Baduk Festival in an Elementary School 1
2014-12-25
Fruits.
I would like to say that the word 'fruits' would be perfect to express my feeling about this tournament held on the 12th of December, 2014 in an elementary school, Ecole de Bizanet, where I used to or often teach Baduk.
I remember when I visited the elementary school for the first time. It was a day in November, 2011. There were already many children playing Baduk thanks to our two local teachers, Mme. Dominique and M. Jose's lots of efforts. There were over 60 children, but a half of them enjoyed the time with stones than having a serious game. I realized the cultural difference between France and Korea, and it made me think that it might be difficult to give the real game feeling to all of them.
In Korea, children go to Baduk classes to study, so teachers have some power to control and give some work to study. In this case, it is not difficult to teach many children. That is the basic concept in Korean. In France, I felt the children go there to enjoy the time more than studying. Instead of going outside and play with balls, they come to the class because they enjoy their time with Baduk. They don't treat Baduk something to study. It is just a joy for them. Therefore, we can't force them to study. We should make it fun, so they can enjoy the time and make a progress at Baduk at the same time.
This is not easy when there are many children with different purposes. Some girls didn't want to compete. Some were just enjoying the time not with playing a game but making a shape with stones and happily said to me, "here we made a piece of black and white chocolate!"
There are some parts that they should go through to know Baduk better. Of course some kids fall in love with Baduk, and for them, it is not a problem. But for some others, to show them the real beauty of Baduk can be not easy.
There were already many children playing Baduk at that time in 2011, but honestly I could not be just optimistic with the environment. However this month, I saw, felt, and touched the glorious fruits.
...2nd column coming soon :)
- Written by Semi Lee
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