Professor working to develop English curriculum in Vietnam

Dr. Jaeshil Kim, an associate professor in Liberty’s Department of Modern Languages, is serving the Fall 2015 semester in Vietnam with alumna Stephanie Person.

Dr. Jaeshil Kim, an associate professor in Liberty University’s Department of Modern Languages, left campus on Sept. 10 to serve the Fall 2015 semester in Vietnam with Bridge Builders Global (BBG).

BBG exists to connect people with resources through Christian community development. The organization has been working for the last 20 years in seven Southeast Asian countries, and recently formed a project team that focuses on developing education initiatives and curriculum that can be implemented into community building projects.

Kim has been assigned to develop English as a second language (ESL) educational programs and curriculum in Vietnam.

“This fall, I will do some pilot work to find out the current situation of ESL education in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and figure out linguistic difficulties that Vietnamese speakers tend to encounter in learning English,” she said. “We all know how Jesus fed the crowd of over 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish that a little boy offered. I hope that my five loaves and two fish offering, so to speak, will make a difference. I am trusting the Lord will meet the people’s needs through my little offering.”

Kim has taught at Liberty since 2007. She said that her greatest joy was interacting with her students, who she strives to see grow both academically and spiritually.

Though she will be in Vietnam this semester, Kim will return to teaching residentially next spring, and plans to continue rotating semesters, one abroad and one in Lynchburg, for the foreseeable future.

After hearing about this opportunity last spring, Kim immediately shared it with her students. Alumna Stephanie Person (’15), who earned her Bachelor of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language with a teacher licensure, decided to join Kim in Vietnam. She will assist her former professor in developing the new ESL program in Vietnam.

“My Liberty education has been invaluable in preparing me for this,” Person said. “Within the classroom, I received excellent training that provided me with the knowledge and skills I needed. Outside of the classroom, I was given many opportunities to put it all into practice.”

Person said that when she first started at Liberty, she did not realize that her degree would take her overseas.

“My experience at Liberty has been so much more than receiving training for a degree. I developed close relationships with my professors and was encouraged to take my degree across the world, which has led to this opportunity to work with Dr. Kim,” she said. “Now that I am in Vietnam, only a few months after graduation, I am incredibly grateful for everything that Liberty has afforded me.”