Korean foreign exchange student learns about American culture and language during stay

By Cheyenne Thomas Students who participate in foreign exchange student programs have the goal of learning more about the culture and language of the country they are sent to. While the student learns more about the country they're visiting, the host families they live with gain valuable experiences as well.

For the past few weeks, the Geoff and Pam Smith family has been hosting 12-year old Dohyun Kwon at their home. Kwon, also known as David by his host family, is from South Korea, and is the latest child to be hosted by the Smiths as part of a foreign exchange program established by former Neillsville, Greenwood and Granton United Methodist Church pastor Rev. Dong Su Lee to teach young Korean children English.

“I think it was in 2007 (when I started the program),” said Rev. Dong Su Lee. “In those past years, Korean students from K-12 were in need of English for their college entrance examination. One part was listening ability and the best way to improve listening ability was to come and live with U.S. families. Also my three churches in Wisconsin were open to receive an ethnic pastor and with myself they opened the churches to Korean students.”

The Smith family is one of these families who came forward to participate in the program. They have been hosting Korean children every year for the past four years, helping these children develop their language skills and expand their knowledge of American culture.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Geoff. “We host the kids for about two months.”

David attends classes at the Loyal School District at the sixth grade level. Geoff said that right now, Korean students are on the equivalent of summer vacation, which allows them to participate in the program. As the goal is to focus on learning English and culture, Geoff said the students who participate in the program are dropped down a grade to make their general studies easier.

“Technically, he’s a seventh grader in Korea, but they drop them down a grade, so he’s a sixth grader here,” he said. “It’s more about them learning English and American culture than anything else. They don’t have to try so hard in other areas of school and can focus on learning what they came here to learn.”

One of the biggest challenges that both the student and host family tend to experience in the first part of the exchange is with communication. Geoff said many of the kids have a grasp of the language, but struggle with more in-depth conversations, which can make communication a unique challenge.

“Even with good English they still struggle,” he said. “Largely, we use Google Translate and communication with hand gestures to get meaning across. With the way we communicate, it can sometimes be a little hard to know what he really thinks about things, so you tend to watch his mood and behaviors to figure out what he’s thinking. For example, he gives us ‘thumbs up’ when he’s happy. Also for food, if he likes something, he will go up for seconds. If he doesn’t like something, he won’t eat any more than he has to.”

Diet is another noticeable difference. Geoff said rice is an important staple food in Korea, but is not as common in American diets. David has had to adjust to the changes, but has found some new foods to enjoy during his stay.

“Their diet is extremely different,” he said. “Rice is a huge base for them; it can be a whole meal, such as breakfast. To us, that doesn’t sound like a breakfast at all. They also don’t have much dairy over there. Overall, he seems to enjoy a lot of our food, and he’s become a big fan of ice cream.”

Another noticeable difference between the two cultures stems from the contrast between urban life and rural life. Most of the students who participate in the foreign exchange program come from large South Korean cities such as Seoul. That’s in sharp contrast to rural Clark County with its many farms and cows.

“The kids that come here often come from big cities like Seoul,” said Geoff. “And a lot of those kids are addicted to technology. We are too, but it’s at a different level; we’re living at a much slower pace compared to them. There’s not as much technology here as they have over there and we live more simply than they do.”

David will be staying with the Smith family until Feb. 26, when he will return home to Korea. Before David leaves, Geoff said he hopes to be able to show him more of Clark County’s rural side, and allow him to try new things that he wouldn’t be able to try back home.

“We don’t have any plans to do anything massive,” he said. “But we want to make sure he gets to try new experiences. It’s good for him to be able to experience the world and get out to see it. We want to take him out to a farm at some point and have him try to milk a cow. It’s not something he would be able to do in Korea, so it would be a fun experience for him. We’re also hoping to do a small trip, like visiting Minneapolis and the Mall of America. We have reached the halfway mark of his stay, so we want him to be able to experience some real rural living. The time goes by quickly.”

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO