Korean Reaction to the Tragedy at Virginia Tech

Editor's note: This was posted on Blue Oregon yesterday, but I am posting it here as well.

The last couple of days have been weird to say the least. Since the authorities in Virginia have released the name of the person who shot thirty people at Virginia Tech, the reaction has been one of heartache, embarrassment and sorrow.

As someone who has lived here in South Korea and taught English as a Second Language for over three years, I wondered what the reaction would be from Koreans after I heard the news. It is sometimes difficult to gauge how they deal with things as they are much more emotional, but at the same time they keep things locked inside.

When I heard the news, I was in the bedroom scanning the internet as I usually do on any given night. My wife, who is Korean, was watching the news in the other room and came running into the bedroom to tell me that the gunman was a Korean immigrant. I can tell you her first reaction was that she was sorry it was a Korean who did this. I told her I don't blame Korea, I blame the person who did it.

The sadness of this tragedy overshadowed another piece of news which was that the City of Incheon won the right to host the 2014 Asian Games. When I heard this, I knew there would be no celebration in light of the shootings and the fact that they had such a close tie to Korea.

This morning I arrived at work and the first thing I happened to ask the English Coordinator at my school was about the Asian Games. But right off the bat, she asked if I'd heard about the identity of the shooter at Virginia Tech. I told her yes I had. She also expressed her regret and sorrow over the shootings that took place.

On the website for native-speaking teachers in Korea, many lashed out at Koreans because of the shooter's nationality. I for one was shocked by this. Certainly in a time of tragedy like this, it is no time to take advantage of an incident to browbeat someone of another nationality.

What we should be taking from this tragedy is that both Korea and the United States need to take seriously the treatment of mental illness.

Today is a sad day for both the United States and the Republic of Korea.

Incheon Free Trade and English Zone

This afternoon I attended a ceremony marking the dedication of the Incheon Free Trade and English Zone that is being built near Incheon International Airport. The city is investing heavily in developing a free trade zone called New Songdo City, as well as teaching English in the public schools.

Since the late 1980's, there has been a strong push to in Korea teach children English. For the most part, kids attend a hagwon (also referred to as a cram school) in the afternoon when they get out of public school. Typically hagwons cost anywhere from $300-700 a month (about 300,000-700,000 Won). Most families can barely afford to send their children to a hagwon and typically have an income of $20,000-30,000 a year (if both parents work).

Recently the government has been investing huge amounts of money building English camps (Washington Post article about the English Camp in Ansan) where children can go and learn English in a immersion setting. Similar camps have been built in Incheon and Paju.

The city is also heavily investing in English programs for the public school by hiring native speaking teachers to teach English and western culture. The long term goal being to increase the ability of people to speak English in time for the 2014 Asian Games, which Incheon is in the running to host.

I find it interesting how much money the government is throwing at teaching English as a second language. The main problem being that unless those that are learning to speak English continue to practice speaking English on a regular basis, it is difficult to improve their speaking abilities. Also, Koreans are afraid of making mistakes, therefore they are hesitant to speak English, even if they have the ability.

If your interested, you can also look at the pictures I posted of my classroom remodeling in two earlier posts, Under SiegePart I and Part II.

You can also visit the following websites:

Incheon City

Namgu-Office (The area of Incheon in which I live)

Nambu Elementary School (My school's website)

My photo album page on Yahoo Photos