Mary Xiong
In Korean food session I learn that the way they make their food has to do with health, environment, and gratitude. Within these 3 categories you learn how to appreciate the food because it takes time and it’s not easy to make for the first time. From the health category I learned why Korean have so many sides dishes, it’s to help to balance out the diet and to practice. I also learn that the reason why they ferment food is because it takes out the bacteria and produces good micros that your body need. Personally, being able to have a chance to have hands-on being able to cook and prep the food was a really fun experience to work with my peers and share food. With Professor Jeong-Weon’s help of guidance cooking was fun and I was able to learn how cook and cut the meat, and vegetables. Overall the experience was fun and I would like to do it again, but with different recipes.
Ellie Choi
Since South Korea and Hong Kong are both Asian countries, their structure of education is very similar, including the testing system and hagwon. In Korea and Hong Kong, we both have college entrance exam once a year and the scores we get decides our future. In Hong Kong, we just have eight universities and it is really competitive to get in because there is so many students apply for it. That’s why I decided to go to America to study after I got a bad grade on my college entrance exam. Also, there are so many Hagwons in Hong Kong too. I remember when I was studying elementary school in Hong Kong, my school starts at 8am and ends at 3:30pm, and then I went to Hagwons until 7pm or 8pm. On the weekend, I also went to dance, piano, violin, and drawing Hagwons. Besides going to Hagwons, I also had a private tutor to come to my home at least once a week depends on how much academic difficulties I have. Therefore, I would say I am totally understood how those Korean students’ life because I also experienced it before.
Daisy Vang
Today we took a trip to a hagwon to see how the environment was like and to learn more about them. The definition of a hagwon is a for-profit institute, academy, or cram school. I myself did not know much about the hagwons before this trip, and when I thought of the hagwons, I saw classrooms that students would go to to just study and learn, with a very unhappy aura in the room. After learning the previous day in class about how even students as young as kindergarten start going to these hagwons, in addition to their normal school just astounded me. I really couldn’t imagine it. That’s why I was both excited and nervous to know that we were going to visit an elementary hagwon. After having visited the hagwon, my perspective did change. I discovered that it was not that bad, the teachers really tried to engage the students, the students did seem engaged, and they looked happy. I was very surprised to discover that even though a hagwon seems very distant to many Americans, it actually reminded me of my job, where I am a tutor for elementary students at an after school program. At this program, the students come there after normal school has finished, and they first work on homework before literacy tutoring. The feeling was very similar.
Grace Nelson
We started our classes on Monday this week and already I have learn so much. We had a Korean Language class, we learned about the school system, how to cook, and visited an after school academy (Hagwon 하관). I found the Korean school system quite interesting. We were taught that after the Korean War no one had faith that Korea could rebuild from all the damage, especially the south. However the Korean government made an effort to start educating its youth as much as it could. Education became a priority to the people. They pushed their children to do well and it helped Korea grow rapidly in literacy rate which in turn helped the economy grow as well. Eventually the system became too competitive and stressful for the students of all ages. This problem still stands now despite the government’s efforts to try and make it easier on the students. The lecturer happened to be a mother of a Korean student. She talked about the frustration of knowing that the system is too stressful for the kids but if she does not have her children participate in hagwons or afterschool programs they will fall behind.
Patricia Thao
Today’s class was about traditional Korean music. I thought it was interesting that Korean people had many different instruments constructed from nature; like the Korean drum, gayageum, flute, and fiddle. The professor explained how everything was naturally made and did not have artificial products or chemicals that was used. And many of the instruments produce beautiful music with distinct tunes. I enjoyed watching the videos of the individual and harmony performances. It was difficult trying to blow air into the Korean flute because I didn’t know how to correctly do it. But I think that the familiar instrument for me was the Korean drum. Since learning how to play the drum was easier, I felt that I was able to use my hands to correctly produce the notes. Also, it was interesting to see that Korean had classical music that was for the palace and folk music for the people. I liked how classical music was therapeutic while folk music was for entertainment. Overall, this class allowed me to appreciate traditional Korean music more.
Dan Hodac
By far the most fun class that we had this week in the program was cooking class. We learned to make so many Korean dishes and I had such an amazing time doing it! My favorite thing was seeing how Koreans cook their rice. I am so used to seeing rice cooked with only one kind of grain, however, I learned that Koreans will sometimes cooked their rice with other things mixed in. In the class we learned how to make rice with 5 different kinds of grains! This will make the rice much healthier and it ended up tasting great as well. I am definitely going to learn how to do this once I get home to Minnesota. Another session that I immensely enjoyed was when we met up with current SNUE students in order to discuss about the education system in Korea. Since I had done so much research about the Korean education system before coming to Korea there were many things that I was curious about, especially what made their education system ranked as one of the best in the world. Being able to talk to future teachers allowed me to see things from their perspective as well as greater detailed answers since not only are they future teachers but also students who have gone through and experienced the intense Korean education system.
