2016-05-18 TNKR pioneer returns, with an English emergency!

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.

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.

* * *

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/

* * *

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

Helping North Koreans 'strike the blow' (Korea Times)

H ave you ever engaged in action not because you were sure it would change the world, but to satisfy your own heart? That, I emailed to an American friend, is why I have joined the effort to help North Koreans who are trying to escape from their homeland. I can’t change the direction of policy in North Korea or China but I can row the boat I am sitting in rather than lamenting that I can’t steer the yachts somewhere else. So I have tried to do what I can: Attending protests in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul (and I plan to do so when I visit America in April); donating money to the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights ( www.nkhumanrights.or.kr ); educating myself, writing articles and emailing friends; and, as a member of the board of trustees, I recently submitted a resolution to the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association (FDMHA) in Washington, D.C., to try to call attention to the plight of North Koreans. Our organization’s missi...

Chang Ha-Joon's foolish consistency (Korea Times, January 1, 2013)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. Is the sky blue? Is the ocean water? If you suspect those are trick questions, you are right. The sky isn’t always blue ― it is reddish at sunset, dark at midnight, gray on an overcast day. The ocean isn’t water ― there’s also fish, plant life, submarines, dissolved minerals, surfboards, sunken ships, even people swimming in it sometimes. As Hoover Institution scholar Thomas Sowell wrote in his 1996 book ``The Vision of the Anointed,” people who use “all-or-nothing” reasoning can deny a statement because it is not 100 percent true in every circumstance. Such word games might be fun for college students or debaters, but there are some distinguished people who are respected for making such childish arguments about serious issues. In his book ``23 Things They Don’t Tell you About Capitalism,” Cambridge University economist Chang Ha-Joon argues that 1) “[T]here is really no such thing as a free market” and 2) “The free market doesn’t exis...

2020-11-26 My basketball story

This photo was uploaded today by my aunt Annette. This was back in the day, when 1) I had a head full of hair and 2) played basketball a lot. That first year of playing organized basketball, I focused on playing defense. It seemed that everyone wanted to shoot the ball, so I passed the ball and played defense. I probably led the league in steals, rebounds and blocked shots. I enjoyed taking on the best player from the other team, I felt like I would get better, quickly. The second year, I was a different player. I will never forget the first game that second year--we lost 29 to 26, I scored 18 points. I probably led the universe in scoring that second year, although we didn't win much. One thing I learned from that experience is that one great player 9 (at least in his own mind) can't beat a team. An eye injury ended my pro career before it began, to this day I still have floaters in my eyes because of the injury. I started wearing glasses, but the problem never went away. On t...

2020-04-26 "May I choose more teachers?" TNKR Matching session #102

2020-04-26, TNKR Matching session #102 The Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center (TNKR) humbly began in March 2013 with 5 tutors and 5 NK refugees being matched together. We held that first session at a TOZ business center in Gangnam. Seven years later, TNKR has now matched 455 North Korean refugees with 1,027 tutors, coaches, and mentors. Today we held our 102nd Language Matching session at our slightly expanded office near the Sangsu Subway Station. Instead of just being something that Casey and Eunkoo did short-term, TNKR is now an official organization in both South Korea and the USA, we have been featured in media and by other organizations (just yesterday, we were featured by KOTESOL), and we have fans and donors from around the world.

"Yoegi Anjuseyo!"

* I have a short reflection in today's Korea Times about an encounter with an unfriendly looking Korean man on the subway. It was a reminder not to be too quick in judging people in Korea. 09-13-2011 16:47 'Yeogi Anjeuseyo!' By Casey Lartigue Jr. The recent incident in which an American English teacher bullied an elderly Korean man and other passengers on the bus reminded me of a more pleasing incident from years ago. I was on the subway, taking the train outside of Seoul for a work assignment. I have the habit of standing on the subway to strategically position myself near the doors in case my stop magically appears. On that particular day, there was a Korean man STARING at me. Not just looking at me, but intensely staring at me. He had an incredible frown on his face. Not just for one stop, but for several stops the guy just kept staring at me. If I had known more Korean then I would have been able to curse him ...

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