There is a multicultural family support center located in every district (gu) in Korea. There, it is possible to get support from a multicultural language instructor. According to Kim Sam, who is currently working as a multicultural language instructor at Jongno Multicultural Family Support Center, children aged 12 months to 12 years visit in order to get lessons to improve their linguistic performance. The group is mainly composed of children whose parents are foreigners or marriage migrants. Certainly, their nationalities greatly vary including Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, or ethnic Korean-Chinese (Chosunjok). 

Multicultural language instructors teach children individually. “The means of education varies from student to student,” says Kim. Generally, textbooks are widely used along with educational toys. Since the expense is substantially subsidized by the government, there is little difficulty in managing the teaching materials for the students.  

Lessons are held twice every week either at the center or at the student’s home. Also, at least eight separate classes are available at each center varying according to times or types of students. There are one or two instructors who are responsible at each center. During the work, the instructors interact not only with their students but also with the parents. The fact that the parents are foreigners is not necessarily an obstacle because there are also interpreters who work to facilitate their communication.  

According to Kim, it was her first student that was the most memorable. He was only eight months old during their first encounter and did not have the ability to speak fluently. “I was so concerned about his education because of the uncertainty of improvement,” said Kim, recalling her memories. “However, he is now about 2 years old and talks to me now, or even calls my name from time to time,” says Kim. To Kim, such improvement in her students’ linguistic skills is the factor that makes her the happiest. However, there are certainly times when such improvement is not shown by an expected time. One of her students was an autistic child who did not show much progress, compared with the time spent on his education. 

In order to become a multicultural language instructor, it is required that one has a degree in speech pathology, language treatment, linguist auditory or language development. Preference is given to those with a language treatment license or those who have experience in language development. “From time to time, there are students who have physical or mental disabilities. Therefore, such degrees would be necessary in order to become a multicultural language instructor,” says Kim. 

Kim chose her path when she was a high school student. “I did not dream to become a multicultural language instructor from the beginning,” said Kim with frankness. As a student, scarcity of students who major in linguistic development seemed to provide much opportunity. Indeed, a career path was open to her and she is successfully fulfilling her role as an instructor at the center. 

When one is hired, it is necessary to go through one week of education. Afterwards, there is one day training for those who have the degree and two days training for those who do not. There is another test that awaits them that they have to pass in order to become a successful instructor. Even after becoming an instructor, there is occasional group supervision where they report their cases and receive education from the central institution.  

According to Kim, she is quite satisfied with her current salary. “For workers who have just started their job, it is quite a high salary,” says Kim. However, interestingly, the salary is fixed for the instructors, no matter how experienced they are. Such an aspect of the job could be both an advantage and a disadvantage for the workers. 

Since the number of foreign inhabitants is steadily increasing in Korea, the future of multicultural language instructors would be bright as a career path. Their increasing responsibilities as a bridge to multicultural society would definitely have to be recognized.