U.S. teens learn Korean in program

U.S. teenagers are taking part in an intensive Korean language course in a classroom. 

This is not out of the norm at Sogang University’s Korean Language Education Center, but these students, all of whom are 15-18 years old, are here as part of a special program sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

Each student had their own unique reason for coming to Korea and joining the National Security Language Initiative for Youth.

“I started watching Korean dramas and listening to Korean music and I got tired of watching them with subtitles,” said Zaneh Williams from Maryland.

“This is a chance to see the world on my own and have a bit more independence,” said Gabrielle Hanley from Virginia.

The students study Korean for four hours in the afternoon, with a strict “no English” policy.

Learning Korean is “fun, but really intensive. We learned reading and writing in about a week,” said Gabrielle.

But she said understanding Korean vocabulary and sentences is the hardest part. 

Even students in the beginner classes have already mastered Hangeul, the Korean alphabet.

These students are not only here for Korean, but also to learn the culture.

“We’re partnered up with university students around Seoul to take a group of us out to different places,” said Gabrielle.