English education policy..

     

President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s transition committee has been creating increasing confusion over its plan to strengthen English education, which required all subjects to be taught in English, even math and science. The committee announced in January 24 2008 that Korea’s high schools will be likely to conduct regular classes in English starting from 2010 . They made announcement before even a week since the introduction of the measure. English immersion programs will be introduced at some elite private and public high schools starting this year and  will be gradually expanded to ordinary high schools nationwide. It is intended to reduce private education expenses and to make younger generation well-prepared for globalization. But many people including the teachers-unions and opposition parties are upset and oppose such a hasty decision, because with that policy, there will be a lot of problems like training and hiring. There are many debates over the issue around the nation. Some people say education reform is just a way for an administration to show off. Some people say it’s necessary to respond better to global demands. Recently I’m keeping a close eye on how they’re going to develop this issue. Watching this development is kind of my responsibility as a Korean citizen. The President Lee’s  decision seems quite strong, so the committee is not likely to change their mind even though many people have expressed concerns.  

I think English education policy can cause many side-effects. First, many parents who don’t know English well would suffer when they  teach children. Parents have no way to deliver their lessons or knowledge unless they make extra effort to study English. They might lose the position as the most influential mentor of their children.  Second, our children can possibly underestimate the value of our language. With the policy, all they use is English, not Hangul. Many children will probably think English is more important than Hangul, as a result, no longer take Hangul seriously. We can imagine how dangerous consequences may happen.  

I admit it’s inevitable to study English. Somehow, I also understand why the government is pushing its decision so hard even against many people’s concerns. But when it comes to policy reform, I think it should take long time to carefully go over all the related issues before implementation. It’s not supposed to be changed overnight.

As well, the government should not only focus on the language issue, what they really need to change is  our education system. I’ve been receiving the same education for a long time. I’m getting sick of confirmity. Most schools force students to study the same things no matter what students are interested in or good at. It’s one of our biggest problems in education need to be changed and it’s time to move toward a more western way which encourages more creativeness and allows students to find their interests or abilities. I hope they can turn their attention to a bigger picture rather than sticking to a small picture.

  

 

 

         

Homework..

What’s the king’s English?  The king’s English means…. 1)  2)  3)  4)  5)

How is it important to the founding principles of the United States?

The Review Of A Movie I Recently Saw

I’m not a fan of either Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts, but I just watched this film a couple of days ago because of its unflagging popularity around the world. 

It was released in March, 1999 in Korea and is considered to be one of the most famous romantic commedies film. The main characters are played by Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. The film gets its name from its setting, Notting Hill, a famous neighborhood in the corner of the west London. In this film, there is a handsome guy (Hugh Grant) running his own bookshop accidently falls in love with a world famous film star played by Julia Roberts. They get to know each other and little by little and start to fall in love. In the end, they overcome all the difficulties and end up being together.

       

Although the story don’t seem to be realistic, I love to see all the scenes they had together. If you didn’t see Notting Hill yet, I would strongly recommend you watch it. It won’t disappoint you ever.

                     

The most important Korean figure in history

Now, we are using Hangul as our own character. Most people take it for granted and use, we should look back on that time we didn’t have it and rethink how important it was to have our own character. Who invented Hangul? He is one of the most well-known king in Korea history ( from May 6, 1397 to May 18, 1450),named “Sejong” the Great. He was the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He was also one of only two Korean rulers honored with the appellation ”the Great“.

Why is he so respectable? You might know we’d used chinese before created Hangul, we had to express our thought in chinese’s way, not korean’s way at that time. “Sejong” realized desperate need and took a lot of time and finally, he created native Korean alphabet despite strong opposition by other scholars. He was such a brave and smart king who could stick to what he believed in.   

Also, he thought not only scholars, but also the common people need to be communicated one another with a new language. Because most poor classes people didn’t have a chance to learn chinese, so they couldn’t even communicate well. “Sejong” realized how much they needed independent language which they could learn easily . He was such a heartwarming guy who could consider the majority of people, not only minority.

“Sejong” made a lot of effort into research for a long period of time. As a result, Hangul is considered to be one of the most efficient alphabets in the world.  It’s very unique, technologic and still being used for now.  He definitely made a great achivement, and now his feature has been printed in paper money in order to be remembered by current people.

He is the most important Korean figure and also influential person for me. He spent his whole life developing korea society. I always give deep gratitude for what he’d accomplished for our nation. He is my hero. I also want to become influential person like him who can be recognized by next gererations.        

 

Describe a vacation you took.

(Questions you may want to consider answering – Where did you go?  What did you do?  Who went on the vacation with you?  How old were you when you went on this trip?  Did you like this vacation? How much did you spend? Etc…)

 

During last winter vacation, I went to the Philippine for study with one of my Korean friends. I stayed in the Pampanga city and I had so much fun. We usually studied English at academy school in the daytime, after then went out and hung around the city in the evening. At that time, we spent about 500000won for a month, but we made a lot of Philippine friends and still keep in touch with them now. What makes me sad is that I can’t probably get more chance to go there because I’m 27years old now, so I won’t have much time to feel relaxed and enjoy next vacation. It left me an unforgettable memory and I’ll keep it for the rest of my life.  

Describe something (not someone) that makes you happy.

(Questions you may want to consider answering – What is it?  How important is it to you? How long have you had it? Where and When did you get it?  How did you get it? How often do you use it?  Why is it important? Etc…)

 

What makes me happy is my laptop. About three years ago, I bought it from the person I knew. I’ve been using the laptop since then and now it become so important in my life. Because most of times, I usually take and use it. There are so many things I can do with my laptop, for example, listening to the music, playing games and chatting with friends and so on. Although I used it so long time that it went out of fashion, but I still like it.