05/22/2026
AAARCC Graduate Assistant Nguyen Le and team (Mukhamad Suhermanto, Lamiya Laxmidhar, Dingcui Zhong) received the Community-Engaged Learning Student Grant from the Office of Experiential Learning and Office of Engagement for a project "What is After K-Pop Demon Hunter: A Month of Learning Korean Cultures". The goal of this project is to nurture intercultural communication skills and learning beyond the mainstream media. With the growing interests of Korean cultures, Nguyen and team partner with local organization Korean Harmony (community partner) and the AAARCC (campus sponsor) to share elements of Korean languages, music, food, dance, and traditional games.
On April 3, the program kicked off with learning Korean games and sing "Happy Birthday," incorporating elements of language pronunciations.
On April 10, the team launched the Kimbap Making Workshop where participants learned how to make one of the most popular Korean rice dish. Sharon Park from Korean Harmony worked alongside the team in teaching about ingredients, the art of rolling the gim sheets, how to fry eggs in the right texture, and some creativity and preferences involved when making kimbap. This workshop was the most engaged session in the month!
On April 20, the team organized a K-Pop Dance Workshop and learned briefly the choreography of "Bang Bang" by IVE. Participants learned how to express confidence while dancing and perform sharp moves. Thank you to our volunteer instructor, miss Ro-A Kim, who taught us the choreography.
On April 24, participants learned to sing a song by iKON's iconic song, Love Scenario along with Korean language lesson, learning Hangul and words through lyrics. Singing really helps us practice pronunciation, increase our vocabulary, and motivate us to learn more of the Korean language!
On April 29, participants got immersed in the traditional Korean games such as gonggi, jegi-chagi, yut-nori, ddakji and many more in West Lafayette Public Library. So many families stopped by and enjoyed the games together.
Nguyen and team stated that "Our community-engaged project cannot be successful without the support from the Office of Experiential Learning and the Office of Engagement. This is my first time applying for a grant and the experience enhances my academic and professional skills. In addition, this project will not come to fruition without the help of our community partner. We are so grateful for Sharon Park, Founder and Director of Korean Harmony US, for her passion and dedication to create a truly immersive Korean learning experience to all of us. We look forward to our future partnership and collaboration again."
Nguyen's grant work is an extension of his Ph.D. work in the College of Education and his leadership in the language and conversation practice program at the AAARCC. If you're interested in getting involved with the language and conversation program as a volunteer, reach out to the AAARCC or fill out the volunteer form, or simply just walk in to the AAARCC and speak to any staff member. See you soon!
