KOREA FOUNDATION

This month’s session of “Meeting the World in Korea” was presented by Roviya Sidikova of Uzbekistan and Eliezer Garrido of Spain, who visited the young students of Gyeseong Elementary School, in a quiet village in Pyeongtaek.
  The preschool and lower-grade students attended the Uzbekistan class, where they partook in entertaining activities that seemed to boost their concentration and attention. First off, they listened to the Uzbek fairy tale, Zumrad va Qimmat, which is similar to the Korean story of Kongjwi and Patjwi. Although there were no Korean subtitles, Ms. Roviya Sidikova’s patient explanations and deive expressions held their keen attention. The students also learned how to write their names in Uzbek and Russian, drew traditional buildings, and decorated Uzbek-style hats, thereby gaining a measure of familiarity with the once-unknown country of Uzbekistan.
   The upper-grade students joined the engaging Ms. Eliezer Garrido to learn about Spain and basic Spanish greetings. Thanks to Ms. Garrido’s enthusiastic encouragement, the otherwise reserved students eventually opened up and started repeating “Hola!” and “Muy bien!” in loud voices. They also drew their own versions of paintings by the master Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, and even created self-portraits in Picasso’s style while looking at themselves in a mirror. The activity was a such hit with the young students that they said it was the most enjoyable activity ever.
  The KFVN’s international volunteers are real pros in dealing with young children! Thanks to their efforts, yet another session of Meeting the World in Korea came to a successful and rewarding conclusion.

KFVN Reporter Kim Hye-mi