Comments on: An English Village in Name Only - This One Uses Korean

By: Korean professors chime in on English village issue : Korea Beat

Korean professors chime in on English village issue : Korea Beat — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:10:33 +0000

[...] few posts back we featured a report from KBS on the English village in Paju and the lack of English a Korean reporter found during his visit [...]

By: An English Village in Name Only - This One Uses Korean : koreabeat.com

An English Village in Name Only - This One Uses Korean : koreabeat.com — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:22:21 +0000

[...] Original post 2007.06.06 [...]

By: What Did I Do?

What Did I Do? — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:07:29 +0000

Here is a description of what is, I guess, the theory behind the English Village concept:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_village

And here is the info on the coming Jeju incarnation:

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/178459.html

By: Korean professors chime in on English village issue « Korea Beat

Korean professors chime in on English village issue « Korea Beat — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:20:46 +0000

[...] Filed under: Korea — Mithridates aka 데이빛 @ 1:20 am A few posts back we featured a report from KBS on the English village in Paju and the lack of English a Korean reporter found during his visit [...]

By: antiVank

antiVank — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 07:19:38 +0000

Surprise surprise, the White-Monkey Zoo (aka English Village) is a failure. I remember hearing about this when I worked in Korea, and right from the beginning knew this half-assed attempt would flounder.

Why would Koreans go to an ‘English Village’ to speak English? I’m down in Australia now (a lot bigger than a make-shift village) where we speak English, but guess what the Koreans down here are speaking. It sure as hell isn’t English! Go to any English-speaking country and take note of what language the Koreans are speaking.

Seriously, ESL-based projects are a joke in South Korea. Better to spend the money on more soju.

By: Korea Beat

Korea Beat — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 03:33:32 +0000

That’s a good point, and it’s kind of the whole problem with the ESL industry in Korea — the right initiative is not often taken. But when it is, magic really happens, and it’s so great to be a part of it.

By: shannon

shannon — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 23:01:46 +0000

I want to make the point that the reason there aren’t any more eastern europeans at the shops in the village is because when the hiring was switched to the shops by English Village, many of these girls (of whom many speak several languages including English AND Korean, retain several degrees, some multiple Masters, others PhDs all of whom had been lured to EV under the pretense of actually being teachers… were offered roughly half their original pay with less benefits. They had to fight with EV to get their contractually mandated vacation. It was a source of constant frustration for many North American/Western Europeans who worked there as teachers that because many of these girls were from Russia or Romania they were considered as less than human at times.

I want to tell all of you out there who may find that EV is a ridiculous place—it can be–that all the foreigners who DO work there are often attempting to create a better experience for the students that go there, and oftentimes the foreign teachers are simply told “This is our plan, we will follow it. When there’s a problem, then we will think about changing it”. We want to make this a better place however it is obviously difficult within the current structure of Administration to get anything done. There are even Korean administrators who work hard toward supporting the foreign initiative within the dark recesses of EV Administrative “logic” however, as they are not the top head honcho, not much gets done.

Yes there are problems with EV, but I maintain that the place has tons of potential if the right initiative were taken.

By: Ann

Ann — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:46:34 +0000

This was not a news report, but an editoral. Very one sided. They did not cover any of the high quality, 100% english entertainment options throughout the village. There are four different english children’s productions performed in the village. All are free with admission price & include heaps of interaction with the audience. There is ample opportunity to practice your english at these performances. In terms of foreigners working in the shops, thats a tough one. Very few native english speakers, are going to come to Korea to work in a fast food restaurant. Especially for very little pay. In addition, English Village treats their employees horribly, people dont want to work here. We are lied too & manipulated constantly. There needs to be a MAJOR overhaul in administrations attitude toward the foreigners working at English Village. We need to stop being treated like “monkeys.” Instead we NEED to be treated with the basic respect & dignity that all human beings deserve, regardless of race or employment.

By: Top Posts « WordPress.com

Top Posts « WordPress.com — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 00:02:54 +0000

[...] An English Village in Name Only - This One Uses Korean KBS has just aired a report from one of their reporters that went to the Paju English Village to see just how much […] [...]

By: Thomas Robertson

Thomas Robertson — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 05:44:48 +0000

point number 1
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I find it difficult to mourn the demise of English Village. I visited that place when it had 26 happy smiling faces. I wasn’t very impressed even then. The children were spectators, the 26 gringos were performers, and there was no interaction.

On the other hand, I attended a very good children’s festival in Janghoweon. They had arts and crafts activity centers, gross motor activity centers, and various other activity centers where the childres were free to come and go at any time. Translate everything in that festival into English, and you would have a perfect English Village.

point number 2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I share Korea Beat’s disfavor with the myth that Koreans can’t speak English with Koreans. I have an Internet friend with whom I regularly converse in Korean through Yahoo Messenger. If Indonesians can speak Korean with Americans, why can’t Koreans speak English with Koreans?