Teaching English in Gangwon-do counties
Hwacheon County has been among the most active counties facilitating teaching English in Gangwon-do.
The county has particularly been a major help in the high-quality foreign language learning of rural school students through a project to place native English language assistant teachers in the county.
On June 29th, four students from Wonwon Elementary School in Hanam-myeon visited the county office head, Choi Moon-soon.
The meeting was held at the request of the children who wanted to deliver a handwritten thank-you letter to Mayor Choi, who had supported the placement of native-speaking assistant teachers at the school.
The children sitting next to Mayor Choi said, “It is difficult to go from home or school to a private academy in the city, but it is so much fun to be able to play and talk with foreign teachers at school. We want to say thank you and we wrote this letter of thanks.”
Hwacheon-gun is one of the most assertive counties for enabling foreign language education for local students among local governments across the country. A total of 17 native language assistant teachers are currently active in the area.
This year, they secured eight native-speaking assistant teachers for Fulbright, and placed five of them in elementary and middle schools, and three of them are teaching children at Hwacheon-gun’s own foreign language academy.
In addition, the local Ministry of Education is partially subsidizing the budget for the EPIK native speaker assistant teacher (9 students) placement project.
Also, it provides opportunities to experience British and American culture through a homestay program for native English teachers, a public library, and a foreign language academy.
When daily life is restored from COVID-19, the existing middle and high school students plan to expand overseas language training and include backpacking trips.
The English cultural experience, which will be expanded this year, consists of an interest-based and experience-oriented program for children who are new to English.