Third culture kids help each other

TCK Network founder Isabelle Min, front row second from right, poses with Shannon Irby, back row center, an American TCK and English teacher in Daegu, and other participants, during a workshop at the E_Room Center in Yeouido, Seoul, on Jan. 30. / Courtesy of TCK Network

Network members share experiences to realize potential

By Chung Hyun-chae

Isabelle Min, 51, had difficulties adapting to Korean society after spending 15 years of her childhood living in six countries. This inspired her to found a network for third-culture kids (TCKs) to help them overcome such difficulties and develop their strengths and potential.

“In a society like Korea, where we need lots of networks, I thought it would be very helpful to have a network for those raised in a culture outside of their parents’ culture to support each other,” Min told The Korea Times during a workshop at

E-Room Center in Yeouido, Seoul, on Jan. 30.

The workshop was designed for TCKs, a term first mentioned in “Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds,” written by David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken.

TCKs refer to anybody who grows up with the influence of more than one culture, causing them to experience cultural differences and hardships in adapting to a new environment or society.

“What we share here is the emotion, the experience of having been a newcomer in a different culture, the experience of having to adjust like a new kid in the classroom,” Min said.

With this purpose, in 2010 she launched the TCK Network, a group supporting TCKs in Korea, which has held many such workshops.

She is founder and CEO of the Transition Catalyst Korea Institute, a cross-cultural communication training and coaching company that provides lectures on various subjects such as Korean consumer culture or bridging the Korean generation gap.

She is also a member of the Seoul City Advisory Council for Expats and Multicultural Families in Seoul.

As a TCK herself, she went through complex, overwhelming emotions while living abroad at a young age.

“When you don’t have any adult explaining to you what is happening to you, sometimes you feel like ‘Am I being kicked out of this country?’ or ‘Am I being punished for something?’” Min said.

“Sometimes TCKs don’t have a chance to say goodbye to the place, to the friends, because they are kids, and what kids end up thinking is ‘Maybe there is something wrong with me.’”

However, she stressed that the workshops are more than just a place to talk about difficulties, offering a true network.

“I didn’t create the network just for the difficulties,” Min said. “It’s about identifying together with people who have something in common.”

She acknowledged TCKs have the advantage of their linguistic skills.

“It’s important to bring the light and the darkness of the TCKness and to bring awareness. You have strength not only in language but there are also emotional challenges. And I want to do both.”

She says TCKs are open-minded, having strong observation skills and high adaptability to new environments.

“Oftentimes, TCKs have all these strengths that come from their lifestyle and their mobility,” she said. “However, due to their parents not really understanding what is happening to them, these strengths are often hidden, because sometimes they struggle to really make sense of where is their home and to adjust. The TCK Network is a supportive community where we bring out our life stories to share and be understood through doing this.”

She believes that once TCKs understand why they have gone through something, it becomes easier for them to maximize their strengths.

“I really just wanted to meet new people and gain more insight from them and their experiences,” said Shannon Irby, an American English teacher who has been working in Daegu for two-and-a-half years. “I also hoped to be inspired. I was able to feel all of these things after the seminar.”

She was born in the United States, but grew up in Germany, Japan and Turkey.

“When TCKs grow up in other countries or cultures, they naturally adapt to and exhibit many qualities from that culture,” Irby said. “Often, it doesn’t match with the home country.

“I am learning to turn my struggles into strengths. When I came to this seminar, I was able to see what my strengths were and how to use them to live a more fulfilling life. The seminar helped me to focus on my strengths and use them wherever I go.”