Community Outreach Programs
Community Outreach Programs
Monash Korean Studies has been actively engaging primary and secondary school students in an outreach program that educates students on the Korean language, culture and history and introduces the possibility of studying engaging in studying Korean at a university level.
This program gives local school students the opportunity to experience a range of interactive programs and activities across the study areas provided by Monash University Korean Studies.
Due the COVID-19 social distancing restrictions outreach programs in 2020-2021 were postponed as the safety and wellbeing of the community is our top priority. With the current ease in restrictions, we were able to continue our outreach programs this year. Our experiences of teaching via ZOOM allowed us to extend our reach to international schools as well.
Hampton Park Library 2026
Monash Korean Studies was pleased to return to Hampton Park Library this semester to deliver weekly Korean language and cultural classes for the local community. The program ran from 2nd April to 28th May and consisted of 8 lessons. The program was coordinated by our hub coordinator Sandy Nguyen and in-class support students Sandra Binoy and Sharee Zhang, who developed and delivered the lesson materials.
The program received positive feedback from both the library and participants, with many noting that the lessons were well structured, easy to follow, and effectively built upon content from previous weeks. Attendance averaged between 9-14 participants per week, with attendees ranging in age from their early 30s to late 50s. The cohort reflected a diverse mix of ethnicities and professional backgrounds, including stay-at-home parents, retirees, undergraduates and PhD students, as well as library staff members connected to the program.
The weekly lessons covered a range of Korean language and cultural topics, including:
- Introduction of Korean language (Basic greetings)
- Hangul (Korean alphabet)
- Reading basic Korean (Soundshift rules)
- Essential phrases and vocabulary for travelling & asking directions
- Essential phrases and vocabulary for ordering food
- Introducing adjectives
- Introducing Korean culture
- Course review
Below, Sandra and Sharee reflect on their teaching experiences at Hampton Park Library this semester:
“I had a really good experience teaching Korean at Hampton Park library this semester. It was a great opportunity to be able to teach adults and working professionals who all had various reasons for learning Korean, including wanting to travel to Korea or wanting to understand the lyrics to their favourite K-Pop songs. It was especially interesting discussing various parts of Korean culture, including historical and traditional elements, food, pop culture and language elements. I think these lessons at Hampton Park were a great initiative to ensure that the Korean language proficiency of Australians is increased through teaching in an informal and more comfortable environment.” - Sandra Binoy
“I really enjoyed my time teaching at Hampton Park every fortnight. I think it was sometimes difficult to think of good resources and material to use in the classes but when it would all come together after I finished preparing, it would work well and the students would engage in it. I do think that my sense of uncertainty within myself faded as the weeks went by as there was a heavy feeling of imposter syndrome weighing on me in the beginning since part of me thought that I was not good enough to be teaching Korean. I think that this program not only made the students more confident in their language skills, but having to explain, answer questions and deconstruct confusing ideas within the Korean language made me more sure of myself. I think next semester I will try to implement more interactive activities in my lessons since students seem to respond to them well and I will also try to remember to make the font bigger on my PPTs.” - Sharee Zhang
We are pleased to continue the program in Term 3, which will run from 30th July to 17 September.
Centre of Higher Educational Studies (CHES) 2025
On Friday August 8, a team from Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub gave a one-hour Korean language and culture introductory class to year 12 students at CHES (the Victorian Centre for Higher Education Studies) in South Yarra. Led by MUKSRH Hub Coordinator Sandy Nguyen the team of Monash Korean Studies students Sandra Binoy and Larissa Carberry introduced students to Hangul, basic greetings and fundamental Korean cultural characteristics. The CHES sessions are part of MUKSRH’s short courses outreach scheme funded by their AKS Core Universities grant and aim to raise interest in Korea and in Korean Studies. There are plans for a follow up session to be taught by the same team in December 2025.
(Left to right: Sandra introducing herself and basic Korean Language; group activity; Larissa introducing herself and Korean culture.)
Following our success in August, Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub was honored to be invited back to run a two-hour Korean language and culture introductory workshop to year 9 students at CHES, on December 12. The workshop was led by MUKSRH Hub Coordinator Sandy Nguyen and the team of Monash Korean Studies students in-class support Sandra Binoy and Larissa Carbery. There were a total of 30 students who attended the workshop. The students spent 1 hour in each class; students were introduced to Hangul and basic greetings in Sandra's class, and to aspects of Korean culture in Larissa's class. This is a relatively new program organised by the CHES who have plans to offer afterschool programs to students from their participating schools. Both CHES and Monash Korean Studies look forward to further collaborations in the near future!
Collingwood College 2025
Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub (MUKSRH) was delighted to return to Collingwood College to deliver a series of one-hour lessons on Korean language and culture. The program consisted of 5 after-school sessions held each Thursday from May 15 to 19 June. Throughout the sessions, students were introduced to a range of topics including soundshifts, restaurants, directions and transportation, grammar, Korean public holidays and traditional games. The program was led by MUKSRH Hub Coordinator Sandy Nguyen. Class materials were prepared and delivered by MUKSRH in-class support students Larissa Carbery and Sandra Binoy. Attendance remained consistent throughout the program, with 7 high school students participating each week.
Visit to Ormond Primary School (22 October, 2024)
Monash University’s Korean Studies program is excited to share recent initiatives aimed at supporting a local Korean language education at Ormond Primary School (Ormond PS), one of the few primary schools in Victoria with a long-standing program in Korean as a LOTE (Languages Other Than English) subject.
Dr. Soyeon Kim, a research fellow in Korean Studies at Monash University and a registered teacher in Australia, is at the forefront of this project.
The background of this initiative
In early 1990s, The Australian government has recognised Korean as one of four essential Asian languages, alongside Japanese, Chinese, and Indonesian, due to the nation’s strong economic ties with South Korea—its fourth-largest trading partner and third-largest export market. Despite this, Korean language education remains rare in Victoria, with only five primary schools currently offering it.
With the recent global surge of interest in Korean media and culture, Monash Korean Studies has launched various initiatives to promote Korean language education, aiming to encourage its expansion as a LOTE subject in Melbourne schools. And they include:
By engaging the local Korean community in Melbourne, Monash Korean Studies has spotlighted the Korean language program at Ormond PS, which has led to generous donations of over 300 Korean children’s books.
Book Sorting and Translation
Monash Korean Studies students played a crucial role in preparing these books for use in classrooms. They sorted through the donated books, translating titles and cataloguing them for easy reference and access. It was wonderful to see our students apply their Korean skills in ways that benefit the community.
With the books now part of the Ormond PS library, Monash students with Working with Children Checks recently visited the school to introduce the collection and participated in Korean language classes. Under the supervision of Dr. Kim and Miss Lee, the Korean teacher of Ormond PS, the students facilitated Korean language games and activities, creating an engaging and memorable experience for the children.
Looking Ahead
Monash Korean Studies is dedicated to ongoing supporting Korean language programs and encourages other schools and community members to help promote our commitment to advancing Korean language education in the local area.
For any inquiries or additional information in related to this project, please contact Dr. Soyeon Kim at soyeon.kim@monash.edu. We look forward to continuing this journey with the local school communities in Melbourne!
Collingwood College 2024
Continuing our successful short course outreach programme which aims to bring Korean language and culture into the wider Melbourne community earlier this year, Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub (MUKSRH) ran a Korean Language and Culture class at Collingwood College from 24th October to 12th December 2024. This course followed on from previous successful Korean language and culture classes organised by MUKSRH at Hampton Park Library and on the Monash MBA programme. The class materials were organised and taught by our MUKSRH student teaching assistant Larissa Carberry and MUKSRH Hub Coordinator Sandy Nguyen. A total of five classes were taught during this program, covering a range of topics including Sound Shifts, Restaurants, Directions and Transportation, Present Tense of Verbs, Calendar dates and Korean Public Holidays. With a variety of fun activities (including role plays, Kahoot quizzes, heads-up, matching cards) students were able to memorise essential vocabulary and phrases. Most popular was the restaurant lesson and the students can now order food at Korean restaurants 100% in Korean with phrases like: “두 개 주세요.” The feedback was enthusiastic and the classes saw an incredibly consistent number of 10 high school students in attendance each week. MUKSRH looks forward to continuing its short course programme into 2025.
This work was supported by the Core University Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2023-OLU-2250001).
MBA Programme (9 September, 2024)
On September 9th 2024, Monash Korean Studies Research Hub was invited to lead a session on ‘South Korean language and culture for business people’ to Monash University MBA Students at Caulfield campus. The aim of the session was to introduce South Korea and Korean culture to students who are preparing for a business trip to Korea where they will be working with Korean business partners and Seoul’s Sungkyunkwan University. This session was led by our Hub Coordinator Sandy Nguyen and our teaching Assistant Larissa Carbery. It involved an introduction to Korean language, business etiquettes, and essential phrases for travelling (i.e. greetings, restaurant/shopping/emergency phrases) followed by several activities where students were given a scenario and had to work in pairs to act out the role play. These role plays aim to prepare the students for possible situations that they are likely to encounter during their trip, such as bowing, greeting and exchanging business cards during meetings, dining etiquettes for company dinners, and taking public transport. To wrap up the session, Larissa and Sandy shared some travel tips based on their experience of Korea and recommended travel locations that students could visit during their stay. Students also got a travel guide booklet to take home, which contains other additional information about Korea. The session was a success with positive feedback from the MBA students who really appreciated the materials that were prepared for them. They were also immersed in their role plays and were actively asking questions throughout the session.
Hampton Park Library 2024
As part of our short courses outreach scheme Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub has been running weekly Korean language and culture classes at Hampton Park Library throughout term 3 (July-September) 2024. The classes have been set up, designed, coordinated and taught by MUKSRH Hub Coordinator Sandy Nguyen in collaboration with MUKSRH student in-class support Farzana Afzali, Larissa Carberry and Pick Kulbul. Each week the team prepares a class with a different language or culture focus and the response has been enthusiastic with an average of 15 students in attendance. The majority of students are members of the public with an interest in Korean language and culture thanks to the popularity of K-drama, K-pop and K-culture in general.
MBA Programme (7 September, 2022)
On September 7, Associate Professor and Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub Director, Andrew David Jackson, led a session for Monash University MBA students at Caulfield around South Korean business culture. As part of the MBA Programme, students will be travelling to South Korea to increase their awareness, understanding and knowledge of businesses and companies in South Korea. On their trip, they will have the opportunity to directly interact with Korean employees and attend site visits to various locations. To prepare for the trip, Monash Korean Studies taught the session ‘Cultural situations for business people dealing with South Korea.’ This involved presenting Korean-related scenarios and having students work in groups to answer questions. The situations ranged from drinking and food etiquette, exchange of business cards, business meetings, bowing and showing respect, and negotiations. The MBA students actively engaged in learning about Korean culture through the scenarios and the session was successful in giving them insight into Korean business culture. Korean culture may not have been familiar to many of them but by the end of the session, the MBA students had developed greater awareness of the peculiarities of Korean cultural practices and looked forward to their trip to Seoul.
Kyle Han-Menz (Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub Student Teaching Assistant).
Visit to Huntingdale Primary School (9 October, 2019)
Huntingdale Primary School is a public, bilingual English-Japanese school with about 700 students. Assoc. Prof. Andrew David Jackson and Dr. Adam Zulawnik gave a presentation followed by a quiz to raise student interest in the Korean language and South Korea.
Dr. Adam Zulawnik gave a 15-minute presentation about Korea, the Korean language, and Korean Studies at Monash University. The audience were grade 5/6 students aged 11-12. Dr. Zulawnik brought the students’ attention to linguistic similarities between Korean and Japanese (e.g., word order and Chinese character compounds) and the fact that there are a fair number of students at Monash majoring in both languages. Dr. Zulawnik then emphasised the significance of Korean Studies and important role that South Korea is playing globally in popular culture (K-Pop) and business. All of the student showed great enthusiasm and many were already well aware about K-Pop and South Korean brands and cultural items such as taekwondo, hanbok, and kimchi. The presentation was followed by an interactive Kahoot! Quiz which student completed in groups. The quiz tested students on information presented by Dr. Zulawnik. All of the students were very excited and showed great participation. The outreach visit was concluded with some Korean greetings.
[Image: Dr Adam Zulawnik at Huntingdale Primary School]
Monash Korean Studies welcomes inquiries from schools in the Melbourne Metropolitan area. Please contact us for further information about the program.