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Teachers film annual Hangul Day movie with third-graders

October 9, 2015

A screen capture of two third graders from Monte Vista Elementary School in La Crescenta, California, in a school movie about the Korean alphabet.

The third-grade class dressed up as — and acted the parts of — King Sejong, the scholars and the common people of Korea for the film, which was produced, written and directed by two teachers, Timothy Yoo, left, and Sarah Shin.

By The Korea Times Los Angeles staff

When you ask Jeon Ye-sol, a fourth grader at Monte Vista Elementary School in La Crescenta, California, what pops in her head when you say “Hangul Day,” she’ll tell you it’s the word “movie.”

That’s because Jeon and her third-grade dual language classmates participated in the making of an amateur film, “The Birth of the Korean Language,” last year.

“I was a jiphyeonjun scholar,” Ye-sol said. “I wanted to be queen, but I liked being one of the scholars who helped make Hangul, too.”

Today marks the 596th birthday of the Korean alphabet, largely credited to King Sejong.

The project was one of many started under the school’s dual language program, which has put on plays in the past.

When Yoo joined the staff last year, he suggested they try a movie instead. The project is now an annual undertaking.

Shin said the current class filmed twice a week for three weeks in September. Now in the process of being edited, the film will be screened to parents and students.

Last year, a completed 12-minute movie, filmed with two iPads and featuring hanboks students brought from home and the school playground disguised as a Joseon-era palace, was shown to parents and students to great response. Second-grade students who saw the project wanted to know when they, too, would be able to do the same.

This year’s project stars all 46 students of the third-grade dual language class, all with speaking parts.

Auditions were held for the roles of King Sejong and the queen.

“We wrote a screenplay that lets every student speak lines, and because we’re a dual language program, it’s in both English and Korean,” Shin said. “At the very end, the students recite the reason for the creation of Hangul. I think even when they’re older, they won’t forget Hangul Day.”