July 17, 2022
Written by Wendy Wang and Edited by Stephanie Sun
On September 4th, 2021, Building Bridges launched its first English class to Chinese youth. As our teaching team grew, we had an idea of expanding Building Bridges to teach English to children in Korea as well. Our first class in Korea was held on July 9th, 2022 by Jeana Lee (Head of Korea Classes) and Christina Yi.
Since the first class, we have consistently held classes every weekend. Each class is 40 minutes long and is taught by two teachers that are fluent in both English and Korean. In addition to our beginner classes, we are able to offer intermediate classes for students that are more fluent in English.
The Korean classes are structured similarly to the Chinese classes: first, we begin each class with the homework question from last week, and then have a conversation based on a question that usually pertains to the lesson for the current week. For example, one of the conversation topics was “What is your favorite subject in school?” for our lesson on school subjects. Next, the main part of the class is the lesson. For our beginner class, we teach the students essential English vocabulary words related to the lesson topic, as well as common phrases. Then, we do a role-play of a real life scenario where the students take turns reading the parts of a conversion. Practicing these role-plays prepares them for real life conversations in English. After the lesson, we play a fun game in English to encourage students to participate. Finally, we finish the class with a homework assignment relating to the lesson topic so that students can review what they learned.
Introductions in our first Korea class!
In the intermediate class, the structure is the same as the beginner class with a review of last week’s homework, conversation, lesson, game, and then the homework assignment. However, the lessons have more content and are similar to the Chinese class where the lessons are typically reading a book or learning about American culture.
After our success with the classes in Korea and China, we plan to expand our efforts to more areas such as Latin America and Ukraine. As we continue to expand, our bridges of connection between youth in America and youth in other places around the globe grow.
Currently, we have 24 teachers on the Building Bridges Korea team. All of them are fluent in English, and the majority are fluent in Korean as well. If you are interested in becoming a teacher, visit our join us page, fill out this form, DM us on instagram (@buildingbridgesorg), or email us (buildingbridgesteam2021@gmail.com). We would love to have you as a part of our team!
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