2018 Korean History & Culture Seminar for American Educators: Participant Comments
Monday 6/25:
Regarding Professor Jung-Kim’s lecture, I really liked the introduction to Korea with the 10 points of “What Should You Know about Korea?”. In the same manner, I’ll introduce the Korean culture to my students so that they can have a broader idea of different aspects of the Korean culture.
Regarding Professor Dennehy’s lecture, maybe the colonial period in the 1900’s could be applicable to teaching young students about U.S. land reform and independence. Also, the missionary activities could be correlated with the Spanish missions here in CA.
Based on Professor Dong-Suk Kim’s lecture, the idea of creating patterns with your own hands and having symbols to represent a sound could be an interesting way to introduce patterns in everything. Young people enjoy playing instruments, so the Korean drum lessons could again be a way to introduce instruments and culture.
Based on Warren Wonil Kim’s lesson, teaching Pansori or the traditional Korean dance could be a good lesson to introduce in my class because it would be important to bring the aspect of multicultural knowledge to my classroom. It was great to see the story with song and percussion. I could definitely present that to my students.
The information from the KCCLA museum visit will be applied to my teaching by introducing historical artifacts to my students. And it is important to bring to my classroom because I could integrate this content to meet my CA standards.
Overall, the hands-on experience from Monday was something that I most appreciated. Perhaps more time to complete the evaluations after each activity would be good. Food and snacks were delicious. Everything was excellent and well-organized.
Tuesday 6/26:
Lecture on “Korea since 1945” by Professor Jung-Kim was a great opening background for what is happening today. Knowing about political standings in the recent past is directly related to what is happening today in the US. I definitely think this information is helpful if I need to talk to Korean parents and students, knowing the mindset and past they grew up in. divided families directly related to what is happening at Mexico border today.
All of the content from Dr. Suzie Oh’s lecture, from the circle map of culture to questions to Venn diagram, I can apply this in my own classroom. These ideas were a perfect fit for this seminar and culture really is the magic catalyst to understanding our students and them understanding each other.
For Youngmi Yi’s hanbok show, I loved getting into character and dressing up in Hanbok! I think students would enjoy doing a similar activity for other cultures’ traditions, especially Korean hanbok!
I am going to implement Meher McArthur’s lecture content and her teaching style to teach art history in my classroom. This art history content helps students comprehend cultural history, so I will bring this content to my students. Presenter was very knowledgeable about Korean / Asian art history.
I loved how in the Minhwa lesson and activity by Kee Soon Sung, the culture and art were integrated in this lesson. I would definitely teach the painting of a Tiger and Magpie to my students. I particularly liked that all the materials are accessible to me! I will apply this information in my classroom to introduce original Korean artwork. This content is important to bring back to my classroom because it complies with California Arts Standards.
Based on the LACMA museum visit, I will apply this strategy of teaching through realia. Taking students to more field trips to tie the information learned in class.
Overall comments for Tuesday is that I enjoyed the art class the most, but the entire day was interesting. It was another great day. Very well organized and generous staff!
Wednesday 6/27:
I liked how in the topic of Korean philosophy, the coexistence of religions as kingdoms was explained and how it changed in Korea. Dramatic growths and decline is like soccer. Also, I like to teach meditation to my students to help them focus.
Thanks to the lecture by Sung Kim, by learning about the basics of Korean language and pronunciation, I can pronounce my Korean students’ names better. And I can apply the skills from this session to “hook” my students to learn about world languages.
The lecture by Sung Kim inspired me to certainly do some independent study online. I would like to be able to improve my language skills in Korean.
I loved how Professor Sung-Ock Sohn presented new language to us. She made sure we had ample practice time so that everyone could try. I can imagine incorporating different greetings during our morning meeting. I think it is absolutely important for me to remember that students need interaction and practice for everything and it is so important to introduce new language to my young students.
For Rock Chef’s presentation on Kimbap, I think it would be a good teaching aspect when I am teaching cultural education. Learning about cultural foods is a great way to engage students to learn about different cultures. It would be important to bring Kimbap lessons to my classroom because it is a popular Korean dish, which can be enjoyed as a class.
Mary’s overview of her book was helpful in that I can now apply the information from the book in my classroom. This content is important to teach cultural education. The various social etiquettes would be an important thing to teach the children. And I believe that a lot of the content in the book is applicable to the students.
Philip Ahn Cuddy’s lecture was very interesting because I learned about the important Korean family history, especially the history on Susan Ahn Cuddy. The content about this iconic historical figure will be very relevant for my students so they can see how women from all over the world have impacted and contributed to the American society. Legacy and immigration would be applicable to teaching the students in my classroom, and also the topic of what being Korean-American, or another half-American is. Also, acceptance and inclusivity is important. The ideals on democracy and equal rights are very important, as is accepting others for their beliefs and differences. Also, what being a leader really means is important to teach students.
Dr. Lucy Park’s Sijo lecture was great because writing in general is a great way for students to express their thoughts and feelings. I think poetry, specifically, allows for some freedom of expression. This would be a rich activity in learning the number of syllables in each word. It could also be a rich math activity in adding the syllables in each line. Students can also get creative and at the same time engage in writing creative sijos.
Jini Shim’s Kpop lecture would be helpful in informing me on how to use Kpop as a break between classes. This content is helpful because it helps me relate more to my students and understand their youth. I would love playing Kpop for my students so they can hear the music from other cultures, in an American style. In fact, since I also teach dance, I think choreographing a routine to a BTS song would be fun! I think students love music and it is important to note similarities and differences. Also, students need good role models.
Wednesday, overall, was really enjoyable. Learning Hangeul with Sung, making Kimbap and learning about what K-POP is. The Sijo examples and lessons were also helpful by providing an activity for students to express themselves.
Thursday 6/28:
The visit to the Buddhist temple was nice and the lecture content was interesting but this would be too advanced for the primary students. It’s always important to be a role model for my students and although I won’t teach about religion, I can show my students how to be a good person, and that is what I find to be the most important content of all. Understanding the basic principles of Buddhism and how it impacts the students in the classroom and the community is something that I can apply to my teaching. And this session helped me understand Buddhism in Korea. But I’m not sure how I can apply this to my current first grade classroom.
The field trip to the Korean National Association Memorial Hall helped me make sense of previous history of Korean sessions, which will help me transmit the information to my students. Students will receive a better lecture and discussion from me when delivering the content, such as the Independence movement in the Americas, the landing of emigrant ship in Hawaii in 1903, and the start of Korean immigration. The content of immigration is something students are dealing with today and it’s good to give students a history of it in the perspective of Korean history.
The field trip to the Korean National Association Memorial Hall was beneficial in the way that it connected a lot of the things we’ve been learning in the seminar. It was a visually engaging tour! Seeing the artifacts helped me understand a lot of the things I’ve been learning. This information was helpful to gain more knowledge of Korean American history. This content will also help me teach my students about the people who make-up California and other places around our country.
The visit to the Korean Bell of Friendship represented a great example of unity, harmony & fostering positive relationships, and the diplomatic relation between America and Korea. I think this content would be important to bring to my classroom because this is a great example of positive examples of peace throughout the world, and it’s important to show that Korea-U.S. relations have many different aspects. This is also a great example of positive examples of peace throughout the world. Ernest Lee was a very eloquent speaker, and was extremely knowledgeable!
The testimony of the Korean War Veteran David Lopez was good because I could apply the different kinds of aspects of the Korean War. I think this content would be important to bring to my classroom because it’s important to listen to war veterans for their perspective on the wars that are almost always started for political reasons.
Learning about Sijo was good because all the poems gave me ideas on how to get creative with Sijo. This content is important to encourage my students to write poetry and it would benefit the students to see different types of poems. Students can also be encouraged to write about any topic and that there are different types of poems around the world.
Listening to the Korea Tour talk was beneficial because I really loved the transportation discussion we had, and the efficiency compared to other countries. I think this content would be important to bring to your classroom because finding and giving my students hope and dreams, like traveling to Korea, is really important to share with my students. I thought the speaker was excellent and relatable, and wished that more time with him.
Overall, today was a good day because of the excursion that gave us some time to step outside of the inside lecture hall and get to see for myself the artifacts and historical content that were explained in the previous lectures. The visit to the Korean Friendship Bell was something that would remain as a memorable event for me this year. Even an activity like flying the kite reminded me of my childhood. It seemed that I would have liked to spend more time on each of the locations that we went to, which shows that the learning content was constantly interesting and intriguing.
Friday 6/29:
The lecture on Korean American history by Edward Park was a great Korean historical summary and I liked how the speaker related his own experiences to the lecture. I think this would be important to bring to my classroom for older students because similar to previous historical lectures, the content is interesting but the content could be too difficult for the primary grades. But the content seems like it is something that would be necessary for Korean families and students to understand and know about.
The lecture on Understanding Korean American students was a delightful one. There were great school information regarding Korean students. I would have loved to hear more about various families, what some shared characteristics of American Korean families are. Also, understanding the differences of non-verbal communication is important to know – I guess I take this information for granted at home, because I feel what she shared is common knowledge at my school. This makes me consider cultural differences that might be coming into play in my classroom.
Bill Yoon’s presentation on his family’s history was great. I think I can apply this content to my classroom because I can consider using family history to get students more interested in larger stories. I think this content would be important to bring to my classroom because personal anecdotes help students make connections to historical events and topics.
Jikji lecture and metal printing activity was fun! If I were to bring this to my classroom, it would help students have another historical Korean cultural experience! They could also try writing their names or other Korean words. The simple fact that Jikji is an evidence of the oldest metal printing system is a knowledge that I can bring to my classroom. It could also serve as a combination of art and history class content.
Taekwondo demonstration session was something that I could apply to my teaching because I would love for my students to try this and maybe have it choreographed to music! It would also be good to have my students learn about the philosophy of Taekwondo and information about it. I think this content would be important to bring to my classroom because Taekwondo is more than just fighting. This would be also great to compare to different types of martial arts in other cultures, and it would show another part of Korean culture to my students. This was a very exciting session and loved how the children were a part of it. This session exceeded my expectations!
The traditional tea ceremony session seems like a great activity to help my students and colleagues build a sense of community through learning about the decorum. I will use this content when I teach traditional customs to students. I was astonished on the hard work and preparation that seemed to have required for the presentation and the amount of tea snacks.
Overall, this final day of the seminar was very busy and exciting like the other days. Staff were helpful and organized until this very last day and everything was very well-explained, which were quite impressive.
Overall Seminar Evaluations:
Things that I most appreciated about the seminar were of course the delicious Korean foods and treats. The various Korean activities and perspectives of Korean American experiences from the various lectures were very insightful. Also the seminar was very organized and everything seemed like they were thoroughly thought-through.
From what I experienced in this week’s seminar, it seemed that every aspect of Korean culture was covered and more. The entire program allowed me to be immersed in the Korean culture and appreciate its culture from a different perspective. The visual presentations throughout the seminar were done in a very timely, precise and clear manner.
I appreciated the hospitality and felt welcomed every day. The whole seminar was very educational I have learned so much and am so excited to share this information with my teachers and students. I appreciate all the hard work the staff put into this seminar to make sure we, the participants, had excellent speakers, facilities, food, resources, accommodations, and activities. This is an excellent professional development for teachers and I will tell other teachers to participate.
I loved how many aspects and topics were covered in such a short time. From cooking, hanbok show, Minhwa painting, drumming, dancing, singing, metal printing, Taekwondo, and tea ceremony…… it was impressive that we got a thorough knowledge of so many parts of Korean culture. Lastly, I really loved the organization of every single part of the whole seminar. It was so enjoyable! I would have loved the chance to talk to more Koreans on a personal level and more opportunities to ask questions and have a conversation throughout the seminar. I would have loved additional support on how I can bring all this knowledge and lessons into my classroom. Simple lessons I can cover, but more materials that can be copied and taken directly to my school and classroom would be even better.
It was impressive how intentional each activity was, such as the trip, food, music, traditions, and history. I learned a lot about Korea that I did not know before. I will take my new knowledge to my classroom. It would have been great if there were more time to share about how to apply what we learned at the seminar back in our classrooms.
Korean History and Culture Seminar for Educators / www.koreanseminar.org 