Sup sogŭi Hosu
Address
11380 Turtle River Lake Rd NE, Bemidji, MN 56601[1]

United States
Coordinates47°34′43″N 94°43′00″W / 47.57858°N 94.71653°W / 47.57858; -94.71653
Information
Established1999
FounderRoss King
StatusOpen during summers
DeanRoss King
DirectorDafna Zur
LanguageKorean
Websiteconcordialanguagevillages.org/youth-languages/korean-language-village
Korean name
Hangul
숲속의 호수
Revised RomanizationSup sogui Hosu
McCune–ReischauerSup sogŭi Hosu

Sup sogŭi Hosu (Korean: 숲속의 호수; lit. Lake of the Woods) is a language immersion summer camp for the Korean language in Bemidji, Minnesota, United States.[2] It is part of the 501(c)(3) non-profit Concordia Language Villages school, and is sponsored by Concordia College.[3] It first opened in 1999,[4] and as of 2023 it had over 3,000 attendees across its history.[5]

Its founding dean is Ross King, head of the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia.[6] The camp is currently led by Dafna Zur, an associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University.[5]

History

Early on in the camp's history, there was spare capacity each year for more students. However, after the success of the Korean Wave, the camp has seen a significant increase in popularity, with over a hundred participants each year and a waitlist of 120 students in 2023.[7]

The camp originally did not have its own dedicated facilities; King rented out buildings in the Russian language village for the camp. But in 2018, it received $5 million in funding via a private donation from the Korean handbag company Simone Corporation. This enabled the camp to create its own separate building, which was set to open in Spring 2019.[6] The donation was the single largest in support of Korean language education in North America, and the largest in Concordia's history.[6][4][8] Kenny Park, the CEO of Simone, attributed the donation to a radio interview of King that he heard, where King advocated for greater public and private support from Korean companies to fund international Korean language education.[8] The building was designed with the consultation of Korean architects, who used elements of Korean culture and architecture. The camp was also expressly designed to include a dojang, a training hall for Korean martial arts (notably taekwondo).[8] The Korean camp was the eighth such camp to have its own facilities in Concordia, and the only one for an East Asian language as of 2022.[9]

As of 2023, the camp operates during the summer, as the village still does not have its own dormitory, and because it still needs to borrow some facilities from other villages. In 2022, leaders of the camp visited Korea to campaign for more private donations to construct more permanent facilities, which they hoped to do by 2024.[9]

The camp experienced a slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, but by 2022 it reported being back up to 70% of its capacity.[9]

Activities

As a language immersion camp, participants are required to speak Korean at all times. All signage in the camp is even written in Korean. Participants engage in cultural activities, including calligraphy, K-pop dance, taekwondo (reportedly once taught by Zur, a fan of the sport[10]), fan dance (buchaechum),[7] Korean paper crafting, and Korean tea ceremonies.[5] Korean food is served at the camp.[7]

Students stay in two-story log cabins. Generally each room of a cabin is shared by four people, with around six to fourteen people per cabin.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Our Site: Sup sogŭi Hosu". www.concordialanguagevillages.org.
  2. ↑ "Korean Residential Language Camp | Concordia Language Villages". www.concordialanguagevillages.org. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  3. ↑ "Giving | Concordia Language Villages". www.concordialanguagevillages.org. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  4. 1 2 Doo, Rumy (2018-04-05). "Korea Language Village receives $5m donation". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  5. 1 2 3 "24년 전 미네소타 설립 '한국어 마을' 방문" [Visiting the 'Korean Village' Established 24 Years Ago in Minnesota]. news.koreadaily.com (in Korean). 2023-07-05. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  6. 1 2 3 "Dreams of Korean Village Come True". Concordia College. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  7. 1 2 3 "미네소타 한국어마을 "숲속의 호수" 설립자, 로스 킹 교수로부터 듣는다" [Listening to Prof. Ross King, the Founder of the Minnesota Korean Village "Lake of the Woods"]. world.kbs.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  8. 1 2 3 Hyatt, Kim (2018-04-03). "Korean handbag king donates $5M to Concordia Language Villages". Twin Cities. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  9. 1 2 3 김, 슬옹 (2022-12-18). ""외국인들의 자발적 한국어 공부... 한국 기업 도움 절실해"" ["Foreigners Voluntarily Studying Korean...Korean Investment Desperately Needed"]. 오마이뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  10. ↑ 추, 인영 (2022-10-04). ""일본학, 돈 남아 도는데…" 한국어 가르치는 캐나다 교수 한탄" ["For Japanese Studies, Money Overflows..." The Canadian Professor Who Teaches Korean [Introduction]]. 중앙일보 (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-09-02.
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