Although I can only reach out to organizations if the app is finished, I’ve been thinking about who to contact. The two groups I’ve been thinking about are group homes and organizations for North Korean defectors.
- Group Homes
We want to teach English, as in Korean schools, English is only (usually) taught by Korean teachers. To teach here in Korea as an elementary/middle/high school teacher, you need to pass an exam that foreigners can’t take. As a result, students rarely learn from native speakers.
My mom told me from time to time about her English teachers throughout her school life and how they never studied abroad. So unless you go to a private academy, often causing thousands of dollars a month, you never get the chance to learn real English. Because of the high competition here in Korea, some parents pay around $1500 per month and send their children to “English kindergartens” where people learn from native speakers.
But of course, group homes can’t afford that. They get around $1300 per child a month, which is mostly spent for housing, food, basic education, and even the staff salaries. There is no money left for expensive English lessons.
Group homes have children of all ages – from kingergarteners to high schoolers – and this stage of their lives is when education is most important. So, it would be amazing if we could provide English lessons for them.
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- Schools for North Korean Defector Youth
These schools are for kids whose parents crossed the border between North and South Korea, called alternative schools because they’re not officially a “school” accredited by the government. Students in these schools often struggle to fit in regular Korean schools.
From what I’ve researched, there are about nine of these schools in Seoul, but only one is recognized by the city, the others not having enough money to meet facility standards. In other words, the students there are in very poor studying conditions.
Although I haven’t reached out yet, I saw their website that they are recruiting volunteer teachers. After watching videos about North Korean defectors, I learned that English is crucial for their adaptation into South Korea, there being so many English loanwords that defectors sometimes can’t understand.
There’s actually an international group (based in the UK) that teaches defectors English and even helps them give speeches at the UN. I messaged them a few times last year because I was really interested, but I never got a reply. Maybe it was because I’m still in middle school, or maybe because their website wasn’t being maintained anymore. Either way, I realized that not every volunteer opportunity is open to everyone.
There’s an international group that teaches defectors English and help them give speeches at the UN, so I contacted them a few times last year, but never got a reply. Perhaps it was because I was in middle school, or maybe their website wasn’t being managed anymore. Either way, I learned that not all volunteer opportunities are open for everyone like they should be.
I’m planning to keep looking into what other organizations I might contact.