Skip to main content

2016-09-25 TNKR Matching session 49

 



2016-09-25 Freedom Speakers International (previously Teach North Korean Refugees) quietly started in March 2013 with a small session including 5 volunteers, 5 NK refugees and 2 volunteers. 

We now occasionally have larger sessions like this past Saturday, with 8 learners, 16 tutors, and 3 volunteer helpers for the session.





It is also an example of the way we have changed so that each session:

1) Provides refugees as many choices as possible in choosing several tutors.

2) Doing our best to make sure every tutor gets selected.

3) Trying to end the session as quickly as possible, because everyone wants to get in, but once they are in, want to pull up the ladder from others.

4) Two refugees canceled at the last minute, one tutor canceled the day before but one tutor happened to pop up so I gave her a quick orientation in the morning between other meetings.



The refugees gave the following feedback and comments:

* I arrived in 2009, I am now a university student studying TOEIC and TOEFL so I can study abroad and one day work for a foreign company. Thanks to TNKR, I was able to win a scholarship to study abroad for seven months.


* I arrived in South Korea in 2008, I will probably study in Canada in the future. I am now focused on conversation and speaking. I am happy to be in TNKR because I also have had the opportunity to work with coaches helping me tell my story.


* I arrived in South Korea in 2006, I hope to study abroad in the future. I am focused on writing and listening. I am always thankful to TNKR for giving me the opportunity to study with native and fluent speakers.


* I arrived in South Korea in 2002. I have time to study, but weekends are best for me. I have a car, free time, I will follow the teacher. I hope to go to graduate school next year, so I need help with essays, interviews, discussion. Thank you to TNKR, it has given me so many great opportunities.


* I arrived in South Korea in 2009, I am now a university student. I need to improve my speaking and writing. I joined TNKR in 2014, it was a great experience, I studied with six teachers durin that year.


* * *

I warn tutors (and others watching humble project) to be very slow with their conclusions. I have met so many people who meet one refugee, then base everything they know about NK and refugees on that one refugee. This particular session had refugees who have previously studied in the program and have been waiting for a chance to study again. The only two newcomers dropped out the morning and afternoon of the session.


* * *



The tutors mentioned different reasons for wanting to join:

* Help refugees adjust

* Interest in NK.

* Love teaching and volunteering, heard about TNKR more than a year ago, now she has a chance to join.

* Heard about TNKR from a professor, wanted to join at the "perfect time," then realized there would be no perfect time so he just joined.

* Interested in NK and the refugee situation. First-time teacher.

* A returning tutor, first heard about it from a friend.

* Interested in human development, skills training. Found TNKR through a google search for NGOs in Seoul. 

* Learned about TNKR through his research. Thought about applying earlier, studying Korean now.

* Heard about TNKR from a friend, sounded inspiring. Great chance to help with the adaptation process.

* Wanted to do volunteer work, this seems to be a great chance to make a difference.

* Interested in NK human rights. Learned about TNKR through a google search.

* Studies Korean history, wants to "give back" to Korea.

* Interested in volunteering for refugees. Found TNKR thorugh Facebook, attended July 31 "Stories from the North" TNKR forum at Seoul University of Foreign Studies.

* Read about TNKR on Korea4expats. Helped with refugees at an embassy, this is now her chance to teach directly.

* Learned about TNKR from a Facebook article, returning to TNKR for about the 4th time.

www.lovetnkr.org/donate

Popular posts from this blog

Radio, Harvard

I'll be a guest on XM 169 The Power this morning from 10:15 a.m. EST. I'll be talking about teaching English abroad. I'll be interviewed by Brian Higgins of MYB Talk . I sang last night for about five hours with friends but I'm sure my voice will be fine. Tuesday, I'll be interviewed by a Harvard University representative who wants my input on a new doctoral program for education leaders . It is a collaboration between the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School. Some folks at the Booker Rising site are (again) reminding me that I'm not as smart as I think I am. CJL

Scam? Yo Momma!

Note: This was originally posted shortly after Jesse Lee Peterson's book was published, reposted in 2005, and now because of a fight between black customers and a Korean merchant in Dallas, Texas. Scam? Yo Momma! During the summer of 2002 I was an observer to a dispute between the Asian owners of a Chinese takeout and some of their black customers in Washington, D.C. The month-long boycott began when a local activist accused a cook at a Chinese takeout of attempting to cook a piece of chicken he had allegedly dropped on the floor. Despite the best efforts of human rights activist Dick Gregory, popular talk-show host Joe Madison, and Rev. Walter Fauntroy, the protestors were unable to coax any media to report on the protest. On some days there were, by my unofficial count, as many as 100 people chanting songs and marching. But one key person was missing: Rev. Jesse Jackson. It was important to the foot soldiers at the boycott that someone from the media report on...

Get rid of that watermelon!

Part 1: When I was a youngster I used to collect Confederate money, posters and photographs with caricatures of blacks, and "No blacks allowed signs." I loved the money because it was a reminder of how far the sorry Confederacy had fallen. I had one poster of a dark-skinned black boy munching on a watermelon. I would look at that small poster and wonder, "What in the world is wrong with anyone wanting to eat watermelon?" Yes, white people, I'm talking to you. Your parents, grandparents, and other ancestors who thought making fun of blacks for eating watermelon were crazy ! Even people who say that nothing has changed in race relations must acknowledge that the many stereotypes of blacks are no longer prevalent. But then, there are also some ready to remind us of days-gone-by by debunking stuff that doesn't need to be debunked today. According to the Washington Post: The sound you just heard was yet another racial stereotype going kersplat ! Some ...

How long until they get arrested? Not long enough!!!

As I recently noted, some executives were arrested for putting industrial ethanol in food they sold. I noted: "Of course, it seems that NO ONE checks on the stuff sold on the streets of Seoul..." I haven't been this wrong since 1982! What will happen to these folks? The Korea Times reports: 24 Percent of Ice Cream Contaminated With Germs About a quarter of ice cream and ice at restaurants and drink shops in Seoul is contaminated with high levels of bacteria that can cause food poisoning, according to Seoul City, Monday. The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) inspected 74 ice cream shops, fast food franchises, coffee houses and bakeries. Among the shops selling ice cream and ice, 18 shops sold products that contained more than the permitted levels of bacteria such as colon bacillus and staphylococcus aureus that can cause food poisoning. I love 팥빙수 (patbingsu) so I would support the death penalty for anyone selling contaminated stuff in it. The city government also inspec...

Mentoring while Black (Korea Times 2/16/2023)

  Mentoring while Black by Casey Lartigue Jr. February 16, 2023 www.patreon.com/caseylartigue