2016-05-18
(TNKR) Teach North Korean Refugees began in March 2013 as "English Matching." We matched up several refugees with volunteer tutors, then wished them well. The refugees wanted to improve their English so they could become teachers in South Korea.
(TNKR) Teach North Korean Refugees began in March 2013 as "English Matching." We matched up several refugees with volunteer tutors, then wished them well. The refugees wanted to improve their English so they could become teachers in South Korea.
Today I received a message from one of those ladies! She is now studying at a university, but struggling with English. She has thought about rejoining our program, but it wasn't until yesterday when someone posted a glowing review about me on a North Korean refugee chat board that she decided to contact us again. It was a reminder that sharing and forwarding messages can make a difference.
She is now back, determined to learn this time around. It was wonderful to see her again.
Three years ago when she joined the program, we didn't try to control socializing, using Korean, or asking about personal stories. Three years have taught us to block those things, that refugees return to us later on, regretting they didn't push themselves harder before.
(Note to myself: Ban tutors who insist on socializing with refugees in TNKR. Too much is at stake, the refugees need help, they can find hiking buddies elsewhere.)
So I ended up teaching her English for an hour. She had suddenly contacted me, and wanted to meet me ASAP. I recognized her name, but I didn't recall that she was from our very first group. I had thought about trying to find the refugees from that very first group, checking to see how they are doing.
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Several refugees contacted me after seeing a video based on a radio broadcast into North Korea praising me so much that my own mother might want to sponsor a rebuttal video by the North Korean regime.
https://www.facebook.com/CaseyLartigue/videos/1308010412676284/
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2020 reflection #1: She was in a hurry to study, so we matched her with a young South Korean man who was ready to tutor. Things went well, but after they studied together for more than a month, she told him at the last class: "Next time, I want a real teacher." We wanted an explanation from her. She said that she enjoyed studying with him, but because he would use Korean with her sometimes, she didn't think she learned as much as she could have. So she wanted me to know: "Next time, I want a teacher who will push me to learn English."
Then later when she joined our Track 1 program and studied with tutors who didn't use Korean with her, she said that she felt like she had wasted her time during the summer with the bilingual tutor. She realized with tutors who didn't use Korean that she had to prepare for class. But when tutors used Korean, then she could take it easy, wait for the Korean explanation. At that point, we didn't have a strict English-only policy, that came later after hearing from more refugees.
When she introduced herself at a Matching session, she asked the tutors to push her, that she easily loses confidence when she is confronted with English.
2020 reflection #2: A second point is that some newcomers to TNKR probably wonder why I focus on studying rather than socializing. We have had many refugees come to us, saying they get pulled into all kinds of social activities when they get connected with South Korean NGOs. I have seen many cases of refugees who felt they had wasted their time in such programs and were delighted to find that TNKR really focuses on studying. I am not saying that all organizations must operate as we do, I am fine with us being the only NGO in the world doing things our way.
www.lovetnkr.org/donate
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2020 reflection #1: She was in a hurry to study, so we matched her with a young South Korean man who was ready to tutor. Things went well, but after they studied together for more than a month, she told him at the last class: "Next time, I want a real teacher." We wanted an explanation from her. She said that she enjoyed studying with him, but because he would use Korean with her sometimes, she didn't think she learned as much as she could have. So she wanted me to know: "Next time, I want a teacher who will push me to learn English."
Then later when she joined our Track 1 program and studied with tutors who didn't use Korean with her, she said that she felt like she had wasted her time during the summer with the bilingual tutor. She realized with tutors who didn't use Korean that she had to prepare for class. But when tutors used Korean, then she could take it easy, wait for the Korean explanation. At that point, we didn't have a strict English-only policy, that came later after hearing from more refugees.
When she introduced herself at a Matching session, she asked the tutors to push her, that she easily loses confidence when she is confronted with English.
2020 reflection #2: A second point is that some newcomers to TNKR probably wonder why I focus on studying rather than socializing. We have had many refugees come to us, saying they get pulled into all kinds of social activities when they get connected with South Korean NGOs. I have seen many cases of refugees who felt they had wasted their time in such programs and were delighted to find that TNKR really focuses on studying. I am not saying that all organizations must operate as we do, I am fine with us being the only NGO in the world doing things our way.
www.lovetnkr.org/donate
