Survival of English Towns Hanging in Balance

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Fri, December 8, 2023 | 09:22

Survival of English Towns Hanging in Balance

Posted : 2009-10-22 21:50

Updated : 2009-10-22 21:50

A child passes through a role-playing immigration center in northern Seoul’s Suyu English Camp, similar to that in Paju English Village , when the village first opened in 2006. A recent visit to the facility showed the halls echo in silence with no students in sight during lunchtime, while other English immersion villages have opened up their programs to a wider audience that steadies enrollment numbers. / Korea Times File

Paju Offers Courses to Not Only Children But Also Adults; Others Yet to Follow Suit

This is the last in a two-part series on difficulties English immersion villages face ― ED.

By Ines Min
Contributing Writer

A group of businessmen and women file through an immigration service counter right before closing time Tuesday. It is a pretend situation, but one with real effects on the English village the role-playing is taking place in.

Visitor and enrollment numbers are down for English immersion camps across the board, but Paju English Village has managed to maintain its enrollment by broadening its target market.

Camps are faltering due to their growing leniency on English-only policies (though it’s difficult to determine whether the low numbers are causing the verbal slip-ups, or vice versa) but places like Paju are fighting back, while others are failing to meet the challenge.

Paju’s education management has broadened programs to include a range of students. From kindergarteners to adults, people of all ages can go to the village for everything from basic education in English to help in business marketing ventures.

“We’re constantly adapting to meet our customer needs, because we see ourselves as being public service centered,” said human resource manager Mike Buckner.

The curriculum can be tailored for a range of students ― from lawyers interested in learning about various legal systems in English to athletes in need of survival language skills. Paju has managed to widen its scope beyond the younger students they originally opened to attract.

Increasing their base without sacrificing educational opportunities has been a key to maintaining a relatively steady enrollment rate during a time when daily visitor numbers are down for camps and income has slowed drastically.

“We still maintain a good offer because we work not only with money from the government, but also from programs, like our adult ones,” Buckner said. “Those are all independently paid, so they’re self-sufficient.”

The village underwent a large budget cut over the past years, as many other facilities have.

“There have been some minor impacts, but everybody everywhere has had to do a little tightening of their belts, and we have too,” Buckner said.

The number of students enrolled at Paju increased from 21,956 in 2006 to 27,545 in 2008, though it peaked in 2007 at more than 30,000. The number of visitors has been more than halved from the 513,881 in 2006.

At other camps, the lower numbers seem to have been more consequential.

At lunchtime in northern Seoul’s Suyu English Camp on a Monday, the hallways, classrooms and other facilities are deserted of teachers, students and even janitors. There is only one group of students that can be seen and they are interacting with their teacher entirely in Korean.

Administrators there were unavailable to give information on the number of total students or other questions, but the lack of Western influence was noticeable.

The main building was reminiscent of a Western-style middle school and there was a 7-Eleven onsite, but otherwise, there were no distinguishable markings of an all-English immersion village.

When asked what the cafeteria serves, an official replied that breakfast and dinner are typically Korean food. For lunch, the cafeteria has Western-style foods such as pasta, donkatsu, and other meals the children like, he said.

The cause of the lack of effort to maintain the exclusive use of English was unconfirmed, but consequences were prevalent at every corner. Whereas the Paju English Village has staff ready at every corner, most of Suyu felt like a ghost town.

No members of the administration there speak English and phone calls to the camp’s English line were directed to Korean-speakers.

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