My Contributions
I first immigrated to the U.S. in 2015, and for me, the U.S. was a unique place with a variety of ethnic groups. Not long after coming to Korea, I needed a community that could give me various information and a sense of belonging, so I was naturally introduced to the Korean church in Little Perry. If race and ethnicity are the same, I naturally communicate with the second generation of Korean Americans. However, there were linguistic obstacles to the second generation of Koreans who had long grown up in the United States culture. Therefore, I naturally wondered what I could do as the first generation of Korean immigrants in church. One of the biggest concerns for first-generation Korean parents was Korean language education for future communication with their children. They said that as time went by, many second-generation Koreans find it increasingly difficult to communicate with their parents, making it difficult to engage in deep psychological and emotional exchanges between families. Therefore, I decided to serve as a teacher at a Korean language school in the church I was attending.
I have worked as an English assistant teacher in Korea for a short time, but I have never taught Korean in earnest. I'm ashamed, but I think it was the first time I thought seriously about the Korean language itself. I was assigned to Korean language education for five children between the ages of age 5 and 7. They started teaching children basic Korean alphabets like the American alphabet. Using a children's platform called Pinkfong, he wrote with his fingers to help children with Korean language education. However, education through textbooks was prioritized over electronic devices. I focused on art and design, so I prepared the most paintings, games, and making games for children to experience Korean.
The most challenging thing about this service was to permeate Korean into children's lives. Since children usually use English on weekdays, it wasn't easy to learn the language quickly without their parents' efforts, and they had to repeat the same class repeatedly. However, what was more rewarding than anything else was that it gave children a positive Korean experience, giving them a little pride in their ethnicity. In addition, it was a wonderful and happy experience for children to express themselves in paintings or Korean. I have been a Korean teacher for two years, and I am not currently a Korean teacher. Still, if I had the opportunity, I would like to organize content more professionally and interestingly and do volunteer work again.
