매기가 한국에 대해 쓰다- Korean Exchange

This conference is organised and funded by the Korean Ministry of Education and the International Korean Language Education Foundation. It was held at the Hana Global Campus in Songdo, Incheon.

A total of 100 students from about 30 countries around the world participated in the training, including traditional performances, K-POP, and palace viewing, and it became a place for middle and high school students learning Korean from all over the world to meet and communicate.

Here is a review by Maggie, a student from our L1 Korean class who was fortunate enough to attend.

Sue Kim

안녕하세요 (Hello),

My name is Maggie Holtham and I graduated from Mackenzie College at this year’s award ceremony. At the start of the year, I decided that taking calculus as a class would not aid me in my goal to work in the entertainment industry, so I decided to learn a language instead. I started to learn the Korean language by distance through NetNZ because South Korea has one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world due to the rise of interest through Korean dramas/films and K-pop music. When I started to learn the language many people discouraged me and told me that it was a useless skill. I’ve had remarks like these thrown at me since I was young for wanting to work in the Entertainment industry so my skin is tougher than people know. After learning Korean for ten months my teacher said that there was an opportunity to travel to South Korea for a language exchange. As always, I took the opportunity and I was fortunate enough to be able to represent New Zealand in South Korea at the International Korean Education Language and Cultural Exchange. The trip was fully funded and organised by the Korean Education Foundation and one hundred students from thirty different countries were chosen to take part out of six thousand applicants. Before the trip, I was put into a group of ten students and we had Zoom sessions together when we learned about Korean history and literature. We each had to memorise and present a poem or essay to each other. The poem that I presented led me to be selected for the finals which would be held in South Korea during the exchange. We also had to learn a song from the musical ‘1446’ which was about King Se-Jong and his creation, ‘Hangul’ (the Korean characters). Because of the time-zone differences, I had meetings from 8 pm until 2 am for three nights in a row. Although it was tiring and difficult (and everyone in my group had been studying Korean for 4-5 years), we bonded as a group and were looking forward to meeting each other in South Korea.

During the exchange, we were rehearsing the song that we learned in the Zoom sessions because we were going to perform it at the award ceremony on the last day for the sponsors, organizers, and VIPs who would be present. During the rehearsals some of us auditioned to have a main role (singing part) during the song. The main roles were then given beautiful Hanboks (Korean traditional clothing) to wear where one person dressed as King Se-Jong in a beautiful red hanbok, there were two girls dressed as queens, two dressed as the King’s advisors, and four girls (including me) dressed as scholars. The other students dressed as ‘commoners’ but each of their Hanboks were just as beautiful. After we opened the award ceremony with the musical number, we listened to speeches presented by the organisation and sponsors of the exchange, which was then followed by the presentation of awards. I was one of the four students (out of one hundred students) to be given an excellence award for my poem presentation where I was presented a medal and certificate by the Chairman of the International Korean Education Centre. With this award, I now have more opportunities for further study or work in South Korea.

There were many highlights from the exchange including traveling to Seoul and thanking Hana Bank for sponsoring the exchange, going to Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Korean National Museum, experiencing a K-pop concert (Drippin and VIVIZ performed for us!), eating delicious Korean Food for every meal and meeting people from all over the world who had the same passion for learning. Every meal was a unique experience where I would sit with people from France, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and more, where we would all speak Korean to each other because none of us knew each other's native language. It was scary and difficult at first, however, by the second day we were all thinking and conversing with each other in Korean. This is an opportunity that I worked hard for and is an opportunity that I will never forget.

I highly recommend that everyone should take every opportunity that comes their way even if they don’t think they’re ready for it. When I was accepted for the trip I was very excited, however, I was scared because I had only been learning the Korean language for ten months. However, on the exchange, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by students and teachers who supported and encouraged me, where they were not there to bring me down but to raise me to the highest level. I now feel that I have grown as a person because I got to experience different cultures and languages where everyone around me was curious and excited for the future ahead of them. I was surrounded by like-minded people who each believed that they could do anything they set their minds to. I’m excited to see what the world has to offer me in the future because I know that if you work hard, anything is possible.

좋은 경험을 할 수 있도록 도와주신 김 선생님과 국제한국교육재단에 진심으로 감사드립니다.

I sincerely thank Ms. Kim and the International Korea Education Foundation for helping me have a good experience.

Photos provided by Maggie Holtham