By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Maiya Li from Kazakhstan

The concept of a foreign language hagwon cram academy, or small extracurricular school, normally to learn English, is quite widespread in Korea. No matter what the status of the family or what revenue it has annually, parents usually want their children to master this or that language or discipline, starting at a very young age.

Usually, children in Korea start to attend such cram academies when they're in elementary school, and, basically, English and math are in the highest demand.

However, some such tutoring companies provide not only strict learning systems, but also put lots of effort into entertaining the kids, especially if they are still young learners and have a long way to go. One of the English hagwons I visited recently is a home-based tutoring center in Namyang-ju for about 20 kids and some university students. It was founded by a person named J.Y., so the school is called J.Y. English. Besides regular English classes, it also provides what's called its Global Talk program, which is basically a periodic get-together organized with the purposes of having a friendly talk with non-Korean people. As far as I know, 19 speakers have already visited the cram academy.

Thanks to a representative from the Kazakhstani embassy in Korea, Olzhas Raev, I got the chance to talk about my country, Kazakhstan, and was also supposed to talk about related things, like heritage and traditions, food and the arts. Aside from me, there were some other lecturers, like an Iranian student, and one Indian professor who got married to a Korean citizen 14 years ago and has lived happily in Korea since then.

This was my first experience to give any lecture to children. I'm pretty confident about delivering speeches regarding a plethora of topics in front of adults, but this was not the case. I had to stand and talk in front of elementary and middle school kids who didn’t speak much English and who had no idea what Kazakhstan was. It was insane. I did some preparation, of course, like brining some pictures of Kazakhstan and some Kazakhstani chocolate, and also showed them some interesting videos after my speech. It wasn’t easy, I have to admit. I was a bit nervous while more than dozens of eyes were staring at me and waiting for some entertainment.

Luckily, my first experience lecturing kids wasn't that bad. The kids were happy with their chocolate and asked me questions like, “Why do you eat horse meat?” or “Are Kazakhstani girls beautiful?”

I realized that such learning strategies are really helpful and easy for kids to get a notion about a different society and also to practice their English with various types of speakers and accents.

wisdom117@korea.kr

* This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.