Curious to know what the attendees thought of the seminar? Here are some of the responses from the 2016 National Korean Studies Seminar attendees in regards to their experience of the 5-day seminar. Thank you to all the teachers that provided feedback!
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Monday:
I felt as though I am attending a UN summit on Korea– with the high quality of scholars and presenters! I felt so privileged to be a part of such an amazing program and will be sure to share it with my fellow teachers!
Consul General Lee has made many points why the world community pay attention to Korea and learn how perseverance changed the country’s destiny. He had seven main points and they were quite relevant and inspiring. Korea can be a role model for many developing countries.
Dr. Jennifer Jung Kim did an excellent job portraying an accurate picture of where Korea comes from in terms of history. I’d like to utilize the same resource that she used to educate my community and students.
Dr. Kim managed to squeeze in 5000 years of Korean culture and history into approximately an hour. From the rise of civilization to the 3 kingdoms era and unified Silla… it flowed smoothly, was easy to understand and easy to follow along. I think I’ll have to watch a couple of K-dramas 🙂
The importance of Confucianism ideas, the importance of women in the development of Korean history. How each dynasty was unique and how Korea developed its own unique culture in Asia.
On Dr. Namhee Lee’s lecture of the 19th and early 20th century Korea: I was amazed that one king was 12 years old! I also did not know that Korea was forced to sign treaties. It was also interesting to note the paradox between the idea of educating women and working to further Korea, but also others who actively worked against Korea’s colonization efforts.
On Dr. Dong-suk Kim’s lecture and performance of the traditional Korean instruments: the notes provided made it easier to understand the flow and direction of Korean music. The demonstration of instruments were great.
On Won-il Kim and Sue Hee Ko’s Pansori performance and lecture: the sing along was fun! Perfect presentation! I wish I can invite him to my class for my students.
On the Korean Cultural Center’s museum tour: The museum had a good mix of graphics and art objects. Rick Phillip’s descriptions make the exhibition come to life… I wish I could bring my class on a field trip here.
Tuesday:
On Willie Seung’s presentation of Summer Institute of Korea University: it was neat hearing about his experience of coming to the US and learning a new language. I think it will be useful and a great experience for young students to explore the Korean culture abroad.
On Gi-wook Shin’s lecture: the incredible social and economic changes Korea has gone through is remarkable… I appreciated his presentation, first laying the foundation of the Koreans’ sense of oneness… also appreciated the question and answer session, giving us a chance to ask questions.
On Classting: I hope to create classes with my ELAC parents in order to notify them about important dates and meetings… This works for older students and parents with access to technology… I could try to introduce this during back to school night for parents to communicate and use as a tool.
On the hanbok presentation with Ms. Yi: I enjoyed seeing the different dresses and costumes. I really appreciated the explanation of each dress… fun seeing our participant teachers get dressed up!
On Meher McArthur’s lecture of art and architecture of Korea: enjoyed learning that Korean art is unique in its own right and as diverse as art from any other cultures. Appreciated seeing the main points of Korean art with art from China and Japan. Again, a very thorough presentation that was excellent.
On Ms. Kee-soon Sung’s presentation of Korean folk art and kite making: I loved it! I really enjoyed seeing the art work from Ms. Sung and then also trying to make our own art. I loved the fan and kite-making.
Wednesday:
About Elena Paul’s presentation on implementing a Korean online course– The online class was engaging and accessible. The course appeared user friendly… very interesting to see how this educational organization has gotten this curriculum started and hopes to offer this to students as a way to learn Korean past the elementary level.
About Sung Kim’s presentation on Hangeul, the Korean writing system: Ms. Sung Kim’s kinesthetic teaching and presentation was so fun and effective. As she was offering the knowledge, she made sure to check and monitor participants’ progress and offered opportunities to practice their intake of the language.
On. Dr. Sung Ok Sohn’s lecture on Korean language: it was good to practice and listen to a native speaker’s pronunciation and to see the way the words are written. I will practice the greetings and the ways to say goodbye to impress my Korean co-workers. 🙂
About Sung Kim’s Common Core: Korea and its e-book presentation: There’s just so much information embedded into the website in an e-book version. I would have to take some time off to go through all that valuable information.
On Dr. Lucy Park’s sijo lecture: I was completely unfamiliar with this Korean poetic form–it was interesting to review both past and present examples of sijo. The hiphop soji video was outstanding! What a creative interpretation of sijo. I am happy to introduce my students to sijo. I believe showing the hiphop video will inspire them to complete sijo assignments.
On Young Dae Kim’s lecture of K-wave: The most impressive part was how K-pop is being globalized and becoming a major business and influence in many countries… interesting to see how Korea has adopted and changed pop music from Western culture and also hiphop from the US. I enjoyed watching the music videos because I was not familiar with the artists.
Thursday:
On Dr. Sung-Deuk Oak’s lecture about the history of Daoism, Shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity in Korea: very interesting to see the multiple religions coexisting in Korean society with Shamanism, Buddhism, Christianity and I didn’t know the Catholic church also tried to convert Koreans to the religion. This reminds me of the US protestant roots and how that permeates society to this day yet each culture group keeps their specific religions or a combination of many things.
On the visit to the Friendship Bell: it was such an honorable place to visit… a pleasure to strike the Friendship Bell and an honor hearing stories from a real Korean war veteran… Eating lunch in front of the San Pedro was an unforgettable experience. Please do this field trip every year!
On Mr. Mora’s video presentation of “Unforgettable Experience in Korea”: the photographs of the places you can visit were really beautiful. I feel like I did a virtual tour of Korea and the many places you can see, the food, and shopping look amazing. Makes me want to visit Korea and really see the culture and try the food.
About Rock Chef’s Party Kimbop: awesome presentation! I love hands-on activities. Food is a very important part of any culture, so this was thoroughly enjoyable. My students would love this, too… his enthusiasm for his craft was delightful and learning to create our own kimbop was extraordinary.
Friday:
On Dr. Edward Park’s lecture of the Asian American experience: I really enjoyed this presentation a lot. I wanted to hear more about the civil unrest in LA. I lived through it, but didn’t know much about the Korean aspect / role in it. I wished he could have talked more about that and what’s happening now.
On Jung H Kim’s presentation of Korean American students: I loved hearing about her family’s first immigration story in the US. It was helpful to learn about the sources of intergenerational conflict in Korean immigrant family. It was interesting to see all of the photos from Korea.
On Bill Yoon’s presentation of his 3 generation Korean American family: It was very interesting, I really enjoyed his rich, personal story, and the photos that he shared. I can’t believe he can trace back his family history to the 400s and be one of the big 3 families of Korea!
About the Taekwondo performance: really great performance of Taekwondo, enjoyed watching and also learning about its history. I didn’t know it was Korean! Self-defense is also useful to know.
On Dr. Suzie Oh’s lecture of the GATE program: great questions included in the worksheets on how to get students to answer with a higher level of thinking.
On the tea ceremony: as a 1.5 generation Korean, I’ve never experienced a Korean tea ceremony. It was very beautiful– I loved to try the tea and cookies. I’d love to bring this Korean tea ceremony to my classroom.
This was by far the the best workshop I’ve ever attended! I was hesitant to take it because of the differences in the language, food, and the fear of the unknown. The truth is that I had a Korean student in my class whose parents immigrated just a year before and had limited knowledge of the English language. I had no knowledge of anything Korean. That made me feel inadequate as a teacher. This seminar has been a crash course on the Korean culture and has given me tools, resources, and confidence to understand my students.
Korean History & Culture Teaching Resources 