English musical adds spice to English education

By Yun Suh-young

Music was playing. Lights flashed. Camera shutters clicked.

The auditorium was packed with participants, their parents and members of the organizing committee.

The costumes, the setting and the performance were all woven together into a single masterpiece, leaving little room to question the short careers of the musical actors and actresses on the stage.

It was show time on Aug. 11 for the 160 students who had been preparing the musical pieces for the past two weeks.

As songs from “High School Musical” blared from the speakers, 18 cheerleaders jumped onto the stage and began their sassy group dance, hypnotizing the audience.

Following the opener were performances from Broadway hits such as “Annie,” “Cats,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Lion King,” “Mamma Mia” and “Grease.” Creative comedy shows also had the audience in stitches.

The stunning performances were, surprisingly, all the product of amateurs ― elementary and middle school students participating in an English Camp held at Hallym University in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province.

Twist on English education

The Global Citizenship English Camp was a three-week program sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, one of several similar programs underway in Busan, South Gyeongsang Province, and Haenam, South Jeolla Province.

The English Camp at the Chuncheon campus, which ran from July 25 to Aug. 12 in Gangwon Province, was run by the Gangwon Provincial Office of Education and hosted by Hallym University.

The ministry sponsored a total of 1,122 participants from around the country for the programs simultaneously underway in the three regions. Participants included 915 students, 143 Korean teachers and 64 Canadian teachers who had volunteered to come to Korea.

Out of the 915 students, 74 percent of them were from low-income families.

“We selected the students first based on their family’s income status, second on family background and third on academic achievement,” said Choi Syeung-myeung, senior supervisor at the Gangwon Provincial Office of Education. “In other words, the majority of the students we selected are from low-income and multicultural families. The rest are students recommended by school principals.”

When asked why the program was only available to less privileged children, Choi said, “The purpose of the program is to provide quality English education to those who have fewer opportunities to go abroad or learn from foreign natives. The camp costs are entirely free.”

But some parents complained.

“After the announcements were made, we were bombarded with parents’ phone calls asking why their children were not eligible for participation,” he said. “But we’re not planning to expand the camp to middle- and upper-income families yet.”

Learning is exciting

The camp received explosive reactions from both students and teachers.

“It’s a lot of fun. I have never been to a camp before. It’s also my first time learning from a foreign teacher,” said Choi Ye-in, a first-year student at Gangneung Dongmyeong Middle School.

Cho Hyun-ho, a sixth-grader from Gangneung Gyeongpo Elementary School, said “It’s great that I can hang out with friends from different regions. The teachers are fun and the program is fun. It’s my first time in a camp like this and I think I improved a lot.”

Korean teachers, who volunteered to help the foreign teachers at the camp, were also enthusiastic.

“The best thing about the camp is that we could work with the teachers, who work at schools in Canada. We can meet a lot of native-speaking teachers here, but it’s difficult to meet teachers who are currently serving at schools abroad,” said Lee Eui-jung, a teacher at Cheorwon Girls’ Junior High School.

“I’ve learned classroom skills and strategies from the Canadian teachers such as playing games with students and leading discussions in class. I can use these activities when I go back to my class.”

The difference between English classes in Korean schools and classes at the English camp was interaction.

“Teachers do all the talking at school,” said Choi. “When we ask questions, teachers answer but the students make fun of their peers saying, ‘You don’t even know that?’ So students become reluctant to ask questions. We also don’t do any activities in Korean schools. Here, with the foreign teachers, we play games and do lots of activities so it’s really fun.”

Korean students, pressured from speaking at school, were amazingly active during the camp.

“Yes, we did find the students a little shy at the beginning but we tried to make the classes very welcoming,” said Debra Kirkpatrick, a volunteer teacher from Halton Catholic District School Board in Canada. “They were amazingly active after the first week.”

“Week 1 was about learning where each student was. We did a lot of activities to find out who each student was. Then we started practicing English,” said Domenico L. Grande, a Canadian teacher from the same school board.

Believe it or leave it

How is it possible to learn English in three weeks?

“It’s not us, it’s them,” said Kirkpatrick, referring to the pupils.

“The students come all ready to learn,” said Grande. “They pay attention, they understand how to learn. Half the battle is already done.”

True enough. Students who received intensive English training for the past three weeks were fluent enough to perform a musical in English.

“The curriculum was very full. We tried to do the best we could do in three weeks. Three weeks is not a long time,” said Grande.

The students felt they improved greatly, though.

“I think we improved a lot. When we first started, most of the students in my class couldn’t speak English. Now they can speak, write, read and listen very well,” said Choi.

The good thing about this camp is that students are completely immersed in the English environment, said Oh Seok-hwan, director of English Education Policy Division at the education ministry.

“The effect of language acquisition is greater with students who have never had such English education before,” he said. “They naturally pick up the language through experience, without much resistance.”

The program was designed to make changes in the current English education system in Korea.

“When this program is over, Korean teachers, who saw and heard how foreign teachers conducted their classes, will go back to their schools and apply what they have learned to their curriculums. If such teaching methods are adopted, the Korean classes will naturally be globalized,” said Oh.

It will take time, however, to expand the program nationwide from the current three regions. The education ministry plans to conduct a satisfaction survey and a performance analysis on the camps until October. The decision on whether to expand the program will be based on the responses. There is also room for improvement.

“This program is a pilot project at the moment. The scheduling system could be improved. There was some confusion at the beginning about where the students should be heading after each class. Making the process quicker and easier would be better,” said Grande.

For English classes in local Korean schools to become truly interactive, something more than a mere imitation of the camp is needed.

“Patience,” said the two Canadian teachers in unison. “And the willingness to get the students involved. Those are the two key things to making a class interactive.”