▲Hae-won in mathmatics class.▲Hae-won's photo with self-introduction.▲Hae-won studying under Lim, his tutor, from Dong-A University.▲Hae-won's family, his mother, his father and his grandmother."You came to do a story on me today, didn't you "We live at a time when a tenth of new marriages is multicultural. The number of multicultural households is more than one million, and the number of multicultural children is almost six hundred thousand in our country. Now we can say our country is a multicultural society. It is not difficult to find children of multicultural families in elementary school, too. Hae-won, an elementary school student, whom this newspaper met, is also a child of a multicultural family.This is his story. In front of his third grade classroom at Cheong-Hak elementary school, Hae-won asked in a friendly yet shy manner, "You came to do a story on me today, didn't you " Hae-won is a child of a multicultural family. His mother is Chinese, his father, Korean. "Hae-won was poor at Korean when he was new to school but now he has no problem with Korean," vice-principal Kim Jon-ryul of Cheong-Hak elementary school remarked. Hae-won's classmates were running and romping around a corridor with balloons which they made in art class. Children teased Hae-won to make them pretty balloons since he was the best at balloon art in the class. Hae-won smiled a little shyly at their praise. After a while, the class began. It was mathematics class. Children learned their tables in a ringing voice as they read the Thousand-Character Classic aloud and studied division. Next class was music class. The teacher who was in charge of Hae-won's class beat a janggu as children sang Korean folk songs merrily. On the back wall of the classroom, where the children's self-introductions were, Hae-won's self-introduction caught the eye: "I'm good at Chinese because I lived a long time in China. I like running. But I'm poor at the rules of Korean spelling. My dream is to become a diplomat." It was lunch time. Song Young-sun, Hae-won's class teacher, talked about multicultural children's school life. She said there were nine children from multicultural families in Hae-won's school. According to her, when Hae-won was three months old, he was sent to his mother's maiden home in China. He went to school there. Then he entered the second grade here in October of last year. "I heard that when he was new here, he was made fun of by other children as he was poor at Korean, so he was ashamed that he was a half-Korean and half-Chinese a little bit. So I kept saying that 'he will be good at both Korean and Chinese' to Hae-won and other children. Little by little he began adapt himself to school life," she said. She also added, "The children from multicultural families are not behind the other children. Most of them are succeeding in adapting. Some of them are honor students as they study hard. However, they are mostly weak in writing because they find it difficult to spell and to know when to space words. So if I let other children write 10 lines, I let them write 5 lines." Ms. Song also said that Hae-won's mother taught Chinese class every week in school, adding "I think that multicultural children will be needed more for this country."Children who are third grade go home after lunch. Hae-won was ready to go home after schoool. Hae-won was an active child when playing with his friends, but he was shy with a stranger like the reporter. His friend invited Hae-won to play with them. But Hae-won went straight home, saying "I should study." Because a special teacher from the district office was waiting in Hae-won's house. Hae-won said, "It is fun to go to school and study. I am good at science and physical exercise and find Korean difficult." Hae-won lives with his mother, father, grand mother and his mother's sister. As soon as the reporter arrived at Hae-won's house, Chun-kwoang Sang (37), his mother, received us with delight.The waiting extracurricular tutor from the ward office taught Hae-won three classes a week. Hae-won learned about Korean and mathematics from the tutor. The tutor chec-ked his pronunciation in detail while he read a Korean book. His pronunciation was unpracticed, but he kept reading steadily. Also the tutor made unknown words in a storybook easy to understand. "When you are an adult, you might be good at Korean and Chinese. That will be great for you," the tutor said to him. He learned the multiplication table after studying reading. The tutor said, "He wrote the right answers on the multiplication table last time, but he was poor at memorizing something spoken in Korean." When Hae-won finished his study with the tutor, he went to the study room near his house for two hours without any rest. He learned mainly Korean and mathematics there. Hae-won's mother said, "I make him study harder than other Korean children to make up for his relatively poor Korean." She also goes to study Korean.Hae-won talked with his mother using Korean and Chinese. His grandmother said, "When he came back to Korea the first time, I was shocked that he couldn't speak Korean at all." She added, "The people around him were concerned about the effect of the constant coming and going between China and Korea. The child would never be able to get his bearings. This was the reason he couldn't speak Korean and adapt to Korean education." In China, the school term begins in September. After he finished the first grade, he returned to Korea and entered the second semester of the second grade, so he in fact is behind one semester to his classmates.The interview with his mother went well, though there was an occasional need to explain Korean words she did not understand. Hae-won usually does his homework after dinner, and his father checks his diary and watches over his study. "I am poor at Korean, so I can't direct his study," his mother said sadly.Wishing to give him a proper Chinese education, Hae-won's mother, who is from Yanji in China, sent him to her father's home three months after he was born. Even after returning to Korea, he spent vacation periods with his mother in China. By this means, Hae-won's bilingual abilities were fostered. "He doesn't confuse Korean with Chinese," so "I will continue to send him to China to learn Chinese culture and language," his mother said. In this way, a bilingual education is a gift for children and for their mother. However, she said, "When he first came back to Korea, I felt unhappy that he was ridiculed for not being able to speak Korean and speaking only Chinese. I was sore every-time I heard that 'Hae-won got beaten' or 'he fought with friends' when I waited for him in front of his school. He was forced to move from hagwon to hagwon, private cramming schools, because his classmates ridiculed him. Hae-won even said to me that he'd like to return to China." Her eyes brimmed with tears while she related her son's travails. He even pleaded with her to not speak Chinese when his friends were around. She said, "I don't know why I should do that. I'd like to speak Chinese when I feel like it."When asked how Koreans should change their view of multicultural families, she replied with a smile, "Although foreigners are poor at Korean, the Korean people and Chinese people are the same, so Koreans should not discriminate against us." By reporters Kang Myoung-a, Kim Mi-hee "Multi-cultural households are not different frome yours"▲Hae-won being cheered up.Nuri Han-Sang Agency (Director: Professor Hak-chun Lee) at Dong-A University offers one on one visits for children of multicultural households. Some 30 students who major in International Law visit one student that they are in charge of, teaching them mathematics, English and other subjects. Sung-woo Lim (Junior, Department of International Legal Affairs) is in charge of Hae-won.On April 23, when Sung-woo Lim visited Hae-won's house, Hae-won greeted him by saying that he wanted to study science. But Sung-woo Lim replied, "No, I bought English books today." He selected English books chosen by Dong-A University. The lesson consisted of recitation of the multiplication table and the alphabet. Like his peers, Hae-won likes talking and playing with Sung-woo Lim rather than studying.Because the reporter do not want to disturb their study, the reporter left the room and found Chun-kwoang Sang (Hae-won's mother) pressing Hae-won's clothes in the kitchen. "Hae-won will participate in a Chinese speaking contest," she said, showing the reporter a brochure about Chinese speaking contest sponsored by Dong-A University's Gong-Ja Academy. "There are eleven elementary school students participating. Hae-won will speak second. To be honest, I want Hae-won to win the first prize in the contest," she smiled brightly. She looked happy about Hae-won's participation. "How do you feel about Sung-woo Lim's visit " she answered to the reporter's question, "I deeply appreciate his visit. I regret that I can't teach Hae-won because I am poor at Korean. I am so thankful to have a teacher that will teach Hae-won for free." She continuously expressed her gratitude. Hae-won is full of anticipation on the days when Sung-woo Lim comes, constantly asking "when he will come." Hae-won's mother said that Hae-won often feels lonely because he is an only child, so he consider his teacher an older brother. Sung-woo Lim found his experience volunteering with children from multicultural households truly gratifying, remarking that it provided the salt to his life. The first time he participated in the program to earn volunteer credits. But after satisfying his requirements, he finds his visits a continual pleasure. He returns to his house in Jinhae with a bright smile. By reporter Choi Jung-in 동아대학보 제1070호 (2009. 5. 11)
