Downtown Moncton, New Brunswick.
By Rebecca Schmor
I took an interest in the Korean language after travelling to meet a friend in Seoul during university. When I came back, I signed up for a Korean language course. This course took place in the North York Galleria supermarket, which felt like walking back into Seoul each time. I still remember getting off the bus and practicing reading the signs of restaurants and karaoke bars before buying my favourite kimbap (Korean sushi) to snack on before class. The supermarket was always buzzing, and the class was full of students eager to learn Korean.
My experience is representative of a broader trend. The Korean language has become one of the ten most studied languages in the world on the popular learning app Duolingo. The rising interest in Korean language and culture reflects the global success of K-pop groups like BTS and BLACKPINK, as well as K-Dramas and series like Squid Games, season 1 of which became the most watched series ever on Netflix.
Korean Canadian Community
As the interest in Korean language learning grows, so does Canada’s Korean immigrant population, which features a notable mix of self-employed business owners, skilled workers, and international students. While much of this population is concentrated in Vancouver and Toronto, where the popular Korean-Canadian show Kim’s Convenience was filmed, there is also a growing community of Korean Canadians in the Atlantic provinces.
In the city of Moncton, New Brunswick, you can find established Korean restaurants (such as Kimganae Korean BBQ), Korean churches (like the prominent Moncton Korean Church), and Korean cultural associations (including the Greater Moncton Korean Association and the Korean Students Association of Canada). You will notice some of these places by the distinct script of the Korean alphabet, Hangeul.
Korean Alphabet
Hangeul is renowned for its unique, scientific design. King Sejong the Great of the Joseon Dynasty developed the script in 1446 to combat illiteracy. Before Hangeul, Koreans wrote using Hanja (traditional Chinese characters with Korean pronunciation), which made written language accessible only to the educated elite. Hangeul, instead, was designed to be simple and easy to learn, which may explain the sustained global interest in the language.
Behind its simplicity, however, is a highly scientific, phonetic design. The shapes of the five basic consonants in Hangeul mimic the shape of the human throat, mouth, and tongue when pronouncing them. For example, the “n” sound is written as “ㄴ” in Hangeul to represent the tip of the tongue curling up behind the upper front gums. Vowels stand for philosophical principles: a dot (now a small stroke) for the roundness of the sun, a horizontal line for the flatness of the ground, and a vertical line for a human being standing between the sky and the earth. Consonants and vowels are then grouped into blocks representing syllables instead of individual letters. For example, the letter sounds for Hangeul (ㅎ ㅏ ㄴ ㄱ ㅡ ㄹ) become 한글.
Both simple and complex, the Hangeul alphabet is a driver of international language learning and a part of the rich cultural heritage of Korean communities in Canada, and around the world.
Read on to learn more about the Korean alphabet and international language scripts in the adaptable classroom activity below.
Multilingual Name Poster
Activity Description
In this activity, learners engage authentically with the Korean alphabet and explore other international scripts. This activity is designed for high beginner language learners at the middle school level or higher but can be adapted to other proficiency levels or contexts. Possible adaptations include inviting learners to write their names on electronic devices (by downloading international keyboards) instead of on paper or moving the entire activity online by using an online whiteboard app or collaborative cloud document. Learners can also be invited to teach their classmates how to write in their own languages, if possible, instead of choosing another alphabet.
Activity Steps
The Korean alphabet, Hangeul, is designed to be one of the easiest scripts to learn. While communicating with your group in the target language, you will have a chance to try reading and writing in Hangeul. Then, you will explore another international alphabet of your choice and work together to create a multilingual name poster.
- With your partner(s), search for a Korean alphabet chart online and spend time looking at the symbols for different consonant and vowel sounds.
- Together, view these images shared by the Greater Moncton Korean Association comparing National Acadian Day with the National Liberation Day of Korea. Use your alphabet chart to try to sound out the words on the image with Korean text.
- Now that you have tried reading Korean, it is time to try your hand at writing in Hangeul. Go to Google Translate, type in your name, and translate it to Korean. Copy what you see on a piece of paper.
- With your group, choose another language alphabet that interests you (e.g., Hindi, Persian, Ukrainian, Arabic). As a class, make sure every group has chosen a different alphabet.
- Find an alphabet chart for your chosen language and practice writing out the names of your group members. Then, use a translation app to write out your name in your chosen alphabet on a piece of paper.
- Leave your piece of paper at your desk, walk around to the other groups, and add the names of your classmates in your chosen script to their pieces of paper. By the end of the activity, every classmate should have a multilingual poster with their name written in all the alphabets chosen by the class.
Activity Commentary
This activity encourages collaborative, agentive, and multilingual learning. Learners must work together to agree on their chosen alphabets and create the final multilingual name posters. In collaborative autonomy, learners must draw on their agency to decide what resources they will learn from and how they will practice writing in their chosen alphabet. While learners communicate in the target language during the task, they also engage with the scripts of multiple other languages, promoting a culture of linguistic curiosity and multilingual awareness.
