Hello, this is GANADA KOREAN Hongdae.
From 18 to 22 September we ran our autumn one-week special programme. Over five days the students studied Korean and made ssal-yeot-gangjeong (rice syrup crisps) and Hahoe masks with their own hands, meeting Korea’s language and culture side by side.
On the last day we wrapped things up with a completion ceremony and lunch together. From the classroom where they studied to the culture workshops and the table we shared, here is the story of this autumn with our students.
How did we spend this autumn?
The autumn one-week special programme is a short course that combines Korean classes with cultural experiences. This time we made ssal-yeot-gangjeong, a traditional snack, and the Hahoe mask, a traditional Korean mask.
Alongside hours of studying Korean in the classroom came the experience of making something by hand. We joined the students hoping that, while learning the language, they would also come to feel Korean culture a little closer.
Even a short period of study is better when looking back brings a variety of scenes to mind. We hope these five days remain both as a memory of learning Korean and as a memory of experiencing a new culture.
Ssal-yeot-gangjeong: meeting a traditional snack by making it
The first cultural experience was making ssal-yeot-gangjeong. It was a chance to experience Korean food culture by making a traditional snack from scratch.
What draws your attention is a little different when you meet a food as a finished product and when you make it yourself. You start by learning its name, look at what kind of snack it is, and then go through the process of making it with your own hands.
The commemorative photo shows the students gathered with bundles wrapped in colourful bojagi cloths. Pale sky blue, purple and grey side by side added a warm mood to the picture too.
We hope that making a Korean snack finds a place in the students’ travel stories. It would be lovely if, when they come across ssal-yeot-gangjeong again one day, they remember this experience fondly.
The same mask, each in its own colours
For the second cultural experience we made Hahoe masks. It was an activity that brought Korean culture close by looking at the shape of a traditional mask first-hand.
Looking at the photos taken with the finished masks, every colour combination is different. Pink and blue, green and yellow came together so that even masks of the same shape carried each student’s own character.
They held the masks in front of their faces, lifted them above their heads, and took photos. Quite a different scene from studying in the classroom. While experiencing traditional Korean culture through the masks, they could also record what they had made themselves.
For us, being able to see all these differently finished masks together in one place was a pleasure too. One activity held so many colours and forms of expression at once.
Studying Korean gained experiences worth talking about
In this programme, Korean classes and cultural experiences sat within the same schedule. We value the fact that this gives students experiences they can connect to the language they have studied.
A snack or a mask you made yourself can be good material for talking about what you did in Korea. What did you make, which colours did you choose, which scene stayed with you — the story can start from your own experience.
We hope that even after the students have gone home, remembering this experience keeps their interest in Korean alive. It would be good if the time spent opening a textbook and the time spent in Korea could connect to each other.
Familiar faces, captured with the certificates
At the end of the programme we held a completion ceremony to mark the time we studied together. We closed the five days by taking photos with the certificates.
In the completion photos, students make finger hearts or hold their certificates open as they look at the camera. With the desks and the board in frame, the space where they studied stayed in the pictures too.
The certificate records the time they took part, and the photo helps them remember the people who were there with them. We hope that when the students look at the photos later, they will happily talk about studying Korean in Hongdae.
The photo taken in front of the school logo is another precious record of this meeting. Sorting through the pictures, we too found ourselves thinking back on this autumn with the students.
Five days, right down to the last lunch
After the ceremony we finished the programme with lunch all together. It was time to sit around one last table with the people we had studied with for a week.
In the photos from the meal, everyone is seated side by side along a long table. You can see hands waving at the camera and smiling faces. The time shared in the classroom and at the workshops carried on to the table.
We were glad we could gather like this even after the classes ended. We hope that when the students think of the place where they learned Korean, the lunch they shared and the faces around it come to mind just as naturally.
Thank you to everyone who joined us
Our thanks to every student who took part in the autumn one-week special programme at GANADA KOREAN Hongdae. Studying Korean and sharing new cultural experiences with you made it a meaningful time for us as well.
We hope the day you made ssal-yeot-gangjeong, the moment you held up your colourful mask, and the photo taken with your certificate stay for a long time in each of your records of visiting Korea.
It was a short time, but we hope you were able to experience Korean and Korean culture and to make good memories. We are cheering you on in your Korean studies ahead, and we look forward to meeting you again in Korea.
Sources : GANADA KOREAN, GANADA KOREAN Blog, GANADA KOREAN Naver Blog, Web Support Center Blog, Web Support Center Naver Blog
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