Starting in January 2021, Jung Wook Pyo, a PhD candidate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC), will serve as a tenure-track assistant professor of Korean language at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif.

DLIFLC offers year-round instruction in 16 foreign languages. Pyo will teach various courses in Korean language and culture.

“The University of Illinois has prepared me to get this position and succeed in it,” he said.

He is currently completing his Ph.D. in Korean history in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. “I benefitted from attending the department’s language pedagogy class as well as Korean language workshops every year, including with mock teaching sessions,” he said. “I learned to bring authenticity to the classroom through YouTube, K-drama, and K-pop materials; to use only the target language; to stay student-centered with pair work and technology; and to require individual student responses.”

Pyo added that the Department also has afforded him the opportunity “to shape a new online beginning Korean course in a semi-flipped format using Zoom, Moodle, Canvas, Google Doc, Padlet, Quizlet, and Flipgrid.” Further, SLCL workshops “also taught me the five ‘C’ goal areas, and other proficiency standards and guidelines.

“The SLCL has also given me to the opportunity to teach in several summer and winter intensive programs and to design new courses for the program, including classes for the Intensive Foreign Language Instruction Program” (IFLIP), which are open to the public, as well as university staff and students.

As he nears the completion of his PhD, Pyo added, “I would like to express my gratitude to the EALC department and the SLCL.”