

[말레이]

08. Language of Korean School and Korean School!

Living abroad has many shortcomings and difficulties compared to living in Korea. The most difficult of them all is the Korean language problem of children. Contrary to adults, children generally quickly discard what they have and are good at accepting new things. The same goes for language. Even if a child is of a certain age, if he or she is below middle school age, no matter how well he or she has spoken Korean in Korea, his or her Korean speaking ability will gradually decline year by year when he or she goes to live abroad. On the other hand, if he or she becomes good at English or the language of the country he or she lives in, it will be more difficult to speak Korean, so he or she tends to try not to use Korean well.

When I first came to ‘Molisha’, I felt that language was important. However, it was difficult for me to go to another country and not be able to speak another language, but it was even more difficult for me to not be able to speak the language of my country and people. So,

I thought,

“I have to teach my children Korean well!”

Of course, I thought it would be beneficial for me to use English at home with my children. However, I was already a wasted body! (I already have limitations in speaking foreign languages), but I couldn’t make my children do the same (just like we can’t speak foreign languages, our children can’t speak Korean). So, instead of tailoring it to us, I guided them to speak whatever they needed and wanted outside, but once they came home, I only spoke Korean. And in addition to tutoring them in Chinese or English that they needed for school, I made them do their homework first, and for the rest of the time, I had them read books in Korean. If you think about it, this started from the moment they came to this country and continued until they finished high school and left for Korea. When my older child was 2 years old and my younger child was 4 months old, when their identity was threatened after coming to this country, I asked Korea to record the commercials on TV at double speed and play them for them. Then, when both my children were in elementary school, they entered a Chinese school and studied until high school and graduated, and I didn’t let them speak a word other than Korean at home. This was because only then could Korean survive for the children. Language is the language that is used in life, and it becomes my language with vitality.

However, the problem is that when parents actually teach their children, they end up not being able to teach or receive instruction from each other. This is because emotions come first. So, for my children and for the Korean education of local Korean children, I created a Korean language school and worked with parents to volunteer for the children’s Korean language. As a result, many children found their identity as Koreans and were able to speak Korean without any problems. Even my children received a level 6 (from level 1, the basic level, to level 6, the highest level) on the Korean language proficiency test, so I achieved my goal. However, receiving a level 6 did not mean that they were perfect like children who grew up in Korea. So, in order to complete that and because I thought that the only chance to make friends was through college life in Korea, I decided from the moment I first arrived there that I had to send them to college.

Along with my interest in the Korean language, I also began to feel a sense of mission toward education, as I studied education in graduate school, although it was not my major, so I started to do various other things as well. So, I first passionately put in various efforts to operate the ‘Korean Language School’ that my predecessor had opened for Korean children who came to live in the local area. However, Korean children who come to the local area and study at the local school should not stop at the basic level of Korean, Hangul, but should be able to speak Korean to some extent. Therefore, even if it is not at the level of children of the same age who study at regular schools in Korea, they should not only have a sense of identity as Koreans, but also at least have Korean language skills that are not embarrassing for Koreans. That way, when they go to Korea in the future, they will not face obstacles because of the Korean language, no matter what company, business, or job they do. So my goal was to help them reach that level. Of course, I also hoped that through this process, they would gain faith, which is an eternal homework in life. However, there were doubts about how much these problems could be solved with just three or four hours of Korean language study once a week on Saturday morning or afternoon, but when we actually ran a Korean language school, the results were truly beyond imagination. It was like the principle that it is quite difficult for a student who gets 80~90 points in school to raise his/her average score by a few points, but it is easy for a student who gets 20~30 points to raise his/her score by 30~40 points with just a little effort. Korean children who are separated from their mothers as a family of geese to study English, or who go to a mission field as children of missionaries, and who are born in the local area and live with their parents there, may not seem to have any problems speaking Korean on the outside, but the Korean they learn in their daily lives is comprised of a few hundred words, so it cannot be considered high-level. In that case, it is important to be able to organize your thoughts clearly and convey your thoughts or make presentations, and furthermore, to cultivate the ability to write them down in writing or documents so that you do not face serious problems as a Korean in the future. So the name of the school was changed from Hangul School, where they learn Korean, to Korean School, where they learn Korean identity and language. It might have been more appropriate to call it a ‘Korean School,’ but ‘Korean School’ is more meaningful in terms of bringing together Koreans living abroad, so the name was changed in a comprehensive sense. There were many difficult problems while creating and operating the Korean School. The most problematic of these was the way Koreans think, which is commonly called ‘Mishi,’ and even after coming abroad, they consider Korean to be inferior and neglect teaching Korean, and they are still anxious about their children’s English education, but they are still busy sending their children to private English classes instead of sending them to Korean School. It was heartbreaking to see that. I have seen many people who used to only speak English with their children at home when they came to the country early and lived there, but now that time has passed and their children have grown up and their children cannot speak even a few words of Korean, they regret it later. In the end, those who regret this are because they overlooked the fact that language ends up staying at the point where it was when they left Korea, or rather, its level deteriorates as time goes by. This fact is also proven by Grandma Hoon, who was taken away by the Japanese military at the age of 16. At the age of 16, it is an age when Korean used in daily life is considered complete. However, Grandma Hoon, who was discovered in Cambodia at the age of 80, could only remember Korean words like “Father! Come, Mom!” and when she later returned to her homeland at the invitation of the Korean government and set foot on her homeland, she said that although the mountains and rivers of her hometown had already changed, she remembered a few more place names when she saw the terrain that still had some of its old appearance. This kind of behavior is also often seen in missionaries who do missionary work in places where there are no Koreans. On the outside, they lived a life where they could not speak Korean at all except for their family members, and only used a very small number of words and sentences. But after more than 20 years, when they came to a Korean church and were asked to preach, they sometimes stuttered in their sermons in Korean due to language problems. This is especially true for young students. As with all things, if you continue to use and utilize something, it will be remembered again and used well, and if you do not use it often, the ability will gradually diminish and eventually disappear.

In addition to these difficulties, there were numerous problems such as operating costs and difficulties in finding teachers to teach together, so running a school was bound to be a poor environment, and the stress from that was considerable. So there were more than one or two times when I wanted to give up on this. But more closely, because I know the importance of my children’s Korean education and because I remember that it is more difficult for parents to educate their children at home, and not only that, but also when I think of all the other Korean children who have come to Korea, I could not help but continue doing this work. As time passed, I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment when I saw them studying Korean that way, growing up, and returning to Korea to live well, and that is why I continue to do this work despite the many difficulties I face. And this is probably the same for most of the principals who run the approximately 2,000 Korean schools around the world and all the teachers who teach and guide Korean to students at those schools.

As Korean schools were run like this, there were many regrettable parts scattered around, but starting in 2005, the Korean government began to provide some operating expenses to solve the most urgent needs of Korean schools. Then, the following year, in 2006, all Korean schools in Southeast Asia gathered together to form the Southeast Asian Korean School Council, and the inauguration ceremony of the 'Southeast Asian Korean School Council' was held. The council, which started like that, held a Korean school teacher training course once a year to improve the qualifications of those who worked hard as Korean school teachers to teach Korean to students despite the extremely poor conditions and did not have regular teacher qualifications. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its Overseas Koreans Foundation, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Tourism began to provide support in various ways, such as supporting the operating expenses of Korean schools and dispatching instructors for Korean school teacher training courses! Inviting domestic training courses and supplying school textbooks used in regular schools in Korea. As a result, Korean language education in Korean schools became more active. However, in 2010, as each ministry supported their own Korean language schools, the National Assembly pointed out that the budget was being wasted twice. In response to this, the relevant ministries met to centralize and integrate support for Korean language school education into one place. As a result, it was decided that the Overseas Koreans Foundation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would support Korean language schools, and the Ministry of Education would support only full-time Korean schools.

In this way, the efforts of the Overseas Koreans Foundation to provide necessary support through consultation and investigation through the Korean language school councils in seven regions around the world bore fruit, and each year has become more efficient and effective. This began when the opinions of the Korean language school councils were largely reflected. In the process, each Korean language school council has also made various improvements in its own way.

Our Southeast Asian Korean Language School Council was also founded with the dedication of the first chairman, and each chairman has been dedicated and volunteering. While working as the secretary general under the third president, I was able to identify the issues that could make the Southeast Asian Korean Language School Association more effectively organized and run. The most important of these was the revision of the bylaws. The problem felt within the council so far is that while living in different countries, they gather once a year for a general meeting and elect a new president in the second year. At this time, when the former president recommends a new president, the members who have not met in a long time agree without any problems. As the new president is elected, if a person who does not know the practical work of the council becomes the president, the problems that occurred before may repeat themselves. Since missionaries in similar environments have been in a similar situation for a long time, it was obvious that if a president who does not know the existing work is elected, the council will not be able to develop any further. In order to improve this problem, a vice president should be elected during the election, and the vice president should be in charge of the practical work under the former president and automatically succeed to the president. This way, the work within the council can be consistently maintained and promoted, and only then can the council develop. Therefore, a draft for improving the bylaws was prepared, and after explaining the principle to the principals of each school who are members of the general meeting and obtaining their consent, the revision of the bylaws was finally passed, laying the foundation for the basic framework of the council. I was able to arrange it.

And at the next general meeting, the 4th chairman was elected and the vice chairman was elected at the same time, and I was elected as the vice chairman at that time. So I was in charge of all the practical work within the council, and I reported to the chairman the problems that needed to be improved and the improvement measures for them, and with the chairman’s permission to recognize and improve them, I carried out the practical improvement work, and for the issues that needed to be approved by the general meeting, the chairman came forward and explained the necessity of it and organized it. Then, the council developed by establishing a solid system as if a very solid administrative framework was being built.

And finally, when I inherited the position of chairman in 2015, I implemented the system that had been established so far and this time, I made several demands through a conversation with the director of the Overseas Koreans Foundation. One of them was to create a teaching certificate for Korean language school teachers that could be used at Korean language schools. This is different from a general regular teacher's license, which can only be used in Korean language schools. If the license is granted through a qualification examination and process, the mothers of students who work as teachers without a teacher's license can feel proud of being teachers and take on the role of teachers with more responsibility. This is because I have personally felt that this is the most necessary thing in reality while running a Korean language school for a long time. However, the civil servants' prejudices have hardened their minds, so they did not understand the words asking for a solution to a problem that has become a practical issue. In fact, it is an issue that has been suggested for many years, but the Ministry of Education seems to be concerned about the issue of teacher qualifications, fairness with regular teachers, and possible teacher hiring issues, and there was even talk that the National Assembly would have to amend the law to do so. Also, the Overseas Koreans Foundation did not respond at all, probably because they thought that it was something they could not do due to their role. Then, in the name of the president of the Southeast Asian Korean Language School Association, I explained to the head of the Overseas Korean Foundation that this teaching license is not the kind of teaching license that the Ministry of Education thinks it is, but rather a Korean language school teaching license that is created by setting simple conditions within the Overseas Korean Foundation and only to be used within the Korean language school, so it is not difficult at all, and I strongly requested that this be done in order for small Korean language schools to operate well. As a result, the head of the Overseas Korean Foundation at the time meaningfully accepted this part and took action, and the first plan was to grant Korean language school teacher qualifications to those who took over the cyber Korean language education course for a certain period of time. And eventually, a free education system for studying online was created within the Overseas Korean Language School Association, and teacher qualifications were granted to those who completed it.

And there are many ways to support teachers, although they are not perfect, but if you look for them, they can be very helpful. A representative example is improving the leave system for current teachers. If current teachers voluntarily go abroad to teach at Korean language schools, it is recognized as a leave of absence, allowing teachers to rest and receive various training programs they need locally to improve their skills, and supporting poor Korean language schools to improve their standards, etc. This is a method that opens up a multi-purpose effect.

Furthermore, the government can now come forward and devise a method to fundamentally solve the problems of Korean language schools. First, students who want to go abroad should at least transfer to a Korean language school in the place they want to go in advance, and when they return to a Korean school, they should have proof that they attended the Korean language school regularly and studied Korean so that they can be transferred to a regular school when they return to Korea (if there is no Korean language school nearby, this can be resolved by getting the fact certified through an embassy that knows the local situation well and submitting it to the school). By creating a plan (if it is not possible or difficult, by creating a bill) to establish a foundation for Korean students to continue to receive Korean language education at least at a Korean language school while they are abroad, we need to establish a foundation. And for students who study in the local area until they graduate from high school, they should study and actively work on solving these problems, such as giving extra points on college entrance exams if they attend a local Korean language school during their study abroad period.

The current reality of Korean language schools is that there are many Korean students around the local Korean language schools, but they are all busy learning English, and the Korean language schools have difficulty operating due to the small number of students. The reality that education is more effective the more students there are with a certain number of students is the reality that I feel while operating Korean language schools. In addition, in reality, the Korean language skills of students who attended Korean language schools are in most cases very different from those of students who did not.

Therefore, Korean language schools have a remaining homework. They need to support most of the small Korean language schools scattered around the world so that they can survive and continue this work. Because some students who came to study abroad or their parents are only interested in English or the local language and think that they have already mastered Korean, but in fact, they overlook the fact that Korean will become more problematic as time goes by and are only interested in the urgent English or the local language. As a result, even though there are many students who came to study abroad, they do not attend Korean language schools, and as a result, the Korean language schools do not have much flexibility due to the small number of students. Also, some parents who are qualified to serve as teachers at schools do not have relationships with Korean language schools, and as a result, there is a shortage of teachers who actually serve at Korean language schools, making it very difficult to operate Korean language schools, which in turn acts as a limitation in cultivating students’ Korean language skills. This is the reality of Korean language schools that teach Korean overseas.

Therefore, if we establish rules such as requiring students who temporarily come to study abroad to attend a local Korean language school and study Korean in order to be recognized as being in their grade when they return to Korea, or if they do not, to return to the grade they were in when they left Korea, or if we create a system where students who graduate from high school in the local area and plan to advance to a Korean university are given extra points on the entrance exam, it will be advantageous for international students who return to Korea after living abroad to compete with each other. Most international students will attend local Korean language schools, and if that happens, the Korean language schools will become stronger, and students will be able to learn Korean language, Korean history, society, and culture well, and grow with a sense of identity as Koreans. This will have the important result of making capable Korean children studying abroad into actual leaders and workers in Korea.

These Korean language schools have some homework to solve on their own, but the Korean government should step in and solve these structural problems. Up until now, the Korean government has been recognizing local Korean language schools as quasi-educational institutions and supporting some of their operations, but it is time to go one step further and administratively recognize Korean language schools as actual quasi-educational institutions and link their administration with domestic schools so that the increasing number of short-term overseas students or Korean students going abroad as quasi-immigrants can establish their identity as Koreans and a foundation in Korean language. If you let the timing pass for anything, you will not be able to do anything. This is especially true for Korean children studying abroad. If you miss the age and timing for studying Korean, it is no different from the foundation of the building called Korea being crooked or collapsing. Next, we opened the Korean Cultural Center. If the Korean language school is a place where Korean children are taught Korean, the Korean Cultural Center not only provides practical help, such as providing books and opening Malay classes to help them adapt to the local environment and teach them the local language, but also begins to teach Korean and Korean to local people and help them learn Korean culture. And many local people came here to learn Korean, and seeing their skills improve more than expected, I thought that since they study because they are interested and want to, it is fun and enjoyable, and no matter what I teach them, it goes into their ears and heads and remains. And I myself studied hard to be able to teach Korean better, and through various studies, such as the Korean Language Research Institute and Korean language teacher training programs held by various organizations, I belatedly established a system for Korean.