Korean fever in Guatemala..."I need more teachers".

[Anchor]
Global interest in our language is no exception on the other side of the world.

In Guatemala, Central America, the shortage of teachers is serious as more and more people apply for Korean language classes as a second language.
There are growing calls for active interest in establishing systematic infrastructure, such as recruiting
teachers.

Reporter Kim Sung-woo from Guatemala.

[Reporter]
Our folk song Arirang with an exciting melody resonates.

Students' eyes glare at the Korean language class that they learn by singing.

Each person writes down the Korean lyrics with a firm hand.

This is the Korean language class site of a local elementary school that adopted Korean as a second language.

[Hong Young-ok / Korean teacher] We make a textbook and we are teaching the songs according to the words from time to time. But the response is better than I thought. Kids really like to sing.]

[Estefania / Elementary School : I need to learn Korean and I will continue to study. If I travel (to Korea), I will know more about it. [The Korean letters are cool and I like Korean songs]

In Guatemala, 17 elementary and middle schools are currently offering Korean language classes since seven national schools began adopting Korean as a second language four years ago.

Thanks to this popularity, an online Korean language course organized by local governments was recently opened in Villanueva, a city adjacent to Guatemala City, the capital.

I learn through the screen, but both teachers and students are as passionate about Korean as face-to-face classes.

[Fernando Carrera/Villainueva City Hall Language Education Officer: A survey on language courses conducted by City Hall found that Korean language education was very appropriate, and registration began due to high interest from consumers]

[Floridalma Bosel / Korean online course student: It's been a month since I started studying Korean, and I'm a beginner, so I'm learning consonants and vowels, but I'm sure I'll improve as I continue (study). If you can't pronounce it at once, the instructor will teach you again. Thank you to the instructor who kindly helps and teaches. My dream is to communicate fluently in Korean, and if I have a chance, I would like to find a better job through this language.]

However, despite the growing demand for Korean language education, there is a shortage of Korean language teachers to teach them.

Local Korean language teachers say that there should be a systematic support plan for the Korean government.

[So Young Min / Villanueva Korean teacher: These days, specialized institutions that teach Korean (in Guatemala) are struggling with the lack of specialized teachers despite the increasing demand for basic classes. It is necessary to prepare a program to train instructors suitable for Korean language education and to solve the problem of lack of educational materials by developing textbooks and online materials suitable for Latin America. In addition, we need to prepare enough infrastructure for physical space, online platforms, and Korean language education.]

There seems to be an urgent need for systematic support from both Korean and Guatemalan governments to prevent the heat of learning Korean following the Korean Wave from cooling down.

I'm Kim Sungwoo from YTN World in Guatemala.