CEFIA News

The Division of Understanding Korea Project of the Center for International Affairs of the Academy of Korean Studies hosted the "2021 Online AKS Program for Educators in North America" from July 7-9, 2021. The education cooperation program was designed to extend the scope of the Understanding Korea Project and draw more foreign education experts by building regional networks and providing a forum for sharing information. The program, which started with the European region last year, engaged education experts in North America this year.

The two-day seminar began with a welcoming address by Yoonghee Jo, director of the Center for International Affairs, and an introduction of the Understanding Korea Project by Wonsuk Chang, head of Division of Understanding Korea Project. Presentations and discussions were made on the topic "Teaching about Korea in the North American Schools."

James Feldman, a teacher at Lake Shore High School, presented a teaching method for using comparison of King Sejong and Frederick the Great in American secondary school history classes. Terence Mitchell, a teacher at Dwight School Seoul, presented and discussed additional class contents.

Canadian educators -- Jim Pedrech, a teacher at Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School, and Rachel Collishaw, president of the Social Studies Network of Canada – spoke on the topic of "Canada's View" and presented the development of Korean modules and Korea-related teaching methods to be used at Canadian schools. Lee Yoo-kyung, an adjunct professor at Boise State University, participated as a panelist and led lively discussions about the status of Korea-related classes in Canada and topics for Korea-related classes.

Claire Walter, a teacher at Wolcott College Prep, made a presentation on a teaching method of using Lee Mun-yol's novel "Our Twisted Hero" in American high school English classes to identify the social, political, economic, religious and military contexts of Korea. Dr. Marcy Tanter gave a presentation on the Korean history and Korea-U.S. relationship surrounding the Gwangju Democratic Movement. Professor Michael Seth of James Madison University attended both the two sessions as a panelist and presented various opinions on modern Korean history.

Professor Park Byung-guk of Lorain College, speaking on Asian literature and Korean literature in postcolonial world literature, introduced prominent Korean literature translators and translation works. Steve Danzis, a learning experience designer at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, suggested inclusion of Korean literature in American high school textbooks.

Lastly, Kim Da-hee, a researcher at the Division of Understanding Korea Project, spoke on the topic of measures to expand Korea-related contents in North American school classes. She shared information on topics that can include Korea-related contents in the U.S. and Canadian weekly curricula and Korea-related materials that can be used in classes.

Korea-related lectures were presented as the last event of the program. Professor Lee Jin-hee of Eastern Illinois University gave a lecture on history education in North American school classes and Dr. Kwon Hyun-suk of Hanyang University spoke on the history of K-pop. The lectures gave time to understand and discuss Korean history and culture.

The program provided an opportunity to understand the status of Korea-related classes, teaching and learning materials, and weekly curricula in North America, and to discuss measures to expand Korea-related classes. The program also helped strengthen networks with education experts in the U.S. and Canada, laying the foundation for mutual cooperation to improve, supplement and create Korea-related contents in textbooks.

The Division of Understanding Korea Project Center for International Affairs of the Academy of Korean Studies hosted "Online Textbook Seminar for Educators of Uzbekistan" for three days from July 28, 2021 (Wednesday) to July 30 (Friday), 2021. Four people attended the program -- head of the Republican Education Center under Uzbekistan's Ministry of Public Education, and three researchers from the Center – one each in history, geography and science department.

The training program was conducted online due to the global spread of COVID-19. Uzbekistani participants in the program attended a seminar with Korean speakers, including the researchers of the Division of Understanding Korea Project, to look over the two countries' educational system, textbook system, and the way Korea-related contents are written in Uzbekistan's social studies textbooks. The seminar helped the participants discuss prospects of education in the two countries and ways to promote educational and academic cooperation.

Meanwhile, the Academy of Korean Studies and the Uzbekistani Republican Education Center agreed to cooperate to expand educational and academic exchanges including organization of regular seminars and conferences. The two institutions also shared the view that the two countries make mutual efforts to put accurate and plentiful contents about each other in their textbooks.

The training program participants from the Uzbekistan Republic Education Center expressed interest in lectures on Korea's economy, cultural similarities and exchanges between Korea and Uzbekistan. They empathized with the common elements of the two countries' cultures and presented their opinions on ways to maintain and expand cooperative relations between the two countries. The Uzbekistani participants also expressed interest in interpreting and approaching Korean culture from a fresh viewpoint and mentioned that the program offered an opportunity for them to have a positive attitude in understanding Korean culture.

The textbook experts from Uzbekistan who participated in the Korean culture training program said they were watchful of the COVID-19 situation, and praised highly the advanced level of Korea's quarantine system and online education. They hoped to visit Korea in person to have diverse experience and discuss ways of educational cooperation between the two countries. They also discussed specific measures to maintain wide relations between Korea and Uzbekistan, including cooperation on textbooks.