A film, a promise, and a room that did not match the notes

The volunteering began on 28 December 2015, at a university language center. The aim was simple to write down and harder to live: teach Korean, show a little of campus and of Korean life, and help international students settle more quickly over twelve weeks. The reason for choosing this program, among other kinds of service, was a film. Working Holiday, a small independent picture made by Korean university students, was shown at a women's film festival. It followed Korean students abroad who could not speak the local language and so took rough work or were treated poorly. After the screening the writer decided not to look down on someone in Korea for speaking the language badly, and wanted visiting students to spend their time here more at ease.

Preparation, at first, was pointed in the wrong direction. The two students originally assigned were from China, so the volunteer looked up background and basic facts and arrived feeling ready. In the meeting room, two Vietnamese students were waiting instead. No one had given notice of the change. They had been in Korea only about a month and could hardly speak Korean; the volunteer knew no Vietnamese at all. The first feeling, the memoir says, was a thorough confusion.

Hands, a little English, and a photograph

There was still a program to explain. The volunteer used gestures of every kind to make the plan understood, then learned that one of the students could use a little English, and switched to English for a more concrete account of the program and of what would come next. In the middle of that explanation the students were asked for their opinions, and a direction for the Korean class was set together. They took a commemorative photograph, as a way of saying they would try to do this well.

After that, meetings were set at once or twice a week, each lasting about three to four hours. Korean class, campus walks, and cultural visits filled the twelve weeks. The lessons that stayed with the writer were practical ones. Early on, there is a great deal to memorize. Korean grammar, even for a native speaker, is not simple to explain, and it is harder still when students are still speaking mainly in isolated words. Other volunteers, who had been assigned different students, shared episodes and helped refine the methods. A plan that goes sideways, the memoir concludes, is a reason to change the method to fit the person — not a reason to push the original script.

Sources

1. A volunteer memoir of twelve weeks, beginning 28 December 2015, teaching Korean and introducing campus and cultural life to two Vietnamese international students at a university language center.

Last updated: 14 November 2026