'Teaching foreigners Korean is my passion'

Kim Joon-mo, fifth from left in the back row, audit department head at the Incheon Seobu Office of Education, poses with his students learning the Korean language at the Incheon Support Center for Foreigners, Sunday. / Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

Kim Joon-mo, audit department head at the Incheon Seobu Office of Education, has been teaching the Korean language to foreigners for the past four years.

He has given two-hour lectures every Sunday at the Incheon Support Center for Foreigners under the Human Resources Development Service of Korea.

The 51-year-old said teaching Korean to foreigners is a passion he will never give up.

“While teaching, I learn a lot more about the things that I otherwise wouldn’t. I am happy that I can be of help to others in the process, too.”

Some 20 students attend his class each semester. He has taught more than 160 students, who remain close friends.

His students include foreigners who teach English in schools, immigrant wives and migrant workers.

For the Spanish major at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, learning foreign languages has been long-time passion as a means of communication and understanding different cultures.

“I know understanding culture helps you better learn the language. That is what I have been implementing in preparing my teaching material.”

For example, during his class a few weeks ago before Chuseok, a major holiday here, he explained the cultural significance of the holiday.

“Chuseok is like Thanksgiving in the U.S. And I explained to my students that Korea has been an agricultural society in which people’s livelihoods largely depended on farming,” he said.

“With that explanation, people from Southeast Asian countries understand the concept easily, saying they also have similar holidays in their own countries. Then they feel more close to us, thinking we have something in common,” he added.

Kim said migrant workers are especially passionate and show enthusiasm during class.

“They need E7 visas, which allow them to change workplaces for more than 10 years without needing consent from their former employers,” he said.

Currently, most of them are staying here on E9 visas that allow only up to four years and 10 months with limited chance of changing workplaces, he added.

Kim took a step further and earned a masters degree in Korean education for foreigners last semester at Inha University.

“I decided to earn the degree because I wanted to teach Korean better. After retirement, I want to teach Korean in Southeast Asian countries.”