Good Neighbor News

“We learn living English at US base”

South District of Daegu and Camp Walker have operated the English camp since 2007 which 30 Korean middle school students attend for 4 weeks every year

Dong-a Ilbo

“I’m Kang Yoo-jin and a student of Kyung-il girls’ middle school. I entered a US base for the first time. I feel that facilities of the base are clean and good. I’m looking forward to learning living English in this place with fun.”

In a seminar room of Camp Walker located in Bongdeok-dong of South District (Nam-goo) September 9th, with curious expressions on their faces,15 schoolboys from Hyupseong Middle School and 15 schoolgirls from Kyung-il Girls’ Middle School looked at US servicemembers volunteering as instructors. After CPT Silvia Johnson, the headquarters company commander of the base, addressed a meeting, the students introduced themselves in the presence of others. The students cultivated their four instructors’ acquaintance through simple conversations. Thus, the English camp for 4 weeks was started. The students will learn practical English in the base for 3 hours once a week up to the end of September.

The students need to buy a learning material at 5,000 wons; however, there is no tuition. A schoolboy (a 15-year-od) from Hyupseong Middle School said, “I couldn’t learn English at a private academy due to financial difficulties; however, I’m pleased that I came to learn English with schoolmates from US servicemember teachers. It is also good to have tours around the US base and use its facilities.”

The English camp was started in the base April 2007. To provide local middle or high school students with an opportunity to learn living English, South District of Daegu opened ‘Global Apsan Camp’, an English language teaching program, with support of the US base. South District expanded the English camp, increasing the number of participating students from 25 to 30. Up to the end of July, 566 students from 12 schools have attended the English camp since it was started in 2007.

After an English conversation class taught by native-speaker teachers in the base, participating students also learn practical English in a way that they can repeatedly apply the patterns, which they learned from the learning material, to actual situations through sports, leisure activities and tours around the base. A part of students said that they gained confidence in speaking English through enjoying exercises, games and meals with their native-speaker teachers. To teach living English, the US base introduced a program which is actually run in the US.