Fullerton high schools may offer Korean
classes
 Hope
International University is training teachers for the language instruction
courses.
By YOUNG CHANG
FULLERTON--Classes in
French, Spanish and other foreign languages may soon be joined by Korean
at schools in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.
Professors at Hope International
University in Fullerton are training a group of people to earn their
single subject teaching credentials in Korean, and organizers hope to
teach the language in district schools, including Fullerton Union and
Buena Park high schools.
Fullerton Union
High Principal Greg Franklin said he is interested in adding Korean to the
school's foreign language curriculum. He will consider the option and
discuss it with students and staff once Hope officials present a formal
proposal to him.
Sunny Hills High School
in Fullerton already offers Korean as a foreign language.
Eun-Hee Koo, coordinator of the program
at Hope, said officials from Buena Park High School have also expressed
interest in allowing students to learn Korean for credits.
"The Korean community in Orange County
is growing," Koo said. "I think many public schools need Korean teaching
in the future."
Hope President LeRoy
Lawson was invited to Kim Young University in Korea last year to discuss
establishing a program in Fullerton to train people to teach Korean.
The university advertised the program
soon after Lawson's arrival and received more than 100 responses. Those
who had passed the Test of English as a Foreign Language or had graduated
from a U.S. college qualified to take the Single Subject Assessment for
Teaching course. Nineteen students passed, and 10 of them are enrolled in
Koo's class.
The first class was held
earlier this month. Half of Koo's students are Korean citizens. Some have
trouble speaking English, others are proficient in both Korean and
English. One student, Byung Gak Ahn, arrived in the United States about 25
days ago from Korea.
Jung Wan Yang, who
first came to the United States five years ago, said she is here to stay,
at least for a while. She enrolled in the program to obtain her teaching
credential because language is the key to understanding culture, she said.
"It's the proper time to begin the
Korean language for bilingual students here--for Korean American students
here," she said, "I want to handle minority culture and language with
growing children."
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