Joanne joined CCE in early 2021. She completed her undergraduate degrees at ANU, majoring in Sociology and Information Systems, along with a minor in International Communication. Having a bilingual background as a Korean international student studying in Australia since high school, she has gained a great interest in languages and their societal impact on the community. She often notices cultural nuances found within the Korean language, as well as the symbiotic relationship between culture and language; how a specific interaction goal is achieved in a community. Joanne believes that learning a language necessitates understanding the culture; thus, sociolinguistics became her main area of investigation during the course of her Bachelor degree.
Her interest in teaching Korean was inspired by her conversations with fellow students learning Korean. She found the different grammatical approaches of Korean learners fascinating. She wanted to investigate further the common grammatical mistakes that students make and the habits they gain from their native language, especially those who speak English as their mother tongue. She enjoys fielding questions from students who are not native speakers of Korean, as it fuels her passion to delve deeper into the grammatical rules and theories of this language.
Joanne believes repeat exposure is the crux of learning Korean. Her teaching methodology also incorporates K-media, such as K-POP and K-Dramas, which students can use to get used to the sound of the language while also expanding their vocabulary bank in a fun way. Joanne enjoys the moments when students discover the cultural words or phrases they have learnt from class reflected in their favourite K-Drama series and is especially excited when students are able to understand Korean words that do not have perfect translations in English or their native language.