Instructor of Korean, Yookyung Lee was recently featured in the Intensive English Program (IEP) newsletter. Read the article below:
The Korean Program at Boise State University was established in 2008 with only Korean language components, and in 2016 we started adding Korean content courses such as Korean Pop-Culture and History, and Korea Today, and since Spring 2019 we’ve been offering Korean Studies Minor. Since fall 2014, I’ve been teaching elementary Korean language courses and all the Korean content courses. Thanks to Korea Foundation grants and the Dean’s Office of the College of Arts and Science since 2020, the Korean Program has created a 3-credit Korean Culture and Civilization course and expanded the previous 1-credit Korean Pop-Culture and History to a 3-credit course on Korean Pop-Culture and Society. Now we can offer Korean language courses and content courses during the whole school year.
I created a Korean-English Language Exchange Program (KLEP) in partnership with the Intensive English Program at the Center for Global Education in 2015 and have facilitated the program ever since. In the KLEP, students of both English and Korean and their respective cultures meet every week for the whole semester in order to teach and learn Korean/English. Every year during the pre-Covid pandemic, more than 100 students actively participated in the KLEP, and some of them continued their academic and professional careers through study abroad programs, exchange programs, college transfer or the English Program in Korea (EPIK). (During the pandemic, the KLEP sustained though in a reduced scale.)
I’ve been a faculty advisor for the Korean Club at Boise State University (KCBSU), and have created many cultural events, workshops and lectures, such as the Korean Chuseok (Full Moon Festival) BBQ event, Korean movie nights and Korean history lectures. IEP students and faculty members are great supporters for these events, and IEP Korean students became a huge contributor as Korean culture ambassadors.
I’ve received the Korea Foundation Grants for three years to create and enhance the Korean Program at Boise State University, and been selected as a discussion panel in the Academy of Korean Studies Program for Educators in North America last summer. I also received the 2020-2021 College of Arts and Science Adjunct Teaching Award in 2021.