KOREA FOUNDATION

Eo Da-eun
Visiting Scholar at the University of Malaga, Spain

I remember the first day I returned to campus after a prolonged period of online classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I ordered a cup of coffee at the school cafeteria. When I tried to pay for it, I was short five euro cents. While going through my purse, a student standing next to me handed me a coin, saying, in Korean, “May I lend you what you need?” It was at that moment that I found five cents’ worth of coins and responded, “No, thank you.” Both of us burst out laughing, because the student used the Korean expression for “may I?” that I had taught recently. Seeing the student prefectly use what she learned (from me!) in a real-life situation was immensely rewarding—something that I could never experience in an online-only class.

In May, Spain eased its regulations on compulsory mask wearing indoors, based on which classes began at the University of Malaga mask-less. Before then, I could only see my students’ faces on a computer screen: even after in-person classes were resumed, my students and I had to always be masked. It was exciting, above all, to see my students’ faces. Although I’m not yet used to it, the best thing about classes now is that I can see my students’ facial expressions. I can also now adjust the direction and tone of my teaching based on the looks on their faces as they prepare to answer my questions, their pride after giving the correct answer, and the satisfaction of fulfilled curiosity. I believe the same goes for my students, in that it is easier to understand what I’m saying by seeing my facial expressions and the way my lips move.

We are now living in the post-COVID-19 era. At the end of the semester, I went to a Korean restaurant with students from the Department of East Asian Studies for the first time in two years, just like I did before the pandemic. They came dressed up, jokingly comparing their attire to what is normally worn for a wedding reception. When choosing what to eat from the menu, they grew quite serious. As veteran Korean restaurant patrons, they immediately paired up to order and share seasoned fried chicken and japchae (stir-fried glass noodles with seasoned vegetables) or a set of the aforementioned chicken and bibimbap (rice mixed with seasoned vegetables and spicy red pepper paste). The expertise with which they chose what to eat was embellished by their skill in ordering in Korean to the Korean owner. In a previous class, we had studied Korean menus, exchanging questions and answers about what ingredients were in which dishes and how they should be eaten. After the meal, we played the dalgona (honeycomb toffee) game featured in the hit Netflix series, Squid Game, and toured an Asian market.

Afterwards, we ate Choco Pie together, during which I listened to students describing their plans to go to Korea soon. Over half of my juniors will be studying in Korea next semester under an exchange program. Because this was postponed by several semesters due to the pandemic, everyone is very excited. Another piece of good news is that the department will open advanced Korean-language courses next semester (Levels 9 and 10) in response to increased demand for advanced Korean courses ever since the university adopted East Asian studies as a major in 2011. In addition, the semester after the next will see the debut of a Korean-Spanish translation course. This is a development that is especially deserving of celebration, as many students of the department are keenly interested in translating Korean content into Spanish, including literature, movies, games, and webtoons, as well as pursuing translation as a career. I hope all my students see their wishes come true over the remainder of this year, whether they are going to Korea after a long wait or taking advanced-level Korean classes in Malaga.

Eo Da-eunUniversity of Malaga, SpainVisiting Scholarin-person classesadvanced Korean-language courses