Reflection on culture exchange

When I started the culture exchange project among international students, I believed that Korean students can casually write their thoughts about various topics related with Korean, American, and Korean cultures. Therefore, I argued as followed.

"I argue that Korean students' English is good enough to communicate with foreign friends in a casual manner. Moreover, I hope my students will achieve high scores from Korean SAT. I study the patterns in English learning under the ESL context and the EFL context because a language and its context determine the ontology and epistemology of a culture, the meaning making system. Let's exchange our inquiries about cultures and languages."

However, I found that Korean students' communication using English took place only when the counterparts are ready to communicate with Korean students. Korean students complained to me that they hope to join the conversation through commenting other students’ blogs but it took too many hours for them to write their opinions in English. I frequently guided students to read other students blogs and post comments. It took 30 minutes to two hours for me to help one student to complete the whole process to do blogging.

Nevertheless, communications go on under such a powerful hegemony of English since students of Anderson High School and those of Hawkesdale tried to leave their comments to my students’ blogs and guess what my students mean by their English comments with a number of ungrammatical errors.

I have struggled for my students’ successful communication over three blocks. First, Korean SAT took away almost all the time from my students who might try to invest their time for culture exchange project. Their preparation for college entrance narrows students' focus into only studying for tests provided by private academy and Korean government.
Second, Korean students use diverse portal sites such as cyworld, naver, and daum rather than google. Therefore, it is hard for me to let my students to create a new g-mail account and blog account, giving up their resources in their websites in other portal sites. Korean portal sites usually set up strong user-friendly systems when it comes to Korean students' personal website management.
Third, Korean students are too busy with utilizing a barrage of electric equipments such as MP3, PMP, cell-phones, computer games, various web sites of academic materials and cable TV programs. It is hard for me to persuade my students to find time for blogging with foreign friends communicating with new way, namely, using blogs, in foreign language.

Finally, I felt rewarded because the culture exchange raised Korean students’ cultural consciousness and sensitivity on various peoples. Korean students are homogenous when compared to students of the Anderson High School. Therefore, they are not aware of the existence of various immigrants in the United States. In addition, Korean students find opportunities to make as many friends through utksa1.blogspot.com. The site seems to work as the portal site for students who are looking for foreign students' blog with critical perspectives on diverse issues about peoples' diversity in the world.

I slightly change my argument now. Korean students can communicate with foreign students only when the counterparts are ready to communicate with Korean students. Students’ understanding on each others’ culture absolutely facilitate their communication.

Yuna Kim, Korean figure skater

Grown up (Christmas list)

Culture exchange package from the USA

앤더슨 고등학교에서 소포가 도착했습니다.
학교 티셔츠에 모든 학생들이 싸인을 했고, 학생들의 사진과, 학생들이 직접 녹화한 시디가 담겨 있었습니다. 이 글을 보는 학생들은 김수미 선생님께 와서 미국에서 온 소포의 내용물을 확인하세요.
혹 호주에서 온 소포의 내용물을 확인하지 못한 학생들도 언제든지 와서 구경하고 가세요.
모두 대환영입니다.
선생님 자리는 교무실에서 가장 중심에 있습니다. 조만간 이번 문화교류 프로젝트에 참가했던 모든 학생들을 만나고 싶습니다.

I received culture exchange package stuffed by students of Anderson High School.
There were the school T-shirt with signs of all the students of Anderson High School; a CD composed of students' reflections on this projects and greetings; and photos of the groups of students. I am excited to show this to my students. All the students have gorgeous and kind smile. My students will be motivated to leave more comments on other students' blogs. I wish there would be more and more comment exchanges.

student's comment on culture exchange

Jaeha, Youngsoo, Joohan

Thank you video

Unexpected gift from heaven

I heard some screaming in the middle of class time.
Something exciting must have happened.
Looking outside the window, I found that snow came down.
It's rare that we have snow in Busan although it is winter.
My heart leaps like those students who record this moment with their friends.

When I was at Austin this january, I had three additional days off school becasue of snow on the beggining day of new semester. People in Austin were excited with snow since they had rarely had snow. Do you remember?

Messages from Korea

Some of students wondered if American and Australian friends received their messages or not. I told my students that Thanksgiving season in the United States were peaceful and relaxing. Therefore, it took more time for us to receive the response from students in Anderson High School. My students and I are waiting for responses on our messages. I have showed the video uploaded by Ms. Anne and her students reading my card and students' introduction. My students were excited. Some of them came to me and asked if they were able to join the culture exchange project though it was the last moment. I explained them how to create a google account and so on. However, they seemed to be busy in preparing their final term exams. ;-)
I felt sorry for Hyunjung's friends in the Anderson High School since I had sent her card to Australia. Please leave Hyunjung and Sanghyun's blogs friendly comments if you don't mind. I post a picture of her work and Sanghyun's work.

블로그일지 주제

블로그 일지쓰기의 마지막 주제입니다. 그동안 블로그를 운영하면서 느낀 감상을 적어 보세요.

11/30-12/13
1. 블로그를 통한 문화교류에 대한 소감, 제안, 부탁을 적어 주세요.
(How do you think about this culture exchange project thorugh blogs? What do you like or dislike about this activity? Any suggestions for future improvement?)

2. 자신의 그룹에 있는 블로그 2개를 방문하고, 블로그의 글에 대한 소감 남겨주기.

11/16-11/29
1. 한국에는 다양한 인종이 살고 있습니까?
한국사회는 외국인과 그들의 문화를 이해하기 위해서 사회적으로 지원하고 있습니까?
(Does your country have diverse populations? how does or does nnot your country promote understnadning among people from differne backgrounds?)

2. 자신의 그룹에 있는 블로그 2개를 방문하고, 블로그의 글에 대한 소감 남겨주기.

어려운 점이 있거나 궁금한 점이 있으면, 김수미선생님께 물어보세요.

Visiting my cousin's Wedding

I went to Seoul to meet my sister, her family, relatives, and friends.

Lovely bride, Joohyung tied the knot with a fashionable and kind guy.

I did not know of him very well, but heard that he was such a fashionable young designer.

In addition to meeting my family, I met a famous singer, Ho-young Son who is one member of GOD.

I can say that visiting Seoul was a lot of fun.

우리, 사직고, 한국 소개

몇 몇 학생들에게 이야기 했듯이,
우리 학생들, 사직고등학교, 한국에 대해서 소개하는 소포꾸러미를 만들어볼까 합니다.
소포를 부치는 비용은 선생님이 부담할테니,
여러분은 자신의 사진이나, 작은 엽서, 인형, 책갈피, 명함, 전통카드, 그림등을 가져와 주세요. 자기 소개는 영어로 혹은 한글로 써도 좋습니다. 앤더슨 고등학교에서는 사진, 카드, 자기들의 싸인을 한 티셔츠등을 보낼 생각이라합니다. 문화알리기 꾸러미를 만들 소품은 11월 3일까지 받겠습니다. 그림, 사진, 카드 등등여러분의 매력을 마음껏 보여줄 수 있는 물건을 기다립니다.
미국 학교에 여러분의 소개, 우리학교의 소개, 혹은 한국의 소개를 잘 하면 재밌는 추억 하나가 생길거예요. 앤더슨 고등학교에서 소포가 도착하면 우리학교 교무실이나 1학년실에 게시할까 합니다.
사직고등학교에 애정을 많이 가지고 있어서, 최근에 사직고등학교를 욕하고, 선생님께 기본 예절을 갖출지도 모르는 일부 학생들때문에 실망을 했더랬습니다. 그런 학생들이 소수라고 믿었기에, 실망이 더욱 컸던 것 같습니다. 컴퓨터 게임에 중독이 되거나, 폭력적이고 선정적인 문화에 탐닉하거나, 사직고등학교의 부정적인 면만을 부각시키는 학생들을 보면 안타깝습니다. 선생님과 사회를 비난하고만 있기에는 학생 여러분에게 주어진 학창시절이 너무 아깝습니다. 어쨌거나, 사직고에서 좋은 추억을 만드는 것은 우리 학생들에게 달려 있다는 제 믿음은 변함이 없습니다.
문화교류를 위한 소포 보내기에 관심 가져주길 바랍니다. 여러분을 표현할 수 있는 물건을 가져와 주세요.

Dear all,

Dear all,

Hi, I am Sumi Kim, nicknamed "Friend."

In Korea, My students are volunteering to participate in this project. I have no special class to be set for this project. Although my students are excited to make foreign friends but they felt in difficulty writing their postings in English. As far as they come to me, I try to help their writing. And some students are devoting quite a good time to writing their comments in English.
You know what... when my students receive your students' postings, they look so happy to tell it to me. ;-)
Of course, my students did not consider the illegal immigrants in the United States and the problems before setting the topic. Now, they started to think about it and they also felt that Koreans might act ignorantly to immigrants from south-eastern Asian countries or China. I let my students write their opinions in Korean and found them to be similar with those written by the students of Anderson High.

Anne, I saw your students' struggling to use the interpreter from English to Korean to communicate my with students. I really appreciate it.
My blog project students are in the first year of the Sajik High School while I am in charge of students in the third year. For the third year students’ teachers, preparation for the Korean SAT takes lots of time and efforts. Korean SAT lies on November 13th , which is such a serious day for all Koreans. Air plane stop flying or landing at the time set to listen to Korean and English scripts and questions. Police Officers arrange traffics from 5-6 in the morning. Junior students cheer for their seniors at the gate of test places here and there. Teachers are prohibited from calling or receiving calls from 7:30 to 17:00 or 18:00, during the tests.

I am able to find more time to help my culture exchange students after the Korean SAT. In addition, I was out of my country for ten days. After coming back, I should catch up all my work left behind. Now I am catching up almost all the work. ;-)
Still, I help my first year students from time to time. Why? Because I felt rewarded when I looked my students' happy face. So, if you need any interpretation, please feel free to write them to me. I can imagine your happy face, as well.

Wish you another happy week.
Sumi.

Visiting Schools in the USA

I have visited some schools with special programs to research their curriculum operation. While researching those schools, I felt the multiculture in the United States strongly. I have been to schools with more African American population and Asian American population.

Showing those pictures to Sajik High School students seemed to lead them to understanding the various people and overcoming their streotypes against the US people.

Just a short reminder of your topics

9/21-10/4 포스팅 주제: 한국에 있는 이민자들에 대한 여러분의 의견

10/19-11/1 포스팅 주제: 한국 국민이 테러를 당한 적이 있습니까? 한국정부와 사회단체는 국제 테러를 예방하기 위해 어떤 조치를 취하고 있습니까?

선생님이 예전에 나주어 주었던 culture exchange 프로젝트의 일지를 읽어 보세요.
앤더슨 고등학교와 호주의 학생들이 이번 주에는 미국의 불법이민자와 관련하여 발생하는 문제에 대해 자신의 생각을 적고 있는 중입니다. 우리도 동남아시아인, 조선족등과 관련하여 불법이민의 문제가 존재하므로, 이런 문제에 대해 여러분의 생각을 적어보세요. 미녀들의 수다에서 들은 내용에 대해 써 보는 것도 좋겠습니다. 혹 도움이 필요하면 김수미선생님께 메일을 보내주세요.

I love Han-geul.

http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=C25iBCKYPdw

주의사항

11006 김은지 학생의 블로그를 찾을 수 없다는 연락이 왔습니다.
은지는 왜 그런지 선생님께 이유를 설명해 주길 바랍니다.

21조 호주의 제이든 학생의 블로그는 악성 바이러스에 감염되었다고 합니다.
방문을 하지 않도록 합니다.

2학기 중간고사 준비 열심히 하고,
시험치고나서 다시 블로그의 글쓰기 활동을 재개하세요.

Creat Google ID and leave a comment

utksa1.blogspot.com
앤더슨 고등학교 학생들의 블로그 리스트를 다 나누어 주었습니다.
여러분이 코멘트(comment)를 남기려고 하면, Google의 아이디와 비밀번호가 필요합니다.
Google 아이디 만들기 요령은 다음과 같습니다.
http://www.gmail.com/ -> Gmail에 가입하기 -> 성, 이름, 비밀번호, 단어확인 등을 기입 -> "동의합니다. 내 계정을 만들겠습니다."
이제 여러분은 google blog에 여러분의 글을 남길 수 있습니다.
앞으로 블로그와 관련된 공지는 김수미 선생님의 영어논술반을 통해서 하겠습니다.
I love to hear your opinions on the culture exchange project 08.

Comments from Dorothy, my best friend...

Hello just a reminder for the students. Most of the particiants out side of South Korea do not speak Koreean, please change your blog to English settings so that we can read the menus. Also, please open your blog to public if you have not done so. Thank you so much guys. You are the best!

수미샘, 학생들에게 알려주세요.
미국, 오스트렐리아, 대만 학생들이 거의 대부분 한국어를 전혀 몰라요.
블로그의 메뉴를 영어로 세팅하지 않으면, 학생들이 메뉴을 읽지 못해요.
그리고, 글쓰기를 모든 이에게 허용해주었으면, 좋겠어요.
학생 여러분이 최고예요!!!
외국에 있는 친구들을 사귀려고 블로그를 만들어주고, 포스팅을 해 주어서 고맙습니다~~~

수미샘 추가 공지: 미국에서는 180명정도 호주에서는 50명정도가 이 프로젝트에 참가한다고 하네요. 대만 대신 캘리포니아 지역의 고등학생들이 추가될 것 같구요. 학생 여러분 블로그 예쁘게 꾸며 놓으세요. 영어 소개 꼭 올리구요. 내가 바쁜만큼...학생들이 친구를 많이 사귀어야 할텐데...

Extrcurricular Activities

CA 시간에 블로그에 남길 글을 영작하기 위해서 다양한 자료를 수집하고 읽으려고 합니다.
적당한 제목을 생각하다 영어논술반 이라고 했습니다.

주제: 자기소개 (취미,애완동물,가족,학교,친구)
Topic: Introduce yourself. Please share with us anything about you including your hobbies, pets, family, school, friends…..
주제: 여름방학동안 생겼던 재미있거나 기억에 남는 일 Topic: What did you do during the summer, any interesting events/activities?
주제3:.... 주제4:..... 기타등등...

주제와 관련된 질의 및 응답, 자료를 나누어 주고자 합니다. 친구들에게 홍보해주세요.

week1:9/7-9/13

주제: 자기소개 (취미,애완동물,가족,학교,친구)
Topic: Introduce yourself.
Please share with us anything about you including your hobbies, pets, family, school, friends…..
(Reply to two other students’ blogs from ANOTHER COUNTRY)
다른 나라 친구의 블로그에 가보고 구경한 후, 답글 달아주기
ex) "I like your blog because ~", "It's very fancy.", "I am interested in (친구의 취미, 특기) like you."
블로그에 답글을 남겨준 친구에 대해서 블로그 일지에 기록해주세요.
12월에 일지를 제출하는 학생에게는 멋진 기념품을 드립니다.^^

Topic:Immigration

유티 오스틴에서 공부할 때, 가장 좋아하고 존경했던 bilingual & bilcultural education 을 담당하던 Deb Palmer 교수님. 이 분은 미국에서 살고 있는 이민자들, 그 중에서도 라티노 이민자들에게 관심이 많다. 미국과 마찬가지로 한국도 중동, 동남아시아, 중국, 러시아 등등 많은 국가들에서 이민자들을 받아 들이고 있다.
한국에서 외국인 노동자들에게 궂은 일, 험한 일을 시키면서 외국인 노동자들을 차별하거나, 이들을 무식한 사람, 범죄를 저지르기 쉬운 사람으로 편견을 가지거나, 한국에서 정상적인 삶을 유지하기 어려운 환경을 만들어 놓고서는 무관심하지 않은지... Hegemony of language를 배우면서 나는 문화적 자산이 풍부한 언어가 다른 언어를 쓰는 사람들에 대한 차별과 편견을 당연한 것으로 만들어가는 과정에 대해 배웠다.
문화적, 언어적 차이에 따라서 차별을 당하는 일은 비일비재하다. 다음의 기사는 우수한 성적은 받은 학생이 막상 십수년전에 아버지가 불법이민 기록을 남기는 바람에 원하는 대학에 진학할 수 없게 되었을 뿐만 아니라, 미국에서 추방당할 수도 있는 어려움에 처한 이야기이다. 우리는 법을 정하되 그 법으로 인해 인간의 존엄성이 침해당하지 않을 수 있도록 할 수 있는 자신감과 배려가 필요한 시대를 살아가고 있다.
Just click the URL below to read the article
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/06/BA62125LDF.DTL

Welcome to Korean Culture

http://news.prkorea.com/

There are a lot of stereotypes and prejudices regarding Korea due to wrong information and misunderstanding.
The site above enlists knowledge as well as misconception around Korea.

방학동안 메일주세요.

당분간 1학년 학생들을 못 보게 될 것 같아요.
9월에 다시 볼 수 있겠지만 그래도 아쉽네요. ;-)
혹 궁금한 점이 있으면, 여기에 커멘트를 남기거나 선생님께 이메일을 보내주세요.
전자상의 최고의 친구 @ 뜨거운 메일
알죠?
Bye~~

E-mail from Dorothy

외국친구 사귀기 프로젝트에 대해 이해하기 쉬우라고 미국에서 온 메일을 번역 게시합니다.

Hello Sumi, Thank you so much for the list.
Actually I had my friendJeongwon Woo showing me how Naver and cyworld works.
(우정원 박사님이 네이버와 싸이월드의 기능에 대해서 설명해주셨는데,)
These two sitesare indeed fancier than google Blogger ^^
(네이버와 싸이월드 가 구글 블로그 못지않게 멋져요.)
If it is not too much trouble for you, could you please remind your friends the followingthings in order to promote more interaction among students fromdifferent countries.
(앤더슨 고등학교와 사직고등학교 학생들간의 교류를 편리하게 할 수 있도록, 학생들에게 몇가지 부탁을 해 줄래요?)

1. Change the menus to English (메뉴를 영어로 바꿔주세요.)
2. If they use Cyworld, ask them to open the "visitor's" comment.
(싸이월드에는, "visitor's" commnet 란을 만들어 주세요.)
3. Start adding more English entries (제목이나 내용을 영어로 올려 주세요.)

Please ask them to putthemselves in English Speakers' shoes and imaging what theirexperience would be like if they visit a page with a language theydon't understand.
(영어권, 중국어권 학생들은 국어를 거의 읽을 수 없기 때문에, 영어로 쓰여진 제목이나 내용이 없으면 당황하고 실망할 거예요.)
Other than that, I am really impressed with your students' energy and creativity ^^
(나도 한국학생들의 에너지와 창의성을 느끼긴 했지만, 한글로만 쓰여져 있어서 무슨 내용인지 전혀 알 수가 없었어요. 블로그 내용을 읽을 수 없어서 섭섭했어요.)
You are lucky to have those cute bunch of students.
(어쨌거나, 수미샘의 학생들이 멋지고 귀여워요.)
Americanstudents will start school on Aug 25th.
(미국 학생들은 8월 25일부터 신학기를 시작합니다.)
Please encoruage them to post as many English posts aspossible Based on the topics we gave them (reguired, to scaffoldperspective exchange on issues).
(토론할 주제와 관련된 여러분의 의견이나 관련 기사를 많이 올려 주세요.)

Thank you so much Sumi. This sounds like a good start. I am still waiting for Germany andIndian teacher's response. We will play it by the ears ^^
Take Care!

Reagrds,
Dorothy

Students' interest in culture exchange

I have found almost 100 students who are interested in exchanging their comments with students in Taiwan and in the United States. Some of them do not have their own blogs yet. As soon as they finish to make theirs, I will arrange students' blog list and send them to Dorothy.
Hurry up, boys and girls. You will make new friends soon!!!

Historic records on the Dokdo in the East Sea

1. 노무현대한민국전임대통령-독도 명연설
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIt6Q42vVdw&feature=related

2. Korean Territory, Dokdo 독도 (korean) part.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yV7TYtUeqY

3. Dokdo Island Scenery of Korea in FS2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEAYDmsQzvQ&feature=related

4. 독도가 옛날부터 우리 땅인 역사적 근거:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-XpuxJh28A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFBQoEW05XE&feature=related

Smile, smile, smile :)

My students and I were happy because

Our summer vacation started.

Gwangan Bridge in Busan(a.k.a. Pusan), Korea

Gwangan Bridge is famous for the fireworks festival.

Million zillion vehicles cross over the bridge a day.

From the one end of the brideg, I cannot see the other end.

For someone who is curious about Korean culture,

I include one website with lots of useful info.

You will have a good time.

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/1071_Culture.jsp

http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/intro.html

Austin's Famous

I have been to the Oasis on a stiff cliff.
I told a server that it was my last day in Austin and my first visit to the restaurant.
When I walked to the fence to see the sunset, he kindly asked me if I wanted to be pictured.
In addition to the Oasis, the Mozart is famous for its cheese cake, coffee and lake view while the Wildflower Center is famous for Lady Bird Johnson's spirit to keep the nature in the middle of cities.
http://www.oasis-austin.com/
http://www.mozartscoffee.com/
http://www.wildflower.org/

This might help you to taste a little flavor of Austin.
Next post is going to be about Busan, the city facing the pacific ocean.

Meeting a parent

With one parent of the Sajik High School, I supervised students who took the final term tests. I introduced the cultural exchange project to her. It's a good opportunity for me to inform the parent of their children's chances to make foreign friends. She looked interested in high school students' cultural exchange through blogs. I wish her daugther felt the same way.

Final term exam

I try to attract some students to exchange comments through using blogs. I thought that students were interested in exchanging blog address with foreign friends. However, different from my expectation, it looks that a few students use blogs and many students thought their English is not enough to communicate with foreign students. Now, I have two tasks. How can I persuade students to make and manage blogs rather than to do games? How can I let my students realize that their English is not so horrible level?
Anyway, Students are in the middle of the preparation for the final exam. Sometimes, I feel sorry that my students are not interested in making foreign friends since they think it is the happening in the world where they will not belong to.

Once I volunteered for UT Korean Student Association

The UT at Austin: Commencement May 2008

Anderson High

Dorothy, my friend ;-)

I will participate a research anchored by Dorothy or Shih-Ting.
*Shih-Ting (Dorothy) Lee/ Ph.D candidate, UTexas C&I Department/
Specializing in Instructional Technology*
Yesterday, two students came to me to ask if they can participate in the "Culture Exchange" project of Dorothy and I. I tried to show them her blog but forgot the URL.
Here it is.
Sumi's
http://utksa1.blogspot.com
Dorothy's
http://cultureexchange08.blogspot.com/
If they come back, I will show them blogs of she and I.

Coming back home

It is relaxing to meet my family and relatives.
Talking to friends is good.
I am almost ready to going back to work.

Ryuichi Sakamoto Trio 1996 - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

Creating a blog

Thanks for Dorothy, I created a blog.
I wish I filled this blog with friendly and useful comments.
This blog aims to channel people with diverse cultures.
Welcome to my blog.