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what she said; especially, she was afraid of her English accent
and pronunciation when
she spoke English with native-English speakers.
Twelve out of 30 Korean students indicated that they were not sure they would be
able to follow UNK courses because all of the UNK courses were taught by UNK
professors and were required to fully use English and participate in more discussions and
presentations. John said:
I heard from my friend who attended one of American universities that the
teaching style between Korean college courses and American
college courses
could be different, so my friend mentioned that American college courses required
more discussions and presentations. After hearing from my friend’s comment, I
was so afraid of how I would handle the different teaching style, and I was not
fully sure whether or not I could share my opinions
and present my projects in
front of professors and classmates. That is why I always thought about adjusting
to the different teaching styles between Korean college courses and American
college courses before I decided to come to UNK.
Ten out of 30 Korean students agreed that they were wondering whether or not
they could build a strong relationship with native-English speakers and international
students.
One of the students, Richard, stated that he did not know how to make a foreign
friend and how to find a commonality between him and foreign friends. In addition, he
thought that it could be difficult for him to strongly connect with foreign friends due to
the age difference; he was a little bit older than a traditional college student.
Seven out of 30 Korean students said that they could
experience racial
discrimination. Patricia mentioned:
Before I came to UNK, I strongly thought that Nebraskans would not know about
Korea much, so it could happen that Nebraskans discriminate against Korean
people. Furthermore, I heard and saw numerous news articles regarding
discrimination between Caucasians and African Americans, so I was worried
about this kind of discrimination against Korean people as well.
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Another student, Michael, also indicated,
I heard from several of my friends that they had experienced
racial discrimination
while they stayed in the United States, and they told me that I might have this
kind of experience while I attended UNK. Therefore, I was very worried about
racial discrimination before I came to UNK.
As
previously stated, the above concerns were the main worries of the 30 Korean
students. The following concerns were mentioned by a couple of the 30 Korean students
before they came to UNK: how to adjust to the new environment (six people), how to
handle the loneliness away from families (six people), how to eat American food every
day (five people), how to efficiently and effectively spend the time while they stay in the
United States (four people), and how to stay away from guns and
illegal drugs and keep
safe while they attended UNK (four people).
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