Global Village head says children need more help to learn Korean

"There aren't enough Korean language classes for foreign children that can help them adapt to Korean schools, and not all families can send their children to international schools because they are really expensive"

Katherine Ann Corteza, director of the Itaewon Global Village Center, speaks in an interview at the center. [PARK SANG-MOON]

"There aren't enough Korean language classes for foreign children that can help them adapt to Korean schools, and not all families can send their children to international schools because they are really expensive," said Katherine Ann Corteza, director of the Itaewon Global Village Center.

"From what I've been seeing, even though many foreigners start their career here, their end goal isn't Korea and want to leave because of their children."

Trying to fill in the gaps and provide more language learning opportunities, the center opens new Korean classes each quarter. Offering 12 classes with a total of around 150 students, everybody is allowed to learn for free.

Apart from language classes, the Itaewon Global Village Center also offers cultural exchange programs, volunteer opportunities and serves as a help center for any inquiries about living in Korea.

Visiting in Yongsan District, central Seoul, last week, the center was crowded with foreigners taking Korean proficiency tests to see which classes they could take, along with a visitor who introduced herself as new to Korea and asked what programs she could join to get to know the neighborhood better.

Like many of the people who come to Itaewon Global Village Center looking for help, Corteza also faced many difficulties when she first arrived in Korea in 2008 to do her master's at Kyungpook National University. After settling down, she has been helping others like her adapt to Korea while working as the director of the Itaewon Global Village Center since 2014.

The Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with Corteza at the Itaewon Global Village Center to discuss the struggles foreigners face adjusting to Korea and what the center and Korean society can do to help. Following are edited excerpts of the interview.

Q. There are seven global village centers in Seoul, with Itaewon GVC being one of them. Is there something that makes Itaewon GVC unique?

A.We are at the heart of Itaewon, which is the hub for foreigners. Compared to other Global Village Centers, we are more diverse. People who come here are from all sorts of different backgrounds, and not just different nationalities. We have people coming from affluent backgrounds and the diplomats. Then we also have refugees, workers, students and people coming here as a working holiday.

We can compare our center to others such as the Ichon Global Village Center, which I think 90 percent of their users are Japanese people who come from affluent backgrounds.

The Itaewon Global Village Center also has a lot more children's programs compared to other centers. What made you decide to open a variety of programs specifically for children?

Last year, we started working with kids and offered Korean Language Classes for kids. Right now, we have about 20 students. Actually, we were quite hesitant to do a lot of kids programs. But after the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, we were quite surprised that there was high demand for foreign children to study Korean.

We also had online Taekwondo classes for the kids to burn off energy while doing the kicks. We kept asking the parents what kind of activities their kids enjoy and some of them said arts classes, and we also offered that as well.

Adjusting to another country as an adult and as a young child can be two very different things. What are some ways that Korean society could help children adjust more easily?

The number one priority is having more Korean language classes. At least in Yongsan, there are programs like that especially at Bogwang Elementary School and other schools in Itaewon. But if you live outside of Itaewon, there is a big learning opportunity gap.

There was a boy who grew up in the Philippines and was 16 years old when he came here. We were helping to look for a high school that could accommodate him, but all of the high schools said he had to speak Korean before they could enroll. We found an alternative school, which is Dasom High School, that accepted him because there was a lot of multicultural kids there. But still, there was only one high school in all of Seoul that accepted him.

If Korea wants to become opening to more foreign students, it would be good to actually give them extra classes so they can learn Korean in a more intensive and focused way. This also makes it easier for parents to come to Korea and stay. That's also another reason why we collaborate with Seoul Global Youth Education Center. They help us by providing teachers and we recruit the students.

Apart from participating in programs, do foreigners also approach the center with questions about living in Korea and ask for help? If so, what are some common areas they ask help for?

We get various questions about living in Korea. It's as easy as 'how can I throw away a large cabinet?' to difficult ones such as not having a place to live. We sometimes have refugees coming here. Because they weren't actually acknowledged as refugees in Korea, they have no choice but to go to another country, and they ask us where they can get money so they can leave.

Because we are a government agency and not a charitable institution, our hands are tied with so many things. So we help them look for other institutions that can help. We can only do so much, and I wish that our function could grow much bigger than what we do now.

Seoul does have the biggest foreigner support infrastructure because its the capital city, while other areas lack such support. Would there be ways to provide support even to foreigners who live outside of Seoul?

We actually get a lot of calls from those who are new to Korea. They live in other areas like Suwon and they realize that there's no Global Village Center in Suwon. Then we have to explain to them that we are funded by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, so we actually have no choice but to prioritize our residents when arranging programs.

Seoul is lucky that there was a mayor who thought about opening the Global Village Centers, which was the brainchild of Mayor Oh Se-hoon in 2008. Hopefully, other mayors of other cities will also have that vision for their region and especially, those who have a lot of migrant workers in their area.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]