Twisty-turny Story

written by Bong-kyung Park, Hae-sol Bae, unknown author, Ok-sun Jeong, Nam-suk Moon, Jin-young Kim

Hi, It's the year 2015. I am a Korean student and I have just graduated from high school. I really have to say that I feel very proud of and confident in my English proficiency! I am not a special student. I'm average. But almost all "average" students in Korea these days like English and canuse it well. That's because English education in Korean public schools is very different now compared to 10 years ago...

English education focuses on speaking(communicative competence) more than before. A decade ago,it emphasized mainly on reading comprehension; However, nowadays we share more class time to speaking. For example, we have at least 3 hours of speaking classes now in public schools, everyone in the classroom including the teacher only communicating in English. Although sometimes it's quite frustrating, it provokes fun most of time. The class topics are various: simple presentation, discussion, etc. Whenever I speak with my friends in English, I get to know them better and can broaden my scope of knowledge.

To use English more naturally, all students have pen-pals from English-speaking countries' students. They e-mail each other and sometimes foreign students come to visit my school for one semester or so.Actually it's really interesting, of course, we learn more English writings naturally. Also we can make friends. WE can get to know each other and realize the differences between contries. In English class, we have a special time to introduce our pen-pals to the class and read some interesting letters. It really motivates to learn English.

Knowing many vocaburaries and reading comprehension isn't important anymore compared to 10 years ago. We only focus on how to communicate well in English. For instance, we can improve our English-communicating skills by speaking English in English class and e-mailing with foreign friends. We've been learning English in practical way.

My English teacher is so energetic. She always encourages us to take part in lots of activities to improve our English speaking ability. I think sometimes she is pushy but I realized that as time goes by, we get used to do it. Language is alive if we use it everyday. The more we try to speak English, the more rewards we can get from my teacher. We are crazy about getting rewards from her. If I get 100 stickers, I can go out for lunch with her. Reward is a good stimulus in learning English.

Since most high schoolers in Korea don't have serious problems in communicating in English, high school students exchange program became more popular. Students get great chance to expose a real English and their culture. The can cover their school grade with their volunteering work there. This system was already well organized over the peninsula, students and their parents don't need to worry about tuition fee too much.

I think how to make sentences including choosing appropriate words is crucial. To get close to that relatively high level, students have the high understanding of English-speaking countries' culture. Something peculiar in the western countries may not be understandable, so I think that deep understanding is important.