Korean heritage language teachers gather in Rotterdam to share best practices at national training day

November 22, 2025

We gladly share an announcement about the Joint Korean School Teachers’ Seminar held in November 2025 in Rotterdam:

On Saturday, November 15, teachers from the Eindhoven, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam Korean schools gathered at the Amsterdam Korean School for a full-day professional development program. Approximately seventy teachers participated, taking part in lectures, a Q&A session, and group discussions from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Practical tips from the world of research

The seminar began with a lecture by Professor A. Nam from the Department of Korean Studies at Leiden University. She spoke on Korean language orthography and effective approaches to teaching Korean pronunciation. Her lecture was highly informative and offered practical guidance that teachers could apply directly to their own classrooms.

Common struggles: motivation and mixed levels

After lunch, we held an open Q&A session with Ms. M. Kim, a former teacher at the Amsterdam Korean School. During this session, teachers discussed various instructional challenges and shared strategies related to supporting students who struggle to focus, working with students who are reluctant to participate, teaching reading and writing effectively, and managing classes with broad differences in language proficiency.

Time for discussion and sharing

The final part of the seminar consisted of group discussions. Teachers were divided into groups based on their teaching levels—preschool, lower elementary, upper elementary and secondary, and Korean as a foreign language. Each group included teachers from all three schools, creating a valuable opportunity to exchange teaching methods, educational programs, and classroom experiences. These conversations naturally developed into rich discussions and collaborative problem-solving.

Overall, the seminar was a meaningful and inspiring day for all three schools. It provided a space for productive collaboration and allowed teachers to learn from one another’s experience and expertise.

Congratulations to the Korean schools across the Netherlands on organizing another successful professional development event. The annual gathering once again shows how dedicated heritage language communities are to high-quality teaching and ongoing professional growth — in our region and far beyond!