NK refugees learn English to survive

Casey Lartigue Jr., left, co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR) Global Education Center, talks with North Korean refugees and TNKR staffers during the first discussion session at the organization’s office in western Seoul, Sunday. / Korea Times photo by Chung Hyun-chae

NGO launches English discussion club for refugees

By Chung Hyun-chae

“I desire to share ideas with other people in English while improving my English speaking,” said a 27-year-old college girl. “My goal is to overcome my fear of speaking in English under any circumstances and to keep up on current affairs.”

This may look like a common hope for any college student. But learning English is more desperate for her, a North Korean who defected to the South in 2009.

The girl, who refused to be named, was one of four North Korean refugees who participated in an English discussion club organized by the Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR) Global Education Center, a nongovernmental organization providing free English learning opportunities to such people.

The TNKR’s first discussion session was held Sunday, where the participants shared opinions on current issues after reading articles and columns in The Korea Times with two TNKR staffers ― Co-Director Lee Eun-koo and Assistant Academic Adviser Kwon Young-min.

“This discussion group will give them a practical opportunity to reinforce what they have read and learned,” Casey Lartigue Jr., co-founder of the TNKR, said.

“By reading The Korea Times regularly, having discussions about it, and making short presentations, we expect that the refugees will be able to improve their English,” Lartigue said. “They will probably have more fun and be more engaged when they are learning English naturally rather than trying to memorize vocabulary lists or TOEIC prep books.”

Sharing thoughts

During the session, the participants read a recent column titled “Time and a dime,” which was written by Lartigue, who has been a columnist for The Korea Times since 2013, and expressed their opinions.

Lartigue moderated the discussion by providing topics to think about as the author of the column.

Given that Lartigue pointed out in the column that South Korean people tend to scrimp on donations despite the nation’s strong economic power and explain hardships that charity organizations experience here, he encouraged the club members to share their experiences of donating to others.

A woman, who declined to be named, said, “I thank the South Korean government because it gives us (North Korean refugees) a lot including housing and living costs. I always feel that I have to contribute to South Korea. This is why I usually put money in donation boxes.”

Lartigue also taught some English terms such as “mountain of paper work” meaning “a lot of paperwork” and sometimes corrected the members’ broken English as a native English speaker.

Lartigue said he will invite Korea Times reporters and columnists to the sessions to discuss their articles and columns with club members.

“It will give TNKR learners opportunities to exchange ideas directly with Korea Times reporters and opinion leaders,” he said.

Learning English for adjustment

The organization is already running two programs ― one-on-one English tutoring and English speech coaching ― for the refugees.

It was in 2012 when Lartigue decided to get involved in helping North Korean defectors after seeing former National Assembly member Park Sun-young staging a hunger strike to protest against the repatriation of 30 refugees who were captured in China.

“Park invited me to get involved with establishing a school for North Korean refugee children. I said no initially, but then I realized that my role could be to connect refugees with volunteer tutors,” Lartigue said. “I had been volunteering with the Korea International Volunteers organized by James Kim. I recruited tutors from there initially then spun out into my own group.”

After that, he and Lee established TNKR in March 2013 to connect refugee adults with volunteer English tutors.

So far, about 260 refugees have studied and been mentored by 511 voluntary tutors and coaches. There are 70 more refugees on the organization’s waiting list.

Asked why he thinks learning English important for the refugees, Lartigue said they need to learn the language for adjustment and survival.

“Learning English is important because it can increase opportunities for refugees adjusting to South Korea and when they are entering the job market,” Lartigue said.

Eom Yeong-nam, a club member who defected to South Korea in 2010 and is now studying policy analysis at a graduate school, said he hopes to take part in making policies for North Korean refugees.

“One of the reasons that I decided to attend the discussion club is also to improve my English in an academic context because the members read and analyze newspaper articles and columns,” Eom said.

The 27-year-old college girl also said she wants to work at the Ministry of Unification after studying cultural psychology at a graduate school.

“In order to do so, I believe that English is necessary,” she said.

Future plan

The Korea Times has provided a free subscription to the newspaper to North Korean refugees studying English at TNKR since September 2016.

The TNKR also plans to hold a speech contest on Feb. 25 in which a Korea Times staff member will serve as one of the judges. The newspaper company is sponsoring the event.

The TNKR formed a partnership with the World Education Foundation (WEF), an international nonprofit organization promoting world peace through education, in May 2016 to offer more opportunities to North Korean refugees including internship at the WEF.

With more sponsorship from other organizations, the TNKR also plans to expand scholarships for refugees who want to study overseas, to provide them with opportunities to adjust to living outside North Korea.

“We know that we are making a difference in the lives of so many refugees because they tell us that every day,” Lartigue said.