By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
Some 100 journalists, English-language professors and teachers are joining hands to start a new educational association to help improve English skills for students here in Korea.
Their goal? Teaching journalism and reporting techniques in English and using English-language dailies published in Korea. The group will offer innovative newspaper-oriented resources for use in public school English classes.
The new association, called the English Newspaper in Education Society of Korea (ENIES), will have its official launch Wednesday. The group's founding members include Park Chang-seok, English media professor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul and former managing editor at The Korea Times, who will serve as the chairman for the association.
Journalists from major English-language newspapers published in Korea, as well as English-language professors, lecturers and public school teachers will also take part. Some of the founding members include prominent English-language educators from major universities. They include Korea University professor Kim Hyung-yeop, Myongji University professor Ahn Young-sup. From the journalism industry, Korea Times President Park Moo-jong, Korea Times Managing Editor Lee Chang-sup and Korea Herald Managing Editor Yu Kun-ha will participate in the effort.
Professor Park, an English-language professor with more than 30 years of experience working as a reporter and an editor, said the group aims to develop a systematic approach in teaching English-language reporting and writing techniques to Korean students ― as part of an educational curriculum to boost their English-writing skills.
The association will work on developing and distributing teaching guides on how to use journalism and English-language newspapers in public school English classes, Park said. The group will also sponsor lecture series, seminars and English writing and reporting competitions for students.
He said that already, a lot of students turn to Korea's two leading English-language newspapers, The Korea Times and The Korea Herald, to hone their English skills. ``In founding `English Newspaper in Education Society of Korea,' we want to take that one step further, to develop a structured curriculum for using English newspapers as an educational tool for school students," said Park. He has been using newspaper-oriented study materials in his classes at Kyung Hee University. Park currently serves as a professor at the Seoul-based university and also as the editor in chief for The Edu Times, an English-language newspaper aimed at middle and high school students.
``We have English and English literature professors participating in this initiative. Journalists and editors from English-language newspapers in Korea are also taking part in this effort. We also have officials from foreign-language schools as founding members for our association."