Korean Students in New Zealand Challenge Korean Musicals

[Anchor]
7 million overseas Koreans!

There are Koreans all over the world who learn Korean and Korean culture so as not to forget their roots.

New Zealand has Korean students who are challenging Korean musicals with their parents' country and Korea in their hearts.

"Global Korean" introduces the diverse lives of Koreans around the world.

In this session, we will meet the stories of Korean students who challenged the stage of a Korean-language creative musical at the Korean language school in New Zealand.

Hangeul School in Auckland, New Zealand.

Something very special is happening here where children from overseas Koreans and multicultural families gather to learn Korean.

The students who put their heads together with a serious look, it seems like they're having a secret meeting.

"It's an important role, but I don't think there are many lines.Better add a little more "
".The "
" liver scene still has a lot of footage in the back here...."

The students carefully examine the small parts and carefully check the scene.

The Korean musical 'Kongjwi Patjwi' that I have planned for the past five weeks is about to be completed.

What is unique is that senior students who are about to graduate from Hangul School have become mentors, leading juniors who are not good at Korean yet.

[Yuri An and Yang Young-eun / 11th and 10th graders: Our middle school students become leaders and mentors to guide and teach younger brothers, and I thought vocabulary was very important while writing the script.]


"The four-character idiom that seems to be used as much as possible, 'Gwonseon Jingak', and the proverb 'Pouring water into a bottomless jar' were added a few proverbs and idioms." Listen and learn a lot."

Here at Auckland Korean School, the largest Korean language school in New Zealand, about 820 people are learning Korean language and culture.

For them, Korean means more than just language.

This is because they were born and raised in New Zealand, but they are learning Korean to keep their roots in Korea and finding their identity.

I memorize lines and practice pronunciation while showing off my Korean skills.

The children preparing for the musical stage are clumsy, but they are filled with sincerity.

[Immaru / 4th grader: I played the role of a bull. I just wanted to do something I've never done before. I gave more confidence through this play. I learned more Korean by practicing my lines more.]

Teachers, who have watched the students' passion and efforts closely, feel very proud to see their children gain confidence and grow as Koreans as they learn Korean.

[Cho Young-sun / Northern Oakland Korean School Vice-principal: Going to a Korean school is a place to learn Korean or Korean, but also to learn the identity of being a Korean. The kids come and mentoring (like a musical class) and they know our identity and come here and they are comforted. I think that's the best part because I learned that we are this kind of community and that our country has this kind of thing.

A day when five weeks of hard work finally comes to fruition.

The children take the stage with a trembling heart.

At first, it was only difficult in Korean, but now I am confident enough to perform great songs and dances on stage.

When the play was over and applause poured out, neither the children nor their parents could hide their pride.

[Lee Arin and Park Chanbin / Oakland Korean School 5th grader: It's a very fun opportunity to have a lot of fun and thoughts. Since I'm New Zealand here, I use English. So sometimes I can pronounce it in English. Yes, but I spoke confidently in front of the stage (because I practiced Korean a lot)]

[Hong Jimin and Hong Ji-hyun / Parents of Oakland Korean School: I was so proud. Of course, I was born here, but I think it is important to give you an opportunity to learn while attending school without any problems in communicating Korean and writing and reading. All of our children were born here, but I think it's great to go to Korean school every week to increase Korean and experience Korean culture.]

Children who have shown their dreams and passion to the fullest based on Korean.

The pride of being a Korean gained on the stage is expected to be a strong support for children to realize their dreams in a wide world.