On July 29 through August 20 2019, Sookmyung Women’s University held SISS II. SISS stands for Sookmyung International Summer School, and this was its second year operating. It was hosted by the Office of International Affairs. This program is for international undergraduate and graduate students. Students who wished to participate had to register for the program prior to its start online. The program offers students a chance to learn Korean language, Korean traditional martial arts, Taekwondo, and Korean culture through various activities such as Korean cooking and performance learning. Participants took various courses such as ‘Korean Language for Foreigners’, ‘Taekwondo and Korean’, and ‘Korean Arts and Crafts’. There were also cultural excursions, some of which included welcome and farewell parties, a temple stay, touring Gyeongbok Palace, a street tour, a Korean food cooking class, a field trip to DMZ and Lotte World, going to a Nanta performance, and wearing Hanbok. On August 13, students in the program attended a Taekwondo class followed by a Korean cooking class. In the Taekwondo class, students learn Taekwondo first by doing simple Taekwondo movements that were mixed with other movements in tune with music. The music was popular so students learned Taekwondo with pleasure. After gaining confidence with some basic movements, students were given the opportunity to practice the Taekwondo movements, also known as Poomsae. The last part of the class involved the paring of classmates so that they could practice kicking. Kaitlyn Thompson from Mississippi College, who majors in international studies said “I applied for this program because one of my curriculum requirements was to study abroad. I play basketball, so I was unable to study abroad during regular school years. (Finally) I joined the program. I enjoyed the programs, especially the Korean language class and Taekwondo class. I learned a lot about the Korean culture and language and it was my first time to visit another country.” Like Kaitlyn, there are lots of international students learning Korean at Sookmyung Women’s University during the summer. This program helps them with that learning.
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