7Applicableprinciple

Understanding International Cultures Seminars I/II Korean
Language Online Training
Department of International Cultural Studies, Iwate Prefectural University, Morioka Junior College
Keitaro Ishibashi, Professor, Aki Yoshihara, Associate Professor

Principle 10: A commitment to promoting inter-cultural dialogue and understanding,and the “unlearning” of intolerance, through education

1. Activity Overview

2. Activities and Effects

As we live in the world where global society is expanding,even if we live in Iwate, the various problems occurring in theworld are never just someone else’s problem. What is requiredof young people in the future is to possess an ability to see theevents happening around us and local issues from a higher
perspective and polish sensibility.
At the Department of International Cultural Studies, Iwate
Prefectural University, Morioka Junior College, we offer
students a variety of curriculum that allow them to broaden
their horizons from the region to the world and acquire
knowledge as a cosmopolitan.
However, since 2020, the situation has changed dramatically
due to the spread of COVID-19 around the world and we had
to change the way to operate classes at the collage. In averageyears, overseas training in the United States or South Korea
would be held in the first year's “Understanding InternationalCultures Seminar”, but in 2020, we had no choice but to cancel
it. In 2021, we decided to provide online training for the firsttime in order to ensure that students have the opportunity tolearn foreign languages and different cultures. Seven students
took the Korean short-term online course offered by theInstitute of International Education, Kyung Hee University.

During the three weeks program, students learned Korean
grammar and improved their speaking skills in various
situations in the morning, and in the afternoon, they studied
Korean cultures such as K-POP, Korean dramas, and Hangul
calligraphy. The advantage of online classes is that students
can take lessons wherever they like, but since this was thefirst time trial, all of students came to school and took lessons
by classes according to their ability. Because each class had
small number of students, they could enjoy full advantage ofreceiving careful guidance from their teachers. Also, there
was a program called “doumi (helper)” where students could
interact one-on-one with Korean students of Kyung Hee
University, and the students deepened their friendships with
their Korean buddies.
The purpose of the Korean language training is to learn
Hangeul, Korean cultures and history, and to learn attitudes tounderstand different cultures through interaction with Koreanstudents. Due to the impact of COVID-19, online classes were
held this year, but the result was more than we had expected;
not only did they learn Hangul, but they also interacted withdoumi, making it a fruitful opportunity for the students.
Even during COVID-19, the students actively participated in
the online training and worked hard to learn the language andto absorb as much as possible. As one of the options, we areconsidering incorporating online classes in our curriculum inthe future.

Korean language online training

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