PROVINCIAL and municipal governments across South Korea are vying to build English immersion camps, which are emerging as alternatives for many students who cannot afford to go overseas for language training. However, South Korea Education and Human Resources Development Minister Kim Jin-pyo triggered a debate over the English immersion camp boom, Korea Times reports.
Currently, 28 English immersion schools are in operation around the country. But Kim has put the brakes on the boom, arguing that provincial and municipal governments should stop building more English immersion camps. He suggested that they shift their efforts to recruit more native English-speaking teachers for schools.
"Many candidates are promising to create English immersion camps although the benefits from the camps in improved English skills based on the villages' short term experience have not been proved,'' said Hong Sung-tae, a sociology professor at Sangji University, South Korea.
The ministry said that the educational effects of the immersion villages do not match their huge costs. The Kyonggi provincial government invested 85 billion won (about US$ 9 million) in the Paju Camp.The ministry argues that if the money spent on constructing and operating English immersion villages were used to improve the quality of public education, its educational impact would be enormous.
However, the Kyonggi provincial government said that English immersion villages are the only way to reduce a widening gap between the rich and poor by helping students who cannot afford to go abroad.
Lim Hee-jung, a professor of English education at Seoul National University, said that English immersion camps are having a positive impact on Korean students who have few opportunities to access an English-friendly environment.
"But the artificial environment of English villages with their short term experience leaves a lot to be desired in actual improvements in English language ability,'' Lim said.
English immersion education is also drawing attention from school administrations in Japan as an effective method for teaching English. Instead of learning the target language in English camps, Japanese students are educated in immersion programmes in school systems.
Japan's first elementary school to teach entirely in English opened last year, according to the Mainichi Shimbun. All classes other than Japanese are taught in English. Some students have very little English ability, so the use of Japanese is not prohibited during school hours. But students are strongly encouraged to use only English in the classroom.
