Granite Tower cruising changing world
Reporters of the Granite Tower pose together when they went on a trip to Jang-heung, Gyeonggi province. / Courtesy of the Granite Tower
This is the third in a series of articles on student reporters who write for college English-language newspapers. ― ED.
By Bahk Eun-ji
The media, especially the newspaper industry, has changed rapidly in the last few decades because of the revolution in access to information spearheaded by the Internet.
College newspapers have also undergone significant changes. An example of this is the Granite Tower, a magazine published in English by students attending Korea University.
“Unlike other college English newspapers, the reporters at the online news desk of the Granite Tower write 300-word articles about ongoing issues in our school, Korea University, everyday. These are then posted on our website, Facebook page and Koreapas, the students’ community at our school,” said Kweon Yun-jin, the magazine’s editor-in-chief.
The Granite Tower is a 60-page monthly magazine written in English. It has the most pages among the nation’s college magazines. The pages are full of articles and photos from the 10 reporters and don’t contain advertisements or outside contributions.
“I have to read all the stories every month. It’s not tiring at all, because I enjoy reading them,” Kweon said.
She has already spent five semesters as a reporter. Kweon and two other Granite Tower journalists ― Kwon Su-hyeon and Kwon Joon-young ― talked about the distinctive character of the magazine, life as a student journalist, and how to excel academically, especially in English.
Copies of the Granite Tower, the monthly magazine published by Korea University student reporters / Courtesy of the Granite Tower
The following are questions and answers exchanged during an interview with the student journalists.
(Q): What is special about the Granite Tower?
(A): Kweon Yun-jin (Kweon):
As I already mentioned, the Granite Tower boasts many pages which enables us to write on topics more thoroughly. 4,533 copies of the magazine are printed every month and I’d say it is one of the nation’s biggest college magazine produced in English.
Kwon Su-hyeon (Hyeon):
Every new reporter has to spend a semester as a trainee. In the early morning of the day when the copies are published, those trainees have to distribute them around the campus. Of course we don’t have to do that, but it’s more like cherishing our tradition.
Kwon Joon-young (Joon):
And I think it was fun, although I don’t want to do it again. We can have the opportunity to recall the time we have struggled for making the magazine while we are giving them out.
Kweon:
All reporters, including the chief editor has to go through a training session for two weeks during every summer and winter vacation, and this is also one of the distinctive features of the Granite Tower.
Hyeon:
Reporters attend lectures by both alumni of the Granite Tower and other senior reporters from nine to six during the session and we get an awful lot of homework.
We try to gain all the skills needed for writing articles by assigning topics that match people’s style of writing.
Joon:
The session is mandatory for every reporter including trainees, so it’s good for us to keep studying about writing as well as journalism.
(Q): What was the secret of your English study? Can you give tips for studying English to other students?
For writing skill, I read many articles especially from TIME magazine. I like the layout of the magazine and the topics they often deal with ― such as relations between China and the U.S.
I watch American dramas such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Big Bang Theory” to practice my speaking when I get on a bus or subway train. I watch the same episode over and over again with captions for the first few times, and then several times more without captions so that I can master the dialogue while I’m enjoying the drama.
I’ve had many opportunities to practice English since I was young, because my parents are school teachers. Although my mom is an English teacher, she has never pushed me to study it. She just wanted me to enjoy practicing for myself.
Unlike other children starting to study grammar and reading before they learn speaking in Korea, I started by speaking with small words and listening to many English fairy tales. My mom taught me to say “Good morning,” “Good night,” “I’m fine,” and things like that even before I learned the alphabet and grammar. After I learned speaking I gradually began learning how to write as I grew up. I used English newspapers. I chose one article a day and wrote an essay on an issue.
For students like me for whom English is not their mother tongue, I believe learning speaking and listening have to come first, because it’s a more natural way to pick up a new language. I think the principles of English and Korean are similar, because both have to be spoken and written logically. So for students who want to improve their English skills, I recommend that they practice Korean as well.