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From Havana to Seoul: International Korean language instructors from 49 countries unite in Seoul
Lissette Gonzalez Rodriguez, a teacher at the King Sejong Institute in Havana, Cuba, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at The Shilla Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Kim Se-jeong
By Kim Se-jeong
As the popularity of Korean pop culture continues to fuel demand for Korean language learning across the globe, educators gathered in Seoul this week to exchange insights and celebrate their shared mission of spreading the language and culture.
Among them was Lissette Gonzalez Rodriguez, a teacher at the King Sejong Institute in Havana, Cuba — the first formal Korean language institute in the country, launched last year together with the Korean Embassy after the two countries established diplomatic relations in February 2024. The Havana branch currently has approximately 150 students.
"Many learners are middle and high school students who are inspired by K-pop music and Korean dramas,” Gonzalez Rodriguez told The Korea Times in Seoul on Monday. “We don’t have Netflix, but people learn about Korean culture through YouTube.”
Gonzalez Rodriguez flew to Korea to attend the 2025 World Korean Educator Conference in Seoul, joining about 300 Korean language teachers at the annual event hosted by the King Sejong Institute Foundation. Running through Thursday, the conference provides opportunities to network, share classroom strategies and explore new teaching methods among Korean language instructors.
“My students are mostly beginners. They struggle with pronunciation and sentence structure,” she said. “I try to use a lot of visual content because it makes the material easier to understand.”
Her own journey with Korean began in 2013 with a Korean drama.
“When I watched 'Boys Over Flowers,' it blew my mind,” she said.
She was lucky. Although Korea and Cuba had no formal diplomatic relations back in 2013, she found a local cultural institute with native Korean teachers and dedicated herself to learning the language.
“Three years into my learning, my teacher asked me, ‘Would you like to be a Korean teacher?’ I couldn’t have been happier to hear that.”
Role of King Sejong Institute
Today, the King Sejong Institute plays a vital role in promoting Korean language education abroad.
“Thanks to your hard work and dedication, the seeds of the Korean language and culture have spread across the world, making it possible for the brilliant future of our culture to begin to sprout,” first lady Kim Hea Kyung said in a recorded video message during the opening of the conference, thanking the teachers.
The number of Sejong Institutes has grown significantly in recent years with 252 institutes now in 87 countries. During Monday’s conference, the foundation endorsed 11 new branches.
Professor Sang-yi O-Rauch of the University of Bonn in Germany led efforts to launch the new branch on her campus, bringing the number of institutes in the country up to four.
“At my university, I’ve seen growing interest in Korea. Students wanting to join exchange programs would call to ask about Korean language classes, but we didn’t have any to offer. Now, with the institute, I can support these students,” she said. “I’m hoping to learn new teaching techniques during this conference.”
King Sejong Institute teachers listen to a speaker during the 2025 World Korean Educator Conference at The Shilla Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Kim Se-jeong
The foundation also recognized six teachers for creative classroom practices. Lee Bo-hyun, who teaches at the King Sejong Institute in Luxembourg, was honored for integrating the artificial intelligence-powered translation app, Flitto, into her lessons.
“We watch a movie and then discuss it in the class,” Lee said. “We let the students — especially beginners — use the app to translate what they want to say from their native language into Korean. As they listen to the app read the Korean version aloud, they learn how to speak the expressions.”
Following the main conference on Monday, the teachers will participate in a series of workshops.