Hi there. In this education post, I talk about special guests in school. The motivation behind this post was from me watching Korean Youtube videos where celebrities and some Kpop stars make special visits to schools. It is mostly for entertainment but there are some educational aspects to it.
Secret Transfer Student Videos
There is this South Korean series of episodes that feature Kpop stars visiting the schools. The students have no idea of what's going on. They think the whole school is attending a school assembly but get surprised in a big way.
LE SSERAFIM School Visit
The title on the Youtube video is kind of weird. It made seem like that there was violence at a school. In this video mega KPop group LE SSERAFIM do a surprise visit to a Korean high school.
This video was from June 2023. Go to 9:08 for the surprise. The MC leaves the stage and the curtain closes. Then the curtain reopens with LE SSERAFIM members backs turned. They start the song Antifragile, turn around, and the school crowd goes wild.
There is also some questions and answers with the KPop group and some students. Second song at around 23:36. Near the end a few of the Kpop group members noted that it was their first time performing at a school. A great experience for the both the students and LE SSERAFIM.
NewJeans KPop Group Visit Tokyo High School
A Tokyo high school get a mega surprise visit from KPop group NewJeans in 2024. I think this one is pretty crazy as this KPop group could have chosen a Korean school in their home country. Instead they went to the neighbour country of Japan and performed at a Tokyo high school.
Around 2:28, the MC asks the secret transfer student to speak in Japanese behind the curtain. The crowd is mostly confused but there are some who have a good idea of who it is and starts freaking out. The other NewJeans members start speaking behind the curtain and the student shock intensifies. Reveal at 3:25 where the crowd goes wild. Some of the students wonder if this is real.
Songs with Timestamps
- 03:51 Ditto
- 18:26 Bubble Gum
- 24:21 How Sweet
aespa Kpop Group Visit High School
This one in my opinion is super crazy. In 2024, Mega Kpop group aespa visit a Korean high school for a performance. Reveal at 10:21 of the video.
aespa's leader KARINA turns around and starts singing Supernova. The student crowd goes wild in disbelief. The wild screaming still continues for a good minute and a half and even later in the song.
Armageddon is the second aespa song played at this school. It is at 26:30 of the video.
Special Substitute Teacher
Special substitute teachers is not as entertaining as having Kpop stars at the school but it is more educational. There is still a shock value for the students. Lucky students will look in disbelief as they enter the classroom to find a celebrity or Kpop star as their substitute teacher.
The school administrators and the Kpop admin side of things take care of the details and setup.
My Favorite Teacher ep. 3 with (G)I-DLE MINNIE
MINNIE from the K-Pop group (G)I-DLE in 2024 visits a Korean school as a substitute music teacher. At 12:30 of the video, the students enter the classroom and gets surprised by MINNIE.
In the class, MINNIE starts with attendance. The class lesson is about vocalization, body posture, and The Sound of Music. One of the students who requested to have MINNIE is asked to play the piano. At around 19:40, the student plays the piano while MINNIE sings.
Starting from 23:16, there is a private question and answer period with students and MINNIE. The student comes in with a problem for MINNIE to solve.
The end of the video features a chalkboard with thank you message to MINNIE.
My Favorite Teacher ep. 5 with IVE Rei
Japanese IVE K-Pop member Rei visits a school to be a substitute Japanese teacher. Rei enters the classroom at 10:40.
The class starts with introductions and class attendance. This class is about Japanese school system, culture, Japan's lunchbox culture, simple Japanese conversation and vocabulary. Class activities included reading, pronounciation, writing and translating from Korean to Japanese.
Rei's private question and answer period with students starts at 21:50 of the video. The captions says it's a personal teaching session. It's close enough to a private Q & A session.
The end of the video features a chalkboard with thank you message to Rei. There is a mix of Korean messages and some Japanese messages.
Roger Federer Speech @ Dartmouth
In 2024, tennis legend Roger Federer gave a speech at a graduation ceremony at Darmouth College in the United States. There is the full 25 minute video on Youtube here. I did not watch the full video but I caught one of the important lessons. It was the fact that you don't win every point even if you end winning the match. Roger also emphasizes that losses do happen but you have to move forwards and not dwell on shortcomings.
Notes
There are more Korean videos that feature pop stars and celebrities visiting schools other than the ones above. You can do a search on Youtube.
School is important as a lot of what is learned is for higher learning and for careers. However, it is good to mix things up every once in a while. Add in some fun, excitement and entertainment. It keeps the attention away from the grind of learning. Something extreme like Kpop shows at schools provide stress relief and possibly motivation. School trips to Museums, parks, zoos provide a mix of relaxation, exploration as well as out of school education.
For the special guests they can use school visits for good public relations with fans and future fans. The special guests can also try something new while being in a school. Kpop stars could use school performances as testing grounds for live performances. For the students, they definitely benefit with the presence of Kpop stars/idols.