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Korean Senior Citizens Taking Advantage of
New Program to Learn
By Natalia Mielczarek, Tennessean
September 18, 2005
Chuna Ye Sor, 60, said she desperately wants to learn how to e-mail her son in Philadelphia.
After living in this country for 15 years, the Korean-born Nashvillian said through a translator that she also hopes to brush up on her conversational English and make new friends.
Sor started getting closer to her dreams yesterday thanks to a new school dedicated to helping her and those like her.
"I was excited to have this sort of gathering," she said.
"I wanted to have this fellowship and learn about the areas of living in my new land. I'm hoping I can learn more English so I can start speaking more and improve my life. I was willing to give up everything else to come to this school."
The school is the University of Nashville Korean American Senior Citizens, a program designed especially for Korean immigrants 60 years of age and older. It opened yesterday.
More than 30 people showed up at the Nashville Korean United Methodist Church in Donelson to begin a journey through upcoming weekly meetings designed to take participants through a myriad of topics - from health care and psychology of the elderly to yoga.
"We want to have fun," said the Rev. Sang Chun, one of the organizers. "Most of them don't speak English. Most haven't been to a university. So we're going to pretend we're in real school. The goal is for them to have a more meaningful life."
Chun said that if the program takes off, it will eventually expand to daily meetings for the senior citizens and branch out to include other ethnic groups.
"All major metropolitan areas have some kind of a day school for Korean-Americans," he said. "There is no program for Korean-Americans here, so we're offering some kind of an excuse for them to come together."
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