11 April 2022

“The event was awesome – we got to learn Korean, its traditional culture and do K-Pop too!” said Tyson, Year 7 student. Last 11th April, six classes from Years 7 and 8 of Sylvia Park School participated in the Korean culture workshop organised by North Asia Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence to support the NZ-South Korea virtual classroom exchange sessions being led by Learn English Live in partnership with Education New Zealand.

After a short welcome by Sylvia Park School teachers, Sarah Lipura of North Asia CAPE was invited to introduce the workshop and North Asia CAPE’s ongoing initiatives in the Korean education space. The workshop then started with a talk delivered Tiffany Leung of En Beat Academy, introducing students to different aspects of Korean culture such as food, clothing and major festivals. This was followed by a Q&A session and interactive workshop on Korean language and Korean popular dance (K-Pop). The program was participated in by a total of 150 students, 85% of whom come from Maori and Pasifika backgrounds.

Seven teachers also joined the workshop and enjoyed the K-Pop dancing, including Mia Szymanik and Hayden Cleere, Deputy Principal. At the end of the workshop, Taezjha, another Year 7 student, expressed her thanks to the organisers and her hopes of being able to experience more of Korean culture by visiting South Korea one day. William Clarke, Director and co-founder of LEL, assured the students and teachers that there will be more opportunities for cultural exchange with Korean schools this year.

This workshop is part of North Asia CAPE’s Korean Learning, Networking and Resource Hub and is the first of its series of Korean cultural immersion programs for NZ schools for 2022 to be delivered in partnership with the Korean Education Centre (KEC).