The Islander // Issue 07

issue 07 // spring term 2014

International Mindedness

ISLANDER TEAM WRITERS

WRITERS

EDITORIAL Mrs Monaghan Ms Holt Mr Brown

Hannah Cho, Y10, Jeoji

Zi Won Kim, Halla

Winnie Lee, Y10, Jeoji

Terry Kwon, Halla

Jennifer Park, Halla

Laura Moon, Y10, Geomun

Louis Son, Halla

Chelsea Park, Y9, Mulchat

Chanwoo Bang, Halla

Gemin Bang, Y9, Geomun

Mr Taylor

Jillian Chun, Halla

Alicia Cho, Y8, Jeoji

Jiwon Moon, Y11, Geomun

Diane Jung, Halla

Claire Oh, Y8, Sarah

Jiho Choi, Y11, Mulchat

Selene Lee, Halla

Gabriella Kim, Y8, Mulchat

Brian Lee, Halla

Junha Hwang, Halla

Hannah Seo, Y8, Jeoji

Jenny Chun, Halla

Cion Choi, Y8, Geomun

Jiwon Moon, Y11, Geomun

Kay Nam, Y8, Jeoji

Mrs CCT

Jiho Choi, Y11, Mulchat

Sein Lee, Y8, Geomun

Mr Hewlett

Josh Lee, Y11, Sarah

Shigatomi Shunto, Y8, Noro

Mr Waterson

Lindsey Lee, Y10, Geomun

Julia Kim, Y8, Geomun

Mrs Nesbit

Elly Jung, Y10, Geomun

Eunice Lee, Y8, Noro

Mr Furness

Ashley Park, Y10, Geomun

Nancy Kwon, Y8, Mulchat

Will Stocks

Lina Kim, Y10, Mulchat

Rachel Cho, Y8, Mulchat

Christine Yap

Jinn Park, Y10, Sarah

David Yun, Y6, Harubang

Genevieve Lee, Halla

Celene Tae, Y10, Sarah

Jay Yang, Y6, Harubang

Donghyeon Seo, Halla

Diane Lee, Y10, Sarah

Hojin Lee, Y6 Harubang

Jaesung Ha, Halla

Yejin Choi, Y10, Mulchat

Jinwoo Jung, Y6, Harubang

Jay Lee, Year 10, Noro

DESIGN

CONTRIBUTORS

by Bush Moon, Year 9, Mulchat I got the idea of the ship and the telescope from the school’s logo and the brief ‘become an explorer’. The ship and the perosn with a telescope show an internationally minded NLCS Jeju student. I drew the map of the world and the ocean to show that the person is exploring the world. I used crayon because I think colouring by crayon gives my piece an innocent feeling. Being internationallyminded is important to me, because the financial system of the world is interconnected and this is where I see my future.

Welcome Mr WATERSON, HEAD OF SIXTH FORM, welcomes you to Issue 07 of the Islander.

Where does my ‘international mindedness’ come from?

As a child, the world often came to me. My family lived in a big townhouse and people stayed with us from all over the world. we had lodgers and bed & breakfast guests. We had foreign students stay. I remember some Russian nuclear scientists staying at the same time as a Ugandan priest and a German student. We had supper one night together along with our regular lodgers; it was quite an evening!

But I also wanted to get out into the world. See it for myself. And it is sometimes said that the best way to learn about your country is to leave it. At sixteen I ‘Inter-railed’ around Europe. At eighteen I took a ‘gap-year’ in the days of paper airline tickets, no mobile phones and no email.

I worked in New Zealand on small farms and I lived with families in Sumatra and Costa Rica. I spoke to my parents about four times (once to change to a new university course; Geography and International Politics). I’ve since lived and worked in the USA, Brazil and Ireland, and now Korea.

This is the root of my international-mindedness; being out in the world and welcoming the world to where I live. Being internationally-minded is trying not to see other people as ‘different’ and yourself as “normal”. Sometimes it comes easily, sometimes you have to work at it but form me it is always a more interesting perspective to have.

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Welcome

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Welcome

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Are you really Internationally Minded?

In the term of international mindedness, JOSH Lee, year 11, sarah, made it his mission to find out exactly how internationally minded the students of nlcs jeju are.

Are you internationally minded? Do you remember the quiz that you took in tutor time last half term? You might be thinking “oh, I did really badly”. No matter how badly you did, thank you for your time and effort.

The survey itself was very difficult so don’t feel too bad about it. My main purpose was to find out which group is the most internationally minded, not to see which individual is better than the other.

Before we find out which group is most internationally minded, we need to question ‘what is it like to be internationally minded?’

The definition from IBO is below: ‘Education for international mindedness values the world as the broadest context for learning, develops conceptual understanding across a range of subjects and offers opportunities to inquire, act and reflect.’

In other words, a student and a teacher should have different perspectives on various things, so they could broaden their learning. It seems similar to open-mindedness. However, while open-mindedness is about your open attitude to accept new things, internationally mindedness is about having various perspectives to observe things. There is a clear difference.

When I was making the survey, I came up with questions that only certain people from a certain culture could answer. For example Question number 2. If one had experienced European (Italian specially) culture, the answer becomes pretty obvious. On the other hand, if you were not exposed to that culture, you would have written things like: Mongolian, Vietnam, Chinese, and so on. As a result we can state that the more you scored, the more internationally minded you are.

GENDER According to the survey, boys tend to be more internationally minded than girls.

The average boy scored 5.2 while average girl scored 3.4 out of 15 questions.

The reason behind might be because boys tend to be stronger on general facts while girls are stronger on emotion related things. In this survey I did not make any questions that relates to emotion.

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HOUSE Between houses the winner was the Mulchat Dragons. Overall they came up with an average 5.4, which is greater than boy’s average. They had 13 boys who scored more than 10 and they were all from year 8 to 10. The second place went to Jeoji with average of 4.4. Unlike the trend, year 10 Jeoji girls scored an average of 6.0, which is very high compared to other groups of girls. Overall Mulcaht came 1st, Jeoji came 2nd, Geomun came 3rd, Sarah came 4th and Noro came 5th.

The survery was completed by 95% of students

Year Group Year 12 came in 1st place scoring 4.8 among the 7 year groups. The three senior year groups (11, 12, and 13) were all in the top 3 places. From this we can infer that experience is a key factor of international mindedness. As you get older you experience more, and this helps you develop various perspectives. This is why the older year groups are the more internationally minded than younger ones.

Some readers might not be satisfied with the result, because they do not belong in any group who came first. They might also argue that these questions have no relation to international mindedness and this is just for testing general knowledge. But if you re-read the questions and answers, you can clearly see that a certain nation is involved in each question. If one knew about such diverse nations’ knowledge, he or she would be internationally minded.

Still not convinced with the result? Don’t worry. There are various ways to improve your internationally mindedness. What about reading a book related on foreign culture? You can learn a new language, visit new places, and even meet new people. These actions will actually help you develop your internationally mindedness, because you are experiencing and learning new things. As a result you will have a broader perspective.

The Answers 1) Jakarta 2) Hi or Bye Italian 3) 1990 4) Stephen Harper 5) 1945 (September 2nd) 6) Sweden 7) Arthur Conan Doyle 8) Hindu(ism) 9) Uzbekistan 10) Belgium 11) India 12) 최규하Kyu-hah Choi 13) Geneva, Switzerland 14) France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg 15) Marge (Simpson)

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I’d like to start with a few questions…

Do you own a passport?

Have you ever used it to travel? I bet the majority of you are answering, ‘yes’.

I ask, because I have become particularly obsessed with the concept of travel and how that links with internationalmindedness and helping to cultivate an understanding of different cultures and countries.

Now, had I asked that question 25 years ago, I might have received a very different answer. Only a tiny handful of our Korean readers would have answered, ‘yes’.

As I am sure you know, prior to 1989, South Koreans were unable to travel outside their own country except on business trips, due to restrictions placed by the government on travel up until that point.

Things have changed a great deal and as soon as travel restraints were removed, South Korean people showed a great appetite for travel. A survey conducted in 2010 for example, indicated that as many as 50% of South Koreans intended to travel abroad for holidays- primarily to China and Japan, but also further afield to the UK, Russia and the US. Statistics indicate numbers of Koreans travelling abroad has increased by up to 10% year on year since 2000. This relatively recent growth in interest for meeting foreigners and travelling to foreign countries is something that really interests me about Korea, because it is so closely linked to international-mindedness.

Of course it is possible to understand other cultures and countries by studying them, reading about them, watching their movies and listening to their music, but actually travelling to that country and staying there, perhaps for a prolonged

Design by Brian Lee, Halla

period of time, not just a vacation, really provides a genuine taste of that culture and atmosphere. This is something that our exchange students with the UK will discover for themselves later this term.

Now we all assume that the passport is an absolute essential before you can travel, but that has not always been the case. And today I want to tell you a story about how this little document became so important and has made it possible for us to embark on all the amazing travel adventures and develop our international mindedness.

It starts with a called Fridthof Nansen.

He was an amazing looking guy, with a fabulous moustache , intense stare and awesome furcot. He was an champion skier, and a polar explorer amongst other things. One of those other things though, is quite surprising. This is the man we have to thank for the passport.

So let me tell you a little more about this fascinating man and just how he and the passport are linked.

Fridthof Nanse cam from Norway, in the far north of Europe, which partly explains the furcoat. He was born in the middle of the 19th century in 1861. In his early life, he was not really focused on internationalism- his passion was for adventure and science. He studied zoology at university and developed a real passion for oceanography, mainly, he said, because he wanted to work outside I the open air. He quickly showed his talent for adventure, embarking on sea voyages in the 1880s to establish new scientific understanding- proving, for example, in 1882,that ice forms on the surface of water, rather than below. And that the Gulf Stream, a warm current of water, flows beneath a cold layer of surface water.

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This passion for adventure continued to burn brightly beyond university and by 1887, after submitting his doctoral thesis, he began planning an expedition across the Greenland icecap- something that had only been attempted twice before. Having battled hidden crevasses, violent storms and -50 degree temperatures for 78 days, Nansen and his team successfully crossed the ice-cap, whetting his apetite for yet more adventure. A second exploration followed in 1893, this time to the North Pole. His aim was to achieve something that previos explorers had failed to do, reach the Pole using currents in the sea: his research showed him of the existence of an ocean current, flowing from East to West all the way across the Polar Sea, possibly over the Pole itself. A strong enough ship might therefore enter the frozen Siberian sea and drift to the Greenland coast via the North Pole. This time around it was a three year expedition, and as you can see from the map, extremely complex. In the end, rather than reaching the Pole by ship, he and his team had to continue by land and sled, surviving on a diet of dog, walrus and seal, before achieving eventual success. He returned to a hero’s welcomehaving reached the farthest northern point that had ever been reached by anyone.

So, no doubt, Nansen is a dashing Norwegian explorer, but still no need for a passport, as yet. In fact, its not until the turn of the century that Nansen began to develop his interest in internationalmindedness. Having been solely interested in science and exploration until this point, in 1905 he began to turn his attention to politics and with this came travel, and thus perhaps a development of interest in different cultures.

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Due to his collaboration with the Prime Minister of Norway over Norway’s separation from Sweden, he was asked to act as Norway’s ambassador to London, and though he declared diplomatic socializing to be “frivolous and boring”:, he enjoyed pursuing his scientific work through the Royal Geographical Society and he continued in his ambassadorial role until 1908. At the time of the outbreak of world war one in 1914, Nansen really began to develop his interest in other nations and cultures- particularly Russiawhere he had begun to travel as part of a mission to investigate trade routes between Russia and Western Europe. It was this interest in Russian people and culture that would motivate his next actions and those that demonstrate most vividly, how Nansen’s love of travel and international-mindedness came together.

Nansen became President of Norway’s League of Nations Society. Year 11 historians will be very familiar with the League of Nations - it was the first international organization and a forerunner of the UN. In April 1920, at the League’s request, Nansen began his first task of organizing the repatriation of around half a million prisoners of war, stranded in various parts of the world.

Of these, 300,000 were in Russia which, gripped by revolution and civil war, had little interest in their fate. Nansen was able to report to the Assembly I November 1920 that around 200,000 men had been returned to their homes. It was during this task that Nansen encountered the dire famine taking place in Russia at this time, due to the civil war and effects of the Bolshevik policy of ‘war communism’.

“Never in my life” he said “have I been brought into touch with so formidable an amount of suffering”.

Nansen published a set of postcards to raise funds for relief of the famine in 1922a mission he took on beyond the remit of his original task because he was simply so moved by the extent of suffering he witnessed.

Nansen continued this work, until in his final report to the Assembly in 1922, he was able to report that over 400,000 prisoners had been repatriated to around 30 different countries. In paying tribute to his work, the committee responsible recorded that the story of his efforts “would contain tales of heroic endeavor worthy of those in the accounts of the crossing of Greenland and the great Arctic voyage.” After this work was complete, Nansen was recruited for a further large scale humanitarian effort.

He accepted the post of the League’s High Commissioner for Refugees. His main brief was the resettlement of around 2 million more Russian refugees, displaced by the upheavals of the Russian Revolution.

Nansen’s story is just that: a great story of heroism, adventure and passion.

A major problem impeding Nansen’s work on behalf of refugees was that most of them lacked documentary proof of identity or nationality. Without legal status in their country of refuge, their lack of papers meant they were unable to go anywhere else. To overcome this, Nansen devised the ’Nansen passport’- here it is- a form of identity for stateless persons, that was, in time, recognized by more than 50 governments, and which allowed refugees to croos borders legally. This was the beginnings of the document that we are all used to today.

In November 1922, while attending the Conference of Lausanne, Nansen learned he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1922. The citation referred to “his work for the repatriation of prisoners of war, his work for the Russian refugees, his work to bring succor to the millions of Russians affected by famine” amongst other things. Nansen donated the prize money to international relief efforts.

Eventually Nansen died, peacefully, of a heart attack, at his home in Norway in 1930- at the age of 68 and was given the honour of a state funeral. He had remained active right up until his death, going on a ski-ing holiday with friends just months before his death.

So...

Passports?

Norwegian explorers?

International mindedness? How will I bring this all together? In a way, there is no need to. Nansen’s story is just that: a great story of heroism, adventure and passion. No need to look for a deeper meaning. But nonetheless, there are some interesting ideas we can take away and think about. What is being internationallyminded actually about? Having knowledge of plenty of countries? Ticking off destinations on a map? Being an intrepid explorer? I don’t think so.

Its much more fundamental than that.

Nansen’s work with refugees and stateless people represents to me what true international-mindedness is really about.

These people had no national identity.

Nobody wanted them in their country.

They did not belong anywhere. But Nansen could see beyond that national label that differentiated them, and instead saw human similarity. Here were human beings. And they were in terrible suffering.

And he wanted to help them. Simple as that. In that ability to feel compassion and empathy, Nansen was what I consider to be a truly internationally minded person.

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CELINE TAE AND JINN PARK BOTH YEAR 10, BOTH SARAH, UNTANGLE the reasons behind THE GLOBAL PHENOMENON THAT IS BBC’S SHERLOCK.

“Oh my God! Aren’t you on television? Don’t you play Sherlock Holmes?” exclaimed a waitress when Benedict Cumberbatch walked into a café in rural Oklahoma, US. Cumberbatch was filming for the George Clooney produced movie August: Osage County in the American backcountry, and was astounded by how far his fame as the BBC sleuth had reached.

“It’s amazing the spread of that thing, it’s incredible,” he remarked in an interview with TIME Magazine. But he is yet to find everything out – “Cumberbitches” and “Sherlockians” have spread across all six continents since the series was first broadcast back in 2010.

The whole world is still reverberating from the latest season of the reinterpreted classic. Its fame deserves to be called ‘a phenomenon’.

Sherlocked But why? What would have infected the world with the firecracker-like popularity of this British TV series? To be brutally honest, Benedict Cumberbatch doesn’t come across as being particularly gorgeous to a Sherlock fresher’s eyes, with his ruggedly long jaw and wrinkled forehead.

The episodes are full of British humor, which is doubly hard to understand with the torrential British accent. Overall, the program is thick with conventional British culture. Would it have been the explosive insight of the detective, as “brain is the new sexy”?

So what has made this program cross international boundaries? Could it be the destined friendship between the “high-functioning sociopath” and the Afghan war veteran? Could it be the affectionate obtuseness of Inspector Lestrade, Dr. Watson’s compact loyalty, or the motherly care of Mrs. Hudson?

The fact that the BBC’s Sherlock is phenomenally successful worldwide is bluntly out there, so now it is time for us Sherlockians ourselves to isolate the truth from the fiction.

Cumberbatch and Freeman. Quintessentially British.

If you have ever watched an episode of Sherlock, you would have realised how short one season is and how long you have to wait until you get the next season. For the Sherlockians, every minute gone without the mercy of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman is simply a torture. So how is this period of total and utter blankness is filled up?

The answer is simple: Tumblr.

The Sherlockians are internationally famous for their excessive love, passion and obsession of the series. Out there in the world of Tumblr, so many talents are solely dedicated to praise Sherlock and John. These include: countless memes of previous episodes; beautifully designed wallpapers; rather imaginative fan fictions (too inappropriate to mention the content of it on a school magazine) and even fan-made movies that seem to go a little off track from the original concept of detective novel. It seems like the Cumberbatch and Freeman duet has captivated many, many, many teen-girl’s hearts. Well then, what is it about these two - each aged 37 and 42 - that drives the fan girls up their computer screens? Other than their sexy British accents, of course.

The story of Sherlock Holmes the detective and John Watson the doctor has been loved for centuries. Even I, who absolutely detested detective novels as a child have read at least one story of Sherlock Holmes and his companion. We all know the great writer who created Sherlock, Watson and their adventures. Well, it’s not Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat I’m afraid - it’s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sir Doyle’s Sherlock was first created in 1887, and he was nothing like Sherlock we know now. 1904 illustration features Sherlock with a pipe and a bald head. Sorry to destroy your imaginations, dear Sherlokians, but that was how Sherlock looked like in the early 1900s.

The story of Sherlock Holmes the detective and John Watson the doctor has been loved for centuries.

There was in fact, another TV series of Sherlock Holmes in 1954. This was surprisingly, an American Sherlock, and this TV series was well-loved by people all around the world. This Sherlock was still a bit bald, but at least he tried concealing his baldness with a hunting cap.

A Sherlocian meme

Then we have Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law starring as Sherlock Holmes and John Watson in the recent movie, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” in 2010. Personally, I didn’t really fancy the 007 Sherlock who picks locks and shoots at his criminals - I wanted a more intelligent , subtle and sexy Sherlock. And here we come to our very recent Sherlock series.

Sherlock BBC is a contemporary adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Oh, and let us also remember Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty. Our “high-functioning sociopath” is finally here! Even though Robert Downey Jr’s version of Sherlock Holmes did make a huge hit, it is nothing compared to this worldwide “phenomenon” that Sherlock BBC is creating. 8.8 million people worldwide watched Sherlock BBC, and Facebook is covered with photos of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

Yep, it is pretty obvious that the world is obsessed with Sherlock BBC. And now, I pose you a question: why is the world “Sherlocked”? Why has the contemporary BBC version of Sherlock Holmes been such a great hit? To me, the answer is pretty simple. The BBC managed to target their audience in the right way. The original story of Sherlock Holmes is one of the best detective novels ever written, and is very familiar to a lot of people. A contemporary version of this loved novel is bound to bring in viewers and fans.

A scene from the 1954 series

But what does Sherlock have anything to do with being internationally minded? Well, I believe that this crazy Sherlock frenzy is the living legacy of the international society we are living in. We live in a world where you can watch Sherlock on the BBC, even though you don’t understand English. We live in a world where any girl, regardless of nationality, can upload the masterpiece fan fiction featuring Sherlock and John and be appreciated by other fan girls, spread throughout the globe. We live in a world where under the name of fandom, all unite.

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IB ART

Da In jung, Halla, explains why art is a truly internationally minded subject at IB Level

IB Art

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rt! As an IB art student, Art is something special to me.

However, surprisingly it hasn’t been that long since I started taking an interest in the art world. Art classes in my Korean elementary school were just boring drawing sessions, and it was like learning art as if there was an answer. The only memory I have from my elementary art lessons is the fact that we got told off if we didn’t bring paint and paint brushes. It seemed like art was just about painting or drawing on paper. That was the only part of the art world for me.

Then, I moved to a British international school in Singapore. And that was where my world of art expanded. The new culture of Singapore itself was a shock. I was in a quite unique position as I was attending an international school with students from so many different nationalities, being taught by British teachers, but also living in Singapore, which was a melting pot of different cultures. In such an environment, my perspective towards art widened, and art became one of my favourite classes in school.

The art lessons were just so different from what I would expect.

The art lessons were just so different from what I would expect. In one lesson, our teacher asked us to draw our favourite fruit. I chose an orange.

Then our teacher walked into the back cupboard and came out with a box full of different clothes. Simply confused and bewildered, I just blankly sat there until my teacher came up to me, telling me to go and find clothes that would match my orange colour.

In Singapore, my ideas played around, jumping between Western and Eastern cultures. And this definitely let me develop and grow as an artist.

After having such a great experience in Singapore, I came back to Korea, going back to my academic life, and I again started to lose interest in art. It got so far that art, instead of being something that I loved, actually became stressful.

Having to be marked on ridiculous criteria and harsh mark schemes, art class went back to being more of a tedious drawing session than a creative learning process. Another memory from my middle school art classes is when I was given a low grade simply because I didn’t use more than 2 colours. It was shocking to realise how brutal Korean education could be.

However, now, I’m here in NLCS Jeju.

I’m again in an international school with mostly Korean students, being taught

by British teachers, living on Jeju island, which has a very unique identity, and taking the International Baccalaureate Art course. This time I am properly building up as an artist, viewing diverse artwork from all over the world with all different styles. Here, I realised that art isn’t just about 2-D, but can also be in so many other forms including 3-D and digital.

To be honest, picking the Art course in my group 6 wasn’t an easy choice to make. As a student who wants to major in Economics, Art itself was quite leftfield. The one and only simple reason I took the course was because I liked art.

And now, I realise that that choice has led me not only to a creative person, but an international-minded artist.

Art is international. It can communicate with any audience without having to use language. However, what I’ve learned from my past experiences with art is that although art itself is an international medium, the process of learning art is what can truly make an internationally minded person.

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AN INTERNATIONAL MIND She was born in Belgium, speaks five languages and is neither French nor Korean. Selene Lee, Halla, Meets Miss Choi.

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n school, we often discuss international mindedness without realising the international minds whom we have around us and whom we could learn from. One of the international minds we all agree on is our French teacher Miss Choi. Miss Choi gives us a taste of her experiences and stories behind her multicultural background and her international view on different cultures.

Miss Choi has two nationalities, which she still cannot choose between, which are Korean and French. You might think that she was influenced only by her Korean and French culture, as I did. Surprisingly, she said, “I was born in Belgium then moved to Holland to Korea to France to the UK and to Jeju. I travelled to many places, following my father.” Perhaps it was her family who had such a great impact on her international perspective.

Talking of her multicultural family, I wondered how the food, culture and other cultural aspects work in her family. Miss Choi answered, “For food, we mix the Korean and French dishes together. We wouldn’t have only one dish in our meal. Also, my father is like; ‘I need to have rice at least four times a week!’ I never had much of a problem about culture because I was quite open to it from very young age. School life was sometimes difficult because I was considered White/European in Korea so I was teased. In France, I was treated like I was Chinese. So I never felt in the right place. But at the same time, me and my family weren’t bothered a lot about it because we knew the two cultures and how they differ.”

From a young age, it must have been difficult for Miss Choi to embrace two different cultures. It wasn’t just then that it was confusing, as she says she is “still confused,” about her national identity. She said, “When students ask what’s my nationality, I say I’m French because that’s what the passport says. But I’m half and half. I can never choose. When I was 19, I officially had to choose my nationality but it was like choosing mum or dad, which is impossible. We left Korea quite quickly when I was in grade 6. So I just thought that we were going on a holiday somewhere. When we arrived in France, it was summer holiday. Perfect. We had fun for two months. Then my parents suddenly started talking about school. I was like, ‘Hmm… why are you guys talking about school? We should go back to Korea.’ So I had to choose French as my nationality but I always wanted to come back to Korea.”

Well, Miss Choi’s dream to come back to Korea has come true. When she was in England, she “was homesick quite often. Here, since September, I obviously miss the food, a bit of bread and cheese but I really feel like I’m home.” However, because her “Korean is not perfect, it would never be I think,” she believes, “I would never be a Korean, but at the same time, never French. I’m still kind of wondering about my identity,” she sadly commented.

Also with her position here in school, she says, “when I speak to other staff who are not Korean, they behave as if I am more Korean then French. When I’m with a Korean staff, I feel more French than Korean. I feel like I’m stuck in between.”

Having two contrasting cultures is hard enough to embrace, but getting used to another new culture in England, she added, “was difficult.” However, she realized, “nobody would say or make any comments on me being more Asian or French. They just take it as it is.”

On the other hand, as she experienced, “if I go to a shop, they would just look at you and say, ‘is there something wrong with you? You don’t look totally French.” She added, “the way it is in Korea is the same. They get confused like, ‘Do I need to speak English with you?’ But in England I never felt that.” Even though she didn’t feel it directly, she said, “I felt it through conversations because they say like ‘because you’re French,’ which makes you feel like a stranger,” imitating a typical British person. For her, she said, “this aspect of England was most difficult to get use to.”

Among the numerous cultures that Miss Choi has experienced, there are some parts of those cultures that she doesn’t understand or that she personally disagrees with. As a child, she said, “I couldn’t understand why French people complain a lot. I was shocked how much French people complained. Maybe now I complain a lot.

But French people don’t realise how lucky they are. It shows that French people don’t realise what they have and are not open minded, which I found myself ashamed of.”

As Miss Choi was largely influenced by foreign culture, she couldn’t understand some aspects of Korea such as why, “people care so much about their appearance.

Why can’t they have their own identity? We can’t be all alike,” she questioned with confusion in her eyes. Unlike

Korea, Miss Choi says, “In France, people on the street wear colours, they are well dressed, and you barely see anyone half naked. Now that I am here, everything pretty much seems to be the same in Korea. People are always following the same trends, clothes, makeup, and plastic surgery. Such an aspect of Korea also illustrates the closed mindedness of Koreans.”

Intriguingly, Miss Choi categorized her three cultural reference points into three big categories: education, food and teaching. Miss Choi proudly said, “If I had to eat, I will choose Korean.” If she had kids, she said she would, “put them in French education.’ However, for teaching, “I would work in a British system,” she said happily.

Even though Miss Choi has opened herself up to numerous cultures, I wondered if there were any cultures she wanted to discover in the future. She answered, “ I would like to discover Asia. Egypt is also a place I always wanted to go.” As an open and experienced international mind, she commented, “The more you know about cultures, you can improve the way you decide to live because you have more solutions and choices that you’re making.” She explained, “Stereotypes are the hardest to break. All people have stereotypes.” According to Miss Choi’s multicultural experience, “British people have stereotypes about French people that are completely different to the stereotype that Korean people have about the French. Here, people might all think Eiffel tower, perfume, and good food. And British people think we eat garlic all the time and snails.” After a while, she added, “It’s very different.” “I would like to break those stereotypes,” she said hopefully.

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Everyone has his or her own dreams that they wish to fulfill within their lives.

Some dreams are small, some big, realistic, weird, or even quite outrageous.

Our first Year 13 group will graduate within a few months. they are about to face the bigger world ahead of them. As we asked them about their dreams, we realised that everyone has their own unique dreams for what the future holds‌

Jennifer Park, Chanwoo Bang and Louis Son, all Halla, interview some of their ontemporaries in Year 13.

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by

Kihyun Kim

Chanwoo Bang

Kihyun told me that he hasn’t decided what he wanted to do for his living in the future. His plan was to decide on his career after going through different internships and exploring what he is really interested in. All he could say right now was that he wished to have a stable job and a happy family. However, unlike the pragmatic side of his dream, his bucket list was rather “outrageous.”

“There are so many things I want to do in life, but if I have to choose one, then that would be going for a penniless journey.”

Although it is true that he wanted, in the future, to have a considerable amount of money for his stable life and to fulfill his desire to buy more clothes, he also wishes to go on an adventure. His eyes never sparkled so bright until he was speaking about him going for a journey with no money.

“Something adventurous. It sounds very unlike me, as I’m a guy who really hates to be wet. But, I really want to go for it and see different things, learn new things and test my limits.”

He especially wanted to go to Australia first. He said, “there is actually no particular reason why I want to go there, but I guess I want to go there because I have never been to the southern part of the Globe. I really want to broaden my vision of this world.” He seemed to be looking for difference and although he enjoyed the concept of stability, within him the desire to seek for “new” experiences was always there.

Artwork by Junha Hwang, Halla

by

Ji hyun Bang

Jennifer Park

Ji hyun Bang is a year 13 student who wants to study Sociology at University. She is the one who took the most time to answer to my question, “what is your dream?” As she was thoughtfully considering, her answer to the question was equally impressive.

To start with, her ultimate ‘dream’ is to support Children’s organizations in Korea, especially those that help children for whom it is hard to achieve their dreams. It’s not related to the job that she wants to have in the future, but she wants to spend her spare time on supporting the organization.

“I believe that studying abroad is the base for my personal and academic development, I hope this minimum opportunity can be given to as many students as possible.”

The major reason for her dream is because she strongly supports equal opportunities in society. As a student who is interested in sociology, she has a clear understanding of the structure of different societies and she is willing to help the children who are unable to show their potential due to their poor conditions.

She has already watched several documentary films about such children and has visited many children’s organizations for community service and actually saw the children who live under poor conditions.

Through such experiences, she truly wants to develop relationships with the children who most need support. ‘If I can provide a chance to at least one child, I will consider my whole life as a ‘worthy life’.

As it seems her dream is mainly about other people, I also asked about her dream about herself. It took less time than before.

She answered that she wants to travel the whole world with her husband. Although she has visited quite a few countries, but she has only visited the tourist attractions of each country. In the future, she hopes she can actually learn about the differences between countries, the diversity and the culture of each country.

As a student, she understands that her dream, especially supporting others, cannot be achieved only with her willingness.

She believes that she should set a clear target for herself and develop her own abilities in order to help others.

by

Aidan Cha

Louis Son

When I asked Aidan about his dream, without even listening to the whole question, he immediately answered: “I want to make a real Iron Man”. His desire to live an outrageous life has shaped his dream to build using nuclear fusion technology, which will be the fuel to make Iron Man work. He primarily wished to have supernatural powers, but as he knows that it is impossible to achieve, he decided to build an Iron Man, which is also difficult to accomplish. But, his dream is to find out the ways to use nuclear fusion energy. Because this technology already exists, he believes that it is possible to do further research. All he needs to do is to find the way to use this technology for a long period of time. What does he mean?

Nuclear fusion technology, a nuclear reaction in which the atomic nuclei of a low atomic number fuse to form a heavier nucleus with the release of energy, is the basic fuel of an Iron Man. This technology is an innovative energy source compared to other fuels, such as nuclear power plants; it can solve the environment’s problems, such as insufficient resources and waste problems, while it produces sufficient amounts of energy. This technology exists in real life, but it is not practical as the maximum time of generating it is less than 11 seconds. This technology is one of the most ideal energy resources that will contribute to solving many energy problems.

Although his dream looks like fiction, the method to achieve this goal is quite normal. He told me that, “I want to go to a good university, become a professor and study nuclear fusion.

Eventually, I would like to participate in an International nuclear fusion research team to develop nuclear fusion technology.”

by

Sophie Lee

Jennifer Park

Sophie wants to study Architecture at university.

Although she said her dream may sounds very clichéd, the same as many year 13 students, I think her dream is the most representative aspect of Sophie.

Her initial dream is to be an architect and she wants to build a house for her parents. After she has built the house for her parents, she would like to build landmarks for 15 different countries.

“I would like to build the buildings that don’t just stand out, but are outstanding.”

It was interesting that she thinks of ‘landmarks’ quite differently from most people. Many modern people think a ‘landmark’ of an area should be fancy and attractive in some way. However, Sophie hopes the building or landmarks that she builds can communicate with and fit to the environment. It does not have to be ecofriendly, but she considers whether the building is suitable to its environment or not as the most important factor. As she commented, “I believe architecture is pretty much every aspect of our life.”

It might be the reason why she wants to further study Architecture as a subject. However, the reason why she has developed her own ideal style of building is different. Looking at different architects today, she has seen many buildings that are massive, fancy, landmark-like, but that do not match with the surrounding environment. Therefore, she wants to build the buildings that can be representative for Korea and that can introduce the excellence of Korean culture to the whole world.

To achieve her dream, she is going to read lots of books, as she believes that’s what she lacks. In the future, as an architect, she wants to challenge limitations by using her creativity and finding out her own architectural style, like Ando Tadao, who is an architect whom she believes has the true quality and characteristic of an architect.

Artwork by Junha Hwang, Halla

All four Year 13 students who we interviewed knew exactly what they wanted to do in the future. Not all Year 13 students have an exact dream of what to do, but most of them have their own goals that they want to achieve. The most important thing is the process of challenging ourselves to something, even though it seems impossible to achieve. Our goals become our motivation to move forward, even though we may face many obstacles on the way.

It’s true to say that all Year 13s have, at one point or another, struggled with their IB life, but it is almost finished.

After our exams in May, we are hoping to do things we have not been able to do for a long time, like sleep!

Living in a vacation spot and owning at least one island

Trying as many attempts as possible Buying an island for my parents

Establishing a specialpurpose high school

Establishing a medical center Being married to one who truly loves me

Being a proud daughter for my parents Launching a huge and famous brand of clothes or food chain shop.

Participating in at least one movie

Year 13 Going on a journey without money

Dream Quotes Helping others by joining an international organization Traveling every single country in the world before I become 50

Buying a castle. Definitely

Dancing. Laughing until I die Going on a space trip Opening a book chain store

Developing a medicine that can cure the allergy for the cats

Establishing my own cosmetic brand

I want to scuba dive in The Great Barrier Reef, travel the world and be happy

Visiting all well-known dessert stores in the world

Working as a curator in a gallery and importing art pieces

Supporting talented children Buying a private plane Being married to one who truly loves me

Establishing an arts school and giving the children in lessdeveloped children opportunities

G KISAC Basketball Final

allery

Symposium

Unplugged

Year 1 Trip | Jeju Folk Village

Christmas Concert

Oliver!

Pictures from some of our school events since the last issue

KISAC Basketball Final Photography by brian lee

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Symposium Photography by DONGHYEON SEO

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Year 1 Trip | Jeju Folk Village Photography by CHRISTINE YAP

Unplugged Photography by Zi Won Kim, Brian Lee and Jaesung Ha

Christmas Concert

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Oliver!

Photography by Zi Won Kim and Brian Lee

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Oliver!

Terry kwon, halla, takes a look at a growing trend that is worrying for people with an international mind

N

ationalism.

People having their feelings attached to their country of origin. An endless sequence of controversies and violence.

A quite sensitive and disturbing issue.

And now there are new worries: Is it on the rise again?

can be classified in a similar context to open-mindedness, being open-minded to new ideas and perspectives. It is quite obvious that there are those who are not internationally minded – some countries have even adopted strong nationalist feelings against foreigners.

This political ideology termed nationalism has been brought to focus by both society and countless international media outlets. The general public is constantly being bombarded by various demonstrations as well as conflicts, because nationalism has resurfaced as a prominent sociocultural issue in many countries around the world.

The United Kingdom, a country full of tea-drinking, Queen-loving British people. Around 90% of the total population is comprised of whites, while there are also black and mixed racial groups. So, what does the United Kingdom have to do with Nationalism?

The EDL, or English Defence League, is a far-right extremist organisation that is strongly against the spread of Islam, immigration and anything they perceive as ‘non-British’. They are gaining support, and although it is only limited, there are enough supporters of this nationalist originisation to have people in Britain worried.

So, why is nationalism a problem?

The reason is simple: it goes against international-mindedness, which is primarily about understanding, respecting, embracing and even promoting cultural diversity. The concept

An EDL rally in Birmingham

It’s not only the UK, Russia has also recently been put under the political spotlight. Some nations considered not participating in the Sochi Winter Olympics after controversies over the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Trans-sexual and Bisexual) community. The logic behind this was that Russian people view them as alienated beings, that they are merely obstacles that are present during the process of maintaining a pure ‘Russian’ race. Such a viewpoint is clearly against the concept of internationalmindedness.

The United States of America has been and continues to be the country that is commonly associated with Nationalism.

The term ‘melting pot’ comes from the multiracial diversity in America, with Caucasians, African-Americans and Asians intermingling in US society. Back in American history, the Ku Klux Klan was a far-right organisation based on white nationalism, supremacy and antiSemitism. The KKK is also particularly well-known for its violence against African Americans, and their activities continue even to this day. However, after the September 11 attacks in 2001, Americans have indulged in anti-Muslim sentiment, and this was aggravated with the Boston Marathon bombings.

Protests against Russian polify in Madrid

Some nations considered not participating in the Sochi Winter Olympics after controversies over the LGBT community.

American Nationalism at Comiskey Park, Chicago

How should we act? Should we continue to hide ourselves behind inconsistent thoughts and narrow-mindedness?

Absolutely not.

Internationalmindedness is vital. Being open to new ideas and cultures is vital. Having a global mindset is vital. Do you know why? Because in the end… all of us, regardless of age, gender or race, are a part of the international community in the 21st century world.

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A Helping Hand An Anonymous first hand account of how the counselling service works at our school.

Most people have already undergone or will undergo a hard time in their life. No matter whether the hardship is derived from friendship, love or studying, visiting a professional counsellor and talking about your concerns is a lot more productive than suffering by yourself. I would like to share my past story with you to encourage you to visit a counsellor when you encounter a problem that is too hard to deal with alone.

I had a hard time about a year ago. I stupidly made a mistake and it totally broke down the bridges between friends and teachers I had endeavored to build. At that time, I was recommended to have a counselling session to ease myself before rectifying the relationship with others. To be honest, being counselled was a huge humiliation to me as I was influenced by the conservative mindset of many in Korea.

However, I found myself changing to be a lot more cheerful after a few sessions of counseling. Furthermore, in terms of my relationships with others, there was a huge progression - I was able to get along with most of my peer group.

I have gained a lot from my counseling experience, and now even have the aspiration of becoming a peer mentor.

Personally, I want to pay back and contribute to the school community by giving a hand to those who are in a hard situation and suffering by themselves.

The biggest benefit of counseling is that it enables you to reflect on what you have done in the past. While talking about your experience, you are going to be reviewing what you have done and felt. In addition, having a person who you can lean on emotionally becomes a big asset to you.

The counsellor will always keep your story confidential so that even other staff would not be aware of it. The empathy shown by the counsellor will help you feel respected.

If you are still afraid of going to the counsellor, you can meet a peer mentor and ask them for help. They are trained in counselling skills and I believe that they could contribute at least a little to alleviate your problems. I also gained a lot from some of peer mentors around the school when I was recovering. They might be better at suggesting ideas for a problem involving friendship, since they look at things from a similar perspective and might have had similar feelings.

Suffering by yourself is not necessary.

I want to highly recommend to those suffering now, no matter the problem, visit the School Counsellor for a helping hand.

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41

JEEMIN BANG, YEAR 9, GEOMUN AND CHELSEA PARK, YEAR 9, MULCHAT TAKE A LOOK AT HOW COLOUR IS PERCEIVED IN DiFFERENT CULTURES AROUND THE WORLD

E

very culture associates colours with different ideas and emotions. In the U.S., one assigns red to hate or anger, blue to sadness, and green to ecology.

How do other countries interpret colour?

The differences may be very surprising.

Colour perception has something to do with the cultures that countries have developed throughout generations.

While they vary from country to country, they still possess a deep meaning to the people carrying out the beliefs.

Red is the colour of love in various cultures: In China, brides wear red for their wedding, and red roses are a common gift for St. Valentine’s Day in the Western world. In Christianity, red is associated with the celebration of Christmas. Santa Claus also wears red and white for Christmas, while giving presents to children. There is also an Easter tradition of colouring eggs red – red in this case represents the blood of Christ. In China, red paper and red envelopes are frequently used to wrap gifts or money. Also, in the lunar new year, Chinese people hang characters that represent luck that are printed on red pieces of paper.

In North America, because of the colour of the United States dollar bill, green is the colour of wealth and money. Also, the colour green is always associated with nature. Green is also considered the traditional colour of Islam. Egypt, which is a well-known Islamic country, has green for its national colour. Green is a symbol in different countries. In Ireland for example, green is a strong theme on St. Patrick’s Day.

The Olympics is the most well known example of culture collaborating with colour itself.

In the Western world, white is seen as the colour of purity and innocence. White is the traditional colour of bridal dresses. A woman wearing a white dress will be seen as a bride in the west, while in some Asian cultures, such as China, Vietnam, and Korea, white is the colour of death and mourning. In India, people wear white after the death of a family member. So when people walk around wearing white dresses, it would possibly be considered that someone had passed away in their family. White also represents the colour of snow and winter in both Western and Eastern cultures.

A white pigeon is an international sign of peace.

Black is the colour that represents mourning in Western cultures. Black is also the most common colour used for men’s’ clothing for formal occasions such as weddings.

Furthermore, black is also worn by priests. An interesting fact about the colour black is that in the Japanese culture, until the nineteenth century, some women used to dye their teeth black because it was thought that black teeth would make a woman look beautiful.

The Olympics is the most well known example of culture collaborating with colour itself. The Olympic rings, adopted

by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Movement in 1913, represent Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Oceania. Each colour corresponds to a particular continent with blue for Europe, yellow for Asia, black for Africa, green for Oceania and red for America.

Same colour, many different meanings: colour can be seen as a universal language that people all around the world use to express their values and diverse cultures. We should all try to understand and tolerate differences – so why don’t we start now?

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44

Jillian Chun, Halla, sits us down in front of the fire and tells us a story about fairy tales from around the world and how they reflect their cultural origin.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Once upon a time, there were no storybooks, no Home Alone re-runs over the Christmas season, no Internet and its vile fountain of information.

Embers in the fireplace twitched like crimson glow-worms; the wintry nights were longer, and children, starving or happily fed depending on the season, were insatiably curious. Possibly to shut them up, or send them to sleep, or both, the parents opened their mouths and hence, the stories began.

Some centuries after that fire-lit bedside, the surviving stories ended up in a Korean edition of ‘Fairy tales around the world for children’, a collection of illustrated fairytales. More specifically, it ended up on the bookshelf of my fouryear-old self.

I must admit shamefully that I was illiterate at this time, and only remember pulling out colourful chunks of books

in a random order, leafing through pictures of girls clad in hanbok dresses fashioning dark plaits, (as unmarried women wore their hair in the Chosun dynasty) surviving evil stepmothers or those of blue eyed blondes (the only exception being Snow White) surviving their share of evil stepmothers. One difference I found out earlier on was the illustrations on the last page; in the ‘World’ fairytales section (by which it means ‘Western’), the last glossy pages were always reserved for weddings, for sheets of blond hair draped over white dresses. In Korean stories, the last pages were often that of a family grinning in front of roof-tiled houses, a symbol of wealth, with heaps of rice sacks in the background. Does this tell some profound message about differing views of happiness, I don’t know. What was obvious to me then, and now, is that I preferred the princesses.

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A few months later, when I learned a nice little skill called ‘reading’, I began to spot morals, usually located somewhere between the blond girl shivering in cold and the blonde girl in a wedding dress. ‘Goldilocks’ and ‘Hansel and Gretel’ are cautionary tales against trespassing or trusting strangers easily. In the starkly black-and-white world of fairytales, character comparisons are often used to show the ‘good example’ and the ‘bad example’. The jealous queens die horribly while sweet princesses marry princes and launch off into their respective (but rather similar) happily ever afters.

Likewise, Korean fairytales like to draw a parallel. For instance, in ‘The Gold Axe’, a woodcutter accidentally drops his axe into a lake. When the forest spirit emerges and shows him a gold axe and silver axe, asking him if they were his, the honest woodcutter tells him that his is only a plain iron axe.

fairy tales are characterised by their elements of the macabre.

The forest spirit, touched by his honesty, gives all three axes to him. A neighboring ‘selfish’ woodcutter, having heard his friend’s tale, hurls his axe into the lake and when asked the same question, tells the forest spirit that the gold axe belonged to him. The forest spirit is enraged and refuses even to return the iron axe to the selfish woodcutter. Likewise, many Korean folktales begin with an unexpected fortune falling on an honest person, followed by just punishment received by a selfish mimicker.

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It would be another ten years or so before I realised, that although stocked with obvious ‘morals’, fairy tales are characterised by their elements of the macabre. Perhaps the children were perceived less as innocents in the days of the fireside stories, or maybe these were inside jokes for adults. Neither the choppedoff toes of Cinderella’s stepsister in her desperate attempts to decrease her footsize nor the stepsister executed and made into a salt-fermented side dish to be tasted by her mother (courtesy of lovely Cinderella, of course) in the Korean version, made it into my glossy collection. Sometimes, the macabre is used in accordance with the aforementioned moral purposes. Ominous creatures were invented to frighten naughty children. Scottish ‘Bodachs’ climbed down from chimneys to unleash nightmares on misbehaving children sound asleep. The Korean ‘Old man with a Net’ carries around a huge net and picks up children wandering late at night. Haitian ‘Sigouaves’ even goes as far as harvesting the private parts of male street urchins.

Sometimes the mythical creatures’ targets are young men rather than children. The West has the infamous mermaids, enticing the seafaring men to join them in their drowning revels. The Greek sirens, also, sang in a beautiful voice to compel the men to jump into the ocean. Korea also has ninetailed foxes, who disguise themselves as attractive women and seduce young men either to devour their livers or to marry them. (It is said that they can turn into real humans if they eat a hundred human livers or remained married to a human man for a hundred days without being discovered.

Although slightly different, China also has po-hyo, a mythical creature that emits cries resembling that of a baby’s, compelling fighting soldiers into homesickness and eventual desertion.

The relationship with such non-human entities are ambivalent in most cultures; capricious dwarfs sometimes give treasure but other times bestow curses; foxes seduce men to kill them but snails make good wives (one Korean fairy tale is about a single woodcutter taking a wild snail home, which turns into a beautiful woman and marries him), some magical beasts are carnivorous but others signify good luck.

Although different cultures have similar aspects in their fairy tales like central morals, the sense of the macabre, or mythical creatures that prey on human weaknesses, some differences still remain. For instance, Korean fairy tales have a strange tendency to focus on diseases. True, diseases were more common in ancient Korea without health insurance and technological development, but the same can be said about other nations at one era or other. I felt that the undue focus on diseases in fairy tales (especially diseases in old people) reflected the social pressure on children of the sick that was prevalent in the Chosun dynasty. As loving and caring for one’s parents was one of the most important virtues in Confucianism, sons and daughters were rewarded for going out of their way to look for cures for their parents’ illnesses. (There are records of governmental commendation offered to sons who cut their fingers to feed the parents their blood, etc) Likewise, there was frequent chastisement for people who were perceived as not doing everything to help their parents. Such social background, I assume, was the inspiration for stories like a son turning into a tiger every night to hunt for dogs, as his mother needs to eat a thousand yellow dogs to get well, of a son looking for a strawberry in mid-winter to feed it to his dying mother (he is aided by a forest spirit), and a daughter selling herself as a sacrifice to the sea-monster to open the eyes of his blind father. (She is saved by the sea-king and becomes a queen).

Western tradition has more princesses and kings in their fairytales. This seemed to be because of the nature of European courts; historically, there was a

relatively free employment of staff or influx of guests at European courts, and English court especially opened its dining hall to the public, letting the common people watch the royals dine. This was not the case in many Eastern kingdoms, where the queens, concubines and most servants could not leave the palace once they entered it, and even the royal doctors were not allowed to touch queens or princesses (there was bead curtain between them, and the doctor had to feel a pulse by touching a thin thread tied to the ladies’ wrist). The insular nature of Eastern courts meant that the common people had no means of contact with the royals, however slight, while the Western cultures provided many room for imagination about lives of the royals, possibly inspiring tales like the Sleeping beauty, Snow White, Frog princess, and the pea princess.

In examining fairy tales, I realised that cultures shared more similarities than differences.

In examining fairy tales, I realised that cultures shared more similarities than differences.

Although the clothing, food, and specific turns of events in each tale are different, sometimes reflecting a cultural idiosyncrasy, all celebrate love, family, and virtues. All contain in them a hope that a good life will be rewarded and a bad one punished; all contain hopes of a better future, of familial bonding and of good fortune. Although the stories, invented, told, morphed and retold in many different fireplaces to children of many different nationalities lying on many different sorts of beddings, it seems to me that there was an international trend, a universal taste of happy endings that existed everywhere, in everyone, before the copies of ‘Fairy tales around the world for children’, before the Home-Alone reruns, before, -yes, even before- the Internet.

Toilets that Teach What can we learn from toilets? can they really teach us to be more internationally minded? Junha Hwang, Halla, delves into the murky world of international toilets.

Toilet design by Sergio Alonso

T

oilets are something that

remember being laughed at by a cleaner at

we

talk

the hotel for washing an apple under a tap,

about, except when we ask

which apparently was for another special

in lessons to go for daily private

use and was called a bidet (After such a

visits. Yes, really, toilets in a way conjure

shock, I gave that apple to my sister and

up quite embarrassing, uncomfortable and

the crunchy sounds she made didn’t seem

awkward moments of life for some people,

so desirable then).

don’t

usually

or they may just be a taboo subject for others. It’s true that toilets don’t always carry positive or pleasant connotations.

I’ve also been in an Indonesian toilet that covers only the bottom half of the body, so I had to awkwardly stare at the faces

So, you may be wondering what logic

of strangers lined up for more than 2

or rationale I would possibly have for

whole minutes. Was I fine? Of course not.

writing an article about such a bizarre

However, although that experience was

and unpleasant subject in such a sacred,

awkward, verging on unpleasant, it made

academic and admirable school magazine.

me realize that even though I found it very

In fact, I do have a very sensible rationale

foreign, the locals treated it like it was

for writing this piece of work: I would

nothing, they were used to it, it was part

like to share my internationally minded

of their own culture.

toilet experiences as an inspirational drive for all NLCS Jejudonians to also become internationally

minded

toilet

users.

(Especially for the Korean students who have only been on warmed toilet seats with automatic cleansing sprinklers.)

It is indeed natural to be hostile to unusual or different phenomena and commodities, however, one becomes an ‘internationally minded’ person when he/she tries understanding or respecting such phenomena through experience and

Toilets, I think, are a huge part of our daily

communication. Therefore I believe, not

lives and also culture. Out there, in the

only through promoting communication

world is a collection of diverse, toilets -

through the same language use, but

from an open mud pit in India to a free-

also by physically experiencing each

standing wall on a hill (that was in no way

other’s traditional activities, food, certain

private) in France.

cultural behaviours and toilets, we should

Toilets

allow

us

to

challenge

preconceptions, a vital part of being Internationally minded. For example, I thought Spain had very normal, ordinary

all become a little more tolerant and understanding of others, stepping closer towards establishing a truly internationallyminded community.

sit-down toilets just like we do here, but I

49

J e j u I s l a n d, a n a l l embracing island?

Ashley Park, Year 10, Geomun wonders is Jeju really as plugged into the global community as it claims to be.

R

ecently, Mr. Hewlett gave us a speech in assembly about international mindedness and its reality in Jeju. He told us the story of when he and some friends had been refused entry to a bar in Jeju because they were Westerners. The teachers, who had planned to enjoy the rest of the day, were very shocked at being kicked out just because they were ‘different’ from the bar owners. However, it was not much of a surprise to me because Korea is still becoming an international minded country, particularly in Jeju.

To trace back through our history, there was regent Hung Son who disliked alien culture and banned foreign commerce. He and the whole nation started to regard westerns as ‘different ‘ from them.

Our travel to foreign civilizations had been relatively infrequent and we started to be known as a ‘conservative’ country.

Still it seems Koreans are having difficulties with naturally accepting and welcoming Westerners, considering them as different from us. Since the past, we have always been regarded ethnicity as the most important value.

However more and more people are becoming interested in ‘alien’ culture, including cosmetics, science, technology, politics, celebrities and education; and thus, gradually, we are in the stage of adapting and acceptance.

Currently, international mindedness is essential for all Korean people, so much so that

the majority are learning many foreign languages, even up to five or six. Not knowing anything about foreign culture means you are alienated from the nation.

Even kids from the age of three are starting to learn English in Korea.

Korea is developing in terms of mingling with foreign society and has already done immensely well so far.

Then should we just wait until everything becomes cosmopolitanized? It may seem as if there is not so much we can do to bring about this change, we can at least in school start speaking in English or accepting new cultures from outside out experience.

Accepting and taking in other cultures, even ones that you are not familiar with, allows you to mingle with others, share ideas and take in new perspectives.

We are on the same planet, sharing the same circulating air, water and even knowledge and ideas about certain objects. However, we still often think of ourselves as different from others, especially those with a different nationality.

Being international minded allows us to be one through sharing ideas, traditions and cultures. It is our ultimate aim to co-operate together, indiscriminately, and develop worldwide conceptual understanding across a range of fields.

It is a wrong mindset to exclude any foreigners because we are no longer a discriminative society.

Even though it may take some time to overcome, we should understand that Jeju is yet an allembracing region.

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InterNATIONAL Jinn park and celine tae, Both year 10, both sarah, ponder Why the most National of places are actually the most International

2 Look around.

You see something along the lines of ‘a series of doors leading to identical classrooms,’ or the painfully white walls of your bluecarpeted room or even a headache-arousing cafeteria, full of familiar faces, food and smell.

What do you notice about these places? Do they intrigue you? Do they fill you with so much electrifying excitement that you get butterflies in your tummy?

3

To be honest, even as I am writing this article in the Girl’s ICT room, busily typing away, I’m not exactly thrilled to be here. It is the same old white screens, same people, same language being spoken and the same anxious atmosphere as we get closer and closer to the deadline.

But never fear, the holiday is coming. Are we going to sit in the same identical classrooms, with the same people and the same white screens? Of course not, we are going to go out there and travel. To find something different, to experience that International feeling…

When I travel to somewhere else in the world, I usually buy quite a lot of souvenirs to remind me of the times I spent in that place. Most of the time, I pick chocolates. Of course, every time I try to sneak in the box of chocolates into the pile of souvenirs, my mom gives me ‘The Look’ and tells me to buy something that I can’t get anywhere else but there. The reason being: ‘why bother buying something you can get anywhere?’ So I go away sulking and bring back something like seaweed chocolate or strawberry-cream coated potato chips.

Although my mom still doesn’t approve, she does let me buy them because they are not something I get to taste everyday in South Korea.

However much I love buying chocolates, my mom is right when she says that traveling is for experiencing new cultures. Isn’t this why almost every tourist visiting South Korea chooses to go to Insadong, an incredibly traditional town in Seoul. All of its shop signs are in Korean - even Starbucks. Other than the Korean shop signs, Insadong is full of foods, people, roads and music that are uniquely Korean. In fact, the place is known as one of the most traditionally Korean towns in all of Seoul and yet tourists find everything there absolutely fascinating.

Or maybe it is because of those exotic features that Insadong has become the number one tourist hot spot. People say, “Opposites attract.” Perhaps this rule stands not for just a clichéd romantic love story but for tourism and why people desire to travel to different places. Maybe being international is not about having the same standardised cultures in all different countries, but being able to embrace different cultures. Perhaps that is why, in our most National places, we see the most International mingling.

1 Insadong Starbucks, Korea 2 Asakusa, Japan 3 The Mesquita, Spain

Have you ever heard of the phrase “The most Korean is the most international”?

If you pay a little extra attention to your surroundings when you visit Korean souvenir shops, ride a Seoul tour bus or maybe even flip through the Jeju sightseeing leaflets in front of the hotel reception desks, you might find it proudly printed. In fact, it was the slogan of the Korean Tourist Commission a few years ago. When I first saw it - it was in a book about the history of Kimchi – I was rather skeptical about it. The phrase came to me as superficial, ambiguous, and stubbornly nationalistic. But then now come to think of it, with a small portion deep inside my heart proud of myself for being an ‘international student’, the phrase does hold some truth as well.

It doesn’t always have to be Korea. The rule applies for every culture, every nation in the world. Asakusa, Japan, has an enormous Japanese temple with red wooden pillars and huge red Japanese lanterns all over. The street

in front of the temple overflows with tourists from all four corners of the world in all four seasons, but there is not a single Westernised alphabet on the signs of the stores, and the shop assistants tout their souvenirs in a traditional Japanese Kimono or Yutaka. The brisk Mezquita under the blazing sunlight of Andalusia and the crystalline ponds inside the high brick walls of the Alcazar attract people of all three complexions to Cordoba, Spain. Thousands and thousands visit Italy each year for a glimpse into the immemorial history of the ancient empire.

Being internationally minded is being open-minded in understanding and accepting cultures different from one’s own. This is true, but there is more to it. Thorough understanding of our own identity is a vital steppingstone for embracing other’s. And perhaps the best starting point is in embracing the difference we see in the national places, souvenirs and cultures we see and bring home when we travel.

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The

Linguists LINA kim, year 10, mulchat, wanted to know why some people are so good at languages so she spoke to some of the best at NLCS Jeju

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Celine tae English, Korean, Mandarin

WILL STOCKS

& Japanese

English, French & Japanese

Mr Waterson English, French, Spanish Portuguese, Bahasa, & farsi

MR PROBERT English, Russian, Mandarin, Latin, French & Korean.

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Immerse yourself in language!

This is what Mr. Probert said when I asked him for some tips to improve my language skills. At NLCS Jeju, nearly every student is bilingual, which is already amazing. However, there are some people, teachers and students, who can speak more than two languages fluently. These are the NLCS Jeju ‘Linguists’.

Here are some notes from NLCS Jeju linguists!

WHY DID YOU LEARN SO MANY LANGUAGES?

MR PROBERT I enjoy travelling, understanding different cultures, and meeting new people.

CELINE I’m studying Japanese and Mandarin because it really interests me how different they are, but at the same time similar to Korean.

DID YOU ENJOY LEARNING NEW LANGUAGES?

MR WATERSON Absolutely. I enjoyed using those languages I’ve learnt as it gave me access to more people and cultures.

CELINE Japanese, yes. Mandarin? No. It’s such a pain to memorise all of the Chinese characters.

HOW HAVE THOSE LANGUAGES

HELPED YOU ACADEMICALLY?

MR PROBERT As a Historian, being a linguist inevitably provides new ways of looking at Historical periods, as it increases the source material you have access to.

HOW HAVE THOSE LANGUAGES HELPED YOU SOCIALLY?

MR PROBERT I now have friends in Russia and China. Language has enabled me to form bridges in these countries, and given me a much greater understanding of different cultures, and in doing so, of my own culture.

MR WATERSON You can experience some links and connections between two different cultures by learning languages. For example, ‘orangutan’ in Bahasa means a person in a forest. Interesting, isn’t it?

WHAT WERE THE

DIFFICULTIES OF LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE? WHY DO YOU THINK SOME PEOPLE ARE BETTER AT LEARNING LANGUAGES THAN OTHERS?

MR WATERSON The circumstances around you are very important. Also, there are some people who are very shy and embarrassed to learn new language.

MR PROBERT New vocab lists. But, the biggest hurdle was getting up to a level when you can actually begin to use the language in real-life contexts.

WILL Asian languages are so different to English. I had to spend ages on various kinds of characters when I was learning Japanese. Pronunciation is quite difficult as well, even now.

MR PROBERT Nature versus nurture, I guess.

DO YOU THINK THAT SOME

LANGUAGES ARE MORE USEFUL THAN OTHER LANGUAGES?

ANY TIPS FOR IMPROVING LANGUAGE SKILLS?

CELINE Probably the languages used widely around the world such as Mandarin or Spanish.

WILL French, I should say. It is a very useful language in Europe.

CELINE You need to have a real motivation for learning the language with some patience.

MR WATERSON It differs due to the circumstances.

WILL Watch Japanese animations!

MR WATERSON Set yourself targets, and look it up when you want to know something or go to live with the family.

MR PROBERT Regular study is the key. Then, Immerse yourself in the language!

LanguagePerfect MRS NESBIT OF THE EUROPEAN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT EXPLAINS WHY LANUAGE SKILLS CAN HELP US BECOME MORE INTERNATIONALLY MINDED.

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earning languages is an important way to develop an awareness and understanding of people from other countries. Ban Ki-moon has said that “linguistic diversity and multilingualism [are] a key element in our efforts to build a better world and a life of dignity for all.� International understanding can be achieved only with leadership from people who know more than one language and understand more than one culture.

Studying languages is one way in which NLCS Jeju students develop their International-Mindedness: most already speak two languages, often Korean and English, and many are adding to their repertoire by studying French, Latin, Spanish or Mandarin.

Miss Robinson Visit www.languageperfect.com to find out more

Year 7-9 students of French, Latin and Spanish have been involved in Language Perfect, a computer-based vocabulary-learning competition. The prize for the winning class will be pizza, and this will prepare us for Asian and worldwide competitions later in the year.

The offer of pizza brought out the competitive spirit, and the competition developed good study habits, encouraging students to revise words one day and one month after they first master them.

Competition Results FIRST PLACE Year 9 Girl’s French Hailey Cho, Innes Kim, Cindy Lee, Sharon Park SECOND PLACE Year 7 Girl’s Latin Cindy Kim, Mina Kim, Sophie Kim, Nicole Park, Sherry Shen THIRD PLACE Year 9 Boys French Luke Trafford

Student Opinion I think Language Perfect is a fantastic website for students to review a new language.

It’s a good way to learn words because we hear the pronunciation and check our spelling.

Year 7 Girl

Year 8 Girl

Language Perfect gives us a great chance to learn vocabulary in an efficient way.

I think I’m learning a lot. It’s really improving my vocabulary.

Year 7 Girl

Year 7 Girl Mrs Cooke

It’s better than ‘Tetris’.

It challenges me because I want pizza.

Year 8 Boy

Year 8 Boy

Mrs Cooke

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KAY NAM, YEAR 8, JEOJI, SHARES HER TRAVEL EXPERIENCES WITH US AND EXPLORES HOW THEY CAN TEACH US TO BECOME MORE INTERNATIONALLY MINDED.

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uring the 15 years of my life, although it doesn’t seem like a long time, I’ve been to numerous locations and made countless memories that are overflowing endlessly inside my head. There’s no point listing about where I have been and what I have done.

The most important part, the crux of it, is what I have learnt or felt from these travel experiences.

To start off with, England was a place where the classic atmosphere made me feel that almost everywhere in that country was a natural setting for a story or a movie, and I could imagine sections of numerous different novels starting to appear in front of my very eyes. Most public places, especially the museums, concealed a beautiful truth embedded within: donation. In Korea, it is very difficult to find people who donate to a public organization. However, there were also public restrooms that charged money, so it was a bit of a shock.

After going through the English Channel, while riding the Eurostar, I ended up in Paris, France. France had an antique environment but it was extremely different from England.

France had preserved more of the past; the streets were very narrow and the pavements were made out of stone.

In the most antique place, I bought a memorable object, also an aged item. A quill pen. It felt more meaningful to me because the spirit of the picturesqueness of Paris seemed to be embedded inside that whole set of pen and ink. However, in this wonderful place, something weird had happened while having breakfast in the hotel buffet.

My mother was curious about which button she should press to get a cup of coffee, so she asked a member of staff. But even though he had understood what my mom said and repeated what she said, she gave her hot milk, which was quite frustrating. Maybe French people don’t really fancy English-speaking people in their country.

Well, I guess it is quite important to learn a few phrases before visiting a nation.

The Train à Grande Vitesse was the train that took me to Switzerland. On the day I arrived, the snow was everywhere. The most remarkable bit was that I got to sleep in a two-storey hotel room. In the room, I found labels in diverse languages: German, French, Italian, Romanian and even English. Unlike the hotel I visited in France, this extraordinary hotel was already accepting a lot of different cultures. In addition, the atmosphere of the hotel was lovely; I felt like I was Heidi of the Alps, admiring the stars that seemed to fall right onto my face.

In the morning, the scenery was very different from what I saw at night. Enjoying the snowy scene, I was on a train that led me to the highest point of the Alps: Jungfraujoch.

On the top, I felt serious altitude sickness but it was all cured because of a special occasion. The viewing platform had a small shop that was selling pot noodles with hot water! It was exceptional because it was the only place that I’ve seen selling those outside of my country. For the first time in my life, I had experienced globalization!

The last country that I am going to mention is Taiwan.

The only thing that I can talk about is my memory of the National Palace Museum. Like myself, a couple (probably Taiwanese) were also roaming around the exhibition hall.

They then cut a long queue impudently and stood there as if they did not know anything. In fact, they attempted that right in front of my tour guide. The guide was furious and quibbled over the fact that they did that and they both started arguing and what I thought was that they would get over it in a quiet manner since they were at a museum. Actually, I was wrong. The couple glared at our guide, started quacking like a duck and spat out words like a gangster. I was instantly shocked because I have never seen a person with such appalling manners, leaving me dumbfounded after the long tussle; they had given me the worst experience that I could ever have had in a foreign country. As a result, all I could think about that trip was that incident which was unexplainable and now every time I see a Chinese or Taiwanese person, because they are normally loud speakers, I think I’ve got a serious stereotype against them, even though I know I am completely wrong in holding this opinion.

So what I have learned from this whole episode is that whenever I confront a foreigner, I should be saying and carrying out actions as if I am a representative of my country because it is highly possible that they will determine how my country’s national character is with what I show them.

After all of my experiences, travelling is a good tool for developing an ability to be able to look at different regions of the world and learn from all the positive and negative things that we go through. It is an extremely effective way to open up my mind and lead myself to international mindedness, rather than just sitting at a classroom and learning what international mindedness is only in theory...

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u j e J S C L N Where have ? n e e b s t n e d stu ALICIA CHo, YEAR 8, JEOJI AND CLAIRE OH, YEAR 8, SARAH ,FIND OUT WHERE WE HAVE TRAVELLED TO AND WHAT WE THOUGHT Have you visited other countries in the world?

We conducted a survey about NLCS Jeju students’ experiences in other countries. The result was wonderful. People have been to so many countries: Thailand; Japan; New York; Australia and while they were there, they also had very different experiences!

While conducting this survey, we also found out that people have more gaps and differences between their cultures. These gaps, for instance, can start very serious religious incidents to a simple conflict about their food preference in a restaurant.

Thailand

Many of you would have experienced these differences. Because we are so different in our backgrounds, experiences, and cultures, it is important for us to recognise how to understand other’s culture. For example, if you meet a very religious Hindu person, they may be disgusted about people eating meat.

However, you should understand their culture; and put yourself in their shoes, thinking about their religion.

Being an internationally minded person is important, because it is important that you understand other people’s minds and opinions.

Jenn, Gap student I love the food in Thailand; it is my favourite cuisine. The clothes and crafts were very nice as well. People in the cities were very pushy but in the country they were very generous and polite.

I don’t like Korean food as much, except street food, but the architecture and emphasis on design is interesting. I like the city culture in Seoul, it reminds me of a US city. I also like the custom of short bows in Korea. I just exaggerate the nod I give back home.

Chloe Moon, Year 8 Culture: Thailand is nearly 95% Theravada Buddhist. It has lots of temples, such as Tiger temple, Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Arun Food: I really like Tom Yam Goong, which is the national aroma of Thailand. It contains Lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal and shallots with chillies and fish sauce. The flavour is very good.

Clothes: They dress moedstly to respect others.

australia Sally Choi, Year 9 Whenever I visit foreign cities, I always feel that the culture is different from our culture. To list some, our food culture and our traditional thinking are the interesting bits. Korean people tend to eat rice and Kimchi for their meals. However, Australia was a long way from Kimchi and rice. They rather ate hamburgers and spaghetti. I couldn’t understand the culture, but that was just for few days at first. After a short while, I was able to eat different kinds of cultural foods.

china

Sophie Kim, Year 7 I personally thought the food there was disgusting. They had some sort of spicy sauce that was just made the food taste totally weird.

Other than that, the big buildings and castles were beautiful, and I was able to learn a lot of history from them.

usa Sparky Jeong, Year 8 New York was not quite what I imagined it to be. However, I ate delicious food and bought clothes from Lacoste. The clothes were similar to Korea. I went there because I heard it was great fun. However, I was disappointed when I figured it was not very different to Korea. Overall, the trip was all right but I didn’t enjoy it - especially the noises from parties at night.

france Julia Kim, Year 8 Amongst the many countries that I have visited throughout my life and childhood, the most memorable destination is France.

Actually, I did not get to stay that long there but still it was able to fulfil my enjoyment. France is renowned for the Eiffel tower, which is the most popular tourist attraction in this country; it was simply amazing. People there treated us with respect and manners, even though we were foreigners. I liked the local people’s attitude, which were very friendly and caring.

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Welcome

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Welcome

Design by Jiho Choi, Year 11, Mulchat

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IB VISUAL ART EXHIBITION

2014

Writer | Mrs Monaghan Phtographer | Zi Won Kim, Halla

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ou could definitely say that I am biased, but the IB exhibition now ranks as one of the most impressive things I have seen in my time at NLCS Jeju.

Why am I biased? Well, not only do I have three members of my tutor group who are IB artists, I also teach many of the students and am a Halla tutor. (Oh, and my daughter just happens to have been part of it as well!) I feel that I have lived through the trials and tribulations of the last two years of IB Art, despite not being able to draw a stick man with any confidence.

The final exhibition was the result of months and months of hard work, creativity, late nights, angst

and joy. Their teachers have given freely of their time and advice, above and beyond anything that could be expected of a teacher.

I have seen these artists grow and develop beyond anything that they and I thought them capable of. The exhibition was full of pieces that wowed everyone there, but it was more than a series of stunning sculptures, fabulous films and cracking canvases. It was the end of a very long journey, a very long expedition into the world of art.

These girls will hopefully continue this journey and we all look forward to seeing more of their work in galleries around the world for many years to come.

Lizzie shows Mrs Monaghan some of her work

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The real meaning of the olympics David Yun, Year 6, reflects on the winter olympics in sochi.

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uring the WInter Olympics, Russia received a total of 33 medals. It might be considered as an astounding fact, but of the 33 medals they won, 13 were gold medals which was great to see. Also, Korea won 8 medals in total, with 3 being gold medals.

On 23rd February 2014, the Sochi Olympics ended with a fantastic closing ceremony. In this closing ceremony they showed each country’s diverse culture.

At this point we could learn a lot from watching the procession and also we could understand more about that culture, as well as gaining a large insight in to Russian culture.

Every time when the Olympics end, the players all go together. However, at the start they all come in separately in as their own countries. I think they do this in order to show us that the world is one and not separated. Also, they want to convey that fights and wars are meaningless things, as we can all share and cooperate in a global arena.

We expect to see another cooperative and friendly winter Olympics in 4 years time. For the meantime, we need to take their example and go out and play sports with others in a caring and friendly way.

Gymnastics

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Gymnastics

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Languages winners & losers Hojin Jang, Year 6, gets to grips with all the languages in the world.

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here are over 7,000 languages in the world but 90% of them are used by less than 100,000 people. Languages are grouped in families, such as English is in the same family with Dutch and German. Over 2,200 languages can be found in Asia but merely 260 in Europe. You can see there are more languages in bigger continents. Nearly every language uses the same construction of grammar.

Everyone thinks the most spoken language is English but it is not. 75% of people do not speak English. The most spoken language is Mandarin, which is spoken the most by first language speakers because China has more people than America. However, the most commonly spoken word for the whole world as their second or even third language is English and the second is Spanish. Someone who has a job with their own language is only about 8%.

Dutch is apparently the easiest language to learn for native or maybe even second English speakers. According to a survey, for English speakers the five ost hardest languages to learn are Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese. You can see that the hardest languages for native English speaker all originated from Asia.

There are 2,500 languages that are endangered to be lost forever. Unesco is trying to help those languages not to be lost. A quarter of all languages are not spoken by even 1,000 people, so they are not passing the language to their descendants. These languages are some of those that are endangered; Irish Gaelic, Maori, Berber, Guernesiais, Welsh, Scots Gaelic and Manx.

Latin or Roman is the most commonly used writing systems. When the 3 words come in a row we call it the “Root.� For example, laboro means work in latin and you can think of a laboratory or labor. By learning Latin, it is believed that one can improve their English writing skills.

We should help endangered languages as well as learning other languages. Other languages can help you learn English, just like learning Chinese can help with Japanese and Korean.

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Sports Help with World Friendship There are three main international sporting events in 2014, these are the Sochi Winter Olympics, the Brazilian World Cup and the Incheon Asian Games. Though one may just see them as international sporting events, they provide more than just sports. It is a chance of building new friendships, sharing ideas and customs as well as the chance to have some fun with other countries, making a cultural hot-pot. Below, hojin lee, year 6, shares these three events as well as the merits that they bring.

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he Sochi Winter Olympic, is held in Sochi, Russia which has a 5 hours of time difference with South Korea. This event started on the 7th February 2014 and ended on 23rd February 2014. The slogan word of the event was “Hot, Cool, Yours.�

88 nations participated and 3,000 players were involved in the Olympics.

There were mainly three mascots. the Hare, the Leopard and the Polar Bear. The games were hosted at 11 stadiums. such as the Ice Cube Curling Center, Adler Arena, Shayba Arena, Bolshoy Ice Dome for Ice hockey, Sanki Sliding Center and the Iceberg Skating Palace to name a few. Finally, the games ended successfully with little complaints except for the figure skating, with some complaints by the South Korean time. Nonetheless, it was truly a world event where everyone from many nations came together. Of all the events throughout the year, the Olympics, both summer and winter, are seen as the most global and international of all. Being overseen by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) ensures that fairness and friendships are the key values throughout the games. They also ensure that countries can only partake if they are internationally acknowledged as being a well behaved and cooperative country, making countries such as North Korea working harder to work with her neighbours in order to have a place in the Olympics.

In the middle the the year, the world will again be enthralled in another global event, the Brazilian World Cup will be held in Brazil, and mainly in the city of Sao Paulo and Curitiba and also 12 other cities. It starts on the 13th June 2014 until July.

The slogan word of the sports event is “All in One Rhythm.”

The Mascot of the event is Puleco. Puleco is a mixed word with Ecologia and Futebol in Portugal. South Korea is in Group H for the start of the qualifiers and there are 32 nations participating in this sport event.

Having matches between countries will bring friendship and fairness between the countries and will continue bringing cultures and like minded people together to enjoy in an event that everyone can understand, and though people will be interested in where their country will be positioned, the idea of a world coming together in a competition will breed new friendships and ideas.

Finally, the Incheon Asian Games are held in Incheon, South Korea. It starts on the 19th September 2014 and ends at 4th October 2014. 45 nations and about 13,000 people from Asia will join in the event.

This event has 28 Olympic sports plus 8 extra which are not Olympic sports. Some of the Olympic Sports are Swimming, Archery, Running, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Cycling, Golf, Gymnastics and Table Tennis, There are three sea lion mascots Barame, Chumuro, and Vichuon. The slogan of the event is “Diversity Shines Here.”

This world event will make Asia join together as one, something that many Asians would be particularly proud about as Asian countries are emerging more and more in the global world. We should keep up our friendships and cherish them as they will provide us with insights into other nations as well as giving us new ideas to help our own countries.

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LONDON TRIP: A chance for cultural learning

Jinwoo Jung, Year 6, tells of his journey

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ur Y6 London trip gave us a lot of help in understanding other cultures, more specifically the diversity found in British culture. There were a variety of things on this trip that made me more open minded. I would like to introduce some of them that made me think slightly more internationally rather than just Korean.

To begin with, I would like to talk about the food. The food in Korea and England is very different. I thought that most English or European foods would be very sweet. However it was different. Most of them were salty and there was a lot of food consisting of meat. Fish and chips which is one of the most famous foods in England and it is very salty and consisted of fish, most notably cod. On the other hand, Korean foods are super spicy and they have a lot of rice or vegetables included.

This difference in food choices mirrored the differences in the two cultures. I experienced a different language, a different way of greeting people, a different way of working in a group (thanks to the NLCS UK girls) as well as a difference in customs. Though different to Korea, I did not dislike these differences. I simply recognised that we are different peoples, and though I may not have the same taste and style of an English person, I appreciate and respect their choices as I hope they do mine.

As such, I think there are differences like these among all countries, from the simplicity of food to the complexity of customs. However, instead of hating each other’s cultures, I think it would be much better to try and respect these cultures instead of thinking of particular countries as good or bad, simply because they are different to us. More importantly, we could learn more things from open mindedness, rather than racism and distrust of one another’s differences. I hope all people have the opportunity to explore another country as this is the best experience in building an internationally open-mind.

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Design by Jiho Choi, Year 11, Mulchat

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One of things that make NLCS Jeju stand out is the vast array of co-curricular clubs that are available for students to choose from. Every day, there are students trying new and wonderful things for the first time.

There cannot be another school in the world that offers what NLCS Jeju offers in this department.

Here, Zi Won Kim’s writing team give us an overview of some of the clubs that they have been involved with this term.

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School Production by Laura Moon

Oliver!

Nicolas Cage

By now, you hopefully have seen the wonderful production of ‘Oliver’!. But did you know it all started as a co-curricular club?

The School Production is an after-school activity that anyone can participate in, from years 7 to 13. Students with different interests and abilities can audition for and participate as, if lucky, main roles, or otherwise, as dancers, the chorus, or the design team. It is held every Tuesdays and Saturdays.

During the process of preparing for the final performance, students learn, prepare and rehearse for almost two whole terms before they perform the final musical in front of many parents, friends at NLCS Jeju and even students from other schools such as BHA. Last year, the production crew performed Jesus Christ Superstar, which turned out to be a fabulous show. This year, Mr. Marks, Mrs. Taylor, Ms. Phillips, Kay Nam, Cion Choi, June Song, Emily Monaghan, Aiden Yoo, Isabelle Boo, Kevin Kim, Taehwan Kim, Donghyeon Seo, and many other great staff and students performed Oliver! which was also very fantastic.

Oliver! is a British musical based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, and it was a Broadway production in 1963. The main roles consist of characters in the original novel, whom are Oliver Twist, Fagin, Nancy, and many others.

It starts off in a workhouse, where all the starved orphan children enter the dining room for dinner and Oliver comes out of the crowd to ask for more. Oliver Twist, the protagonist of the story, is an orphan boy from the workhouse. Fagin is a criminal who takes in homeless boys and teaches them to pick pockets for his own good. There are other characters around him that are Oliver’s good friends, and there are people who are danger to him and the characters around him.

Overall, this play effectively explores innocence in a corrupt city, as Nancy ends up making the ultimate sacrifice of death for Oliver, who she barely knows.

Students, by participating in the production, are able to learn and try out new skills, such as new dance moves in a sequence. In addition, getting involved in the production is a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and cooperate. Students who are shy take risks when performing in front of lots of people but when they overcome the pressure, they learn confidence and leadership by acting on the stage independently.

The school production is done once every academic year. So, if you want a co-curricular choice that’s big-scale, challenging, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience, why don’t you try out for a new production next academic year?

June Song, Year 10, Mulchat as Nancy

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Fantasy Fashion by Hannah Cho

Fantasy Fashion has been taking place since the first year of NLCS Jeju, 2011. With its main purpose, which is to allow students to challenge themselves and be creative, it has been successful for two years, including enchanting fashions shows during arts week. The fashion shows have clearly demonstrated students’ abilities as potential designers and talented artists. Minha Kim, one of the winners of last year, remarked, “This was my first time to become a designer. The whole process helped me to bring out my creativity and my ability to work as a team”.

Its plan for this year is to work with the school production, Oliver, by designing and creating costumes for each character. With 24 members and Mrs. Michaels in charge, they are preparing diverse costumes with interesting ideas. Dyeing plain clothing with vibrant colours, and stitching different styles of pockets and decorated waxed paper are some of its main features of the costumes.

Each student is in charge of one character each from Oliver, and they come up with ideas and designs for their figure.

For instance, the students create a mood board for their characters. This then develops into designing accoutrements, such as epaulettes and original pockets. As the designers have to stick to the proposed deadline while committing to their designs and creations, this activity helps them to develop punctuality and responsibility along the way.

For next term, Fantasy Fashion will be preparing its third fashion show once again. Its plan is to hold a much more advanced and original show compared to the last two shows. With ingenious ideas and prodigious designs, the participants will be working towards a thrilling, successful fashion show. Let’s hope for the fashion show team to amaze NLCS JEJU once more.

Documentary Club by Sein Lee

Jeju Documentary Club is a club where we are making a documentary about the nature and culture of Jeju Island.

It is open to students from years 8 to 13, and the teachers who are in charge are Mr. Taylor and Miss Breckner. It is held every Wednesday in the girls’ school ICT room, from 4: 15 to 5: 15. There are a lot of jobs you can take, such as writing, camera, lighting, editing, and narrating.

In Jeju documentary club, we first chose our roles by writing our three preferences and emailing them to Mr. Taylor. We then got to know the techniques of how to make a documentary. We practiced by making our own documentaries, along with watching a short film every session. Recently, in pairs, we created a documentary about the subject we wanted. For example, my partner and I created a documentary about the history of the Snow Queen.

Along with creating small projects, we also brainstormed what we could include in the actual documentary in groups. So far, we came up with things like including Jeju’s own shamanism for culture, and interviewing an expert who knows a lot about shamanism in Jeju. We planned to interview Father Michael from St. Isidor’s as well. To practice, we went to St. Isidor’s for a trip.

We also went on another trip to the Jeju Museum of Natural History.

This trip was for more background information, and it was a special opportunity for me because I had never been to that museum before.

If you asked me, I would recommend this activity. That is because even if it might be a long and hard process, the result would satisfy you.

How cool would it be to be one of the creators of a documentary?

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Young Talented Musicians by Eunice Lee To find out about the junior orchestra, I interviewed the two conductors of the orchestra, Mr.Thorrington and Mr. Elsom.

Q A Q A Q A

What do you think about the junior orchestra?

It’s a fantastic ensemble; the talent on display at NLCS Jeju is phenomenal, and the Junior Orchestra is no exception. Both Junior and Senior orchestras will soon be rebranded as Second and First orchestra, in order to allow more students to enter both orchestras from a wider variety of years.

What is the reason for having the junior orchestra, despite the fact that there is the senior orchestra?

At most other schools, the decision to have two orchestras usually refers to a difference in quality, but at NLCS Jeju the quality across the year groups is fantastic; we have students here who play at a level far in advance of their age group. So, having two orchestras ensures every talented student who wants to play in a large ensemble can do so!

The senior orchestra produces a very high quality of performance. What standard is the junior orchestra in?

Despite the age gap, the players in Second [Junior] orchestra are not far behind those in First [Senior]. The orchestra was complemented by many aspects on its performance of a Bach piece, and in the next concert, we’re tackling some very tricky modern pieces. If you want to know how good our orchestra is, come to our next concert!

I think that the Junior Orchestra (or Second Orchestra as it is now called) is also of an incredibly good standard when considering the members’ ages. We are very lucky at NLCS Jeju that we have so many talented musical performers.

Now that it has been opened up to older students who may not possess the incredibly high standard required for the First Orchestra, new members (especially for string instruments) will make the sound even more impressive.

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The junior orchestra is open from years five to eight. The orchestra is in the co-curricular time (4:15pm) on Tuesday. The conductor of the orchestra is Mr.Thorrington, who is currently a music teacher in NLCS Jeju.

The orchestra consists of a variety of instruments: Violin1, Violin 2, Flute 1, Flute2, Clarinets, oboes, cello1, cello2, viola, contra base, bassoons, trumpet, horns etc. You can participate even if you have a different instrument from the listed ones above. If you sign up for it and pass the audition you are more then welcome to participate.

The orchestra is a very good activity in terms of unity. The interview with the conductor of the senior orchestra (open from year 9 to 13), Mr.Elsom, shows this point in detail. He thinks that being able to play in an orchestra allows people to learn to cooperate with one another and work as a team to produce some excellent results. He continued by saying that the orchestra does not only build up unity, but it helps students from different ages, backgrounds, and friendship groups to interact and get to know each other as they cooperate.

The main thing the orchestra performs is music. In order to perform a fantastic piece of music for performance, the orchestra needs skilled musicians with talent. To produce skilled musicians that are even more rounded as musicians, the orchestra provides constant training for the students to improving their skills in music. The orchestra performs on stage after they have practiced. Consequently, another skill that the orchestra builds is confidence.

Standing up on stage and performing on it, needs a lot of courage. It helps build confidence through performing, especially when concerts are held so regularly to large audiences on a very big, but exciting stage.

These are the advantages and skills that the junior orchestra provides you with. Most people that are willing to join the orchestra have worries about the auditions. The auditions aren’t much to worry about. You are asked to play a piece of music that you think represents your level of standard best.

The audition is often like that, but sometimes you can be asked to play a piece that you have never played before randomly. Even if you are not chosen to be in the orchestra, you can still participate in the music department groups, such as string trios, string ensemble, flute ensemble etc. The music department teachers who hold the auditions will try to fit you in somewhere.

According to the orchestra member list and audition list, about 70% of the students who participate in the auditions get in the orchestra, and about 20% of the students are successful in achieving other musical performing opportunities.

The junior orchestra improved a lot since last year and is still progressing to a higher standard. Mr. Thorrington is planning to try more difficult and challenging pieces of music to perform. To perform those difficult pieces of music, they need many talented musicians. The junior orchestra will be recruiting new members and new instruments twice a year. There is an audition in September, when the year starts, and there is another chance to join in January, after the Christmas concert. Any musicians seeking for a chance to show their talents are welcome to the junior orchestra.

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Science Club by Shunto Shigetomi

Science Club is a club where you can improve your experimenting skills for Science, while having fun with a lot of different apparatus. The students choose an activity and enter a Junior science competition called the CREST Award Contest. Students can develop their understanding of science and also the basics of IGCSE and IB science. Science club can improve your creativity and imagination by helping you to invent and create you own experiment and believe in the possibility of immense success and victory in the CREST Award Contest.

The teacher in charge of Science Club is Miss Read, who leads children to enjoy her activity. She is always heart warming, believing in all our possibilities and always trying her best to guide us to be successful with her profound knowledge and experience in science.

Science club also helps you relieve stress with much excitement and provides us with great scientific opportunities. We can always have fun with the experiments we have designed and develop an immense amount of knowledge when we finish. We also learn to collect exact and correct information from the data results. These skills and knowledge will remain even when we go to universities, giving us a slight advantage!

Have a peek into science club, and you will never regret the decision you have made. The activity is for years 7-9 and you can join on Wednesdays 4:15pm to 5:15pm.

Swimming by Winnie Lee

Swimming is one of the most popular sports in the world and it is the same in NLCS Jeju. Every Wednesday, more than 40 students, both boys and girls, assemble in the sports hall to take part in the swimming cocurricular club.

various competitions, I can feel myself getting more and more confident and really start to take risks.�

The ever-growing popularity of swimming can be explained by the huge benefits it gives us. Swimming is the ultimate all-in-one fitness package. It makes use of most parts of our body in a variety of ways with every stroke. By swimming every week, you will experience an increase of your flexibility, muscle strength, muscle endurance and core strength.

Also, a well-structured workout can improve your cardiovascular system and help your joints become stronger.

The swim squad has been taking part in various events and competition in the last few months. Just a while ago, on the 8th of February, they travelled to Chadwick International School in Songdo to participate in the KISAC (Korea International Schools Activities Council) swimming competition. More than 180 swimmers from 7 international schools took part in this event. The NLCS swim squad was very successful, achieving personal bests and school records in many races.

Upcoming events include the Sueagi, an event held by the Jeju swimming association, in which swimmers from all over Jeju and 28 of our strongest swimmers will participate.

Swimming helps not only these physical benefits, but also your mental health as well.

Yvette Kim, a member of the swim squad, said “Swimming really helps me to get rid of all the stress I get from school and allows me to get my mind off things and relax after a long, exhausting week. Also, by taking part in training for

Co-curricular Swimming offers both training sessions for the squad and free leisure swimming for novice swimmers.

If you are a keen swimmer and want to join the squad, talk to Miss Kang or Miss Roswell and if you just want to swim for fun, you are welcome to come and join the pool between 5:15pm and 7:00pm every Wednesday.

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Theatre Design by Nancy Kwon and Rachel Cho

Are you worried about choosing your co-curricular activity for next term? Well, have you considered Theatre designing? In this article, we will introduce you to this activity by answering questions that a person like you might like to ask! We conducted an interview with a member of the Theatre Design Team to get more information about it. As the interviewer has said, anyone can participate in our school’s famous production of Oliver!

What exactly is theatre design?

Theatre designers design sets and scenery that aim to fully immerse the viewer in the production. We make props for the school production, Oliver.

We generally make small props such as food, and pamphlets.

How do you make props?

Our job is to make our production more realistic, therefore we make props using the method of paper mâché. We chose to use paper mâché because it makes the props seem more dense and realistic. To start off the job, we first make the basic structures of the props. Then, we laminate the props with newspaper using glue, and let them dry for a week. On the next week, we take them off the boards and paint the right colors on top of them.

What is the most memorable part of being a theatre designer?

We were very slow at the beginning of the term, but as the time went on, we got faster, more organized, and more productive. For example, at the start, we were able to make about twenty strawberries in a day or so, but after a few tries, we have been able to make hundred seventy two strawberries at once! We felt proud and confident after that.

Why did you choose to do this co curricular rather than others?

I was a student always keen to do art. When I do this, I feel happy, and doing it also relieves my stress. In addition, I was looking forward to be a part of the school production

What's the advantage of participating in theatre designing crew?

I didn’t have many opportunities to do Papir Mâché, but because the most common method making the props in Oliver is Papir Mâché, we got to know the skills on how to use them, and we were also able to learn the process of the school production, which was very meaningful.

Who is involved in this co curricular?

Usually it is a few senior girls, and year 7-8 girls, and a lot of year 7 boys.

Also, Mrs. Marks is in charge and the Gap students also help us.

When and Where is this activity done?

The location’s in the Art department, and it is a Thursday co-curricular activity from 4:15 to 5:15pm. But, sometimes it might take longer since it involves lots of cleaning.

To sum up, theatre designing is one of the most favorable activities a student above year 7 can participate in. You are one of the backstage crew in the school production, which is important as actors in the production!

You are welcome to come if you are interested in backstage design and art!

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Julia Kim, Geomun and Hannah Seo, Jeoji both Year 8 investigate what makes Coke an international brand.

W

ith over $497 billion spent on advertising in 2012 and a predicted 4.1 percent increase for 2013, as reported by ZenithOptimedia, global marketing is on the rise and potential is emerging for brands all over the world. Globalizing your brand and creating profits is what creates worldwide name recognition. It seems to be simple to achieve this but it isn’t. Then, how did Coca-Cola do it?

First of all, what do you think of when you hear the name, Coca-Cola? Santa Claus? Its adorable mascots? I assume that the first word that pops into your head is “happiness”. Happiness is something everyone wants, no matter their age or nationality. Coca-Cola sells billions of bottles of happiness each year. This is the biggest reason why they chose “Open Happiness” and “Enjoy” for their slogan.

Consistency builds a strong brand reputation which leads to even more recognition.

Coke is the most recognisable brand in the world at 94%, spending more on advertising than Apple and Microsoft combined. The product is marketed and sold in over 200 countries and holds 44% of the global soda market share, according to recent statistics.

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Stadium of Light, Lisbon

The second marketing strategy that made this brand prominent is its unique and individual logos, and that they put them everywhere! What are the similarities between the sports stadium, amusement park and world cup posters? It is that we can see Coca-Cola’s logo in those places and almost everywhere, such as convenience stores or even in the middle of the road. Coca Cola’s logo changes every year with the distinctive topic of that season such as Global warming, James Bond, the Olympics to name a few.

And the locations where the Coca-Cola logos or adverts usually appear are the places related to happiness.

As Coca-Cola dominated the global market as the most recognisable brand, the number of its products consumed increased significantly. To make this situation happen, Coca-Cola makes sure that every single market or vending machine has their products on sale. CocaCola want to make it really easy for when consumers want to buy a coke. What do you when you want to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola? You just need to walk to CU which is right in front of our school and

Coca Cola branding, Philippines

pay - simply, that’s all. Or even when you are travelling, for instance to the Philippines for your holidays and you want some Coke. What do you do? You just jog to the closest vending machine then you will get it - easy.

Last but not least, is the quality of the drinks themselves. Coca-Cola is one of the highest ranking brands in terms of consumer satisfaction. According to the official statistics, which shows the consumer satisfaction ratings, Coca-Cola is marked as 3rd, chasing Facebook and Starbucks Coffee closely. Furthermore, these are some extracts and quotes from the internet commenting on Coca-Cola “Happiest is an ice cold Coke”, “Coca-Cola really does have the “secret” winning formula!” “Best soft drink ever”, “It is a classic soft drink and everyone knows it no matter what language they speak”, Good points? Definitely taste and the quality and so on, all points out that CocaCola is an exemplary brand.

So, Coca-Cola have managed to produce a truly International product. Wherever you go in the world, it will be there.

LOVE Words | Yejin Choi, Year 10, Mulchat Art | Jay Lee, Year 11, Noro

“A bed time story, please, Grandma?”

“Oh, Jonas, I don’t have any left” “Please?”

“Alright, but you have to promise me that you’ll go to sleep after this, okay?”

“Yes, I promise I will, really” “Now this is a story about your grandpa a long time ago, so shh, and listen” He was a proud man, your grandfather. He was proud of his background, his family and who he was. He was from a wealthy, old and prestigious family that could be traced far, far back. He valued nothing more than his family and traditions, and he expected nothing less than dignity and courtesy from his sons. No one dare raised an eyebrow, let alone their voice whenever he was at home. Yet he was full of love for his sons and everything was perfect - your father and his brothers were all well educated and no one ever failed to meet his expectations. Until one day.

Your father seemed quite nervous, but whenever I asked him what was wrong, he only answered me with “nothing” and reassured me everything was fine. I should’ve pressed it.

Oh, I should’ve asked him and maybe, maybe I could’ve helped him and we might never had to go through all this – though I don’t think it could have stayed hidden forever. Anyway, he went to work and he came back, bringing with him a girl, a girl with blond hair and pale skin. One glance, and I knew they were deeply and passionately in love. There was nothing that could ever separate them. But the journey wasn’t going to be easy for the two.

They walked nervously into the room.

Your grandfather became speechless when he saw them, and believe me, I have never seen him like that before - him lost for words. Your farther tried everything he could - reasoning, begging, pleading… And all your grandfather said was, “one strand of her hair in my house, you’re not my son”.

He was in disbelief that his son could bring a foreigner home, as he firmly believed that Koreans should marry Koreans. You can’t blame him Jonas, he only believed in tradition, and back then, it wasn’t a common sight spotting a foreigner on the street, especially not

with a Korean. People were very closed, and international marriage was very, very rare.

After about two years, we had all forgotten about her, well, except for your father. It was just buried in our memories as a shameful event, an event that we never again discussed.

Everything seemed to be fine again.

Then tragedy struck us. Your grandfather fell sick and was diagnosed with cirrhosis. He seemed okay at first, except for the occasional pain that came and went. But the situation got worse as time went on, he was weak, could hardly eat and rarely could he get out of bed. He needed a transplant, and we were in search of a donor.

People were reluctant and family members started to back off. They refused to get checked to see if they would match, and the days were a continuation of excuses and more excuses.

Someone had to go to another city because of his child, someone got ill, someone thought she might be pregnant…

Oh Jonas, we were left on our own. He loved his family dearly, but no one was there for him when he needed their help. People started whispering things - that he should be left to die as he was old and had lived enough. Your grandfather was devastated when he heard that. The days were dark waiting for a donor, as day by day our hope vanished. The sun didn’t rise and we knew our time was limited. Tears kept falling down my cheeks, my eyes red and wet. When it had been so long, I no longer had any tear left to shed, someone appeared at the door. It was your mother, Jonas, the girl with blond hair and pale skin, she who had been treated so badly, kicked out of the house in such demeaning manner, tightly holding onto her friend’s hand.

“I have had my blood checked and it didn’t match. But I found someone who will do it in my stead. Will you be… okay?” her voice was wavering, tight with anxiety and concern.

Oh how shocked we were! I burst into tears and hugged her, thanking her and her friend. That was when we both knew it, learnt from that act of pure generosity and kindness, her warm heart – that nationality never matters.

When you grandfather was well enough and with blessing your mother and father were happily married, and look – now I’ve got a big gift! You, Jonas.

Now, go to sleep.

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Language Extinction W

hilst some languages, such as Mandarin and English, are considered as dominant and popular languages, there are also some languages that are at risk of extinction, due to lack of the number of people speaking them. These are called the ‘endangered languages’, and it is other dominant languages that are often replacing them. The ultimate cause of this language extinction is globalisation. There are two opposite ways to view this phenomenon: Should we stop it or leave it as it is? How do we react to this as internationally minded individuals?

While reading this, you might think: ‘it has nothing to do with me.’ However, the writer believes that an international minded person is the one who proactively reacts and responds to these types of global phenomenon or issues, even though it might seem like none of your business. (To be more precise, as we are living on one, big planet - all of its problems can be considered ‘our’ business.)

LINDSAY LEE, YEAR 10, GEOMUN EXPLORES THE MODERN PHENOMENON OF LANGUAGE EXTINCTION. IN A WORLD WHERE ENGLISH, MANDARIN AND SPANISH ARE KINGS, SHOULD WE REALLY CARE ABOUT THE LITTLE GUYS?

Some people argue that endangered languages should be saved and preserved.

They believe that the disappearance of minor languages means the loss of cultures and traditions. As a language of a particular region is what community members continuously build up over generations, the language itself has history, and their cultural identity and characteristics as well.

Moreover, traditional songs, myths and poems, which play a significant role in terms of cultural spirit, are strongly bonded to the area’s language. It is hard to convey the same meaning by translating these words, because not only the technical words or phrases are different, but also the tone, idiomatic expressions and the way of framing thoughts cannot be directly translated in different languages to give the same impression or emotion. Therefore, when it comes to the idea of maintaining cultural identity and traditions, endangered languages should be saved.

To some extent, the extinction of languages can be interpreted as being contradictory to globalisation, since it is meant promote cultural diversity, but it is also eventually getting rid of some of the cultures and their history and traditions.

For these reasons above many people are in favour of saving the endangered languages.

There is even an organisation set up to preserve them and to raise awareness of the problem. The main aim of the organisation is to slow down and prevent the languages dying. The members of the organisation share the knowledge and histories of endangered languages, hold events, such as collaborative writing workshops and encourage people to learn them by providing sources.

Contrary to this, language extinction is just one of the inevitable processes/ phenomena of human development when it is interpreted from a different point of view.

When cultures become more integrated, due to globalisation, the one that is more developed and dominant naturally replaces those that are less developed. Instead of viewing this as losing cultural diversity, it can be viewed as an integration of cultural aspects, in this case, languages.

These types of cultural integration, in the long run, advance the quality of people’s lives as well as producing economic profits.

People who view the extinction in this way do not view it as a problem, but simply as one of the phenomena that people go through naturally. Therefore, they claim that saving endangered languages does not

have to be done, as if it is defying a natural phenomenon.

Some might also think that by using languages that are often considered popular and widely used across the world, people could feel a sense of belonging as one of those nations.

Since people are social animals and they feel safe when they feel sense of belonging, they tend to do what others do. Likewise, they are more likely to use languages that are spoken by majorities than using languages that are considered to be minor. By interpreting the issue in this manner, people claim that language-saving is not necessary, but is just what people naturally go through while they develop and advance their quality of life.

Lastly, how easy would it be if we only spoke one language in the world? We could talk to anyone and we would never have to learn another language.

Which side do you mostly agree with? There is no right or wrong answer. You might think the two arguments are both valid.

You might not even have a certain stance about this issue. However, regardless of the individual opinions you have, what make you internationally minded person are the continuous thoughts and debates over the topic. Taking more interest in global issues and seeking solutions, viewing the world as a field of opportunities to inquire; expanding one’s horizons through proactive involvement in world-wide important matters, are steps to go through to become an internationally minded individual.

There are known to be about 6,700 different languages across the globe. Of the 6,700, around 2,473 languages are projected to disappear in the near future, due to the dwindling number of language users, according to UNESCO. The Jeju dialect is one of these.

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Young-il’s Journey interview by jenny chun, halla Translation by genevieve lee, halla Phtography by Zi Won Kim, Halla

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n important part of being internationally minded for students at NLCS Jeju is understanding what is happening just a few miles North of Seoul.

The atrocities being committed in North Korea are something that we should all know about.

The UN Human Rights Council has recently been in Geneva, Switzerland, discussing these issues. There to help them was Kim Young-Il, a former North Korean soldier, who escaped the country with his family in 1996.

In 2006, he founded PSCORE, a group that promotes the rights of North Korean people and provides North Koreans with a platform to discuss democracy and human rights. We luckily had an opportunity to interview Young-il, who visited NLCS Jeju to tell us about his story. He lived in North Korea for 19 years until he defected. He said he defected because he could not live with the extreme hunger anymore; he had heard stories about the outside world from his parents so he knew that his life could improve if he defected. Therefore his family decided to escape in September 1996 and planned for the defection.

He finally came to South Korea via China and Mongolia. The whole journey was full of risks, including the constant threat of being caught by provosts and the risk of being executed by firing squad.

Here he tells us his amazing story.

Please briefly explain your background and your lifestyle in North Korea.

What made you decide to defect from North Korea?

In North Korea, my parents worked as manual labourers. North Korea is a hierarchical class society, and although the government does not officially acknowledge the existence of class, the system of the society depends on the segmented class divisions (called components or songbun).

Your class, even from before liberation and before the Japanese colonisation, is recorded. If you were a labourer or an agricultural worker, then you have good components, while if you were a landowner or were wealthy, then you have bad components because you have been tainted by Capitalism. Even worse than landowners and capitalists are people whose families had fought for the South during the Korean War. As for me, my father had good components, but my mother was born in China, and was considered to have, not bad components, but not good ones either. Therefore, my father was accepted into the Communist Party (called the Labour Party in North Korea) but my mother wasn’t. This is relevant because up until the 70s your social status was determined by whether you were accepted into the Party or not, and Party membership was necessary in order to advance to a higher class. As a result, my parents lived as labourers. As for my siblings and I, my elder brother had graduated from high school and was a labourer, and I was in the army after graduating in ‘95 for 2 years before escaping. My younger sibling was a student then.

My father suggested it first, saying things such as ‘it’s much better than here abroad, you don’t have to worry about meals’. A typical family won’t agree to defection so easily, because so much ideological education is going on. We were taught that North Korea is (despite the poverty experienced daily) the wealthiest country in the world, and if defectors are caught by the National Security Agency or spies in South Korea then they would be interrogated for secrets and killed. So they don’t dare think of defection, but we had heard stories about the outside world from our parents.

My father had worked as a logger in Russia in the late 80s, and had heard a little about how people live abroad, and there is no society as stifling as that on North Korea. My mother was born in China and had lived there until she graduated from high school. She had visited China again for 3 months in 1985 or 86, with the excuse that she is going to see relatives, but actually to earn money because we were so poor. There she experienced the wealth of China after the Economic Reform. Like this, my parents were relatively knowledgeable about foreign affairs. So they had conviction that we could be wealthier if we escaped, and under their influence we agreed. Escaping from North Korea in itself was a very big risk. If we were caught escaping, we could be killed. However, as the North Korean economy worsened and a lot of people, including every one of our relatives, died, we had nothing left to lose by staying in North Korea. It was a huge challenge to abandon our house and escape. Anything could happen on the roads. Despite all this risk, it was our only choice if we wanted to survive under the harsh conditions.

Could you give some examples for the hardships you faced?

Here you eat mixed grains or barley for health.

However, it was so difficult to eat such corn every day. Rice we could see perhaps once a year, for birthdays maybe. If you were even poorer, you had to eat grass roots or gruel. Here, the standard for happiness is freedom, such as being able to travel wherever you want. You have more choice, but in North Korea the most important thing is food. You can’t think of anything outside eating. Things like human rights can only be considered when there is enough to eat, and without food you can’t even think about such things.

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Young il at NLCS Jjeu

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What was the biggest difficulty when you defected?

It was difficult to escape from the army, to escape from Pyongyang. Soldiers are stationed around the boundary of the city very securely. The unit was around the boundary, but the hospital I was at was in the inner suburbs. It was very difficult to evade the numerous sentries. Luckily, it was autumn, and the rice was ripe and growing tall, so I crawled among the rice paddies for several hundred meters to escape the sentries. Had I been caught there, I would have been sent to the guardhouse.

Then I had to move by train, but I didn’t have any identification. It was difficult even getting into the station, and there were provosts inside. It’s their job to check for identification if they see a soldier, and without identification they send the soldier straight to the guardhouse. So I didn’t dare go inside the train, and instead rode on the roof. Because it was September, it was very cold.

My hands were freezing, but there was nothing I could do about it. Even hanging on was difficult, but going down was unimaginable. While the train was moving and my hands were tired, I could sit on the roof at times, but when the train was passing through a tunnel I had to lie down as flat as possible, or otherwise I could be electrocuted by the high-voltage wires. Many people lost their lives to it. I remember trying to cling as close to the train roof as possible while escaping.

I didn’t dare go inside the train, and instead rode on the roof.

Luckily, after 16 hours, I arrived home. I was very cold and hungry, so I ate hurriedly and defected straight away with my family that morning. I couldn’t defect in military uniform, so I changed into my high school uniform. Since my hair was shaved, like every other North Korean soldier, I looked strange in school uniform, so I had to pull my hat on tightly. We didn’t touch anything too visible at our house in case it would seem as if we ran away. We even left our dog tied up outside the house. The military uniform we didn’t burn but hid instead. Just one thing, all the family photos except a couple we all burned. If one of us were caught, we had to split up, and if the photos were intact the people who escaped would be on the wanted list. That’s why we have so few photos of us in North Korea.

Jenny interviewing Young il

When we went to the Chinese border, I was very surprised to see the Tumen River for the first time.

The width of the river was only about 10m where it was narrow, and even where it was wide it was around 20-30m. It was the first time I knew all that was between us and another country was that small river. I used to wonder why I hadn’t known earlier. could speak fluent Chinese, when morning came we changed into clothes Chinese people wear and went to Beijing by train.

On the Chinese side of the river there were no soldiers, but on the North Korean side there were lots. Because we couldn’t cross the river while it was light, we decided to wait for nightfall, and in the meantime we walked upstream of the river.

Around 6 o’clock it started to get dark quickly, and we hid in the mountain until 7 o’clock when we crossed the river.

Because there is no electricity in North Korea it becomes very dark as soon as the sun sets. We went near a sentry post, but beside the place we crossed there was a place where the soldiers had dug a hole to watch for people. It was right beside us, and we were very surprised. Luckily, it was dinnertime and there was nobody there. Had we went past there when there were people there, we would certainly have been caught, because the soldiers are normally hiding underground. Just after we crossed the river, the soldiers came after us with flashlights, but because we were already across I don’t think they saw us. We were very startled by that.

Across the river, in China, there is a road. The mountain there was too steep to climb, so we moved along the road to find a mountain we could climb. Whenever a car went past we had to hide, lying flat on the ground. Back then Chinese soldiers sometimes patrolled the road by car. So we climbed the mountain all night by foot, falling asleep when we were too tired. Since our Mother could speak fluent Chinese, when morning came we changed into clothes Chinese people wear and went to Beijing by train.

Are you satisfied with your current life in South Korea? Are their any difficulties?

Have you decided to remain in Korea because of PSCORE?

I am satisfied with some aspects of it, not with others. The worst aspect is the discrimination.

Although there is no longer any legal discrimination, the attitude of the public towards us is difficult to bear. Even if the words and actions are spoken and done without menace, we still feel it harshly. If we go abroad, there is no such discrimination. There are defectors living in the United States, and they say the best thing about the States is that there is no discrimination. Koreans have relatively little experience with different cultures. In the United States, they say there is racism there, but because Americans have experienced living along different cultures for a long time there is less discrimination there than there is in Korea. In addition, the defectors live in the same neighbourhood as other immigrants, so they are treated the same.

No, it was made around the time I graduated from College. I could have gone abroad, but in 2008 I had toured the United States through a programme called the IBRP, and during the tour I visited many organisations involving immigration, and have met many defectors who have immigrated to the United States. But a problem in the defector community is that, although the policies or laws can easily be found on the Internet, the defectors don’t trust that, but instead believe what those who defected before them say. Such defectors tend to exaggerate the quality of life they have in the United States, and those who believe the lies immigrate there and actually live very economically miserable lives. They only see the aforementioned lack of discrimination. The reason that they face economic difficulties is that South Korea provides resettlement funds by policy, but since lots of people immigrate to the United States, the States don’t provide such funds. Because I have seen such things happen, I had no reason to go. It didn’t seem as if there were any other advantages or chances to be provided if I went.

But in Korea it’s different, also in things such as people’s attitudes or chances provided to us are very limited. Even now, defectors are used by the South Korean government as political tools, and considered as little else. For example, people who were of high class in North Korea have even their jobs sponsored by the South Korean government.

Cho Meongchul, a member of the parliament, had his job thoroughly created by the National Intelligence Agency. For those people who were diplomats or holding other jobs of high class in Pyongyang, the South Korean government is sure to find them jobs, but those who were normal labourers or agricultural workers have to make their own way to settle in the society, and are provided with much less resettlement funds. There is also less chance to get their story known through the media. The class formed in North Korea is carried directly onto South Korea. In addition, South Koreans, on hearing the word ‘defector’, see us as somebody who has to be taught everything.

If what they teach is useful, then we need to learn it. But they try to teach us things that are part of our everyday lives, as if it’s something exclusive to themselves. We have to say that attitude is very condescending, as if we are being treated as idiots who don’t know the simplest things. This is seen especially among the elder citizens.

The things I am satisfied with are that I have formed a family, and I am living like an ordinary person. I have freedom, there is no legal discrimination, and I am now protected by law. Those things are vey satisfactory to me. In that aspect, I am probably happier than Kim Jong-un. No matter how much money he has, he can’t go anywhere he wants to go, or travel. But I can go anywhere only if I have the money.

Is there anything you miss about your life before defecting?

Yes, there is. It is my hometown, so I want to return there always, and meet the people there I was close friends with again. I didn’t defect because I dislike my hometown. I love it more than anyone else, and I would very much like to go back if I could.

I escaped because I was so hungry, not because I didn’t like it. Even though we speak the same language here, I can communicate better with the people from our hometown, because I spent more time with them and are closer to them. But here, everything is unfamiliar. Everybody is a stranger, and I have to keep on doubting how much the people would trust me, and act frankly with me, which makes it difficult.

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Welcome

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Design by Jiwon Moon, Year 11, Geomun

Welcome

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DISCOVER JEJU Gap ASSISTANT Will Stocks spent his half term holiday exploring Jeju Island on his bike. On his travels, he experienced the two extremes of International Mindedness. On one hand, he met people who were happy to help out a foreigner and other visitors who shared their journey with him. On the other hand, there were moments when he felt that Jeju might still have a long way to go before it can call itself a truly international island.

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ost of those who I encountered in my journey were incredibly friendly and welcoming. I met an ex-pat from Bolton and his family whilst staying in Daejeong who gave me a lot of insight into what life is like on the island and offered me some advise about dealing with difficult islanders – making my experience much more enjoyable. On the second day of my journey some very nice ladies who owned a guesthouse in a village in Seogwipo managed to rescue me and give me somewhere to stay after I got incredibly lost and hadn’t a clue as to where I was. I also shared dinner with some fishermen, had a 78 year old try to force me to go to karaoke with him and had a rather strange but interesting conversation with a man from China over Google translate on the beach about our home countries. However a small minority of those who I came into contact with seemingly had a strong desire to sabotage and harass me.

The elderly were the bane of my existence for the entirety of my journey. On one occasion a group of old men tricked me into thinking that various buildings were actually hostels so that I would ring people’s doorbells and annoy them. Another time an elderly woman refused to serve me in her restaurant as she thought communicating with me would be a waste of time, after my insisting on wanting to eat she decided to make herself clear by pointing her knife towards me and then the door to urge me to leave. However the ultimate tyrannical act the elderly committed against me occurred on the final day of my trip.

After cycling for about an hour towards Jeju I realized that my back tire was punctured.

I pulled up at a petrol station to fix the puncture and after about an hour of patching up parts of the inner tube I finally managed to fix the wheel. Then an elderly man pulled up his truck next to me and thought that I was in need of assistance. Despite the fact that we established that I was a yeong-gug with very little understanding of Korean he decided that the only way to get me to understand what he was saying was to shout at me louder and louder. Eventually he realised that communicating with me was hopeless, so he pointed towards his truck and made a series of hand gestures that suggested that he was going to get something and come back. After he left I hurried as quickly as I could to put the bike back together so that I could avoid having this man ruining my bike.

Unfortunately I didn’t manage to piece the bike back together in time and after about five minutes he came back and produced a large electric sanding machine out of his car, snatched my inner tube from me and sanded down the tube – ripping open the other patches that I had manage to fix and creating a new puncture in the tyre. Happy with his work he handed me back the tyre made a motion suggesting that I didn’t need to thank him, got in his car and drove off.

As well as the elderly, Taiwanese Jehovah’s witnesses appeared to have a certain urge to hassle and annoy me. After cycling in the rain all day and having my map completely soaked, I became very lost on the east side of the island. I had no idea where I was, I’d hardly eaten all day and I was in desperate need of somewhere to stay. After being shouted at by some elderly men whilst asking if they knew where a guesthouse was I came across a Taiwanese lady and her daughter who I overheard speaking in English. When they asked what I was looking for I replied saying that I wanted to find a guesthouse or somewhere to stay. Then for some reason the woman suddenly felt the urge to ask ‘do you believe in God?’ ‘I’m sorry what?’ I replied. I wasn’t really in the mood for a religious discussion.

‘Well my mother was a catholic…and my school had a church in it.’

‘So you believe.’

‘Yeah sure why not.’

She then proceeded to pull out a book filled with pictures of microchips and dogs and cats.

‘Do you know that dogs and cats are being micro chipped?’ She asked.

‘Yeah.’

‘The government is really putting microchips on them to control their minds and soon they will begin to microchip humans too. So when you next go to the hospital and they ask you if you want to have a micro chipped SAY NO.’ By this point it was rather obvious that this woman was insane. ‘Ok…’ I replied.

‘So what do you want in life?’ She asked.

More questions, wonderful I thought.

‘A bed and something to eat.’

‘Oh something to eat? Here.’ Out of her bag she produced a packet of biscuits and handed them to me. ‘May the lord be with you.’ She said.

‘And also with you’ I mumbled back. Satisfied and thinking that she had converted me she walked off and left me to shiver in the rain.

So did I learn anything on my journey? Well I now know that Jeju’s tourism board’s slogan of ‘The World Comes to Jeju and Jeju Goes to the World’ is not a completely accurate statement. I also now understand that one should never trust the elderly and Jehovah’s witnesses are not very good at breaking the ice in a conversation. But as well as learning these vital life lessons I now actually feel a lot more prepared for any occurrence that could possibly come my way in the next few months. I’m no longer phased by the strange glances I receive when I’m out cycling and I’m much happier bearing with a strange situation I’ve suddenly been thrust into.

‘Do you believe in God?’

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Welcome

INTER I

wonder if any of you have ever given the prefix, INTER, much thought? I have to admit that I certainly hadn’t thought much about it until now. But I believe it to be underrated. If you think about it, we use INTER the whole time, without even thinking about it.

Interpret, interaction, interview, intercept, intercom, interconnected, interdependent, interface….

Inter as a prefix follows a Latin root. Inter – means between or among. So in our context of international mindedness, Inter means between nations or among nations. Among countries is probably the most relevant in our context: The idea of being among multiple cultures, absorbing a great many ideas, philosophies, identities, and outlooks on life, and celebrating them all in one overarching concept of globalism and common identity of humanity.

BUT what about if we use the other definition and think about it more as ‘between’ countries.

It is a very real issue for a great many people in the world today.

It is estimated that approximately 12 million people in the world are Stateless. They have no citizenship. They belong to no country. When I was researching these people, I stumbled across this quote by a Ukranian – Russian, who has no legal identity: ‘I am like a bird with nowhere to rest on the ground but which can’t spend his whole life in the sky,”

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An assembly by Mr Hewlett

This man is illegal in any country he visits.

Nowhere to call home. No recognition of any identity at all. Perhaps, you may say, this doesn’t matter. But of course it does. It matters hugely.

For without citizenship, you have no rights.

You are not protected and you are open to considerable abuse.

I believe that as human beings we have an inbuilt, innate sense of needing to belong.

Perhaps it is our roots as primates, which are still with us and still drive us to be a part of a troop of others. Whether that be a family, a street, a village community, a school community or a nation. We are always looking to be a part of something. And of course this can be no bad thing. Being a part of something can bring about sensitivity, kindness, even altruism. But being driven towards finding a place within a group, also brings about other feelings. Feelings of threat, of anxiety at being excluded, of obsession over superiority and identity. It is those feelings that lead society all too easily to exclude others.

It is a deeply unpleasant characteristic. Yet we see it all the time. You will have seen it here in this school. Someone new tries to enter the friendship group, enters the school… do you greet them and welcome them as a stranger and invite them to become a part of all we have here? Or do you greet them with suspicion, with anxiety, with a sense that they are different, not welcome, should look elsewhere.

Welcome So what is my message today?

Well, it is twofold. Firstly, I would like to remind everyone of how fortunate we are to have citizenship and to be a part of a nation. We should have a healthy respect for that fact and the rights and protection that comes with it. But, secondly, I would ask that people are sympathetic to those people for whom there is no home and no place of belonging. Those people who cannot return anywhere and feel stranded, without identity, without support and without any sense of who they really are. More than this, remember that there are a great many people you will encounter, both in this school and elsewhere who are between nations. Or perhaps not even between nations but between groups, between troops. Who feel deeply unsettled, because they are feeling a deep-seated absence of identity.

I ask you to think very carefully how you react to these people – there WILL be two thoughts going on in your head – to accept, without reservation, OR to judge, think – ‘they are not my sort of person’ ‘they do not belong here’ ‘they are not welcome’. The second of those thoughts is the easiest to go with. To laugh, jeer, gossip, exclude.

Spare a thought then while you are reading this for the 12 million or more people in the world who will never have that feeling – whether it be the Rohingya of Burma, the Nubians of Ethiopia, the Haitians of the Dominican Republic, or the many other examples from around the world. A forgotten people who daily question who they are, where they belong and who will protect them, if anyone at all.

And then think more close to home, of the people you encounter daily, who look lost. Who have citizenship, but for whatever reason feel like they are INTER – between – between groups, between cultures, between identities. Look kindly on them and welcome them in, for one day, without doubt, it will be YOU, in another country, in another community, with different people, having those feelings of isolation and loneliness…

How would you want to be treated by the troop you so desperately want to enter?

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Design by Jiwon Moon, Year 11, Geomun

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