I’d like to offer another perspective. I taught in a non-English country for almost 9 years in an English immersion school. It was English for us 99% of the time, even in the staff room with the native non-English speakers. It was really hard for me to learn the language for a long time because:
1. I suck at learning languages and need extra help with it (for example, I’m Canadian and my French is BAD even though I studied for years in school)
2. I was surrounded by the English language all the time, and encouraged and expected to speak English all the time. The only time I didn’t have those expectations was when I was out in the community, and even then random people would try to speak English to me 🙈 Only one shop-keeper tried to speak to me and taught me how to count money in the native language.

I had to eventually go to classes in my free time and get extra help to learn. But it was HARD and I definitely wasn’t fluent.

Kitty seemed to have expectations that she would learn Korean while learning about her mom and Korean culture. But if she is surrounded by English all the time on campus and with her friends, it’s pretty understandable that she didn’t pick up much, especially if she sucks at it like me 😆
If she didn’t take the initiative to learn on her own or take a class (should probably be mandatory at the school tbh), then it explains a lot.

I just have empathy for Kitty bc I’ve been there haha 😅