Some South Korea's language textbooks feature K-pop group and global sensation BTS to help learners study the Asian nation's mother tongue.
The situation began when the South Korean Education Ministry, in 2021, took a proactive step to create a government-managed Korean language curriculum. At the time, the decision was made because of the growing international demand for learning the Korean language.
South Korea's Language Textbook Features BTS
Before the central government's involvement in the curriculum, local Korean language education centers primarily handled the selection and distribution of courses and textbooks. However, this caused concerns regarding the lack of structured content that could sufficiently cater to the diverse language proficiency levels and ages of foreign learners.
Then, the government's initiative, launched that year, attempted to encompass the development of textbooks and supplementary educational materials. The complimentary textbooks are distributed across the globe to children and teachers at elementary and high schools that have adopted the Korean language as an official subject, as per the Straits Times.
Two hundred one thousand seven hundred eighty-eight textbooks were distributed to 28 countries as of 2022, as revealed by the ministry's overseas education support division. The type and number of textbooks are issued every September, primarily because many schools begin their academic year that month.
Officials made the textbooks based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, an international standard that describes language ability on a six-point scale. This starts from A1 for beginners to C2 for those who have already mastered a particular language.
In 2021, the ministry teamed up with Hybe Edu, the education technology division of Hybe, the K-pop agency that houses BTS. They developed supplementary learning materials for Korean classes at local schools.
The Korean-language textbook package featured the K-pop group. According to the Korea Herald, it was mostly video-based and had practical phrases and expressions useful in day-to-day interactions.
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Studying With BTS
On top of the BTS content, the supplementary materials also cover the history of Korea as well as its culture and society. The ministry also worked with education authorities, teachers, and language education specialists at home and abroad. This was done to curate tailor-made Korean-language textbooks that can better address the needs of the targeted learners and cater to the needs of learners at different proficiency levels.
The situation comes as the seven members of BTS have all renewed contracts with their agency, BigHit Music, for the second time. The alleged news comes after Hybe announced on Wednesday that its board had already approved a plan to renew contracts with the K-pop group.
Industry experts said that the smooth renewal of all seven members of BTS eliminated Hybe's biggest "risk" factor or uncertainty by paving the way for the boy group to reunite in 2025. This comes as BTS has taken a hiatus for some of its members to complete their mandatory military service, said Yonhap News Agency.
