ID :
191501
Tue, 06/28/2011 - 10:49
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/191501
The shortlink copeid
Cultural program to link foreign residents, S. Korean students gains momentum
SEOUL, June 28 (Yonhap) -- A cultural education program to link foreigners living in South Korea and local students is gaining momentum as demands for global culture education increase, officials at the Seoul metropolitan government said Tuesday.
About 50 foreign volunteers from 30 different countries have participated in the "Neighbors From Afar" program, holding lectures with an estimated 8,000 elementary, middle and high school students across the city, they said.
Since the program began in 2008, selected foreign residents have visited schools on a regular basis and shared the culture and history of their homelands as part of efforts to reflect increasing diversity in communities sprouting across Seoul.
"I was really thrilled to tell stories about my home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to South Korean students since not many students were familiar with African nations," Mutabesha Bahizire, a native Congolese who participated in the program 18 times, was quoted by the city government as saying.
In a bid to reinforce the curriculum of the program, the city government will hire more experienced instructors from 15 different countries with recommendations from their embassy officials, the local government said.
The city also "will hike the number of sessions from 79 last year to 300 by the end of this year to meet the increasing demands for global culture education," said Oh Seung-hwan, chief of the foreigners' support section at the local government.
khj@yna.co.kr
About 50 foreign volunteers from 30 different countries have participated in the "Neighbors From Afar" program, holding lectures with an estimated 8,000 elementary, middle and high school students across the city, they said.
Since the program began in 2008, selected foreign residents have visited schools on a regular basis and shared the culture and history of their homelands as part of efforts to reflect increasing diversity in communities sprouting across Seoul.
"I was really thrilled to tell stories about my home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to South Korean students since not many students were familiar with African nations," Mutabesha Bahizire, a native Congolese who participated in the program 18 times, was quoted by the city government as saying.
In a bid to reinforce the curriculum of the program, the city government will hire more experienced instructors from 15 different countries with recommendations from their embassy officials, the local government said.
The city also "will hike the number of sessions from 79 last year to 300 by the end of this year to meet the increasing demands for global culture education," said Oh Seung-hwan, chief of the foreigners' support section at the local government.
khj@yna.co.kr
