Gyeonggi English Village Catching Nationwide Attention 

It has been one month since the Paju Camp at Gyeonggi Enlgish Village has opened. From April 3 until April 30, the total number of admittance has been 34,048, exceeding 30thousand people within 27 days. 

Of the visitors, 3,798 people participated in the performance program, and 7,779 took part in the one-day experience program (17 programs, admission charged). Of these people, 3,147 participated in the robot exhibition experience and the toy/cookie program, which comprised a popular 40% of all the one-day experience programs. 

Response was different according to age. Children in their teens stated that ‘it felt like we came to a different country and the facilities were great,’ and ‘the out-door magic show and open broadcasting was fun because we got to participate with celebrities.’ The people in their twenties said that ‘the magic show was fun, but we hope there will be more opportunities where we can talk with foreigners.’ 

The regular education course at Paju Camp is a part of public education and is being propelled along with the Education Government Office. The courses consist of the 6 day/5 night weekday course for second year middle school students, and the teacher training course for provincial middle/high school teachers, and there are also weekend elementary school courses for grade school students nationwide from grade 3-6. The 6 day/5 night classes are chosen among applicant schools by the Education Government Office, and the one-day experience course is open to people nationwide. A two-week intensive course is planned for the vacation period, and with the agreement of Suwon Foreign Language School, there will be more outside help with the programs. 

Paju Camp, situated at Beobheung-ri, Tanhyeon-myeon, in Paju, consists of 84,171 pyeong (3.058m2), a total floor space of 10,955 pyeong with buildings that are one floor underground and three floors above ground level, and 47 colorful buildings make up the site, making one think they are in a village in the U.K. 

The beautiful scenery has made the place into a popular site for drama settings. Several TV programs such as “Fly Shootdori”, “Imagination Plus”, “Issue and Scene”, “Chungcheong Patrol”, “Housewives Talk to the World”(KBS), and “Which Star are You From”, “A Very Special Morning”, “Korea, Language is Changing”(MBC), “One Day Suddenly”, “Solomon’s Choice”, “Super Star Survival”(SBS) have shot there. 

In addition, America’s ABC, UK’s Reuters news agency, Germany’s government-run broadcasting station, Japan’s Asahi Newspaper and more famous media have come to report and do specials, which are helping to raise the Korean image internationally. However, some groups are exposing negative sides of this project and are not hesitating to instill distrust on the education policy. Some groups claim that the native speaker teacher program is more effective than the English village, and this is because mainly they have not yet had the English village experience firsthand. Therefore, there must be a stop to the disputes on the effects of the English village and rather cooperate in participation, and visit, monitor, and discuss this issue further for a positive product. 

The visitor state has been diverse so far also, including Cardinal Jeong Jin-seok, and various media (Central Journalist Pamtour 10 people), corporations (Korea Tourism Organization 39 people, Korea Land Corporation 16 people), the Education Government Office (Busan Education Office 40 people, national elementary school principals 45 people), central agencies (Central public service educators 82 people), and local government organizations (celebrating local tax group 500 people, Goyang City Hall 20 people). Cardinal Jeong Jin-seok visited Paju Camp on April 10, and said encouragingly, ‘You have done excellent and grand work’ about the English village. 

In addition, people from the Australian Embassy in Seoul came to visit (4 people), 20 people from Shandong, China, and an assembly member of Toyohashi, Japan along with 10 other people (Japanese elementary school – 8 children from grade 6) wishes to visit for 4 days at Paju Camp. 

The grand finale of April ended with a special guest; the hope of the disabled, Alison Lapper. She instilled hope and vitality into the lives of numerous Korean disabled people. 

Also, there will be various Children’s Day events, such as a bazaar, celebrating the ‘family month’ of May