TNKR quietly began in March 2013 as a hobby of the co-founders. That little hobby has now grown into an official organization that is sought out by refugees, volunteers, researchers, reporters, activists, and others with various interests. We have now had about 400 North Korean refugees and more than 800 tutors/coaches participate.
We have expanded operations thanks to our donors, but English tutoring remains the base of our activities. Yesterday we held our 83rd Language Matching session. We didn't plan on holding a session this month, but refugees are constantly lobbying TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee, either to join for the first time or for the opportunity to return.
Last month we held on our largest session in history, with 13 refugees and 20 tutors. We have numerous other activities we must plan, but then the lobbying began, so we decided to hold a small session.
A couple of students are returnees, so it was easier to put together a session quickly. The students have a good understanding of our program and show that they respect our approach.
I arrived at the office at 7 am. The first student arrived at 10:40 a.m., more than three hours before the session was scheduled to start.
On average, the students chose 4.4 tutors, the tutors were chosen on average by 2.7 refugees.
We will take a few days to make sure the tutors really understand our process. They have been chosen, so now it is real, and they will need to start applying what we explained during orientation.
Two of the refugees returning to us were at the ABC level when they first joined us. Two of them are now great speakers, including one who qualified for a fellowship to study abroad. And another one who knew almost knew nothing also introduced herself in English.
We have been getting so much great feedback from refugees about how valuable TNKR is for them as they continued with their unfinished stories outside of North Korea.
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We have expanded operations thanks to our donors, but English tutoring remains the base of our activities. Yesterday we held our 83rd Language Matching session. We didn't plan on holding a session this month, but refugees are constantly lobbying TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee, either to join for the first time or for the opportunity to return.
Last month we held on our largest session in history, with 13 refugees and 20 tutors. We have numerous other activities we must plan, but then the lobbying began, so we decided to hold a small session.
A couple of students are returnees, so it was easier to put together a session quickly. The students have a good understanding of our program and show that they respect our approach.
I arrived at the office at 7 am. The first student arrived at 10:40 a.m., more than three hours before the session was scheduled to start.
On average, the students chose 4.4 tutors, the tutors were chosen on average by 2.7 refugees.
We will take a few days to make sure the tutors really understand our process. They have been chosen, so now it is real, and they will need to start applying what we explained during orientation.
Two of the refugees returning to us were at the ABC level when they first joined us. Two of them are now great speakers, including one who qualified for a fellowship to study abroad. And another one who knew almost knew nothing also introduced herself in English.
We have been getting so much great feedback from refugees about how valuable TNKR is for them as they continued with their unfinished stories outside of North Korea.
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