SINGAPORE
- Media OutReach - 11
May 2020 - With the ever-growing craze for all things Korean, Korean
language schools in Singapore have been steadily feeding the nation's
K-cravings, one lesson at a time. One Korean language school
in Singapore is enjoying particular success due to their emphasis on teacher
selection, training, and teaching pedagogy. This top-rated institution is none
other than Sejong
Korean Language School, which has
recently expanded its centres from two to three in Singapore. However,
founder-cum-principal Ryan Kwak Seong Hoon of the language school is not
resting on his laurels just yet.

Today,
Sejong Korean Language School runs three centres islandwide. Its
headquarters in Tanjong Pagar sees many young working professionals for evening
and night classes after work. The Jurong East satellite campus serves the
West-side dwellers, while a newly launched campus in Tampines makes Korean
learning accessible for those in the East. It has not been long since the
opening of their third campus, but their founder is already setting his sights on even further expansion.

According
to Mr Kwak, he has plans to further grow the school to meet the rising demand
for Korean language courses in Singapore. As the school enters its eighth year
of operations, he "still has many plans yet to execute". One of these plans
includes an upcoming Korean library within the school's main campus at Tanjong
Pagar. He hopes that the library will be a driving force to promote readership
and familiarity with Korean texts amongst his students.

Labelling
themselves the #1 Korean Language School in Singapore is not all just marketing
hype, either. The institution's popularity is well-backed by the numbers. Well
over a thousand active students attend their classes each week, which makes
Sejong Korean Language School the largest of its kind in Singapore in terms of
the size of their student community.

Other
notable testaments to the school's reputation are their long list of corporate
clients who trust them for providing Korean language training to their
employees. Some of these corporate clients also include local banks, law firms,
and our national airline.

With
so many commendable achievements in such a young institution, many wonder what
sparked this success. For the team at Sejong Korean Language School, they call
it the "Sejong Standard". The phrase refers to their signature teaching
approach that is as systematic, structured and efficient as it is fun-filled
and engaging. It seems that this tried and proven method is what attracts
students to choose the Sejong brand over other course providers.

Achieving
their current standards of education is not easy, especially for the teaching
team at the MOE-registered private school. In fact, the institution is
well-known for its stringent recruitment process when it comes to their Korean
language teachers. Prospective teachers are scouted from top employment
agencies and universities in South Korea, and they go through multiple rounds
of interviews before only the most qualified and passionate candidates are
shortlisted. New hires then have to embark on months of in-house training to
get them up to mark with the "Sejong Standard" before they are allowed to
commence teaching proper.

It is
evident that the institution's booming popularity is not just something they
take for granted. In fact, it is hard to imagine today that this success had
very humble beginnings. The Sejong Korean language
school of today was the result of the passion of one young Korean man's quest
to make Korean language learning accessible in Singapore.

As
a child, Mr Kwak found himself in Singapore when his family migrated here from
South Korea. At first, he struggled greatly with learning, communicating, and
making friends in Singapore due to his poor grasp of English. Yet, this
experience only served to ingrain in him the importance of language fluency for
navigating and thriving in society, and ignited his passion for language
education.

In
2012, Mr Kwak started his Korean language centre as a one-man show with an
80-hour work week in a single classroom and tiny rented office. His unique
background lent him the rare advantage of being able to impart Korean language
skills while making it relevant to the local context of Singapore. Thanks to
this distinctive edge, his classes are immensely well-received by Singaporeans
here. As Mr Kwak continued to hone the structure of his teaching, the
popularity of his classes grew, and Sejong Korean Language School has grown
from strength to strength since then.

Looking
forward, Mr Kwak believes that the demand for Korean language learning is still
on the up-trend. He notes that when he first started teaching, many students
were K-wave fans who were led by their interest in Korean popular media and
culture. But today, a brief inspection of the student
demographic of the school reveals a wide variety of backgrounds and goals,
ranging from Korean enthusiasts and language lovers, to a surprisingly large
number of locals learning for personal purposes such as to communicate with
their Korean spouse or partner! Up to a third of the school's students are
business professionals looking to upskill themselves.

Interested
individuals can get a taste of the "Sejong Standard" for themselves at one of
the institution's centres. Sejong Korean Language School offers Beginner to
Further Advanced Korean language courses, including SkillsFuture
claimable Korean courses.

For
more information, please visit: https://www.sejong.com.sg/