Dankook University (DKU) is organizing a Native Tutoring Program for different languages from March 25 to June 14. Through this program, foreign exchange students sign up to be tutors for a select group of Dankookians (Students of DKU) to share their language and culture. The program is ideal for students who are interested in exploring beyond just a foreign language.
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| ▲ Aida Zamani teaching English to Dankookians during her Native Tutoring Program. (Photo from DKH) |
The Native Speaker Tutoring Program is available for freshman to junior level students on both the Cheonan and Jukjeon campuses. Each class consists of one foreign exchange student and five DKU students and is held once a week for 2 hours over 12 weeks. The service is free, however, if the attendance rate is less than 70%, support for the tutoring program will be limited in the future. Those who complete the program will get a certificate of completion and additional points granted when applying for exchange and language training programs. Currently, the languages available are English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and French. The nationality varies from the Americans to Bruneian. To learn more about the program, The Dankook Herald interviewed two tutors and two students who are currently enrolled in the program.
Tani Tomase (Sophomore, Dept. of History)
Tani Tomase has been participating in the Native Tutoring Program since last semester. She serves as a Japanese language and culture tutor. She learned about this program through a recommendation from her dormitory teacher. Tani said, she had not been socially active in Korea, and she wanted more time to hang out with Korean students. She said that she is satisfied with learning Korean from Dankookians while teaching Japanese. When she first took on the role of tutor last semester, she didn't know how to lead the class, but she noticed that each student had a different learning speed, so she started looking for more efficient and effective teaching methods. She said that she wants to study English to be able to be a tutor for that language in the future.
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| ▲ Interview With Tani Tomase and Kim-Seo hyeon (Photo from DKH) |
Kim Seo-hyeon (Junior, School of Business Administration)
Kim Seo-hyun applied for the Native Tutoring Program to improve her Japanese skills. Kim found it difficult to self-correct her pronunciation when studying alone and believes the tutoring helped her a lot with real conversations by correcting her when she used inappropriate words or pronounced them incorrectly. She is participating in both the Native Tutoring Program at the International Hall and the dormitory. The dormitory native tutoring program runs with the use of textbooks, while the program at the International Hall discusses topics set by tutors, which helps improve her Japanese skills in diverse ways. She said that sometimes she gets help from a translator or the Internet when she uses words that were not covered in conversations, but she did not feel much of a language barrier because the tutors were fluent in Korean. She expressed her desire to participate as a Korean mentor if she has the chance in the future.
Aida Zamani (Sophomore, School of Political Science and International Relations)
Aida Zamani applied to this program because she wanted to try something new, and she appreciated the opportunity to meet Korean students while she is at DKU. She tries not to put too much pressure on her fellow Dankookians by making her sessions a stress-free environment. She says as a result, Dankookians have shown more eagerness to learn. She believes that being comfortable speaking and asking questions is vital to learning a language, so she tries her best to make Dankookians comfortable. She completed her third lesson and thinks the highlight of this program is getting to know the other Dankookians. From her perspective, she had a chance to learn about Korean culture and Korean slang such as ‘sseom’ and ‘jjak sarang,’ but sometimes she finds tutoring difficult because she is kind of shy, and feels awkward. She feels like she is not the best teacher, but she is willing to try hard. She says if she stays longer at DKU, she will certainly apply for the tutoring program again.
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| ▲ Interview With Yoo Soo-Hyeon, a Student In Aida Zamani’s Class (Photo from DKH) |
Yoo Soo-hyeon (Senior, Dept of Electronics and Electrical Engineering Major)
It was Yoo’s first time participating in this tutoring program, and she applied for it because she wanted to have a real chance to speak English and learn about cultures from other countries by meeting foreign Dankookians. It was her love for the American TV series ‘The Walking Dead’ where she first she began listening to English a lot. She was frustrated with not having any real opportunities to use the English she knew. This program gave her that opportunity to, speak English and learn directly from native speakers. She said, even though she has only been to three classes so far, she enjoyed learning English spoken with various accents. By exposing herself to the different accents, she found herself paying less attention to pronunciation than before while gaining more confidence in her own abilities. However, she sometimes finds it difficult to express herself verbally even though she can recall words in her head during class. Nevertheless, she believes she will become more fluent as she continues with the lessons. She is sure that if she were in a lower grade, she would apply again, but try to take an advanced class or even study another language.
Both the tutors and their student participants expressed great enthusiasm for the program during the interviews. The program helps the tutors adjust to a new country and learn more about Korea, while the tutees benefit from the knowledge of a native speaker. If you missed applying for this semester's tutoring program, keep an eye out for upcoming sessions, as it is an excellent opportunity for a valuable experience.
박상우, 박지윤, Daka, Irene dankookherald@gmail.com
