Part of the ‘Global Harmony for the Future’ program
Great responses to exotic global cultural classes involving language, food, music, traditional clothes, etc.
[October 29, 2020]
<YU ‘Global Harmony for the Future’ Program (Daegu Seobu High School)>
“Learning about the music and culture of Turkey first-hand by a student-teacher from Turkey makes it much easier to understand than from books or the internet. There are few opportunities to visit other countries because of COVID-19, so I think it was a good opportunity to indirectly experience the cultures of other countries in school.”
At 1 p.m. on the 28th at a classroom at Daegu Seobu High School, high school students repeatedly yelled in joy and had fun with the unique classes conducted by international students. This is because Meryem Gungorer (21) who is studying at the YU Department of Korean Language and Literature as an exchange student since October of this year from Erciyes University in Turkey and YU Department of Political Science and Diplomacy senior Kwak Mi-gyeong (26) visited as one-day teachers.
They held a class on Turkish culture for about 100 minutes to about 20 students. Miss Meryem Gungore explained Turkey’s language, food, music, etc. using YouTube videos and photographs, while Miss Kwak Mi-gyeong gave additional explanations and quizzes to help the students understand. In particular, students were excited to see Meryem Gungore, who majored in Korean language, conduct the class in Korean. At this class, the students sang the Turkish folk song, Uska Dara, and they shared the Turkish dessert ‘lokum’ that she brought to class and students also go to wear traditional Turkish hats to learn about Turkish culture naturally.
Meryem Gungore said, “This is my second class today. I enjoyed giving the class because the students liked the class more than I expected. I think the students really liked it when I taught them some Turkish words and introduced the movie ‘Ayla’ that was co-produced by Korea and Turkey. Miss Kwak Mi-gyeong who also participated in the class said, “We worked together very well to prepare for the class through the buddy program with my Turkish friend. The students actively took part in the quizzes and enjoyed the class, which in turn made me enjoy giving the class as well.”
Daegu Seobu High School student Cho Hyung-joon (18) who participated in this class said, “They say Turkey is our brother country so I knew the name of the country, but it felt very far away. But after learning about the history, culture and food, it now really feels like our brother country. I had visited Turkey in the past, but now I want to revisit Turkey.” Song Yoo-bin (teacher of sociology) who audited the class said, “I think it was a good opportunity for students to gain a global mindset and receive global citizen education through classes prepared by international exchange students. Response was great with students who participated in the class in the past actively want to participate in the class again. This year, we unfortunately did not have opportunities to participate in this program because of COVID-19. I hope that more international students from a bigger variety of countries will participate in the future.
This class was part of the ‘Global Harmony for the Future’ program, which is YU’s global culture sharing project. This program, which began in the second half of 2018, was designed to have elementary, middle and high school students naturally communicate with foreign college students naturally in class to experience cultures of other parts of the world and to gain a global mindset together with municipal and provincial education offices. This year, the program is being carried out together with the UNESCO Daegu Association.
This program, in which one international student and one Korean student group up into teams, is joined by four teams comprised of exchange students and international students from Turkey and Vietnam. This program started on October 7 and a total of 12 sessions will be carried out until December 7 at five middle and high schools such as Daegu Seobu High School, Keisung High School and Wonhwa Middle School.
YU External Cooperation Office Director Heo Chang-deok said, “YU is a truly global campus where over 1,200 international students from over 55 countries including undergraduate and graduate school students, exchange students, and students for language education program have come to study together.” He added, “We will plan and implement a variety of programs that can be shared with the community using the human and material infrastructure possessed by YU.”
