Cultural schooling

DIVERSITY:A new school, with classes for children and adults, provides a chance for the over 1,000 South Koreans living in Dublin to embrace their heritage

LAST WEEK, number 54 Merrion Square in Dublin was like a moving rainbow: small boys and girls dressed in traditional outfits of silver, gold, fuchsia, yellow and red had gathered to celebrate the opening of South Korea’s first ever school in Ireland.

At the beginning of the ceremony, we stood for the country’s national anthem and, just as you do at a rugby final, you note who knows all the words and my suspicions were confirmed: the man in the front who sang all the way through had to be the South Korean ambassador to Ireland Chang Yo Eb Kim, whose encouragement has made the dream of this school a reality.

Honorary principal of the school Soonie Sohn Delap explained that the Korean community here had invested so much energy in integrating that they felt the time had now come to help young Koreans learn more about their own culture and, if last Saturday’s events are anything to go by, it’s going to be fun.

There was a demonstration of Taekwondo, which, accompanied by fearsome shouts and sudden whacking of the air, nearly knocked over a stand on which the Irish flag stood, the Korean flag remaining calm and upright throughout (surely a lesson to be learned there). And indeed, Ruairí Quinn TD pointed out to us the important role South Korea has played in acting as a bridge between Japan and China.

His speech was followed by an awesome drumming display and then 18-year-old Soo Yean Cho picked up her two-stringed hea kum to give us a rendering of Home, Home on the Range.

“I live in Dublin,” she told me, “to learn English. Before, I was in America but there were so many Koreans there I hardly ever spoke English. Here, it’s different.” There has been a South Korean presence in Ireland since the early 1980s, with about 1,000 Koreans now in Dublin alone.

Martin Fay, living in Athlone, thinks the school is a great idea: “I first went to Korea to teach English and met my wife there,” he told me. He’ll travel to Dublin every Saturday now so that their two small daughters can learn their mother’s tongue. Although the school is supported by a small grant from the South Korean government, financial help comes mainly from parents and there will be adult classes as well so that Irish parents can keep abreast of their Korean offspring.