Hillary Veitch at a traditional Lantern Festival in Jinju, South Korea.
An update from Hillary Veitch ’14, a Spanish Education major and Teaching English To Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) minor, who is currently on her third year serving as an English teaching assistant with the U.S. Fulbright Program in Seoul, South Korea. She is also an English teacher at a co-ed high school in the heart of Seoul.
“Thanks to a cooperation between both Illinois State’s English and Languages, Literatures, and Cultures departments, I was encouraged to apply for a Fulbright grant. Although my background is in Spanish education, I decided to apply for a grant in South Korea because of my limited knowledge of Asia, and because of research that I conducted with Dr. Hyun-Sook Kang about Korean learners of the English-language. Korea’s education system always popped up in news articles as one of the top in the world, so I became curious to explore that even deeper.
Some of my favorite classroom memories during my Fulbright grant include guiding students as they made a short film project and coaching students in English debate competitions across the country. Outside of teaching, I have taken the opportunity to explore Asia on trips to Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines, among other countries. I am also the president of Fulbright Korea’s Alumni Relations Committee, so I hope to remain active with the ISU Alumni Community as well!”
