Twenty-one students from South Korea are visiting UNI for the three-week Multiculturalism Immersion Program.

The students are from Kyungpook National University (KNU) and Korea National University of Education (KNUE) and will be on campus from Jan. 3 to 25. They are enrolling in classes through the UNI Culture and Intensive English Program (CIEP) during this time period.

“As the whole world is globalized, Korea turns into [a] multicultural society,” said Sohee Kim, one of the students involved in the program. “I think that it is needed for teachers to reinforce their global capabilities to accept and understand other cultures.

Therefore, I thought that I need to learn multicultural education as a future educator. Likewise, I decided to be a part of the multicultural CIEP program.”

The students who take part in this program are those who want to become educators on a global scale. South Korea is currently experiencing a major increase in the number of immigrants coming into the country.

Because of this, classrooms are becoming more multicultural and more teachers are needed who can accommodate to theses diversity needs. UNI is providing students with the opportunity to learn these skills first hand.

“Kyungpook National University […] has a program called Global Teachers University,” said Sally Roos, student services coordinator for the CIEP. “It is a government funded program to provide training to teachers who want to be global teachers. They want to be equipped to teach in a variety of contexts.”

The CIEP began this partnership four years ago when Craig Klafter, the director of the Office of International Programs, went to South Korea and made a connection with KNU.

Initially, this partnership was a science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, program. Then the focus switched to multicultural education. This is when KNUE came to be involved in the program as well. Multicultural education has now been the program’s focus for two years.

During their stay here, students will be taking classes that focus on reading and writing, as well as listening and speaking. They will also partake in different activities, such as attending a common class that students who majoring in education  at UNI take.

They will also visit other local schools in the area to learn how education compares to the schools in South Korea. In addition, the students will learn how teachers must accommodate to the needs of culturally diverse students. Professors will also be giving lectures about multiculturalism to the students.

Not only are the students getting to learn about multicultural education and focus on their career path, they also get to experience American culture themselves. When they are not learning about how to be a more globalized educator, they are partaking in activities that the average American at their age would participate in.

Sohee Kim said she is passionate when it comes to her new cultural discoveries.

“Last Sunday, I watched [a] hockey game,” Kim said. “Actually, since the hockey game is not so general and popular in Korea, it was my first time to watch [a] hockey game. It was so awesome. If I went back to Korea, I would want to see [a] hockey game again!”

UNI students also have the opportunity to travel to KNU over the summer through the CIEP. Even though it will not be the exact same program, students will still be provided with the opportunity to study abroad.

“It is an opportunity, especially for teachers, to go and learn about Korea,” Roos said.