LYRAH PANARIGAN
DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR
On January 24-25, 2019, fifteen junior (11학년) Daegeon High School students from Korea set foot on our campus to experience what it’s like being a Na Menehune. The two-day event, hosted by the Korean Language class, involved meeting new friends, playing games, and going to our students classes.
The Daegeon visit started with an opening ceremony during period one, where they were greeted by our Korean language students for the first time. Soon-Young Kim, Moanalua’s Korean Language teacher, stated that this was Daegeon’s second year visiting Moanalua, but with a different set of students.
“The Vice Principal [at Daegeon] said that he heard from last years students that came that coming to [Moanalua High School] was the most memorable event in their life,” Kim said. The Korean language students then got partnered with their assigned Daegeon students, who shadowed them in their classes.
“It was interesting to see how our material is either very different from theirs or very similar,” Junior Jania Montero-Holck said. Montero-Holck hosted three Daegeon students, Cho Soneun (조성은), Park Sanghyuk (박상혁) and Kim Hajun (김하준). “It was culture shocking [for them] to see, how at their school they have uniforms and they wear the same thing everyday.. [and I also] learned some facts about their school, like they had a no phone policy, and if you’re caught with a phone it gets taken away for a month,” Montero-Holck added.
The event was beneficial for both Daegeon and Moanalua students, because “[we] get to learn from them and vice versa, they can learn some things from [us],” sophomore Quyen Nguyen said, who hosted Cho Seongeun (조성은).
Freshman Bryan Yamamoto refined his korean speaking skills through Daegeon students, “I was afraid of accidentally saying something improper, but if I said something improper to them, they would just laugh and correct what I said wrong - they [were] very kind and understanding,” Yamamoto said.
Afterschool, both korean language and Daegeon students would participate in playing games, which “allowed us to meet other students who weren’t shadowing me, it was really fun to see how they were having fun,” Montero-Holck said.
During the closing ceremony, Daegeon students got to display their many talents through song. Even on the last day, they continued to learn even more about their partners. “[I learned] that he could sing, [and he was] very good at it too,” Nguyen added.
“I hope to take away from this event, the culture and how students from Korea are [taught],” Yamamoto added. The Korean language class has future plans of visiting Daegeon in Korea during the fall, but nothing is set in stone.
“I think everybody had a good experience, but when they say goodbye it’s like they’ve known each other for years. [This will continue] every year so it’s good, and hopefully we will have them continue to come,” Kim said.