Hello, my name is Hope Sole, and I’m year 12 student at Taradale High school

Right now, I’m taking an NCEA Korean course through NetNZ with my teacher Sue Kim. I never thought about doing a virtual learning course until in the middle of year 11 when I asked my teacher if there were any Korean classes, as I wanted to get as many opportunities to learn Korean as possible. For two and a half years before I started I had studied by myself numerous times using many resources such as YouTube, books, taekwondo, and learning apps. As learning a language was very difficult for me, I had many obstacles to face. I had no idea where to start. One of the obstacles I faced was living in a small town in Hawkes Bay where Korean classes were not available, but I did find many Korean friends who could teach me.

My goal for the future is to be able to teach English to young Korean students. I want to do this because I think English is essential for kids at a young age so they’re bilingual when they’re older. NetNZ is helping me get closer to my dream by not only helping me with Korean, but also the teaching aspects of it as well. Through this, I have learnt many ways to organise my work and be more independent. Therefore, as a student of NetNZ Korean I think that this is the path that’ll lead me to my dream faster and will give me many life tips until I achieve It. NetNZ is leading many students through the path to university because It helps them understand more openly about what they want to do. For example, NetNZ Korean gave the students an opportunity to go on a trip to South Korea. In my opinion, this is a really good way of experiencing different cultures, languages, different surroundings, and maybe planning your future in a different country.

- Hope Sole (Taradale High school)