Test Time For HDS

Welcome to the official Heavenly Dream School blog! We are very excited to be able to share news, stories, and updates with you.

This week, the students have been in full-on study mode for a huge test they will take on April 15th. In South Korea, every student has to have separate elementary, middle, and high school certifications in order to move on to their next level of education. These tests are equivalent to the American SATs. When our students first arrive in South Korea, most only have the equivalence of an elementary school education. Though they may have been in middle school or high school in North Korea, the education system there is very poor.

Some of our students studying.

 As you can imagine, it is quite a struggle for NK refugee students to catch up to their South Korean peers, particularly in a society that is so competitive in education. Thankfully, our school provides an atmosphere where the NK students don't have to fully face that competition yet, since all of our students are North Korean. However, our students still face quite a challenge because they have years and years of education to make up for.

Our students certainly stand up to that challenge. Their study ethic is completely remarkable. Most students only sleep about 4-5 hours a night because they are up studying as much as possible. For most students, their day consists of waking up around 5 or 6am, studying for a few hours, then going to school at 8:30am. During most of their breaks, they study. After school, there are various activities where students can get help with whatever subject they need assistance in. After that, they either go home or to the library to study more.

Our students studying hard for their exams.

Two of the biggest struggles our students face are learning English and about computers. As you may know, English is a very big deal in South Korea. They believe it is essential for everyone to know English and go to great lengths to learn it. Many schools hire Americans to come in and teach. Heavenly Dream School currently has 4 South Korean English teachers and 1 American English teacher. That should give you a picture of how important English is here. Our North Korean students struggle with English because they were never really exposed to it before coming to the South. In contrast, South Korean students begin studying English in elementary school. For our high school students, the pressure for learning English is high. After they graduate and enter university, they go to school with South Koreans for the first time in their lives. Many of our NK university students report the inferiority they feel because their SK peers are very good at English, while they feel they are not.

Learning about computers is very difficult for our students because, as with English, computers were not something most of our students were exposed to in North Korea. There are government required tests that measure computer competency, so our students often struggle with meeting those requirements.

Studying hard!

As our students continue to study for the next month, please keep them in your prayers. Pray that they will be able to focus, manage their stress, and do well on their exams. Also, please pray for their health during this time. The flu is currently circulating around the school. Lastly, we would ask that you pray for the 4 new students that have come to our school this month. We are so excited to have them and very grateful that they made it to South Korea. Please pray that they will have an easy time adjusting to our school, as well as to South Korea.
Stay tuned for more updates!

Heavenly Dream School