An online cross-cultural workshop entitled “Cross-Cultural Comparison between South Korea and America: Culture, Society, and COVID-19” was held on October 31, 2020 in the U.S. The workshop was hosted by the Pathways to Cross-Cultural Understanding (President, Hye-Seung “Theresa” Kang) a cultural and educational non-profit organization located in Bloomington, Indiana and sponsored by the Consulate General of the Republic Of Korea in Chicago. In this one-day workshop, about 30 teachers of a broad and diverse group of teacher participants from 17 states joined this workshop.

The purpose of this workshop was to develop a better understanding of cross-cultural comparisons between South Korea and the U.S. and introduce Korean culture and society through the lens of the cross-cultural perspective. As guest speakers, Professor K. Peter Kuchinke (Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Dr. Hye-Seung “Theresa” (Indiana University NCTA Director, Indiana University EASC Associate Director) presented the topics of “country and culture” and “society and culture of South Korea” respectively.

After this, K-12 teachers in the U.S. and South Korea, Joey Nunn (Economics Teacher, Mountain View High School, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Lawrenceville, Georgia), Becky Hasselle (Gifted Education Teacher, Dyersburg Middle School, Dyersburg, Tennessee), and Andrew Smith, (Native English Speaking Language Teacher, Namhansan Elementary School, Korea), shared their hands-on experiences with COVID-19 and their best practices during the global pandemic. A session for strategies to implement cross-cultural understanding in the classroom was followed.

All participants who completed the workshop will receive a Korean culture kit (cultural objects such as Korean flag, maps, and books, etc.) upon submitting a lesson plan to implement.

A workshop participant, Nicolette Hernke, art teacher at the Cannon Falls Middle/High School, Minnesota, said “This workshop gave me a better understanding of South Korea’s “We” and not “I” philosophy where “We” is the concern for the greater good. Some other cultures could learn a lot from this idea where wearing a mask for the protection of others would not be an inconvenience but a gesture of respect and concern for humankind.” Another workshop participant, Amy Stamm at the Collaborative for Educational Services, Massachusetts, said “The workshop was extremely enlightening in terms of conveying the specific steps different school districts in the United States and in South Korea have taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic and to attend to their students' academic needs in the context of increased remote learning. The presenters raised critical questions about how pedagogy intersects with community issues like poverty and access to technology, educational values, teacher and student safety, and larger political structures.”

Theresa Kang who is the founder of the PCCU said that she hopes to continue this kind of cross-cultural workshop in the future to promote cultural awareness over Asian cultures in the U.S. and help connect people with in different cultures.