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| Foreign residents, mostly migrants who settled here after marrying a Korean spouse, learn English at Yeoksam Global Village Center in southern Seoul, July 19. / Courtesy of Sasaro |
By Lee Suh-yoon
Every Thursday, a group of young women, mostly migrants who settled here after marrying a Korean spouse, gather to learn English at a community center in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul.
The classes are run by Sasaro, a nonprofit educational organization that seeks to provide equal education opportunities to disadvantaged youth and multiracial families.
Most of the students are women from countries in Southeast Asia or Eastern Europe who have lived in Korea for years, and many are more familiar with Korean than English.
For an hour and a half, the students read and discuss together a short article or text. The instructor stops after each paragraph to explain new vocabulary words. Students chime in with witty remarks that generate laughter from the group.
"I let the students choose the weekly topic on their own. Because they are all female, we usually end up doing topics like travel and food," Shin Ki-seon, a Sasaro English instructor who leads Thursday's classes, told The Korea Times. "I tried conducting a class on Korean politics once but no one was really interested."
Shin, 22, is currently attending university in the U.S. He is volunteering while staying in Seoul over the summer break.
"The Korean way of learning English through a grammar-centered approach does not really work with foreign students. So I usually start off the class with a conversation," he added.
The venue is provided by Yeoksam Global Village Center, jointly run by Seoul Metropolitan Government and Gangnam-gu Office. The center also provides Korean classes and various forms of counseling for foreign residents.
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| Kim Seol-ye, far left, and other members of Sasaro, a non-profit educational organization, pose for a photo before a meeting. / Courtesy of Sasaro |
"I don't have many acquaintances or friends here because my Korean is not good, so I came to socialize and make friends," said Dilnoza, an Uzbekistan woman who moved here one year ago after marrying a Korean man. "I also forgot lots of English when I stayed at home for a long time during my pregnancy."
She said she want to get a masters' degree later and become an English teacher.
Anne, a woman from the Philippines who married a Korean and moved here eight years ago, also voiced similar thoughts.
"I feel good when I'm here, plus I get to meet beautiful friends from different countries," she said.
Kim Seol-ye, the CEO of Sasaro, founded the non-profit organization in 2017 with her husband, Kim Young-un, whom she met while working at a PR firm.
"After working at a PR firm for five to six years, I wanted to do something that has more social value than advertising for specific companies," Kim Seol-ye said. "In the age of globalization, learning English can be a valuable form of skill development for women from multicultural families in Korea."
Thursday's class at Yeoksam Global Village Center is the only one that caters to adults. The rest of Sasaro's free English classes are for children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and held at six community centers around Seoul and surrounding areas.
"We are currently trying to partner up with firms and institutions to provide some benefits to our volunteer English instructors, and thus induce a more permanent commitment from them," Kim added.
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