News in 2025

The Korea Research and Engagement Centre successfully wrapped up its After School Korean for High School Students course in Semester 1 of 2025. The course, now on its fourth iteration, is a free, 10-week after-school class where students from 6 high schools in Perth participated in an introductory course on Korean language and culture. A total of 20 students participated this semester.

The course was led by Curtin Korean Studies teacher Ms Dasul Kim, who has designed a course that fits the pace and learning styles of high school learners, while keeping them engaged. At the end of the course, students learned the Korean script Hangeul and basic sentence structures. A kimbap making session punctuated the program.

Students expressed positive feedback about the After School Korean for High School Students. Many participants expressed plans to learn a language at University:

“This course has given me an invaluable foundation to language learning [… and] a great way to disconnect from school in a welcoming environment to learn a new language.”

“I learned to read Korean from scratch. Like this class is actually perfect and I’m sad it’s over.”

“This class was amazing. Every class has something new and exciting to learn.”

According to KRC Director Joanna Elfving-Hwang, the success of the after-school program shows great interest in learning languages among Australian high school students: “As the levels of Asian languages literacy continue to fall across Australia, this popular semester-long program has shown that Australian high school students themselves are keen to learn languages, if opportunities are made available to them.” The free after-school class was supported by the Australia-Korea Foundation 호한재단 grant, and is part of a project aimed at finding ways at supporting the development of Korean language learning in Western Australian Schools.