Classes in Korean help overcome language barrier

(By Michaela Baginova – Bond University Journalism student)

Hope College in Varsity Lakes is offering a theology class in Korean language for the local community because there is a sizeable South Korean student population in the area.

South Korea has a large percentage of Christians, said Pastor and Assistant Principal Christian Kahnt.

Many of these students wanted to have an overseas experience and improve their English.

“Instead of having just a generic English class, why not study something that interests them?” said Pastor Kahnt.

“In this case it is their faith.”

If the course were all in English it would be too difficult as most students were beginners, he said.

Two-thirds of the course is in a language that is familiar to them and one-third in English, which gives them the ability to learn without overwhelming them.

Hope has been offering their Korean Theology class since their start in 1997, and this year they have the biggest class in history with 30 students.

Daniel Kang, who has been the teacher of this course for one year, said he enjoyed teaching it very much and the preparation for the lectures helped him a lot too.

Yoon Sook Worthington, a student of this course said she was in the second year of her studies at Hope and liked it very much.

In the future, Hope College are looking to offer a Counselling course in Korean and another course in Spanish because of the demand from people from Peru and Chile.