SOUTH KOREAN KIDS SAY GOODBYE.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Thirteen South Korean youngsters said goodbye Friday to their temporary schoolmates at Lancaster's El Dorado Elementary School.

Here to practice their English and learn how American schools work, the students ages 10 to 13 spent three weeks attending class with the El Dorado pupils.

``Their English is quite good, I think. They understand it, speaking is difficult, but hearing and listening and reading is very good,'' said chaperon Ah Ok Choi, a Korean kindergarten teacher.

The youngsters stayed with local families, and when not in school they were taken on outings to Los Angeles County's science museum, the beach, the Antelope Valley Mall, Koreatown, Disneyland and Universal Studios. They celebrated one young visitor's birthday at Vasquez Rocks.

``We cooked noodles on the beach and ate with chopsticks. It was pretty fun,'' said Juanita Thacker, local coordinator for Nacel Open Door, the cultural exchange program through which the children came to Lancaster.

At a farewell ceremony Friday in the El Dorado cafeteria-auditorium, the visitors exchanged gifts with their hosts. Gifts for the Koreans included El Dorado school sweat shirts and pencils, a video of a school performance of ``The Little Mermaid,'' and an American flag that once flew over the U.S. Capitol.

The Lancaster school received a South Korean flag, Korean stamps, traditional Korean toys complete with instructions in Korean, and a scrapbook of Korea put together by the youngsters.

Teacher Beverly Lalicker hosted an 11-year-old girl in her home. You Jin Kim got homesick, she said.

``She wanted to learn more about our traditions so we went more American than we did hers ... . The first two days she had little tears and we stayed up and hugged and cried, and then after that she was fine,'' Lalicker said.

The little girl's favorite Antelope Valley restaurant was HomeTown Buffet, where she could pick from a large variety of American foods.

``I thought I was going to learn more of the culture from her, but I found that she was really more interested in ours. So I spent more time doing that, taking her places, showing her things and our evening time sitting together on the couch sharing, talking, playing and that kind of thing,'' said Lalicker.

Lalicker's 14-year-old daughter Andrea found the experience fun as well.

``She told me about her soccer team and her family and what they do,'' Andrea said.

The group will depart today for Korea.

``I think it's a good experience for all of the children,'' said El Dorado Principal Melinda Keenan.

``We got them into classrooms and then once they saw what their traditional grade level would be like in our school, then we moved them to other classes so that they could share their culture,'' Keenan said.

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(color) El Dorado School Principal Melinda Keenan presents a U.S. flag Friday to Ah Ok Choi, the chaperon for a group of visiting South Korean children.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer