[Report] "Now Learning Mom's Language Too"... Visiting the 'Multicultural Bilingual Classroom'

3rd Year of Bilingual Classroom at Yeongu-ro Family Center
"Communication with Mothers, Overcoming the Alienation of Being Different"
Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Increases Related Budget by 2.2 Billion KRW

On the morning of the 4th, a Vietnamese language class is being held at the 'Guro-gu Family Center' located in Garibong-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Park Jun-yi]

"Me! I want to speak!"

On the morning of the 4th, the family center in Garibong-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul, where the reporter visited, was bustling with children and parents from early in the weekend. In each classroom, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Chinese language classes were being held with about 10 to 12 students per class. Although the children usually spoke Korean in their daily lives, during the lessons they passionately shouted along in the unfamiliar languages.

◆Communicating with Mothers, Overcoming Alienation= The children attending classes at the Guro-gu family center that day were all born into multicultural families. The family center holds classes once a week to help children learn their parents' native languages, which are difficult to encounter while living in Korea. Each classroom offers different programs, ranging from simple vocabulary and everyday language to experiencing each country's play culture, while Korean language life classes are held simultaneously for parents. Considering the busy schedules of working parents, classes are only held on weekends.

The Guro-gu family center started bilingual classes for multicultural children in 2020. This was in response to the demand from multicultural families from Vietnam, China, and other countries who wanted to communicate with their children in their native languages. Kim Hana, team leader of the Guro-gu family center, explained, "The classes were opened because communication with mothers who live in Korea and still have their native language is necessary," adding, "Beyond simple language learning, it seems to help children overcome the sense of alienation they feel from being 'different' as multicultural families in everyday life more smoothly."

Lee Sohyun (38, Guro-gu, Seoul), originally from Cambodia, said, "I'm glad my child can come to the center to learn Cambodian and even cook," adding, "I myself didn't know much about Korean money and had difficulties living here, but after taking the classes, it helped me at work."

Lee Hwayoung (40, Gwanak-gu, Seoul), originally from Vietnam, also said, "I wanted to teach my children Vietnamese but didn't know how, so I felt lost," adding, "I learned about the classes through the Vietnamese teacher, and it was very good," and shared, "After attending the classes, my child can understand Vietnamese and even greets their maternal grandmother and asks, 'Have you eaten?'"

On the morning of the 4th, a Vietnamese language class is being held at the 'Guro-gu Family Center' located in Garibong-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Park Joon-yi]

◆Declining Self-Esteem in Multicultural Families... Expansion of Learning Support= According to the 'National Multicultural Family Survey' conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2021, the pride and self-esteem of children from multicultural families living in Korea are declining. In particular, the percentage of children who do not talk at all with their fathers steadily increased to 10.5%, up from 7% in 2015 and 8.6% in 2018, and the overall time spent talking with mothers also showed a decreasing trend. The willingness of foreign-born parents to use their native language decreased by 15.1 percentage points compared to 42.4% in 2018, indicating that the conditions for using bilingualism in daily life are further diminishing.

In response, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family plans to expand the budget for supporting multicultural families, including bilingual learning support, in next year's budget. The bilingual learning budget, which was 3.461 billion KRW this year, will increase by about 2.2 billion KRW to 5.65 billion KRW next year. Based on this, from next year, the support target for bilingual classrooms will be expanded from 'under 12 years old' to 'under 18 years old.'

However, there is still a shortage of bilingual specialists to teach bilingual classes. Song Ji-eun, head of the Multicultural Families Division at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, said, "This year, bilingual classrooms were piloted focusing on coaching parents of multicultural families, but from next year, we plan to implement them in full scale," adding, "Plans to train bilingual instructors or multicultural education instructors through vocational training programs for marriage immigrants will also be introduced."