26 Feb 2013
Staff Writer
Will Jaeger
Intern
Taehoon Jeon is a finance junior and a member of UNT’s Korean Cultural Exchange. At 7 p.m. on Wednesday nights, he can be found in Willis Library teaching interested people the basics of the Korean language.
Jeon began his endeavor when he applied for a scholarship that required 25 hours of community service. Originally from Seoul and a native speaker, Jeon decided he could use his grasp of the Korean language to help others who wanted to learn, and earn the service hours for himself.Learning Korean requires more time than just a few lessons, though.
“It’s a totally different grammar structure,” Jeon said. “It might take a year to learn the basics.”
A novice at tutoring, Jeon also does not charge for his services.
“It is kind of fun, though,” he said.
Drawing and painting senior Angelika Gavins started taking lessons from Jeon last semester after she had already been learning Hangul, the Korean alphabet system, on her own. “I’m still learning,” Gavins said. “I have some Korean friends, and this helps me to communicate with them. Jeon is a good teacher.”
The Korean Cultural Exchange at UNT was established in 2011 with the intent of fostering international understanding between South Korean and non-Korean individuals with common interests. Members meet to discuss Korean pop culture and issues. The group is also working to get a petition started to have a Korean program implemented at UNT.
“We should be enabling our students to communicate with the Korean population of Dallas and Ft. Worth,” said Mary Collins, KCE president and international studies senior.
Collins said that the Korean population is growing in this area and university policy should reflect the demographic shift.For more information regarding the Korean Cultural Exchange, visit www.untkce.wordpress.com. Taehoon Jeon’s Korean lessons are free and open to anyone who wants to learn Korean. For more information, email Jeon at taehoonjeon@my.unt.edu.
