Expanding cooperation with Sukmeng University

For 5 years the Department of Far East has been cooperating with the Women's University of Sukmeng, implementing a program of academic mobility on bachelor's degree. During this time several joint projects with our university have been realized and are being implemented. One of them is training 2-3 of our students every semester at Sukmyong University on a scholarship basis under the student exchange program.

In turn, students of Sukmyeong University can study Kazakh or Russian at the preparatory faculty of KazNU and undergo language practice. Moreover, last academic year a number of Korean language teachers successfully completed an online professional development program organized by Sukmyong University with the support of Korea Foundation.
Currently, the Department of Far East, in collaboration with Sukmyeong Women's University, is conducting online Korean language courses with 1st and 2nd year female students. This spring semester, students in the Korean Studies Department had a number of opportunities such as improving their Korean speaking skills within the Far East Department as well as broadly applying what they have learned. In particular, from February 5 to February 20, intern Yeom Hiwon of Sukmeng Women's University had a teaching internship at the Far East Department of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. The main purpose of this internship is to share knowledge and experience on Korean language teaching methods and conduct lessons together with local Korean language teachers. In the process of learning a foreign language, especially an oriental language, native speakers of this language come to Kazakhstan and give lectures, and their integration into the language learning process helps students to get acquainted with the culture of the eastern country in a new way. In turn, teachers will share their experience and have a positive impact on the use of other forms of teaching.

Bagzhan SERMUKHAMETOVA,

Senior Lecturer, Far East Department