A group of exchange students from Inje, Korea, arrived in New Zealand on July 18 with the goal of experiencing life and schooling at Hauraki Plains College.
HPC international director Mike Dwight told The Profile a Korean agent reached out to the college and facilitated a Korean MOE-sponsored group visit to the college from Inje last year.
“This year the visit has been repeated for 30 secondary students and four adults,” he said.
The students spent time in the classroom and also experienced combined classes with subjects such as cooking, music, physical education and agriculture during their three-week visit.
A number of trips outside the school were organised too, such as visits to the Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre as well as Thames and Hauraki Golf Clubs, Mike said.
“Living with our local families is also an essential and important part of the programme.”
It was clear the connection between the two cultures was an important one. “As our HPC-Inje relationship develops with these short term visits, hopefully longer termers are attracted to come and study here too,” he said.
“It is important for our domestics and visitors to develop their global competency skills, so that they can thrive in our interconnected world.”
Yerin Kim, 15, who is a middle school grade 3 student back in Inje, was a year 10 student during her visit at HPC.
It was Yerin’s first time in the country and so far she said she was “deeply impressed” by the “extraordinary landscapes” and enjoyed everything about Māori culture.
She stayed with a family in Waikino and said one interesting thing she discovered about New Zealand was that “we can drink tap water here”.
One interesting thing she learned at HPC was that they could choose the subjects they wanted to study, and she “especially” loved physical education.
Something that was different from her school system back home was that students stayed in one classroom for all their lessons, but at Hauraki Plains they moved to different classes for each subject. “[The] school programme here is perfect and almost all the students here are so friendly. I feel just happy when I am at school,” she said.
Fellow student Yunu Lee, 15, who is also in year 10, said his confidence had grown by speaking in English to Kiwi people. One of the most interesting things he’d learned so far was slang that kiwi teenagers used. He enjoyed the cooking subject at Hauraki Plains College and said there was no such class in Korea.
When it comes to something he had learned about himself so far that surprised him, he said he realised he was quite adaptable. The best part about his college experience so far at Hauraki Plains College was social studies.
“I feel lucky that I became a part of Hauraki Plains College even though it was a short time.”
By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA
