Young-Yeop Kim, teacher

Could you introduce yourself and your institute?

As we’re heading towards the end of the year, it’s an honor to introduce myself to everyone at KSIs around the world. I’m Young-yeop Kim and a Korean language teacher at KSI Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan since 2017. We have about 500 students at the institute annually. As we have a lot of students, it’s quite a big institute with 12 teaching staffs. Our KSI is located at Arabaev Kyrgyz State University so there are many university students and also high school students. Most of the students learn Korean to pursue their further studies in Korea.

 

​ Tell us about Bishkek where the institute is situated.

Bishkek is a relatively small capital and has a population of one million people. There aren’t many tourist attractions in Bishkek but there are beautiful mountains and lakes in the suburbs. It’s even called as ‘Alps of Central Asia’. Also Kyrgyzstan is famous for its livestock and dairy industries using sheep, cattle, and horses.

 

​ Why did you decide to become a Korean language teacher?

It was my college years when I got involved in Korean language education. My major was Russian. Before I graduated from university, I was dispatched to Sakha Republic as a Korean language teacher at a Sakha-Korean school. At the beginning, I had planned to stay for a year. However, as I was teaching, I had a strong sense of mission and stayed there for four years. After coming back to Korea, I pursued a degree in 'Korean Language Education as a Foreign Language' and ‘Korean studies.’ In addition, I taught Korean at a language institute of local university. However, I wanted to teach Korean language to learners in the countries in which Russian is an official language and I have been teaching at King Sejong Institute since 2016.

 

​ Please share major strength of KSI Bishkek.

We pride ourselves on our various courses of Korean language and culture. We offer courses ranging from Beginner level 1A and Intermediate level 2B (Sejong Korean 1~8) to Advanced level.

So we can accommodate students at any level. What about Korean cultural classes? We actually provide more than five different classes with professional teachers of traditional dance, samulnori (traditional percussion quartet), taekwondo, and K-pop. We have even conducted Sejong Cultural Academy for two consecutive years.

 

​ In what aspects do you pay special attention to when teaching Korean to

     Kyrgyzstan students?

In fact, it’s relatively easy to teach them. Word order of Korean and Kyrgyz is the same. Also both languages share many similar grammatical aspects such as conjunctions and concluding words. So, Kyrgyzstan students tend to learn Korean easily. Furthermore, it’s not just the language but its culture of respecting the elderly and value of community is quite similar to that of Korea. I believe that Kyrgyzstan people are the best Korean learners.

 

​ When is the most rewarding moment as the teacher of KSI?

Should I say that I’ve never had a day when I didn’t want to go to work? Every moment with students is always fun and rewarding. Of course, there are challenges at the site but I accept them as ‘fun challenges.’ In particular, I have never repeated the same content for classes. This is because I adjust the contents for every class catering to the learners’ characteristics. I think such dynamism is the most appealing aspect as a Korean language teacher.

 

​ What are the challenges that you face while teaching Korean?

As a teacher, it’s very important to conduct classes according to the characteristics of each individual Korean learner. But there are time limits for such individualized education. So I check their writing assignments via social networking service (SNS). I get to know more about the students’ linguistic characteristics, personality and life styles from their writings. But this means a lot of work for me outside the classroom, so sometimes I do have “pleasant resentments.”

 

​ Every 2~3 years you move to different countries to teach Korean. What are the

     advantages or disadvantages of living abroad?

Advantages and disadvantages of living abroad are like two sides of the same coin. Adapting to a new environment can reinvigorate your life but at the same time it can be very stressful. Especially, I’ve been away from my family since they cannot move with me every time I get assigned to a new country. This is the most difficult part.

 

​ How do you want KSI Bishkek to further develop?

First of all, I hope for better treatment for KSI staffs (head of the institute, operation staff and faculty). Also I hope all King Sejong Institutes can have separate spaces for different classes, cooking, dance practice and teachers’ lounge. So it would allow both educators and learners to immerse themselves fully in Korean language and culture.