Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Top of the class

Cultural immersion

After his study trip to Korea this summer, a Lecanto High teacher is ready to teach his Florida students something about Asian culture.

By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE
Published August 18, 2005

LECANTO - Jaison Norris is offering a new Asian studies class to Lecanto High School students as a one-quarter, one-half credit course. The class is his largest - 35 students - and they no doubt will benefit from what Norris learned during the summer study program he attended in Japan and China during the summer of 2004 and his trip this past summer to Korea.

Norris was in Korea from June 21 to July 8 courtesy of the Freeman Foundation, which encourages appreciation and understanding among Asian and other countries. Twenty educators took the trip, which was also funded by the Korean Society, a New York group that promotes Korean culture.

Joining the U.S. teachers were educators from Canada, New Zealand and Australia. All lodging and meals were paid.

The first two weeks were intensive workshops at Korea University in Seoul, where Norris listened to Koreans and Americans lecture about everything imaginable concerning the country. Topics included culture, history, food, art, women and children, language, politics and economics.

During some late afternoons and evenings he and his fellow teachers went to various attractions as tourists, such as traditional performances, the Seoul Museum of History and Changduk Palace.

Part of the teachers' obligation was to have prepared lessons for students at Dae-il Foreign Language High School. Norris had decided to present a very visual lesson because he did not know what kind of language barriers he might face.

He had a lesson about optical illusions and sensory perception. "The students were very interested," he said, and it turned out that they spoke English well.

During the third week the group did some traveling and visited a Hyundai Motors factory, where, he said, about 10 percent of the autoworkers were women.

"One of the neatest things we did was stay at a Buddhist temple," he said. They attended a Buddhist ritual at the Hwaumsa Temple held at 4 a.m.

Norris received his most interesting souvenir from his day spent at Panmunjom, the demilitarized zone on the border between South and North Korea. "We actually had to sign a waiver that if we were killed, our family couldn't sue the (American) government," Norris said.

The zone, he explained, had North and South Korean buildings on it separated by the border between the two countries. One of the buildings was perpendicular to the line of demarcation, which crossed it through the middle of the room. This building was a conference room for leaders.

The teachers were allowed to enter and, even though it was a demilitarized zone, the northern half of the room did sit on North Korean soil. So when they walked to that part of the room they were theoretically on North Korean soil.

The teachers were careful about what they said while at Panmunjom. They were warned that everything they said would be heard.

Norris spent most of his trip in Seoul, but traveled to other exotic sounding places - Gyeong-ju, Jirisan and Suncheon. On the 15th day, the group returned to Seoul, where they had an evaluation session, closing ceremony and farewell dinner. The next morning the teachers returned to their own countries, perhaps with an expanded appreciation of Korea.

[Last modified August 18, 2005, 01:04:14]