Students to Offer Korean Classes

Two members of the Korean American Student Association (KASA) are offering a free weekly Korean language class every Thursday evening from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Gifford lecture hall. Class instructor Robin Cho ’15 and KASA president Eun-ah Choi ’15 have been teaching impromptu Korean courses through the fall semester and winter term due to the absence of Korean among the official languages offered by the College.

Cho started instructing classes during the past spring semester, and Choi instructed the first winter term workshop.

“I believe this has been going on for quite a long time, in that KASA always has had this Korean language group that taught American students or any international students,” said Cho. Although it is not a new development for KASA to have members teach voluntary Korean classes, Cho and Choi are hoping to develop a stronger relationship between KASA and the general student body.

“I’m hoping to see that [students] will come to the KASA meetings and participate in activities other than noodle night,” said Cho. KASA will be hosting a number of other activities this spring, such as a Korean Barbeque, guest lecturers speaking about North and South Korea and Korean language tables.

Cho, who is originally from Seoul, stressed the importance of cultural exchange experiences, and said of her American-born classmates, “I’m trying to learn about American culture [while I’m here] and I think it would be a great opportunity for you to learn about our culture as well, since we are here ready to tell you interesting stories of Korea.”

Choi taught the first Korean winter term workshop this past January, which attracted many more students than anticipated.

Currently Cho is teaching an intermediate-level class as a continuation for the students she taught during the fall semester, and for the students taught by Choi during winter term. However, she was quick to add that she would willingly teach twice a week; one more day for another beginner class, should interest be expressed.

Josiah Stork ’15, one of Cho’s students, feels that studying Korean is a great compliment to his official academic pursuits.

“I’m a Chinese major so its amazing to see how many of the words were borrowed from Chinese into Korean and the distinct similarities between the cultures, but also the drastic differences that are there as well,” said Stork. “Also, just understanding both their histories and their languages is really interesting.”

Cho is a native-born Korean, but has previous experience teaching Korean as a result of the eight years she spent living in Germany and Poland, where she would frequently invite friends over for informal Korean language and cultural lessons.

Both Cho and Choi emphasized their hope for a more integrated KASA. Their goal is to create a reciprocal relationship between the American culture present at the College and the opportunities for education on Korean culture.  Ultimately they hope that Korean will become an official language of study at the College.

For anyone interested in KASA, its events and meetings, the language class or simply a conversation about Korean culture contact Robin Cho at dcho@middlebury.edu.