By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Seoul City opened an English-speaking cafe near City Hall Monday to provide a better English-learning environment for both employees and visitors.
Named ``Cafe Pine Tree,'' it is located next to the CNG station in Seoul City Hall Seosomun Annex in central Seoul. It is next to Seoul Museum of Art. The one-floor cafe is some 50 square meters wide and has five tables able to accommodate 30 people.
``One of the major goals of Seoul City is becoming one of the top 10 cities in the world. To this extent, the city supports its employees studying foreign languages,'' said Kim Seong-young, the deputy director of the Human Resource Development Division.
He said the idea of an English cafe came out during a workshop last year when the workers wanted an open space in which to learn English.
The cafe is run in two ways: There is a language course for civil servants every morning, lunchtime and evening, and then a news briefing in the morning, topic conversation during lunchtime and a lecture in the evening.
``We expect not only city employees but also general customers to come to the cafe since it is close to the Seoul Museum of Art,'' Kim said.
The clerk of the cafe is an English speaker and customers must order in the language. ``A Korean-Canadian bilingual is stationed at the cafe so that guests can have a conversation or English clinic session with him,'' Kim said.
The cafe offers English daily newspapers, magazines and popular novels as well as various video clips from American soap operas, movies and documentaries.
Events such as a global flea market, bazaar and world cultural festival will be held seasonally.
The name of the cafe was gleaned from the ideas of city officials that symbolized the fidelity and integrity of a pine tree. The cafe is operated by a private language institute, which also offers English courses to city officials during the morning and evening.
It is open from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.