 Image: Daily NK |
For the 1000th episode of the Korean
Broadcasting System’s [KBS] popular program “Pops Freedom,” the production team
focused on the English language learning process for a group of North Korean defector- students studying at Yeomyung School, an
alternative school for North Korean youths.
The program featured, among other things,
native speakers of English teaching sing-along songs and defector students
giving testimonies on how they overcame the difficulties of learning English, discussing various ways to improve their skills with those who have been in their shoes.
Kwak Young Il, a broadcaster who holds a
Phd in English, hosted the program, joined by defector-college
students Park Cheol Joon and Kim Hyang, the singer Jatanpoong, a native
English teacher named Christa, and 80 students attending the Yeomyung School.
Park, part of Sogang University’s
Department of Political Science and Diplomacy offered words and encouragement
and advice to the school’s incoming students. “To help me memorize more English
words I deleted my songs and inserted audio files of English words. I would
make a set of words to memorize for the day and repeat the ones I had a hard
time memorizing. This helped my English skills gradually increase,” he said.
Kim Hyang from Yong In University’s
Taekwondo Department said, “There were many times I wanted to just give up because learning English was too difficult. Although I’m still learning English
now, I overcame some difficulties of learning English in high school by
repeatedly memorizing words and short conversations.”
Following this, the students gathered
around to sing Jatanpoong’s hit “You Are My Sun” together and showed off their
blossoming conversational skills in 1:1 dialogue with their teacher.
Witnessing their confidence and drive to learn firsthand was very moving for Kim Ho Sang, the show’s lead producer, who came up with the idea to film
the program after finding out that one of the most difficult issues facing
defectors in South Korea is their lack of English language ability, which is rather necessary to understand the many loan words incorporated into the Korean used in the South.
The episode will be aired on March 28th at 3:00a.m. and again at 7:00p.m.[KST].
