From June 10-August 10, 2009, I participated in a cultural exchange to South Korea, supported by PEN-International and PEN-International partners, the Korea Employment Promotion Agency for the Disabled (KEPAD) and Korea Nazarene University.
My first six weeks I resided in Ilsan, South Korea, on KEPAD's Ilsan Vocational Competency Development Center campus. Three times a week I taught American Sign Language to the 15 deaf students in the mechanical engineering program. By the end of the six weeks, my students could talk about their favorite hobbies, their birthdays, their schedules, and the seasons and could ask and answer simple questions in American Sign Language. My teaching at Ilsan culminated with a video conference with NTID cross-registered RIT student Gabe Campbell. After learning ASL, hearing about Deaf culture in the United States and at NTID, and meeting a Deaf American student, all of my students greatly wanted to travel to the United States and NTID.
I also socialized with the mechanical engineering students and the deaf students in the other programs at mealtimes and in the evening and thus learned much Korean Sign Language. I became good friends with the students and appreciated hearing about their experiences growing up deaf in Korea. On Friday and Saturday, July 10 and 11, I joined the engineering students and faculty on a field trip to Namyangju. We toured the Namyangju Movie Studios on Friday, where many famous Korean films and TV series have been shot. That evening, the students, faculty, and I relaxed as we swam in a river, cooked traditional Korean barbecue (delicious!), and camped. The next day we headed to the home of the famous Dasan, brilliant governor and prolific writer during the Joseon dynasty. My many encounters with Korean culture, both past and present, during our field trip to Namyangju delighted me. I shall always treasure my experiences and friendships at Ilsan.
While in Ilsan, I traveled to Seoul several times and had the privilege of meeting with Mr. Seung-Il Byeun, chairman of the Korea Association of the Deaf, Mr. Byoung-Kil Moon, chairman of the Seoul Association of the Deaf, and Mr. Kyu-Sik An, general director of the Seoul Association of the Deaf along with other deaf leaders and sign language faculty involved in the Korea and Seoul Associations of the Deaf. In addition, I twice visited the Samsung School for the Deaf, one of Seoul's residential deaf schools. There I learned more about elementary and secondary deaf education in Korea and taught an ASL class to the high school students.
On July 27, I headed for a week to Cheonan, two hours south of Seoul, where Korea Nazarene University is located. Every morning, the Universal Design students willingly showed me around Cheonan and their campus. In the afternoon, I taught them English. They were divided into three classes, Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced. Using a combination of Korean Sign Language, gesture, pictures, and games, I taught the Beginning students basic vocabulary such as animals and foods in English and American Sign Language as well as how to ask and answer basic questions. Intermediate students focused more on writing and comprehending sentences including directions. My Advanced students, capable for the task though challenged, wrote short essays. At evening time, I dined with students, faculty and other local deaf activists, discussing issues pertinent to the Korean deaf community. Although my stay in Cheonan was short, I looked forward to meeting the students again when they planned to visit the United States and NTID in September.
I returned to the United States August 10, my bags full of gifts and souvenirs and my heart full of fond memories and warm regards toward the deaf people I had met in Korea.
